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Fireball XL5

In 1992 I was asked by Thunderbirds comic Editor Alan Fennell (now sadly deceased) if I could produce colour shots of Fireball XL5 for use in the comic. Since Fireball was not produced in colour no photos of it in colour exist

So, needless to say, this involved me in building not only XL5 but also Space City and the launch rail (often referred to as the monorail -but in fact that is incorrect as there were 2 rails on the original set, not one!).

fireball construction 1

fireball construction 2

fireball construction 3

fireball construction 4

Photos 1-5 These photos show the components of Fireball starting to come together. I turned Fireball Junior in wood and press-moulded it in Perspex (Plexiglass), cut the 2 halves carefully out and stuck these together. However, it was necessary to then cut out the canopy section so that I could add the interior at a later date.

fireball construction 5

fireball construction  6

fireball construction   7

fireball construction  8

Photo 6 The launch trolley was made as near to the original as possible,. For reference I used screen-grabs from the recently released videos of the show. Fortunately, these showed me pretty much all I needed to know! The rail was made from EMA plastic extruded box section and the "trolley" slid along the track very easily. The 6 rocket tubes (3 on each side) were metal so I could put smoke cartridges in them for the takeoff shots -just as they did on the original !

 Photos 7 & 8 The finished model sits on the workbench.

fireball on set 9

fireball on set 10

fireball on set 11

fireball on set 12

Photos 9-14 These show the various shots I took for the comic, including some with liberal amounts of smoke!. Space City was made of ABS plastic sheeting and was approx 30 inches high! The entire set was over 8 feet long!

fireball on set 13

taking off! 14

comic photo   15

Junior! 16

Photo 15 A page from the comic showing Fireball surrounded by service gantries. (Pity the caption read "Fireball is seen here roaring down the launch rail"!)

Photo 16 Fireball Junior was made to detach by a magnet and had a full interior, even though the model was only about 5 inches long!

Smoke cartridges are used for Fireball taking off! This photo was also used as a postcard for Fanderson.

Email Martin at: martin@martinbowersmodelworld.co.uk

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