MARTIAN SPACESHIP

From the 1967 film ‘Quatermass and the Pit’ written by NIGEL KNALE and directed by ROY WARD BAKER

the film has an alternate US Title - ‘20 Million Miles to Earth’.

This is a Hammer Films production and has a lot of the usual scares and eeriness we would expect, but this is a ‘QUATERMASS’ story and a thought provoking and deeply chilling science fiction film.

What turns out to be a spaceship is a fantastic design - it looks like nothing you’ve ever seen. The shiny gray surface, lacks any seams or details. This is clearly something ‘not of this earth’. This film is a must-see!

The ship is never seen in flight in the film, and this picture shows a planetary re-entry based on Quatermass’s hypothesis.

This would be small kit - maybe only 3 or 4 inches long. Arguably HO scale or 1/76th scale would be more appropriate so that this could be included in dioramas with other railway, or AFVs. But 1/72nd is the scale of choice for aircraft. It feels like black plastic would be fitting, although it would be fun if it were done in the light blue colour that Airfix seemed to favour for a lot of their German WW2 aircraft. (There is some speculation in the film that this ‘spaceship’ was part of a WW2 propaganda exercise).

I don’t know who designed this ship - please contact me if you have any information..

Quatermass and the Pit - Art Director KENNETH RYAN / Special Visual Effects - LES BOWIE