Wilco! Models Spaceship ICARUS By Richard Marmo

History

Anyone who's ever seen Planet Of The Apes (the original with Charlton Heston) is familiar with the spaceship Icarus. Now you can have a beautifully detailed model of the Icarus in a standard scale (1/48) that offers all kinds of possibilities. Anything from mounting it in pristine condition on a provided display stand as it would appear in a hanger photo-op to a weathered and battered survivor defiantly slanting up out of the water after landing on the planet.

The Kit

Wilco! Models, for those of you who aren't familiar with the company, produces a line of detailed, well-engineered science fiction resin kits. The Icarus is no exception, so let's take a look at what you get.

Both hull halves are seen here. The lower hull half shows the cast-in detail, except for the crew seats that have yet to be added. I've shown the outside of the upper hull here so you can see how the cockpit windows are handled. However, the interior is detailed with the appropriate ribbing and locations for the other two hibernation chambers.There are some 27 parts, including a one-piece display stand and a nameplate. The fuselage (or hull) is split horizontally into two pieces, upper and lower halves. Besides the cast-in detail, you get four crew seats and two additional hibernation chambers that are installed in the upper hull before joining the hull halves. Not only does this approach wind up giving you a fully detailed interior, you can super-detail it to your heart's desire if you so wish (although how much more you could add I don't know). Canards and winglets are separate, which works to your advantage. After detailing and joining the hull halves, canards are added and wind up covering most of the hull seam…leaving seam work to an absolute minimum. Intelligent engineering design is something sorely lacking in many resin garage kits, but Wilco! Models spends the time necessary to give you exactly that. Way to go!

Parts are pressure cast, which eliminates about 99% of pinholes and bubbles that we have to deal with where hand poured castings are concerned. Of course, you will have casting sprue to remove from some of the parts and other parts will have to be separated from very thin gang-casting flash (multiple small parts lightly attached to a thin piece of casting flash). There will also be a little bit of translucent flash to be removed from lightning holes and delicate parts, but most of that will flake off just by running your fingers over it.

Here are all the rest of the resin parts. Except for the stand and decal sheet, parts are contained in a single ziplock bag. The aft bulkhead (to which the exhaust nozzles and rear hatch are attached) can be left off to show the interior, installed permanently or trimmed slightly so that you can pop it in and out. While the choice is yours, I suspect whichever one you choose will depend on your skill level and whether or not to make a contest winner out of it…which is a very definite possibility. In fact, I'm wondering who's going to be the first to build a diorama showing the Icarus sticking out of the water.

Decals, which are crisp and in register, along with a piece of clear plastic for the windows and a page of clear instructional text complete the package. Except for the package itself. The kit comes securely packed in a top flap 9" x 12" box with the two hull halves wrapped in a sheet of newspaper. All other resin parts (except for the large, three-point support stand) are contained in a single ziplock bag. Instructions, clear plastic and decals are loose, but that causes no problem at all.

Conclusion

Bottom line is this: If you're a science fiction nut..uh, enthusiast...this is a model that belongs in your collection. Price is $40.00 plus $5.00 for shipping and handling. You can order quickly and easily from Wilco! Models, 2826 Russell Avenue, Abilene, Texas 79605. Their phone number is 325-677-7009.

Well, don't just sit there! Order a kit and then go pick up a copy of Planet Of The Apes for reference while you're anxiously waiting for the kit to arrive.