My new TWA Moonliner

I just took possession of a model of the TWA Moonliner. Disney Tomorrowland fans will appreciate the size and detail of this one....

Boy that's a Big one.

Jeff(btd)

Argh! I had the chance to pick up this model a year or so ago & didn't. Yours looks awesome!

Holy crap! That thing is suhhhweeet! I never saw that model before, is it a newer model, and if so, what brand?

On 2009-11-18 17:07, Tom Slick wrote:
Holy crap! That thing is suhhhweeet! I never saw that model before, is it a newer model, and if so, what brand?

It is by Atomic City. They made a couple dozen or so of these before the molds wore out.

Hell yeah! Nice!!

That is so cool. Wish I had room for one. We are lucky to have an ORIGINAL rocket here in Kansas City at the TWA airline museum which is located at the old downtown airport.
I got to see the rocket last October when Charles Phoenix held a retro slide show there!
Here's Charles holding my friend "Ace" jackalope. Notice they are standing in front of the Moonliner. Photo by Ace's chauffeur and valet our own "Tikijackalope".

LINKS:
http://thelope.com/
http://www.AHMHangar.com
http://www.airlinehistorymuseum.com/museum.htm

I once was lost............but now I'm found

[ Edited by: 8FT Tiki 2009-11-27 08:30 ]

Here's a shot of the Moonliner 2 replica atop the TWA building In Kansas City

and a cool rendering of it's supposed space port

better pictures of mine....

On 2009-11-30 16:22, robotiki wrote:
Here's a shot of the Moonliner 2 replica atop the TWA building In Kansas City

Just to clarify, the rocket seen here is a different one than the one at the airline museum, so YES there are 2 different Moonliners to see here and they are only about 2 miles apart.

What a great thread. I love yesterdays view of tomorrow. You had guys like Willy Ley, Wernher Von Braun and even Walt Disney giving us a view of the future. These views became even clearer with the illustrations of Chesley Bonestell and the Disney animators and a host of other artist. From TV to the movies, toys, books and even lunchboxes space was something new and exciting. Makes me want to get into the old rocket for a quick trip out to Mars for the day. Thanks for the great pics.

I am liking this thread too! (Proud owner of Disney's tomorrowland treasures DVDs!!!!)

Go Werner Von!!!!! (I love how he spelled out and predicted the space shuttle way back in the 50's, even!)

The Tomorrowland DVD's are great. Wernher von Braun's collaboration with Disney resulted in some awesome images. At a time when most space travel films in the US has to have a prerequisite BHA (Butt-Headed Alien), the Disney films portrayed the journey with much realism and high production values.


The Man to the Moon segment of the DVD's has some particuarly stunning images and it is interesting to see how precise and sure von Braun was of his facts & figures.

The vision of tomorrow of the late 50's intermingled with Tiki no place more than California, and ground Zero for the convergence was Disneyland. The sense of optimism that colored Disney's view of tomorrow also pervaded the nation at the time. We were supposed to have big donut shaped space stations and bubble cities on the moon by now. Sigh....
Bonestell & Ley did some beautiful work in this time period. The final scene in "When World's Collide was supposed to feature a diorama of the new world, but Bonestell's production sketch was deemed close enough and used instead.
Not to hijack my own off-topic thread, with something further off-topic, but if you like to see an interesting view of space travel of the future, seek out early Russian Sci-Fi on You Tube, particularly "Road to the Stars."
Some more on the Moonliner from Wilkopedia:

"The TWA Moonliner was a futuristic exhibit that was once at Tomorrowland at Disneyland in the 1950s. It marked TWA product placement by Howard Hughes.
At 76 feet tall, it was the tallest structure in the park—eight feet taller than the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Adjoining the rocket was the attraction Flight to the Moon, which later became Mission To Mars.
It was designed by John Hench, one of the original Disney Imagineers, with the help of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, and it resembled a V-2 rocket, depicting what travel would be like in 1986.
Its "retractable" legs were said to resemble TWA's Lockheed Super Constellation. It featured port holes, a cockpit, and a boarding ramp. The Moonliner was to be powered by atomic power.
After Hughes left TWA, the airline pulled the sponsorship of the TWA Moonliner, and it later became the Douglas Moonliner after the new sponsor Douglas Aircraft Company. This new moonliner was the same height as the original, but it had a new paint scheme of white, blue and black. The famous red TWA logo shown on the nose of the moonliner disappeared.
The moonliner stayed at the park until 1967, when it was probably demolished. A scaled-down version of the moonliner, complete with the familiar TWA red stripes, was added as part of the 1998 New Tomorrowland and is today used to promote Coca-Cola "Delivering Refreshment to a Thirsty Galaxy." It sits next to the building that used to house Flight to the Moon, which is now Redd Rockett's Pizza Port.
A 32-foot version of the Moonliner, known as the TWA Moonliner II, was placed on top of the TWA Corporate Headquarters' Building in Kansas City, Missouri."


And who can forget the Monsanto home? Here it and a model of the Moonliner are in an exhibit on Disney's Dreams.

