As promised...
and as stated in the last release, no Teaser images with this batch.
Its the Eagle 5 from Spaceballs
The best thing to come out of the Star Wars universe...in my opinion.
...is Mel Brooks farcical take on the saga and other great sci-fi films...SpaceBalls.
In the same great tradition of comedy farces like Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles,
Mel Brooks spared no expense creating a big budget epic...poking fun at the Star Wars story and its characters.
The evil Dark Helmet has to be one the best ideas for character parody, played masterfully by Rick Moranis.
The lead "hero" is Lone Starr and his sidekick Barf (a human size cat?) and they travel the universe in their Eagle 5 Winnebago spacecraft.
Literally, a modified Winnebago Chieftain 33 foot RV with wings and space engines!
I see it on TV all the time, and I am always tempted to stop and watch a few minutes...
although I have only ever seen the entire film once...many decades ago.
I really don't remember it that well...
and I never wanted to add the Eagle 5 to my Koolwheelz collection because its a fairly large model (even at Koolwheelz scale)
and because the vehicle is already available, as a paper model, from at least two other designers on the Webanet.
However...both of those models are somewhat stylized and are not entirely accurate to the film model
...and one is not the correct style and design of Winnebago motorhome.
So, I figured "what the heck", lets give it a try and see what I could come up with.
I decided to try to match the scale of my other Motorhome models and keep the design close to average Koolwheelz scale.
My first attempt to get the model down to as few parts as possible, still required more than two full sheets of parts...with no room for anything else.
And after building the beta version, I realized it really needed to be scaled down much further.
I don't know what the final scale of the model is...I haven't calculated...but it is slightly smaller than the Stripes EM-50 Motorhome.
Although it doesn't look that small, because of the wings and overall wingspan...it is still the biggest Koolwheelz model to-date.
Only Koolwheelz model that is longer, is the Budweiser Hitch Team.
Even though I stylize my models to simplify the parts and construction, I still put a lot of effort into duplicating the correct shape,
the proper dimensions, and the correct exterior details and artwork.
I decided not to complicate the model with an undercarriage or underbody elements...just not enough room for the parts on the model sheet.
And I decided not to weather the look as much as the movie model.
I tried to (at first) but wasn't happy with any of my attempts.
So, consider this a freshly spacewashed Eagle 5. Barf polished her up real good!
As I mentioned, this is a two page model...with enough room on the second sheet to add an assembly diagram.
I think its all fairly straightforward...we won't bother with a separate Assembly Sheet for this one.
You can find the model download in the Star Carz section at my website.
Interesting tidbit about Spaceballs...
Producer Mel Brooks asked, and got full permission, from George Lucas to parody his Star Wars film.
Lucas not only agreed but gave him carte blanche on Star Wars subject matter, with only one stipulation...
absolutely no Spaceballs related merchandising after the film was made.
LOL To me, it really illustrates where Lucas primary focus always lies.
This is why there are no Spaceballs related toys, or collectibles.
