Last week we finished our look at the 9" Dart Flash Gordon space ships by Premier Plastics. The Dart designation is my own as they remind me of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, called by many 'The Lawn Dart'. This next variation is what I call the Wide Body and when compared side-by-side with the Dart you'll understand why. Like the Dart, the Wide Body is so full of port holes that I have a hard time thinking of either one as anything more than just a transport, not the racy fighters that perhaps the designers had hope for. For these ships to fill that role there would have to be less ports, and some semblance of weaponry. Still, they are an attractive design and are very reminiscent of '30s Art Deco design - even though they came out in the early 1950s.
The 9" hard plastic variant shown today shares the same tricycle landing gear arrangement as the Dart, with all three wheels being free-wheeling in their own struts. Unlike the Dart which has nine windows behind the cockpit, the Wide Body only has eight. A number '2' is molded into the fuselage underneath the roof while the Dart had a number '1' molded underneath. All variants regardless of body type or size came in a variety of colors. Right now my space fleet only has a yellow 9" wide Body in hard plastic. Enjoy!
