Mike Walston
Bradenton, Florida
“Fall of the Martians” is what Mike calls this scene featuring Pegasus Hobbies 1/48 scale “War of the Worlds” Martian War Machine, “as seen in the finale of the 1953 movie,” he says. “I resorted to a little kitbashing. The damaged buildings are from a “Gigantics: Rampaging Scorpion Diorama” kit reissued by AMT/Ertl back in 1996. The wingtip is grazing the area of the white building where the giant scorpion’s tail originally hit. The nature of the damage was perfect for the scene. A 3/4"-wide, 1/8"-thick Ace Hardware aluminum bar goes from inside the war machine, through the red brick building beside it, then down into the 8" x 10" base.” Mike used LEDs powered by a 9-volt battery to light the model’s clear green parts. He says, “I lit the cobra-shaped heat ray weapon with an amber LED, then cut various lengths of fiber optics and attached them to a hole I drilled into the kit’s clear lens emitter, mimicking the dying Martian’s last shot.” He topped off the scene with Blair Line street signs and other signage he designed using CorelDraw.