Thunderbirds Zero-X

The Thunderbirds are Go movie was released in 1966. Gerry Anderson had made the first Thunderbirds series in 1965 and he was asked to make a movie. For many kids the movie was their first chance to see the Thunderbirds in colour as most people only had Black and White TVs at that time! To celebrate its 50th anniversary I have designed a model of the movie's feature vehicle – the interplanetary exploration vehicle, Zero-X.

In perhaps one of the longest model sequences on film, the Zero-X's five main parts are assembled before launching on its mission to Mars.

The complete ship is made up of its main rocket, the Martian Exploration Vehicle (MEV), Lifting bodies 1&2 and a supersonic nose cone.

The lifting bodies allow the space ship to launch like an aircraft and assist with flight in the atmosphere, once Zero-X is as high as the wings will allow, the lifting bodies are detached and remotely piloted back to the launch site. Zero-X is then a conventional rocket for its journey into space. The nose cone is jettisoned once it is no longer needed and the rocket and MEV journey to the red planet.

Once in orbit around Mars, the MEV detaches and lands on the surface. In the movie it is forced to leave sooner than scheduled. The MEV launches itself back into orbit and docks with the main rocket for its return journey to Earth.

After re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, the lifting bodies reattach to Zero-X and the spaceship lands like an aircraft - or at least that's what it was designed to do....'Calling International Rescue!'

The set includes a micro-scale Thunderbird 2 to assist in the rescue of the crew.

The set would make a great display piece for a fan but also has play value in recreating the assembly process and launch sequence, you can also recreate the re-entry and rescue.

The set is made up from 344 parts and builds into 6 separate models, 5 of which join together to make the model of Zero-X. With a relatively low part count I would hope that this would not be too expensive.

The set would require printed parts for the fins on the model, a large 1 and 2 to identify the lifting bodies and Zero-X marked on the large tail fin. In addition there are two flat panels on the underside which would be printed with a large “ZERO X” logo and of course the MEV needs windows.

It would be great to have a Lego set to mark 50 years since the launch of the film and 50 plus years of International Rescue.