Robotiki
Mira Mar League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

[ Edited by: robotiki 2009-12-03 15:21 ]

A few days ago Silverline and I went on a KC research day trip and while we were downtown, passed the TWA building with the Moonliner on the roof. We stopped for a minute and he took this photo of me in front of the West side of the building. While we were standing there Silverline told me a really interesting story about the rocket and I will ask him to relate it here in this thread.

On 2009-12-10 12:55, 8FT Tiki wrote:
While we were standing there Silverline told me a really interesting story about the rocket and I will ask him to relate it here in this thread.

Well, I hate to admit it but it turns out the story I told you was incorrect; this is not the original rocket. I double-checked with a couple people and while I'm told the location of the original IS known, the building's owner could not, for one reason or another, obtain it for the restoration.

The story I heard was that in looking for someone to make them a replica they found the original in a public playground in or around Columbia, Missouri and bought it instead.

Now the story my wife remembers (and of course it differs from my recollection) is that they found the original in a field along the highway somewhere in mid-Missouri and while the owner didn't want to sell it back to them, he did allow them to use it to make the replica.

Here's what they say about it:

"Back in 1955, Howard Hughes built a 35-foot rocket and put it on the roof of the historic TWA building that we now call home. The rocket symbolized his dream to someday shoot passengers into space. The original rocket is long gone, but we've built a perfect replica. Because we like the idea of going where no one has gone before."

Oh well, it's a damn fine replica!

[ Edited by: SilverLine 2009-12-11 06:53 ]

Just saw on the Atomic City site they are remastering the molds so they will be able to offer this kit again next year.....

http://atomiccity.yuku.com/topic/634/t/Ordering-the-1955-MOONLINER.html

Thanks for the heads-up re: the re-release of this kit. I've got an email in to the producer so here's hoping I can get a kit when they come out next month.

The masters for the TWA kit have been acquired by Masterpiece Models and they are supposed to re-release this kit in the fall:
http://www.masterpiecemodels.com/

Sure do wish I would've had Shag's print of the Moonliner/Tomorrowland when he was in our room at the Hukilau room crawl so I could have had him sign it....

Picked up these two things about 15 yrs ago at Disneyland Cal. Wondered if you could tell me if there any info you have on them. The resin Moonliner is about 22" tall. Thanks.

I happened upon this old thread and can offer two pieces of information that may or may not relate to the story Silverline's wife heard about a rocket in a field along a Missouri highway.

Near Lebanon, MO, the rocket part of a sign for the defunct Satellite Café lies in a field near route 66 (last I knew). See http://www.jmcnews.com/preservation_endangered.html for a photo.

Also, there was a Rocket Motel in Joplin back in the 60's or so. It's long gone, but the sign, a 15-20 ft. rocket, languished, partially disassembled and laying on its side out in the weather near a fireworks store. The owner simply didn't take care of it and the paint faded over the years to the point that it was almost invisible. I photographed it a few times and it was worse every time. It vanished a couple years ago and workers in the store told me it was hauled away for scrap. See it in its glory days, here: http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/jplnpstcrds&CISOPTR=911&CISOBOX=1&REC=20

Also in Joplin, the defunct H&L miniature golf course had four "rockets" that stood on the weed-overgrown course after it was abandoned. The larger ones were made from aircraft fuel tanks with fake fins welded on and were hauled away as scrap. They were too big for me to get, but in my infinite generosity, I did make the owner an offer to haul away the smaller ones for free. They are actually WWII practice bombs.

None of the above look like the Moonliner, but to a non-aficionado, a rocket may be a rocket like a tiki is a tiki. Also, details get garbled well before we hear stories. (As sure as I write this, the real Moonliner will rise from a prairie in Missouri.)

I've chased a Christmas flying saucer that sat atop a Joplin industry in the 1960's near my childhood home and have found about a half dozen red herrings over the years. Rockets, UFOs and tikis...those were the days!

On 2009-12-11 06:47, SilverLine wrote:

On 2009-12-10 12:55, 8FT Tiki wrote:
While we were standing there Silverline told me a really interesting story about the rocket and I will ask him to relate it here in this thread.

Well, I hate to admit it but it turns out the story I told you was incorrect; this is not the original rocket. I double-checked with a couple people and while I'm told the location of the original IS known, the building's owner could not, for one reason or another, obtain it for the restoration.

The story I heard was that in looking for someone to make them a replica they found the original in a public playground in or around Columbia, Missouri and bought it instead.

Now the story my wife remembers (and of course it differs from my recollection) is that they found the original in a field along the highway somewhere in mid-Missouri and while the owner didn't want to sell it back to them, he did allow them to use it to make the replica.

Here's what they say about it:

"Back in 1955, Howard Hughes built a 35-foot rocket and put it on the roof of the historic TWA building that we now call home. The rocket symbolized his dream to someday shoot passengers into space. The original rocket is long gone, but we've built a perfect replica. Because we like the idea of going where no one has gone before."

Oh well, it's a damn fine replica!

[ Edited by: SilverLine 2009-12-11 06:53 ]