Dinky UFO Interceptor Restoration by Stephen Pryke

[@negotiableaffections]

Thankyou, from all of us who had to make do with the green thing until its little orange plastic legs snapped off. Wish I still had mine, I'd have done this too. But we played the poor things to death - prevented an alien invasion too, so a good day in the mud pit in the back yard!

[@anridapu]

Great job indeed! Like many of us, I grew up watching UFO and Thunderbirds on TV and playing with Dinky Toys and building Airfix kits. I never really ‘grew up’ and my kids think I’m an embarrassment! 😆👌

[@hopebgood]

Such a great job mate. Sadly most of my Gerry Anderson toys are long gone. But I still have my Airfix Angel Interceptor, Eagle and Hawk. OK, I admit they're in bits forgotten in some drawer but I still hang on to them. Bizarrely the plastic ones survived much better than all my metal Dinky ones!

[@archeryman62]

Loved that detailing on the cockpit interior have been inspired ..

[@SpodFromspace]

Jeff Ford thank you. I used a 1/48 pilot figure & various bits/decals from my spares box as you may have noticed I build models too.

[@archeryman62]

Stephen Pryke likewise.....!

[@MatthewOfLondon]

Sorry I am four years late to the party Stephen, just chiming in to say what a beautiful mod. Every instinct says resto to green, but how can anyone do that seeing this? pilot/cockpit absolutely superb

[@andrew1212w]

Nice job fella it looks like the real deal from the TV show 👍

[@augustinboyd9626]

Great job, looks like the show's

[@johnmcglinchey]

Beautiful job . I'm just starting on mine and will be using these colours

[@dogwalker666]

Looks great I have acquired a green Eagle transporter, it looks terrible but I will try to restore it. White obviously.

[@MatthewOfLondon]

Yes I remember metallic blue transporters as well. I did read once that the people at the factory didnt care much because it was kids sci fi, so no need for historical accuracy. The department that took the time to design the models must have been really happy with that.😒 😁

[@archeryman62]

Managed to acquire 4 Intercepters and hope to start on them in the next couple of weeks..

[@Mark-vq5dz]

How did they end up?

[@archeryman62]

Put onto ebay all 4 sold for around d £65 each

[@Mark-vq5dz]

@@archeryman62 Nice work sir, always wanted a Skydiver myself

[@浅利隆]

goodjob‼️beautiful👍👍💯

[@archeryman62]

Great job, have 2 intercepters, 2 Mobiles and Ed strikers car to renovate thanks for your insight...

[@SpodFromspace]

Jeff Ford I have another vid here showing my Ed Straker car restoration. I'm also working on 2 Shado mobiles. On the cards is a Dinky Eagle (Space:1999). I'll post vids once completed.

[@archeryman62]

Stephen Pryke wow! and there was me thinking I was having a mid life crisis, have 2 eagles, Sams Car, Joe 90 car, thunderbird 2 all waiting for restoration , nice to know somebody else share the same interests...

[@nidgeontour257]

Just bought one and am preparing it for painting? Green to white, Is there a quick and easy way to open the cockpit window as my pilot is not stuck down and rolls around like he's drunk at the wheel??!! lol!

[@SpodFromspace]

Undo the screws & everything can come apart. Glue pilot in place & once the glues set, put everything back together & replace the screws.

[@nidgeontour257]

Stephen Pryke ok great! Thanks for the advice!

[@clazza65]

Fantastic.

[@SpodFromspace]

Thanks

[@apemoon1731]

I had one of these. I always wondered why they were green rather than white.

[@hopebgood]

Apparently Dinky thought they'd sell better if they were sold in bright colours as opposed to the real colours that all the fans actually wanted.

[@chrisst8922]

It's funny because Dinky told Mr Anderson they couldn't paint Thunderbird 2 green because children never buy green things.

[@The.Last.Guitar.Hero.]

nice done in proper colours

[@simonmoss101]

Awesome improvement so much better than metallic green.

[@archeryman62]

What type, colour paint and undercoat did you use?

[@SpodFromspace]

Willkinsons grey primer (spray can). Then Tamiya flat white (X2 I think) airbrushed on. Then Tamiya flat red for the stripes. A coat or two of Kleer floor polish sealed the paintwork & helped hide the decal film. Then another coat of Kleer to seal the decals. The silver metallic parts were painted using AK extreme metal paint.

[@archeryman62]

@@SpodFromspace thanks! , just starting 4 interceptors tomorrow

[@SpodFromspace]

@@archeryman62 good luck

[@dogwalker666]

@@archeryman62 did you finish them?

[@archeryman62]

@@dogwalker666 completed all 3 and sold at the NEC Birmingham last year, have 2 more which I am restoring to original paint work

[@anthonyknight2081]

how do the legs come of thanks

[@SpodFromspace]

The original legs were missing. I had to replace them with white metal ones which required a bit of effort to get them to fit on without being too wobbly. Then superglue to finally hold them in place.

[@anthonyknight2081]

thank you stephen

[@Matteline]

Cool!!

[@jorgefranciscojorgeescobar1486]

The MOST ROMANTIC TOY of my century!!! "THANKS GOD!!!", I HAVE ONE ORIGINAL green "DINKY TOYS"! NOT IN ENGLAND!!! IN GUATEMALA, CENTRAL AMERICA!! IM SHURE, YOU NEVER THINK THAT!

[@sitcorocket]

Yes just found mine at my recently deceased mums and am torn between restoring in green or doing a tv accurate white......

[@archeryman62]

How easy is it to replace the skids, as I believe these are riveted

[@SpodFromspace]

Jeff Ford not easy! I had to force the old ones off by hand then push on the white metal replacements using superglue to keep them in place because of the rivets.

[@archeryman62]

Stephen Pryke I guessed it would, have ordered some white metal skids from eBay, looking forward to this but would like to get it right loved this series when I was a kid, but never got any merchandise until a few years ago....must be going through my second childhood...lol

[@Dr.Strangelove.]

must get me some rocket 4 the interceptor and the shadow tank, mine are still in mint condition from my childhood.

[@ancliuin2459]

I have to ask: can it still fire its missile? :)

[@SpodFromspace]

yup!

[@TryptychUK]

Nice job, but it needed "dirtying down".

[@SpodFromspace]

As I wrote on my modelling page this was built as a Dinky toy in more suitable colours rather than a detailed kit would've been.