Catacombs Model Gallery
Space City

In 1979, almost all the models, props, costumes and drawings left from Space 1999 were displayed in an exhibition called Space City, in Blackpool, a seaside resort in the north of England. The exhibition remained open for 3 years, until 1981. Afterwards, most of the exhibition moved to the Alton Towers theme park.

A short film of clips was shown on a monitor showing the effects in action.

• More exhibition photos
• More exhibition photos (Andersonic.co.uk)

Most of the models were in excellent condition at the time. A few that had been damaged were restored or repainted by Martin Bower especially for exhibition. The public could easily reach out and touch many of the models, and consequently at the end of the exhibition many of them were damaged or even stolen.

A number of models from earlier series were displayed in a glass case. Bower loaned an original Thunderbird 4 and Sky 1 (from UFO), with replica models of Thunderbird 1 and Fireball XL5 (when the exhibition closed, Bower got the latter two models back severely damaged, while the two originals had been lost). Reg Hill loaned the original model of Stingray. Thanks to Shaun Evans for the picture.

Alton Towers is a theme park in the UK which exhibited many of the Space: 1999 models in a neglected corner of the park from 1982 to 1989. The exhibition was much smaller than Space City in Blackpool, and afterwards many of the models were found to be damaged or lost.