The NASA model building thread

[Bubbinski]

Here's another shot of the Shenzhou along with the shuttle and the Apollo vehicles.  Looking forward to the Dragon Gemini kit coming out next month.

[luke strawwalker]

Here's my "Friendship 7" 50th Anniversary Dr. Zooch Mercury Atlas build... thread over on The Rocketry Forum...

http://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=30849

This is a pretty neat FLYING version of the Mercury Atlas, from Dr. Zooch Rockets, our very own Zerm from here on the forums...  

Later!  OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

And here's a few more pics of the Friendship 7 Mercury Atlas...

"GOD SPEED JOHN GLENN!!!" 

I built this to commemorate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the launch of John Glenn's "Friendship 7", the first United States orbital spaceflight launched by Atlas 109D on February 20, 1962...  Hopefully mine will launch without the numerous "scrubs" John Glenn had to deal with! 

You can get yours from http://drzooch.com/

Later!  OL JR  

[luke strawwalker]

Here's a few more of the glamour shots...

The "flame fins" are necessary to provide aerodynamic stability for flight, but are easily removable for display...   

Later!  OL JR

[Spooks]

Great looking ship!!

[Negative Return]

Here's a few more of the glamour shots...

The "flame fins" are necessary to provide aerodynamic stability for flight, but are easily removable for display...   

Later!  OL JR

Very cool.  I was always bothered by the fakeness of the (necessary) fins in many kits but those are not too bad.  Do share some pics if/when she flies.

That also looks like quite a launch platform.

[simonbp]

I'm done with my Dragon 1/72nd LEM, joined up with the Apollo CSM and Shuttle Atlantis in the same scale.  I'm working on the Shenzhou and am waiting for Dragon to release Mercury and Gemini model kits (not their prebuilt stuff) in that scale.  And I'd like to see if someone comes out with the Vostok/Voskhod and Soyuz TMA in plastic.

Nice!

I was recently given that same kit, but there is no way it's going to turn out that good...

[mike robel]

Received my 1/72 Saturn V yesterday. I have uploaded photos at http://s959.photobucket.com/albums/ae79/mike_robel/1%2072%20Saturn%20V/

My observations

The ARC review was accurate. The LES is glued to the CM which is glued to the SM. The CM is chromed, but is glued directly to the SM, with none of the mounting structure of the kits.
The SLA is solid white, like the Apollo 9 version of the collectable, and does not include a LM.
You could probably remove the sysetm tunnels (they look like they are just stuck on, not glued) and replace it with the Apollo 10 collectable, or wait for the kit to come out.
The SIVB aft end is just as pictured, with the helium tanks represented as raised half (or so) domes. Its white, of course.
The SIVB RCS pods are painted white, not silver.
The SIC-SII interstage is attached to the S-II, as is the SIVB Interstage.
The SII forward section is the shipping fixture and not a tank dome.
The plate for the S-II thrust structure looks too large, and hides some detail on the S-II.
It looks like it could be seperated, but the break point is at the top of the corrugations, rather than where the Interstage actually seperated.
The roll pattern correctly ends below the corrugations, not at the top where I usually paint them.
The propellent tunnels for the SII looked to me to be squared off in the ARC review, but they look about right to me.
The "plates" that Dave Weeks drawings show the tunnels resting on above the corrugations are absent.
It has only 4 ullage motors and they look pretty good.
It looks as if the system/propellent line tunnels are holding the interstage on and do not really appear to be glued on.
The SIC is acceptable.
The F-1s are pretty good. Theywere difficult to fit. You probably want to glue all the engines in after you get them in.
The fins are white, not silver.

The overspray on the roll patterns and on the F-1 conic sections did not look as bad on my kit as it did in the preview. All in all, the painting is probably better than I do.

The markings are about equal to the Revell/Airfix Saturn 5 kits, except the lettering is red (as compared to the black of the re-release of the Revell kit.)

The seams on my kit were not as bad as they were in the ARC review, but it is obvious the kit is not painted white, rather it is white styrene. filling (not much), some sanding (ditto), a coat of primer, and a new paint job would correct the seams pretty easily.

Some other ones from today:

there are no ullage rockets on the SIVB, nor any retro-rockets on the SIC. Have to figure out how to scratch up them.
The J-2's look really undersized when viewed end on, but it may be that the size of the thrust plate (or whatever it was called) is too large.
The positioning of the propellent line tunnels on the SII looks off to me, but I have dusted off Rockets of the World or Dave Weeks blueprints to check.
The corrugations at the top of the SII look wrong, especially when compared to the 1;144 models, again Have not dusted off the references.
You will note I have not attached the fins as II am going to paint them silver. have to figure out how to do decals for them first I think, as well as the SIVB RCS pods..

When (if?) the kit comes off, it looks like you may be able to build the Interstage so it does not attach to the SII.

Showed a photo of the thing with the SHuttle ET as well as a 1:144 model.

Its big. I am 6 feet one, and it comes about to the bottom of my nose when mounted on its display stand.

The vehilce begs for:

Aftermarket decal set (Really Rick Sternbach! I don't know how many of these are going to be sold and/or if they will release it as a kit, but it really needs more decals Great Models said, once these are gone, that's it.)
Aftermarket F-1s
Improved J-2s, in case you want to display the vehicle on its side rather than in a verticle stack.
A launch fixture for the LM to sit on, inside and a clear SLA half so you can see it.
Improved SII and SIVB thrust structure.
Aftermarket interstage section.
Masks for the roll patterns.
A label for the stand...

its probably about the same quality as the 4D see thru model, except of course it is bigger. That model has the whole SIVB corrugated though.

