Space: 1999 Mattel Eagle Transporter Modification

Admin Joined : 01 Feb 2007 Posts : 999

A good customer of ours brought to us his old Mattel Eagle Transporter which had been sitting in the attic for untold years. I (Keith Bradbury) had one of these as a kid, so I was excited to have one. Of course, all the labels were gone or peeling and several pieces were missing or broken, and the glue on the seams were yellowed. It was in pretty bad shape, so I didn't feel too guilty about experimenting with the toy.

I began by cleaning and filling the more obvious seams before giving a completely white coat of paint. Then I repainted all the plastic pieces and painted the black areas. I also removed the top grid and painted the tanks and detail work on top of the ship.

I was missing a full set of engine pods, so I worked out an inexpensive, and relatively simple alternative. I used the top portions of Tropicana Juice bottles (the individual bottles sold in packs of 6). I cut off the top portion at the point where they indent and left the caps on. Then I drilled out the center of the caps so they could go on over the flanges. I spray painted the inside of the new engine pods black, while the outer I sprayed Gray, making sure not to completely cover the black overspray from the inside.

I finished the Eagle with a nice coat of spray polyeurothane and then applied some self-made labels I printed out on my inkjet.

In reviewing, I would have used the smoother Welch's juice bottles, as they do not have the strange impression that the Tropicana juice bottles do. Regardless, they are the right size and I still think they look good.

Joined : 01 Feb 2007 Posts : 711

That's cool! I can't even tell what's nto supposed to be there! Too bad you don't have a "before" picture though! I still think the Eagle is one of the neatest and most simple space designs. It looks so practical but it's instantly recognizable.

Joined : 01 Mar 2007 Posts : 109

I have one of those up in my attic as well packed away.
Last time I checked, and it has been a long time (years) in good shape. If I recall correctly, all pieces are intact.

Now that I think of it a bit more have some other things that I think are still floating around.
The Comm Lock walkie talkies, one pair, I also recall a Space 1999 vinyl play set with some action figures. Think they are the commander, the doctor and the professor, not sure and those however.
I think some other misc. stuff as well. Really was into Space 1999 when I was a kid, so long ago!

Age : 44 Joined : 02 Feb 2007 Posts : 124

Keith, that is really cool. Nice restoration job. I still have my
Eagle from back in the day. It was a great toy and it's nice
to see one look so great.

Joined : 20 Mar 2007 Posts : 85

looks damn good!!