Just take a second to remember when you were a kid, sitting in front of the TV on a Sunday afternoon. For me that was 35 years ago. You flip through the 3 or 4 channels you had to choose from. Then you come across the Sunday afternoon movie and the feature playing was "War of the Worlds." I remember watching this film as a kid and thinking it was so great. Even today, it's still entertaining. The battles, the Martian machines, and the special effects all were cool. And remember, we had no DVRs or DVD players to rewind and watch certain scenes again. Once you saw the brief glimpse of the Martian on the screen that was it, the rest was left to your imagination. As they say, those were the days.

Well here we have a replica of the Martian War Machine. I always wanted one so when Pegasus Hobbies released this kit, I rushed to get one and was not disappointed. The kit is 1:48 scale so it's a decent size. It comes with about 16 pieces and is very, very easy to assemble. It took 2 days and most of that time was to allow the paint ample time to dry.

Researching several sites, I found out that the original miniatures were handmade with real copper. I didn't quite like Testors' copper color so I went to Ace Hardware figuring they carry a lot of paint you use for other things around the house.

Sure enough I found Krylon's Copper spray paint and after trying it I was very pleased. If you use this paint though, be aware that it disperses the paint in a vertical orientation. You'll see what I mean if you use it. Just make sure you use even passes over the model and you'll need at least 2 coats. I primed the model first then applied the copper color. Give it at least a day to dry. You don't want to leave any fingerprints as you handle the hull. Spray one side of the model then walk away, no matter how tempting it is to do the other side right away.One hint. Make sure you don't assemble the neck too quickly. The neck comes in 2 pieces. You have to put the eye together first, place it into the neck and then seal it with the opposing side. So paint the neck unassembled, paint and put the eye together, then place it into the neck assembly.

Overall this makes a very nice miniature and at 20 bucks, it's a good buy.