Colonel Foster was a member of a secret, high-technology international agency called SHADO (an acronym for Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defence Organisation) established to defend Earth and humanity against the mysterious aliens.  He was a former test pilot but when he joined S.H.A.D.O. he was a moonbase commander as well as Straker’s protégé at Earth HQ, perhaps that the reason he got to drive around in this fantastic lilac car which is so good it meant he could get a date with Col. Virginia Lake.  If that’s not a recommendation, I don’t know what is.

 

The cars were designed by Derek Meddings and built by Alan Mann Racing who built Fords for the racetrack and also Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a year earlier.  Based on Ford Zephyr chassis and using smaller 1300cc engines they were no ball of fire in reality but as a vision of the future the cars were perfect.

In the kit you get

  • Resin bodyshell
  • Vacform windows
  • Vacform interior
  • Resin driver’s head
  • Resin wheel inserts

Bodyshell preparation is here, detail follows below.

As always with resin parts, wash them in soapy water to get rid of any mould release agents, then leave them them to dry. Choose your favourite primer and get to it. The paint I used was lilac (RAL 4009 Pastel Violet), so I chose a white primer from the same paint manufacturer.

I use 600 grit wet & dry paper after the primer coats, then start with the top coats making sure each coat is fully dry before sanding again. 600 grit between top coats, and usually 3 coats is enough.

Glueing the windows in place is as per the other cars, the headlight covers can be a bit of a challenge so use some tape to hold them while the glue dries.

Ignore the colour shown here – my first attempt at the colour came out pink.

Paint the interiors to suit and glue the resin driver’s head in place. Still pink bodyshell – ugh.

Mark the chassis screw holes and drill them with a 2mm bit. Make sure there’s enough clearance between the chassis when it rocks and the car’s interior.

This is the RAL 4009 Pastel Violet which looks much closer to the TV colour.

Then get on the track!