Disney’s The Black Hole is a science-fiction adventure movie that follows the crew of the exploration vessel USS Palomino as they discover the long-lost USS Cygnus perched at the edge of an immense black hole. The Cygnus is manned by eccentric and megalomaniacal Dr. Hans Reinhardt, his sinister bodyguard robot, Maximilian, and a crew of faceless robots. The horrifying truth is that the mechanical drones are actually the zombified, lobotomized remains of Reinhardt’s original human crew. As Reinhardt prepares to pilot his ship directly into the void to discover the secrets of the universe, the Palomino crew — accompanied by their own loyal, witty robot, V.I.N.CENT (“Vital Information Necessary Centralized”) and Cygnus’ battered robot B.O.B. (“Bio-sanitation Battalion”) — must stage a desperate escape before being pulled into the gravity well. Notable for being Disney’s first PG-rated film, the robots are the best parts of the movie by far, in my opinion.
MPC first released V.I.N.CENT in 1979, and over the last 47 years, it has become highly collectible. For the first time since its debut, Round 2 has re-released the classic Disney robot as the MPC 1/6 scale Disney’s The Black Hole V.I.N.CENT plastic model kit. Faithful to the original model, the only changes from the original are revised locator pins and a new decal sheet. With only 74 parts, the kit goes together quickly, and the full color molding (with the exception of the “leg” parts) means you could build it unpainted — useful for kids and novices builders.
The main body fit together well for a kit of its pedigree and only needed minimal sanding to hide the mold seams. In a couple of small spots on the side of its body, I filled low spots where the panels meet with super glue and then sanded them smooth.
One thing to keep an eye out for during assembly is that some areas look like mold lines at first glance but are actually raised line details that were on the filming model. A good example of this is the line around V.I.N.CENT’s head. I found it helpful to have a large reference image of V.I.N.CENT to glance at while building.
I left all the arm and leg options as subassemblies so they were able to be swapped out later and to make painting easier. Some parts, like the extended legs or arms, have large press-fit pegs and can be swapped out. Some of the options, like the guns in the firing position, the front arm doors, and the door for the cutting arm need to be glued in place. I chose to cement the guns in the stowed position as well as the cutting arm door. I left the front arm side panels loose and held them in place with poster putty when switching out the arms.
The decals are the only area that really gave me some trouble. Nicely printed and in registration, the carrier film is very thick, and they don’t want to soften as much as other decals with decal solution. I found Micro Sol and Solvaset both worked about equally well on them, softening them slightly. I needed to resort to brute force to get them to lay completely flat. What worked best for me was to apply the decals then brush on one of the decal solutions and let it start softening the film. After a few minutes, I pressed the decals firmly onto the surface of the model. Adding a little heat with a hairdryer helped, but only slightly.
The only decals I would place completely differently were the ones around the leg pods. They are basically flat, rectangular decals meant to wrap around a complex curve. Getting them to lay flat was practically impossible. If I were to redo them, I would have never wrapped them around the leg pod, instead cutting them into sections, or masking and painting.
Other than the decals, I had a great time building the MPC 1/6 scale Disney’s The Black Hole V.I.N.CENT plastic model kit. Having only 74 parts that are all good-sized, I think any modeler will find it a fun kit to build. Just take your time on the decals and don’t be afraid to show them who is boss. I built and painted V.I.N.CENT over a long weekend, taking about 25 hours to complete.