When I ordered the Lunar Models 1/32 scale Proteus, I did so knowing what a pain vacuum formed models can be. Still, for the $80.00 price tag, I expected at least a better quality kit. I was very disappointed.

The vacuum formed hull pieces of the Proteus were quite nice. However, the resin pieces of the kit were crap. The thrust nozzles and snorkel were so badly misaligned and malformed that I threw them away. A new snorkel was built from scratch, with a cut down X-Acto™ knife case used for its clear housing. The thrusters were easily replaced with plastic hose barbs. The hatches were sanded smooth and re-detailed with hand wheels and hinge springs.

The cabin was pitted with deep molding defects, and extremely misshapen. I forced the cabin back into some semblance of its original shape by drilling holes in the hull and pegging the cabin in place at all points with brass rod, then puttied the hell out of it. Making it look good took weeks of sanding, puttying, and priming.

The kit comes without an interior. Mine was built from scratch after watching the boarding sequence in the film over and over for hours, making sketches and driving my wife crazy as I went. She still quotes "All in all, quite a canoe." whenever this topic comes up. The interior was built using sheet styrene, brass photo etched aircraft instrument panels, and pieces from the spare parts bin. A speaker grill from an old transistor radio, bought at the Salvation Army Thrift Store for a buck, was cut down to build the map case above the chart table. For the pilot's seat I bought a 1/32 scale snap together pick up truck with bucket seats. Taking one of the seats, I added the foot pedals, head rest, controls, repeater and instruments, then strapped the Captain in with ribbon and photo etched aircraft buckles.

The Proteus was supposed to come with a crew of divers...mine were noticeably absent, and Lunar wasn't eager to replace them. Soviet tank mechanics were drafted to replace the AWOL crew, except Raquel of course, as the Russians just didn't have the right curves. A Soldat barbarian princess worked nicely for her, with a scuba suit sculpted over her barely armored form. CMDF patches for the crew's coveralls and an accurate circulatory system map for the repeater, both made on our computer, helped detail out the interior.

Finally, after much sanding, polishing, and waxing, I was able to add a few press typed exterior markings and some no-skid steps cut from sandpaper and call her done. This model won first place in its class at the 1997 Subregatta, against some very tough competition. It just goes to show that even a bad kit, with patience and skill, can be saved.