by Jim Botaitis

SPACE: 1949

Having successfully conquered the nations of the Earth by 1947 (and eliminating the Jewish people – as well as other so-called “undesirables” from the population) Nazi Germany decided to colonize the Moon. In his famous speech of May 25, 1948, Hitler challenged the world to send men to the moon and return them safely to the Earth by the end of the next decade … 1960.

SPACE:1959

The Nazis established a base at the lunar North Pole in 1959. By a cosmic stroke of coincidence, a mass of incredible size was detected underground nearby. It was 135 meters long, 22 meters, wide and 13 meters high. The surface features on the moon suggested the object had been buried for about 5000 years.

SPACE: 1969

By July 20, 1969, enough of the artifact had been uncovered and its interior sufficiently explored to determine its purpose and origin. The Nazi regime now realized it is living on borrowed time …

I have always been a fan of the LUFTWAFFE 46 genre, so when this contest was announced, I instantly thought of displaying what Nazi Germany might have accomplished by now … but with a twist.

The moonbase is obviously from the SPACE:1999 Moonbase Alpha model kit. I only used some of the parts, and put them together so as to make a more compact layout. Most of the base would be underground for protection from cosmic rays and micrometeorites. The two airlocks are completely above ground and made from bits of plastic. I am not sure of the scale of the kit, but I chose 1/350 scale for my diorama. The interconnecting hallways are styrene tubes and the central structure is odd bits of resin castings I had laying around. If the base was built on or near the north pole, it could conceivably be exposed to the sun all the time. Therefore the “shutters” (each with its respective compass point painted on) open and close based on the position of the sun so as to control heating in the moonbase.

The ALPHA-OMEGA bomb (black and yellow, sitting in its silo) is a shell from the 1/72 HASEGAWA railroad mounted cannon named KARL. The “Tesla power generators” are resin engines which were poorly molded but I did not want to throw them out. Five are installed and two more are being delivered on a sled for installation at the far end of the alien spaceship. The German UFOs are more resin parts, with a few scrap plastic bits and pieces. The red fence around the pit is made from photo-etched 1/350 ship railings. The walls around the pit and the ramp are made from a 1/35 EDWARD resin sheet of perforated steel plates.

The alien ship is a collection of resin parts, plastic parts, and photo etched bits from various kits. The figures are 1/350 FUJIMI Japanese seamen. I added backpacks (tiny rectangles of plastic) and gold tinted space helmets (a drop of white glue on the head, left to dry). The base is made of wood, and for the lunar surface I used premixed drywall compound (but I added TAMIYA black paint to get various shades of grey. All the decals were homemade.

So what is happening in the diorama and what is the message, you may ask. Well, the pilot of the small German UFO has come to visit some friends. They are standing on the lunar surface near the UFO which he has landed on the pad. The ALPHA-OMEGA bomb is not being launched; it is on standby.

Several soldiers are standing near the edge of the diorama, behind the larger UFO which is on the other landing pad. A lone astronaut has just exited from one airlock and another astronaut is about to enter the other airlock. Several soldiers are being given new orders near the top of the ramp. Another larger German UFO is towing a sled carrying two “Tesla power generators” while one guy rides on the sled and another guy is surfing behind the sled. Inside the pit, two soldiers are talking at the bottom of the ramp and a large expedition is about to enter the alien ship.

The alien ship was designed to fit the parameters of Noah’s Ark as described in the Bible. I did not want a long rectangular wooden box (too boring), so I opted for something which suggests a power supply, engines, rudder and a fairly flat bottom. At this scale, Noah’s Ark would be 15 inches long so the remaining 10 inches of this alien ship could still serve the purpose of housing two of each type of animal to be brought to Earth.

The alien ship has the Star of David on the hull and Hebrew writing which translates as “Noah’s Ark”. It suggests that the Earth was populated by aliens 5000 years ago. The aliens were the forefathers of the Jews, but since the Jews were all killed by the Nazi regime during World War 2, no one is able to operate the ship or translate the manual even. Furthermore, if the aliens are still out there, they probably wont be too happy to learn what happened to their descendents.

Image: Alien ship

Image: Markings

Image: Moonbase

Image: The edge

Image: From above