Scale: 1/144 - about 14" long when built

Parts: 17 injection molded styrene - includes stand

Instructions: 4 pages, bogus painting scheme

Decals: Waterslide, bogus scheme

Molding Quality: 8 - Pretty good

Detail: 7 - Has detail you don't see in movie

Accuracy: 5 - They could have done better

Fit: 5 - They could have done better

Ease: 5 - I didn't find it easy

MSRP: $22.00 USD (~$32.37 CAN/ € 19.92 EUR) available from hobby shops and discount retailers

Overall Rating: 7 - Despite flaws, still looks good when finished

However, I was soon disappointed that the kit did not include the original Pan Am markings (you can see the bogus scheme on the box cover), and I don't remember seeing the panels on the nose of the spacecraft. So I put away the kit hoping to buy the Pan Am decals one day.

Twenty two years later, a return in interest in model making, and 2001 decals from Griffon Games I set about building the kit. I used information from Starship Modeler, Underman's 2001 and a DVD copy of the film. The photos showed in fact that the panels were roughly correct.

It was interesting comparing the accuracy of the Aurora model with the Airfix kit. The Airfix kit has a vertical nose, instead of one slanting down, the front window is too small, the wrong shape and should be sloping at an angle, and the side windows are about 30% too large. The rear engine is also too high. The Aurora kit on the other hand does not have the top scoop and forward facing thrusters (inlets?) that go around the spacecraft just forward of the engines. The indentations on the nose and where the front of the wings meets the body are also missing. Surprisingly, the original Pan Am artwork for the Airfix kit appears more accurate, with correct size windows and engine.

I painted the interior matte black (I don't like the idea of painting the insides of the windows). Make sure that the fusalage joint between the two halves is sealed, otherwise the paint may seep through to the other side showing up as a thin black line. I used a liberal amount of glue to do this. Several thin coats of matte white were used for the outside. The windows, wing exhaust ports, and top exhaust port were masked with Tamiya masking tape, an excellent product (much better than any other tape I've used in the past). The engine and thruster exhausts were then painted matte black, with the engine detail on the inside painted gun metal. The Tamiya tape was again used to mask out the engines. I then attached the rear antennas, again with a lot of putty and sanding to smooth out the larges gaps. I left this part till last since I didn't want to damage the antennas while handling the model.

I then atteched the decals. The decals went on OK. I then tried painting the Pan American decal with matt clear. Oh Oh! The decal smudged and was ruined. The other decal also came off and was slightly damaged. I didn't want to pay another US$8.50 for another set of decals. So, I spent a couple of days designing the Pan American logo on my computer and printing on decal paper from Bare-Metal Foil & Hobby with my laser printer. I printed four decals and two Orion III decals for the stand. (You can download them here in PDF format. I then tried air brushing Microscale Liquid Decal Film on the decals, as recommended by the decal paper instructions. No joy, it just clogged my airbrush. Thinning the film with alcohol produced a spray, but produced a milky finish after drying. Rubbing alcohol on the film got rid of the milky finish. I then tried just painting the film with a brush, and this worked just fine!

A word of caution, don't rub the decals after applying decal film! The circular Pan Am logo had started to peel a few weeks after the model was finised. I used the decal film to reattach the decal and while rubbing the decal to smooth out the bumps I slightly damaged it. Forunately I was able to repair the damage with some blue paint.