Pegasus Hobbies War of The Worlds (2005) 1:144 Scale Alien Tripod Model Kit

I ordered this kit from Amazon because Amazon had the best price and nobody can argue about the return policy.I did model HO scale railroading in many years ago and recently started with military models in 1/35 scale and cars in the 1/24 scale.In 2005, the "War of the Worlds" movie came out. The best part of the movie was the Tripods. When the model became available I had to get it.There not many parts to the model, maybe 60 to 70, molded in battleship grey ABS plastic. This means MEK styrene solvent (liquid cement) does not work well with this. You have to use either CA (super glue) or the type of cement sold in the black squared off plastic bottle with the needle pipe applicator. The head of the model is a clear smoked plastic that works well if the kit is going to be lighted so you get the purplish glow around the edges as in the night shots.The instructions are pretty clear in terms of the order of assembly. Pay attention to the precautions on the assembly of the left, right, and rear leg parts. They look similar but are not interchangeable.Once assembled, it looks spindly but the three legged stance balances well. I cut out sheet magnets and glued them to the bottom of the feet and I used a steel 12 inch pizza pan for a base for stickiness. Of course you can just cement it to the plastic base that comes with it. I dressed up mine with model railroad grass and gravel and used N-scale buildings, tanks, and soldiers for my display. The model stands about 15 inches tall.The three eyes (or headlights)on this kit have clear lenses and those with electronics skills can wire this kit for realistic looking lighting with all the space available in the head of the model. I didn't do this but I painted the three eyes with glow in the dark paint before gluing on the lenses with white school glue.The instructions give options for assembling the Tripod with either the grasping tentacles and capture baskets or the heat beam arms deployed. These are not the only options. Watch the movie and you will see other configurations. I have the tentacles and arms deployed without the baskets. This is the configuration seen at the end of the movie in the scene with the birds prior to the destruction of the Tripods.The painting instructions are weak. They say paint it gray. If you look at various images on the Internet and watch the movies you see various depictions in a dirty metallic gray. I used metallic silver and used a flat black wash thinned with liquid soap and thinner. I painted the purple areas with silver thinned with lighter fluid. These are not recommendations on how to do it. It's just what I did. Look at images and/or watch the movie and do as you see fit.It's a fun kit. Not that difficult to assemble with endless possibilities for the coloring. This is not a pretty object so I think it would have to be a really bad assembly and paint job to make it look bad. It came out of the ground after thousands of years. It's a war machine, it's oily and grimy, and it gets blown up so it's not a beauty but it's fun to build and fun to look at when you're done.

Good model kit, very accurate to the movie

How good a model kit turns out will always come down to the modelers skill and the quality of the model. This is a great Kit with very good detail to it and allows for some mad effects to be put on it. Highly recommended if you can get you hands on one

This model is challelnging to build because of the long 'feet'. Once completed, it is awesome looking. My grandson is 12 yr old and an experiieinced model builder...He loved it.

PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY on this product. It's nothing like the pictures on Amazon. It's very cheap plastic that falls apart as soon as you snap it to another. I only got a chance to put together one part and gave up because it kept falling apart. I have NEVER had to write a bad review or ask for a refund for a online purchase but this was necessary! They don't want to give my money back!!!! My son is very upset and hurt we can't put his model together.

I really think Pegagsus does a great job with their products. I only wish they offered a prefinished version of this like their other War Of the Worlds models. Now I only have to find time to put this great model together!

Not so many details to finally get great replica of Tripod from the movie so much liked by the kid.Could be ideal to have more numbered details. Identifying leg parts was a bit of a challenge.

Looks really cool when complete, but its really hard to put together.Parts dont fit right, it falls apart really easy.You need to use super glue. Model glue takes too long to dry.The legs do not support the top ...AT ALL....But my son loved it so I guess the torture of the assembly was all worth it!