by Owen Top

Let us consider the age old question: What was the young rock'n'roll fuelled rebellious Martian teen getting around in during the 50s, while his old man was out abducting earthlings?

Well obviously, he had a Hot Rod! A Flying Saucer Hot Rod! An older model of course, fitted with more engine than you can shake a stick at, a flashy paint job, and stripped of all unnecessary weight so it'd go like the clappers!

The model itself is built from the saucer section of an old AMT Enterprise I scrounged up on eBay. It was badly built, and had about a millimetre of cheap white spray paint on it... I was trying to find a recognisable UFO kit to pimp, but had to settle on this arrangement when I couldn't find any. I cut away the bridge bulge and fitted the interior from a '57 ford (suitably modified with tuck 'n' roll upholstery of course!), and cut holes in the bottom for the lifting drives - four gold plated Volkswagen hubcaps (You can't pimp a ride without fitting rims!). The engine involves bits of modified '57 ford V8, shuttle booster rockets, engine bell from an Apollo CM toy and various other things I scrounged up. The windscreen started life as a dome, and would have stayed that way except I decided it was easier to cut it down into a roadster screen than to remove the injection point on top...

Paint is Tamiya spray with interior details painted in Citadel colour.

Image: Top/left view

Image: Engine

Image: Front

Image: Bench seating

Image: Rimz

Image: Left side