Explorers Thunder Road

       

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Original Kit:
Thunder Road
Made By:
Randy Cooper
Scale:
N/A
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Explorers Thunder Road
Explorers Thunder Road front detail Explorers Thunder Road left side detail Explorers Thunder Road rear

 
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I don't get much opportunity to build spacecraft, seeing as they are seldom small enough to be available in 1/24 scale (the original NCC-1701 Enterprise would be about 40'/12m long in this scale!). But every once in a while one comes along, as was the case with this resin kit of the Thunder Road from the 1985 movie Explorers. As a craft built from scraps and pieces by three kids (played by Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, and Jason Presson), it was little larger than the carnival ride that provided its main hull. Available exclusively from Randy Cooper through his site, he made both a large full-detail version of the Thunder Road as well as this mini kit that was designed to fit inside a little Christmas ornament-style clear dome. While no exact scale was provided, the parts looked close enough to 1/24 for me to call it good.

No instructions were included, but the breakdown of parts was pretty straightforward: front and rear main hull, main platform, lower platform with wheels, tire, garbage can, suitcase, shuttle, sign board, clear parts, and decals. There was a bit of flash to clean off, but nothing too extreme and very few pinholes. I gave everything a good wash in Dawn, then got to work.

Cleaning up the main hull pieces was easy enough, but as I was working I became worried about snapping off the delicate wing tips...and knowing my luck, I'd have everything painted when it happened. So I decided to be proactive: I used the kit's wings to create templates, and cut a new set from 0.040" sheet styrene. I also realized there was a weird arrangement on the front hull piece, where there were voids to create a sense of depth behind the clear "window" panels. The two side voids were fine, but the middle one was too low. If I left it alone, I'd either have to mount the TV window too low or I'd have a gap under the screen and a visible crossbar at the top of the pane. To fix this, I shaved off a bit of plastic from the top of the opening, and added a new filler piece to the bottom. The rest of the kit needed little more than the usual prep work and it was ready for paint.

The bulk of the craft was painted Tamiya TS-8 Italian Red over black primer to give it a good dark red hue. The main platform was painted gray, the garbage can was painted Model Master Titanium Metalizer, the suitcase was painted TS-69 Linoleum Deck Brown, and the doors and shuttle were painted white primer. I applied all of the decals, then gave it a good shot of Dullcote and some weathering. The windows were sanded and polished, then given a coat of TS-13 Clear. Trim around them was done with a combination of Molotow Liquid Chrome, metal tape, and various paints. I decided to use a tire from my parts box rather than the one from the kit, if only to prove to myself that it really did work as a 1/24 kit (not the first time I've done such a thing).

With the bulk of the work done, it was time for final details. I skipped the sign board, opting to apply a strip of metal tape to the back of the One Way sign and gluing the directly to the back of the hull. The handles above the side ports were made from wire, and the headlights were made from a set out of AMT's T-Bucket Ford (a set was included in the kit, but I was feeling lazy about painting them). The final detail was the lights on the top and wings, made from tiny bits of clear plastic tinted with a red Sharpie.

 

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