The canopy section that has windows in it is made in clear perspex, hear seen masked up.

The MEV (Martian Excursion Vehicle) starts out life fabricated in 1/8th inch ABS plastic.

The moulds used to press the canopy with the final pressing painted and sitting in place.

The start of the main body, also made of ABS plastic, being aligned and fitted to the MEV.

The main body fabricated in 1/8th inch ABS. The strengthening bulkheads can be seen here.

Isopon car filler was used to fill in the joins and sanded down to blend sections together.

The main central body boxed in ABS with deep scribe lines added like the original design.

The rear motor section is a very complicated set of intakes again mostly made in ABS.

Here the rear round motor housings can be seen. These were turned in aluminium.

A bench load of bits! Various Sections of Zero X litter the benchtop.

The motor section being fitted to the main body was glued using Dichloromethane solvent.

The rear fin housing was made in Jelutong wood and fitted to the rear motor section.

The beginning of the 2 lifting bodies. They were individually carved from Jelutong wood.

Once carved, I cut away sections to house the engines and turned the pencil-like noses.

The round nose sections were struck into the slots cut, and blended in with Isopon car filler.

The 4 vertical tailplane wings were carved in Lime wood & sloted into the wings.

Lifting bodies and main body ready for primer painting. Note wing engines resting in place.

The main sections of Zero X are checked to see that they fit together correctly.

The wings were given 6 coats of primer and left to dry before being rubbed down.

Sections of Zero X after primer painting litter the workshop. Note wing engines in foreground.

Painted in "Kingfisher" blue, now the black & white wing lines were sprayed on.

The main model with all its colours applied. The whole model was sprayed in Halfords paint.

Here I am seen fitting the 16 wing engines, which were pre-painted before assembly.

Panel lines were drawn on in biro then scribed into the model with a scalpel.

An essential part of the model, the weathering. Here the wing is very dirty indeed!

Once the soot is rubbed off it catches in the panel lines, highlighting them in a realistic way.

Particular attention was paid to weathering around the engines: where dirt would naturally lie.

Weathering was sealed on with clear lacquer, then the stripes were added with fine tape.

The nosecone starts out in perspex & wood. Its jets are in the vice in the background.

Once rubbed down the nosecone was sprayed aluminium. I now begin to add chrome tape.

Before being carved I check to see that the nosecone fits over the finished MEV.

Finished and ready to paint, the nosecone has its jets attached, and tip made in Perspex.

The nosecone was clad in chrome tape just the way the original model was done.

A close-up showing the sleek finish of the nosecone achieved with chrome tape.

Virtually finished, the model sits on the bench, all its sections put together.

The MEV with its exploration tracks attached for trundling over the Martian surface.

The tracks were made from a Tamiya tank kit. The only bit of kit-bashing on the model!

Another view showing the tracks down. They were on a plate that screwed to the underside.

It was necessary to use self-tapping screws to attach the two Lifting Bodies.

Finished at last! Martin with the completed Zero X.