Collector Model

As mentioned last post, this show will always be pretty memorable to me. I had the pleasure of hosting Jim Small and his pal, Donald Hayunga, who stopped in to visit Round 2 then accompanied us for the rest of the trip. Once they wiped their chins after seeing our repository of archived model kits, I put them to work on a few prep items for the show including touching up the Eagle mockup which had been slightly damaged on its way here from China. We then headed out a day early to take a trip to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton. I was a bit let down with this year’s trip there as we purposefully went on Friday to see the restoration wing and Presidential aircraft which is only available to be seen on that day, but security levels prevented visitors form going on the base where the hangars are. It looks like the fourth wing of the museum should be finished next year and all of those aircraft will be moved into the new wing.

With the extra help, set up went quickly and afterwards, we had dinner with a couple Space:1999 Facebook fan page managers Todd Morton and Gordon Moriguchi. Somehow, they had sneaking suspicions that we might be announcing the Eagle at the show. It was a pleasure to meet the guys and hang out at the show. We had visitors to the booth like Star Trek gurus Gary Kerr and Rick Sternbach, but the Eagle fans were especially excited when Gerry Anderson’s son, Jamie and BSG production designer Eric Chu stopped by to pose for pictures with the Eagle mockup.

I’ll touch on some of the other stuff we had on display in a future post, but I didn’t want to take too long before addressing one question that came up a couple times. A few kind folks wanted to know what’s happening with the Galileo Shuttle model kit. The honest truth is that we are looking to put it out in 2016 as part of the 50^th anniversary celebration of Star Trek: The Original Series. Is waiting for the anniversary the only reason for the delay? No. As with all delays, there are many factors involved that would include “business” in that that kit is not our only concern company wide. Other unrelated circumstances and opportunities pop up and sometimes we have to take advantage of them. In other ways I can honestly say “life & death” have gotten in the way a little bit on this project on many levels. I don’t feel it is appropriate to get into any of the details. Can I promise that the Galileo will come out in 2016? I am not in the position to promise anything. I can’t predict the future. I can only proceed and work and fight until I’m told not to. Why do the Eagle now and not do the Galileo? When we examined all of the costs and possibilities, we felt that the Eagle was the better kit to do right now. As I’ve said before, I really appreciate everyone that has been reasonable about this. To those that have gotten a bit… testy… about it, well… Thanks for your interest too.