Sci-fi models · 02
Con-Am shuttle
Outland (1981) · Con-Am 27
This is my model of the Con-Am shuttle from Outland. I built and painted it, and photographed it on its landing pad.
The ship’s weathered panels and exposed machinery suit the film’s mining-colony setting. Here it is both on my workbench and in two AI-generated scenes inspired by the film.
The shuttle and the film
In Outland, Sean Connery plays Marshal William T. O’Niel, stationed at the Con-Am 27 mining colony on Jupiter’s moon Io. The shuttle connects the isolated outpost with the outside world, and its arrival becomes part of the film’s tension. Film details ↗
The original filming miniature has a story of its own. In his account of designing the Fantastic Plastic kit, Bellerophon explains that he worked from photographs of the miniature, repeatedly adjusting 3D shapes until their perspective views matched the reference images. He also describes rollers beneath the landing feet, which allowed them to move as the angled struts compressed, and a CO₂ system used for the exhaust effects. Read the model designer’s account ↗
The actual model