All in all, not so bad as I feared, not so good as I hoped. Now the decision is whether or not to continue with the scratchbuild... harvesting it for parts at 225 seems a bit silly. It looks pretty good with the six foot rule enforced.


off to those frozen wastes of KS I go for two weeks of software testing.

[Bubbinski]

Thanks Simon!

  I got myself the 1/72 Dragon Mercury Redstone kit today.

Luke that's a pretty cool Mercury Atlas.  I am going to resume flying model rockets this year after 18 years away from doing that, and I just might buy a couple of kits from Dr. Zooch.

As for the 1/72 Saturn V I'm gonna wait till Dragon puts out a kit.  Even then I may not get it as I might not have enough space to display the thing.  We'll see though I am very tempted.

[luke strawwalker]

Here's a few more of the glamour shots...

The "flame fins" are necessary to provide aerodynamic stability for flight, but are easily removable for display...   

Later!  OL JR

Very cool.  I was always bothered by the fakeness of the (necessary) fins in many kits but those are not too bad.  Do share some pics if/when she flies.

That also looks like quite a launch platform.

Thanks... The Flame Fins are a patented Dr. Zooch thing... some folks love them some hate them.  They're INFINITELY better than the plain slab fins used on the Estes Shuttle, Estes Mercury Atlas, and Estes Titan III.  The only thing better IMHO is clear plastic fins... but those have problems of their own... and they aren't particularly easy to put in a kit.  I've been toying with the idea of making some of my own...

The launch platform is duplicated from Dr. Zooch's launch pad he personally uses... it's based on a 2x12 base, with 2x2 "pillars" supporting the launch platform deck, which is made from a "5/4 deck board" with a blast hole cut it in with a doorknob hole saw.  The blast deflector is a green bean can with both ends cut out, snipped down one side with tin snips, and folded back on itself in half, dipped in John Deere Yellow paint, allowed to dry, and screwed down with deck screws...

Sure adds a lot better "look" to the rocket than the dinky Estes plastic tripod launchers...

later and thanks!  OL JR

[Bubbinski]

OK I'm well underway with my Dragon 1/72 Mercury Redstone.  I fouled up the first abort escape tower and had to buy another kit.  Now everything looks good, and I hope to finish tomorrow.

[lvmmodels]

Hi all,

This is a photo of our latest detail kit applied to the Revell Shuttle Launch Tower.



Regards,

Leon van Munster
www.lvm-studios.com

[Mark Dave]

Mike Robel I did notice in photos of this model the stringer patterns aren't accurate either. I heard this model is die cast metal. now if it was plastic I would have bought it and done the modifications to it I planned. For one the corrugation patter from the top of the S-IC to the bottom of the S-II should match the stringers of the Monogram 1/72 shuttle ET. This photo you posted shows what I mean. http://s959.photobucket.com/albums/ae79/mike_robel/1%2072%20Saturn%20V/?action=view&current=S1CandETSRBs.jpg

You can easily do this by a resin mold of the ET stringers.

S-IC, well the model is accurate there with the two bottom stringer patterns.

The top of the S-IC to the bottom of the S-2 should be 0.75x 0.75 strips. (I found the ET stringers of the Monogram stack kit is very close to accurate based on photos of the real Saturn V. I already made a rubber cast of the inter tank stringers of the ET rolled out flat to more match the larger diameter of the Saturn V.)

Top of the S-2 stringers are 0.45x 0.6mm strips.

Interstage of S-2 and S-IVB are 0.4x 0.75mm strips

Bottom of the S-IVB are 0.28x 0.45mm strips.

Top of the S-IVB are 0.35x 0.5mm strips. 

Those are the Plastruct or Evergreen strips to get. Someone suggested these when I was planning to scratchbuild a model of the Saturn V.

Here is a cool model someone built that is a good reference. http://www.siriusrocketry.com/Photos/detailfull33.jpg

On other stuff I am partly finished with my STS-107 stack. I need to order more decals though.

Here are some photos.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/027/2/7/the_entire_fleet_by_onigojirakaiju-d4nr4pu.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/027/e/0/columbia_and_challenger_1_by_onigojirakaiju-d4nr4un.jpg

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/027/7/2/columbia_and_challenger_2_by_onigojirakaiju-d4nr4w2.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/027/d/b/left_side_of_columbia_model_by_onigojirakaiju-d4nr4so.jpg

[Bubbinski]

Wow...the whole fleet in 1/72nd scale.  Great to see.

I'm done with my Mercury-Redstone.  Pic posts coming up.

[Bubbinski]

And here's the finished product!

[Bubbinski]

Here's a couple of shots of the Mercury-Redstone next to the big shuttle stack.  Same scale - 1/72nd.  Quite a contrast between the capsule Alan Shepard rode in and the shuttle Atlantis.

Note to future builders of this kit: When you glue in the nozzle use glue on the sides only and not the top.  I made the mistake of getting glue in the hole where the stand is supposed to go and as a result my rocket has to stand on its fins.

[clongton]

Wow...the whole fleet in 1/72nd scale.  Great to see.

Hmmm. Time to redo the whole fleet in 1/48

[Bubbinski]

If some maker does a 1/48 shuttle kit and it's a good highly detailed one guess what will happen when it hits the shelves?  It will end up on my hobby table.  And it will be built.

[clongton]

If some maker does a 1/48 shuttle kit and it's a good highly detailed one guess what will happen when it hits the shelves?  It will end up on my hobby table.  And it will be built.

If it's that big it has to have a flight kit with it

[Bubbinski]

LOL.  I'm figuring out what project I want to start on next. 

Tonight I managed to get the Mercury-Redstone kinda sorta on its stand.  I like the effect.