ROCKY JONES SPACE RANGER
ORBIT JET

ROCKY JONES SPACE RANGER ORBIT JET
produced by Sci-Fi Matters
2599 Diamond Street, San Francisco, CA 94131-3009 USA
http://www.scifimatters.com
Price: 89.95

When we think of science fiction on television, our minds wander straight to Star Trek.  But long before Trek, there was some fun, thrilling science fiction adventure shows, often filmed live, including Captain Video and Rocky Jones.   Sci Fi Matters has chosen the Orbit Jet from the classic Rocky Jones Space Ranger television show as the first kit in their new line of resin spaceship kits.   Completed, this kit stands an impressive 16 inches tall.   Rocky Jones expert Mike Elmo was consulted and the prototype was created by Robert Mannion.    Note that this model is different from the Masterpiece Models kit mentioned above.

Opening the box you find the parts all very carefully packed and wrapped in bubble wrap.   There are 12 resin parts, all very well cast with very few flaw.  I only found one notable airbubble in the whole kit.   You also get waterslide decals and a fully illustrated color instruction sheet.   The slender nose of this rocket has been cast with a internal brass rod for added strength and to eliminate warpage.

I've build a number of resin models over the years and I can't recall every finding a kit that fit together as well as this does.  Each fine features a sturdy tab that fits snuggly into slots on the body of the kit.  The only real sanding needed on the model was to remove the seam lines on each side of the rocket fuselage.  The kit went together in about 30 minutes.   I used Zip CA glue and some accelerator to hold the fins in place.   Alignment was not an issue thanks to the excellent fit of the fins to the slots in the body.  Because the fins fit so well, I was able to putty and aggressively sand the seams without worry of the fins falling off!

I'm in the process now of priming the kit and cleaning up my putty work on the seams.   I'll finish this in silver, using the article by John Lester in my Ultimate Modeling Guide to Classic Sci Fi Movies book as a guide for achieving a smooth metallic finish.

I have to say, I am very impressed with this model.  Its fun to be able to put a kit together without a lot of effort and achieve beautiful results. If you have never built a resin kit, this might be a good model to start with.   If you are an experienced resin builder, this model will give you great satisfaction.  This is one spaceship for every sci-fi builder.  This gets CultTVman's highest recommendations.