In 1967, the Revell model company ran a contest, the grand prize of which was a full-size Gemini spacecraft. Revell was the model company of choice for us model-building kids in the '60s, with the best selection of spacecraft and airplane models. Their biggest competitor, Monogram, used flimsier plastic and their parts usually didn't fit together as well. The third-place model company, Aurora, made cheap 98-cent models, mostly of human figures like Superman, Batman, and the Wolfman.

I was a huge space nut, to the extent that I spent a large chunk of my childhood laying under my desk on an overturned chair, staring up at a paper copy of the Gemini instrument panel I had glued to the underside. Revell's 1/24th scale Gemini model was the best of the best among us modellers, and I was so anxious that it come out correctly that I made my dad build it -- he was much more patient, and could stay inside the lines when he painted. The result was a trophy to be proud of, and I had it in various states of disrepair for years. (It was on my desk at college, as a matter of fact.)

So, when Revell ran the contest, thousands of us model-building space nuts entered it. Like most of them, I spent hours trying to figure out the logistical problems -- where do you put a 19-foot-long, 10-foot-at-the-base, 3500lb spacecraft? Building a shed in the backyard was the only solution I could come up with, and since I planned to live in it day and night, I'd need a refrigerator and a toilet . . .

Well, of course, I didn't win it, and I eventually forgot about it, until recently, when I was going through my old comic books with my six-year-old son. There, inside the back cover of a Superman comic, was the ad. It was interesting how something I thought was so vital and cool in 1967 looks so campy now -- especially the second place prize, the Vox Serenader guitar, "the wild six-stringer with the big beat sound that's 'in' from L. A. to Liverpool." The ad was so of-the-moment, so Zeitgeist, that I immediately scanned it and put it on my web page as a kicky artifact. (Click on the ad above for the full text.)

But I got thinking. Who did win the thing? And where is it now? So I got on the Usenet, specifically the rec.model.scale newsgroup, and asked the question.

In a few days, I got a note back from Frank Hernandez of the UCLA Astronomy Department, with the answer. The lucky winner was Robbie Alen Hanshew of Portland, Oregon. Another Cloth Monkey acolyte, Alfred Hartmann, provided the blurb at left, from a 1968 Boy's Life issue, which gives the details.

At some point, an earlier version of this page was a Yahoo! Pick of the Week, and over 4000 people visited here in a week to read about Robbie and his spacecraft.

Seeking further info, I visited the web site of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. I've never been to Portland, but OMSI looks like a really cool place, with up-to-date exhibits, a lot of interactive stuff aimed at kids, and a fairly extensive collection for such a small town (comparatively speaking). They even have a submarine, the USS Blueback, the Navy's last non-nuclear sub. And there, in the Exhibits section, was a photo of their Gemini spacecraft.

The Gemini from the contest! How many of the folks visiting OMSI know the longing with which a whole generation of late baby boomers lusted after this particular artifact? I'm glad to see that it still exists -- I had visions of it rusting away, or being torn apart by vandals like the lunar module they put in Philadelphia some years ago.

I looked up "Robert Hanshew" in the Switchboard listings and found one in Portland, so I assume it's the same person. I wrote him a letter, and hopefully we'll have some comments from him soon.

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