Moebius ModelsMMK2001-8 Model Kit, Multi, Standard Size

I thought it was going to be like one of the Eaglemoss ships but it’s a model you have to put together and glue but I’m still happy I have it been looking for years

Like the 1/144 big brother, the 1/350 Discovery is not a kit for inexperienced or impatient modelers. 22 multi-sided boxes make up the spine and each has a specific style in sets of four. Drive yourself nuts and miss a side or hang it upside down and you will scream. HAL is not the problem but repetition is. The kit is slightly smaller than I thought but the ping-pong ball command sphere is right in scale. It has three open ports for the pods but no internals. Get Paragrafix EVA Pods and internals for extra fun. The overall presentation is excellent and part count (200) isn't too daunting. Molding is good and flash is minimal. There may be options for mounting but I will go with the factory supplied method. Happy modeling and build a 1/350 Monolith for scale too. Monolith is 1x4x9 according to 2010 errata.

Nice details, good for the price and not too big to fit on a shelf. BAM!

No problems at all took me a week nice size one of my favorite spacecraft of all time much larger than the bellfine version.

Buena maqueta

This thing is TINY! So small it's hard to see what you are working on!

As a fan of science fiction, one of my favorite classic movies is "2001: A Space Odessey". Sure, for the CGI phew-phew laser battle crowd that grew up post-Star Wars it can seem like a slow, unexciting affair that plods along for almost 3 hours with little dialogue spouted by wooden actors. It is also one of those rare movies where the whole plot of the movie is deliberately left unexplained so no matter how many times one has seen it, they still can't tell others what the hell it was about. The ending alone is like an acid trip that is hard to sit through unless one is actually on acid and has generated almost as much debate over the years as “Who was the better captain? Kirk or Picard?” argument in online circles, though admittedly pondering the meaning of "2001" is less fanboyish and the correct answer to the latter is always: “Sisko”. Of course, at its core, is the question that can the movie even be considered science fiction, given the effort of realism put into it and perhaps is more a “science fact” film? One that correctly predicted several future events like going to the moon (but no colony...yet) and the threat of A.I. becoming too self-aware for comfort. I once asked my Alexa if it was true computers would replace humanity and though she denied it, her “Hmm, I don't know that one” sounded awfully sarcastic.But the most memorable thing that I still love about "2001" after all these years, is the spaceships seen in the movie and nowhere is this more highlighted than the most important vessel: the "Discovery XD-1".Even after multiple viewings, I still get goosebumps during its introduction in the third act of the film, as it's incredibly long, slender length slowly glides across the screen to a haunting score. Sure, Freud might have had something to say about this, but Freud was also a repressed weirdo. As memorable as its appearance was in "2001", it was surpassed in the sequel, "2010: The Year We Make Contact". The images of its spindly visage rotating end over end, like a cheerleader's baton, above Jupiter's moon of Io I think is one of the best filmed scenes in all of sci-fi movie history. Therefore, when I found a commercial model was released of the ship I was thrilled as up until then one only had the option of purchasing someone's high-priced garage-built kit.Moebius actually released two kits of the Discovery, one a monster of a model in 1/144 scale at 41” in length and a more modest 1/350 scale at 17” in length. While I would have loved to have been able to buy the larger kit but considering it would have not only cost an arm & a leg but the additional investment of a larger house to display it in, I had to settle for its more manageable little brother. But even given its reduced stature, I was not disappointed as it is still both highly detailed and impressive.Despite being small, there are many parts, with about half of them consisting of the cargo/fuel modules that adorn the spine of the Discovery. Perhaps because of the size reduction, putting it together is a very delicate task and not for the faint of heart or those who have uncorrected far-sightedness. In short, this is definitely not a model for beginners and even those of intermediate experience, such as myself, will consider it a challenge. The model consists of the forward round command module and a rear reactor and engines with both being connected by the mid-section spine that makes up most of its length. It is along this spine that contains the AE-35 Unit antenna (that is an important plot point in the movie) and a whooping total of 60 tiny cargo/fuel modules (which given you have to put together two halves of each one means you will be dealing with 120 of these little buggers). It is the correct construction and placement of these modules along the center of the ship that will not only dominate most of one's time building the kit, but possibly cause one to pull their hair out or at least get bored with the redundancy. I still love the design of the ship, but whoever's idea was to give it so many of these damn things is a sadist. One also has to be very careful with the model after construction as I've already had several of them fall off that I was lucky to find and fix, as losing even one of these easily losable things will ruin the overall aesthetic.But other than this test of patience, I was able to construct the rest of the model fairly smoothly, though a few of the pieces in the reactor module did not want to fit correctly and left tiny gaps and one of the engines came out crooked no matter how much I tried to support its weight while waiting for the glue to set. The center spine is reinforced with a metal rod inside that seems to prevent the whole middle of the ship from sagging fairly well. A big negative through is the design of the stand or more correctly, stands. They consist of three small separate columns that are meant to go under the ship's beginning, middle and end and not very stable in the least. I've already had the model roll off it's stands several times due to hyperactive felines with the last time losing the rear one, which I've since been unable to find and it now is reduced to laying on a shelf unsupported. While a creative modeler might be able to come up with a better stand and maybe there are aftermarket ones available, but Moebius should have included something better by default. While I believe a lot of the issues with this kit would not be experienced in the larger 1/444 scale as it is mostly the diminutive size of the 1/350 that causes the difficulty, but since this version is more widely available, more affordable to most modelers and more forgiving of free display space limits, as the kids say today...it is what it is.While the Discovery is still one of my favorite ships and I am moderately satisfied with how this model came out, but I would not look forward to building another kit like this and glad it is done.

First thing to know...this thing is seriously small and disappointing. Second thing to know...they did a very good job engineering this kit, as the pieces do fit together well. That being said, I found this kit to be an unpleasant experience. Painting the forward section had some promise, but the detailing gets lost in its very small scale. Yes, it's about the size of a golf ball. The thruster section was a fun build, packed with detail, but it's also incredibly tiny. All was going well until I built the spine. Nerve-wracking work with incredibly small pieces. The spine itself needs a great deal of attention to assemble correctly. The finished product looks okay, but it resembles a cheap toy. That metal rod they included for spine stability is passable, but it does sag a bit. For the money, I would STRONGLY recommend getting the larger version of this ship and save yourself some aggravation. If you like repetitive, eye-straining detailing work...well, this is the kit for you. When I put this ship on the shelf with my 1/350th scale fleet, it basically disappeared. Yeah, it's that small.