Out Of The Archive: Sevans Kryten

The best lucky find we ever found in the whole of today.

22 October, 2010

In 1993, to coincide with the October airing of Red Dwarf VI on BBC2, Sevans Models released a foot-high Kryten model kit. This one:

Red Dwarf Smegazine - Vol 2, No 6, October 1993

Gorgeous, isn't it? A spot-on accurate rendition of Series V's Kryten. It was, for this Dwarfer at least, the most exciting product release since Network went bananas with a massive range of T-shirts. (Something we really should revisit at some point.) And Series V! That's, like, the best-looking Kryten of them all!

Immersed in warm water, the otherwise rock-solid Kryten model could be posed, held in place, and would stay fixed when cool. You could give the little guy his groinal vacuum, too, if you were so inclined. But first came the whole gluing-and-painting phase.

Is this a forgotten pleasure? Certainly I wouldn't have the patience for it these days. But oh, the joy when I didn't totally mess up the delicate operation of painting the mini-mechanoid's millimetres-high eyeballs.

The process, though, was made all the more delightful thanks to the images below: an instruction manual, in Kryten's voice, that was as cheery as it was useful. Sevans had embraced Red Dwarf's comedy side, not just the sci-fi, and the innuendo-laden directions cheered up what could have been a long and - let's face it - messy process.

Enjoy this visit to Red Dwarf fandom past... if only you could buy this little guy today.