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Pat LeBlanc's take on the Langley Lander
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Submitted by Pat LeBlanc 2015.04.09
This is probably my favorite Pat LeBlanc custom and I'm the proud owner of one. To be it exemplifies the experimental craft that Mattel used to define the Major Matt Mason toy line prior to it becoming more Science Fiction that fact based.
From Pat (edited a bit from multiple posts):
As they used to say “adapted from official space program design”. This handmade vehicle is based on the Langley Lander proposed for the American space program in the early 1960’s.
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Langley Lander Diagram
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Two large tanks provide fuel for four rocket engines under the seat allowing for a powered descent to the Moon and a return trip to Lunar orbit. Matt and his colleagues use this as a “hopper” to get around the Lunar environment.
The lander is custom fabricated from vacuum-formed Styrene and Plexiglas materials. It is 12” by 12” by 7.5” tall. It is made from 14 pieces of vacuum-formed Styrene and one thermal-formed piece of Plexiglas (the canopy). The canopy swings back like a visor. The decals are MMM-style.. The cockpit features a seat for the astronaut and a moving canopy that flips up and down (like the astronaut’s visor).
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| Vacuforming Plexiglas isn't for the weak of heart |
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Vacuform Mold for back
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| Vacuformed Back |
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| Vacuform Leg Mold |
This one has been on my “to do” list for about 10 years (since I’ve been vac-forming). The most challenging part was the canopy. The shape for the master is a torus with round cross sections in two dimensions. Most of the masters I make are foam because it is easy to shape. This one had to be made of wood because the forming temperature of Plexiglas is 425 °F (versus about 300 °F for Styrene). Once I knew I could form a good canopy, I made the masters for the other parts.
Like their 60’s era counterparts, the laser printed decals provide details not molded into the plastic. Decals are applied to the legs to simulate structural members. The decals on the back include fuel gauges and rendezvous lights.
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| Storm Final Check prior to lift-off (1) |
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| Storm Final Check prior to lift-off (2) |
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| Matt and Storm Final Check prior to lift-off (1) |
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| Matt and Storm Final Check prior to lift-off (2) |
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| Doug gives the Lander a Go! (1) |
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| Doug gives the Lander a Go! (2) |
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| Cabin and custom MMM Sticker Details |
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| Lunar Lander Top View |
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| Lunar Lander Bottom View |
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| Lunar Lander Back View |
Only a limited number of these landers were* (sic) made. Each one has a sticker (inside one of the legs) indicating the date of assembly and its serial number. Hey, wouldn’t this thing look great on a quad-copter? It weighs about 210 grams without a figure.
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| A Trio of Lunar Landers |
You can reach Pat LeBlanc on Facebook.
Should anybody reading this have any similar information, additions or corrections, then we would very much appreciate hearing about them.
All Mattel images and captions are copyright Mattel and used without permission. All other content, including images and editorial, is Copyright © 1997-2024 John Eaton and/or contributors unless otherwise stated. If there are any comments or objections, please contact John
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