Review of Pegasus 1/48 scale "The War of the Worlds" Martian War Machine

Aaron Skinner wrote:

Brian, I figured out the issue with the neck after I had gotten the thing together. The instructions are really unclear and there was a locator blocking the fit. I ended up trimming the tail of the head piece some. I wish I had cut it nearly off. I can't figure out why they added the flex detail to the head if it's not supposed to stick out. Other than that, it's a terrific kit to build. I'd like to build another and light it. There's plenty of room inside. Cheers,

Hi, Aaron!

Yes, the instructions certainly are a bit fuzzy there...My guess is that the tail section is supposed to lock the head into the neck part, without glue...as you mentioned, the kit pretty much snaps together, so maybe that's what they were going for from the beginning, particularly for the pre-built plated version of the model. Perhaps the flex detail on the tail was actually intended to lock the head on...that's certainly what it does if you slide the part in from the side of the neck. Once it's in, you can't pull it out!


You'd have to remove that whole tail thing and drill out the back of the head and top of the neck to get lighting up to the eye anyway, so that's what I'll probably do.


By the way, great job on the base! The transoceanic clouds are excellent!

Awesome review. I actually bought this kit about 6 months ago at my local hobby store. It's been sitting there waiting for me to tackle it. This review just may have done that!

thanks

Brian,

I figured out the issue with the neck after I had gotten the thing together. The instructions are really unclear and there was a locator blocking the fit. I ended up trimming the tail of the head piece some. I wish I had cut it nearly off. I can't figure out why they added the flex detail to the head if it's not supposed to stick out.

Other than that, it's a terrific kit to build. I'd like to build another and light it. There's plenty of room inside.

Cheers,

Great article on a great kit!

But...is it me, or is the cobra head not attached correctly onto the neck? Seems like there's a weird skinny section there that doesn't look right...I see some mention of a fit problem with the neck in the article, but the problem doesn't seem to be fixed (well, I suppose it is a review article, after all!). I'll have to check my kit too and see what the trouble is!

EDIT:
OK, I just went and test fitted the parts in my kit, and I see what's up. The long tail-like part behind the cobra head does indeed fit all the way inside the neck, without any trimming, but it only goes in easily from the side...seems like it'd be a bit hard to push it in so the head is flush with the neck if you try to push it in after the neck parts are assembled. That skinny little tail section should not be visible at all, with the cobra head section fitting flush against the neck section. I also see the fit problem Aaron mentioned about the side of the neck, and I also see that he did take care of that in his build.

Mystery solved!

So Megan, please tell Aaron to just push the cobra head the rest of the way into the neck, and it'll be perfect!

I've been real impressed with the Pegasus kits so far as well. I have built their Area 51 UFO. By the way, anyone notice the similarities between it and the UFO in the new Disney film "Race to Witch Mountain"? I have also built their 1/48 MWM as seen above, as well as the smaller 1/144 MWM with lights added. I'm looking forward to their 1/1400 NES Protector from Galaxy Quest this December.

Right on!

i am glad to see Pegasus tackle some of these overlooked (by plastic manufacturers ) projects and make them affordable. I have built a couple of thier kits now. Thier Apollo 17 was  blast to build and it wound up being a show award for our annual show.  I recentlly got a look at one of thier UFO's and it's a neat litle kit begging for LEDs, a dirt base, picket fence and curious dog.  Overall I am looking forward to seeing what other kits this line holds.