As a teenage science-fiction fan, I loved the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, watched it whenever it came on the 4:30 movie after school, and I even read Isaac Asimov’s novelization of the script. I had long wanted to build and light the Moebius Models Proteus sub, and, struck by the simultaneously futuristic and very dated/psychedelic sets of the film, I decided to try my hand at a box that offered all sorts of possibilities for new techniques, including translucent sheets of Sculpey, some playful lighting, and a unique round viewing window that I hoped would evoke watching the proceedings inside through a microscope.

Alas, I consider this one a monumentally failed experiment. The lighting and Sculpey more or less work, but nothing I tried could adequately camouflage the boxy nature of the box, or at least not in a workable size. Projecting an air of menace in the brain tumor that the miniaturized crew zaps with a laser inside the scientist’s body was also a challenge, and I tried half a dozen times before settling on another lump of translucent baked clay lit with green from behind. I’m not happy with the end result, but hey, I had a lot of fun!

Above: Building the Proteus (after cutting it in half with a razor saw), and playing with the dimensions and viewing window. Below: The interior of the ship comes together, along with the interior lights. The crew inside the sub are resin figures from Jimmy Flinstone, while the divers to come outside are 3D-printed.

Below: Roughing out the inside of the scientist’s body with the Sculpey sheets that would be lit from behind, and the first version of the “brain tumor,” which started as a black lump of Sculpey that didn’t look nearly threatening enough; was then gussied up with tentacles that still looked wrong, and finally was replaced with more translucent Sculpey lit from behind. You’ll see I used bigger lights than usual from Super Bright LEDs to illuminate the Sculpey sheets, though I did turn to my usual Evan Designs LEDs for the brain tumor and some ambient lighting.

The third attempt at being finished with this one, or the best I can do without going back to square one. The shots without the reveal are not kind, but it does look better through the viewing window as seen at the bottom, if only because you can see less of that troublesome right wall! Oh, about that CMDF logo on the bottom right: I had bought the photo-etch set for the Proteus, and it came with that neat piece as an extra. It stands for “Combined Miniature Defense Force,” don’t you know. I love that!