Discovery

Moebius, 1/350 scale

Reviewed by John Miller

The United States Spacecraft Discovery One is a fictional spaceship featured in the first two novels of the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke and in the films 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) directed by Stanley Kubrick and 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) directed by Peter Hyams. The ship is a nuclear-powered interplanetary spaceship, crewed by two men and controlled by the AI on-board computer HAL 9000. The ship is destroyed in the second novel and makes no further appearances.

Clarke and Kubrick developed the first novel and film in parallel, but there were some differences to suit the different media. Kubrick dropped the cooling fins from the ship, fearing they would be interpreted as wings. The itinerary of Discovery One in the book is from Earth orbit via gravitational slingshot around Jupiter to Saturn and parking orbit around the moon Iapetus. Kubrick changed this to the simpler Earth to Jupiter's moon Europa. For the film, Kubrick built an exceptionally large model of the ship so that focus changes did not give away the small size to the audience.

Edited from Wikipedia

The kit comes in a rather flimsy, lidded, cardboard box adorned with a very attractive rendition of Discovery One on top. Inside are 6 individually bagged sprues carrying a total of 94 light gray parts. One sprue comes in triplicate and one in duplicate. In addition there’s one clear sprue, a small white envelope containing four antennae, four metal rods (one 14in long), and a separately molded piece of the Command Sphere.

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Thumbnail panels:

There’s very little flash on any of the sprues and the parts have nicely rendered details, both in-relief and inscribed. The surface details will benefit greatly from a wash to confer depth and enhance the overall appearance. Fortunately, for those not versed in this technique, the folks at Moebius provide some general suggestions on how washes can be used to during the finishing stages of the build. This is a very nice inclusion to the general instructions and one other manufactures should consider.

Parts layout and construction sequencing are both conventional (well, you know what I mean). Aside from the Command Sphere at the front and the central Propulsion Block and thrusters at the rear, the majority of Discovery is comprised of small, angular cargo modules carried along the spine of the ship. 

The cargo modules are each comprised of multiple parts each with nicely detailed faces. Once assembled the modules are attached to the multi-part spine which accommodates a long metal rod (~14in) within it’s center. The rod runs from the Command Sphere through the spine to the Propulsion Block conferring stability to the completed model.

The prominent antenna array situated midway down the spine is comprised of 12 nicely molded styrene parts that utilize metal antenna supports. This assembly will look very scale appropriate when completed and added to the central cargo module.

Three separate supports (Forward, Midship, and Rear) are provided to hold the completed model. Gravity does happen for we earth-bound modelers and I suspect the completed kit will be a bit wobbly given the weight distribution and engineering. At 17in, this is going to be a rather long model with appreciable weight at each end so the supports are a very nice inclusion insuring the model will assume and maintain the correct shape for long-term display.

Markings

There are no decals. However, instructions on painting that include detailed descriptions of specific colors, “over-painting” (pre-shading), and the application of washes to enhance panel details are provided: very nice.

What a neat kit! Having been imprinted on 2001: A Space Odyssey the movie as a young boy, I’ve always wanted to have a nicely detailed model of Discovery One in my display cabinet. The reasonable size of this kit makes that possible. Many thanks to the folks at Moebius for another nice kit. Highly Recommended!
 
Now go paint something!
  
--John                               

Review kit provided by my retirement fund, again.

For more on this review visit Modelpaintsolutions.com

Text and Images Copyright © 2020 by John Miller
Page Created 29 October, 2020
Last updated 30 October, 2020

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