THE BLACK HOLE
V.I.N.CENT. (MODEL KIT) PROJECT #220 BUILT/PAINTED: 2002 "You can't modify perfection. We're the best!" V.I.N.CENT. and Old B.O.B. from Disney's The Black Hole are among my all-time favorite movie robots. Oddly, most of the online film reviews I've read seem to blame the robots for ruining what would otherwise have been a half-decent sci-fi flick. As far as I'm concerned, the robots are pretty much the only thing of interest in the movie! The film was released when I was only four years old, and one of my fondest early memories is owning the model kit of V.I.N.CENT. released by MPC. (Actually, I'm sure I must have broken it not too long after I got it, because my most vivid memory is of building it, not actually playing with it.) As an adult, I toyed with the idea of finding a replacement on eBay, and by a stroke of luck I managed to snag one in a dutch auction, brand new, for only a fraction of the price it normally goes for. In building the model kit, my intent was to make V.I.N.CENT. (whose name stands for Vital Information Necessary Centralized) as authentic to the film as possible. I didn't own the movie on DVD at the time, so I had to gather together as much reference material as possible. I found a few photos online, but mostly I referred to the 1979 storybook and record album set produced by Disneyland Records, which had some very good still shots of V.I.N.CENT. I also sat down in front of my VHS copy of the movie and drew up a color model, paying special attention to details like the colors of his control panel lights. The model kit was molded in more or less the correct colors, but I nevertheless ended up painting every single piece. (The stock decals were still viable, shocking considering their age, and I was able to use those for his eyes and name stamp and labor force markings.) I also made some physical changes to the design of the kit. V.I.N.CENT. comes with interchangeable arm and claw attachments (over 20 accessories in all) and the instructions specifically indicate not to glue them so you can swap them out if you want to. The problem here is that the side panels need to be able to close when his claws are retacted, and pivot open slightly when his claws are extended. Gluing the doors in place would prevent this. So, I built a hinge for each one, gluing a piece of plastic-coated paper clip to the inside of each door and drilling small holes into the model for the paper clip to rest inside. Now the doors can pivot open and closed as necessary. I did the same thing for the door near the top of his body so that I can either attach the arm with the buzzsaw blade, or remove it and close the door panel. I have a second V.I.N.CENT. model kit that I want to try to turn into Old B.O.B. at some point. |
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