Author Topic: Marooned Movie Models (Read 30671 times)

Ronpur50 · « **on:** 07/01/2015 04:09 am »

I have a new project, from the 1969 movie "Marooned". It is a 1/72 scale kit of the XRV produced by Fantastic Plastic. This movie has always been a favorite of mine. Seeing the location filming at Cape Canaveral, the fantastic set, costumes and model work was awesome. And the outstanding cast with Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Jansen, Gene Hackman and James Fransciscus. I hopt to build a model of Ironman One and the Vostok as well. A Titan III would be great too.

But first, the experimental lifting body, the XRV.

We first see the XRV being delivered to Pad 41 at the Cape under a USAF helicopter. I love this sequence, as it not only shows off the orange XRV, but the Cape location as well.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #1 on:** 07/01/2015 04:12 am »

When it arrives at Pad 41, it is lowered to a truck. In the background, the Titan appears to be nothing more than a painted cutout. The actually lift the XRV up but do not show the launch vehicle as they do.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #2 on:** 07/01/2015 04:15 am »

Later, on the night of the rescue launch, we see the XRV partially enclosed by it's launch shroud, as astronaut Ted Dougherty is helped aboard. Then, the launch shroud is lowered over the XRV.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #3 on:** 07/01/2015 04:19 am »

The Titan IIIC is shown on the pad at Complex 41, and we assume the XRV is beneath that nosecone! This is obviously stock footage, as is the launch. I haven't tried to identify the launch used yet, but I bet someone here already knows it. I have ordered a 1/100th scale MPC Titan III to try to build the launch vehicle next.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #4 on:** 07/01/2015 04:20 am »

Next we see the XRV in orbit, thrusters firing, as Dougherty flies to the rescue of the stranded Apollo astronauts.

QuantumG · « **Reply #5 on:** 07/01/2015 04:27 am »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marooned_%28film%29

Now I have to watch it.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #6 on:** 07/01/2015 04:32 am »

The model is resin, but as with all of Fantastic Plastic's release, the highest quality of modeling is used. You end up with parts that look as if they were from a regular kit. The main body is two parts, and hollow, which allows for a cockpit. Detail there is sparse, and the chair kind of resembles the captain's chair from Star Trek. No pilot figure is included, but I have plenty of 1/72 scale astronauts from the Airfix Lunar Module kit. I chose a seated one and had to remove his legs so he would fit inside. I glued the parts together with super glue, and puttied and sanded the ship.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #7 on:** 07/01/2015 04:34 am »

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #8 on:** 07/01/2015 04:37 am »

Quote from: QuantumG on 07/01/2015 04:27 am

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marooned_%28film%29

Now I have to watch it.

Yes, you should! It is one of my favorite movies from the 60s about space, the other being Countdown.

I just finished painting the base coat on the model, and tomorrow, when that dries, I will take some pictures of that.

And I totally forgot to mention that the movie is based on a book by the great Martin Caidin! In his version from 1964, it was a stranded Mercury astronaut, rescued by a Gemini prototype. The movie was updated to an Apollo and XRV, and he updated his own novel to match the movie. So there are two versions of the novel out there.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #9 on:** 07/01/2015 12:17 pm »

After waking up this morning, the model's orange paint has dried. I gave the engines their first coat of gray and touched up the little astronaut. I still have to wonder where they intended to put the Ironman One astronauts in this thing when they rescued them. Maybe there was room behind the seat. In the same place they had the MMU.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #10 on:** 07/01/2015 12:39 pm »

Here are a few more screen caps from the film, showing the S-IVB Lab and Ironman One. And yes, I want to do models of them as well.

JasonAW3 · « **Reply #11 on:** 07/01/2015 12:56 pm »

Hey, you know, if they want to make a remake of this movie, all they would need is an SLS upper stage, (Modified as a space station) a CST-100 capsule and support module, and a Dream Chaser with its support module!

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #12 on:** 07/01/2015 03:04 pm »

I found an old thread regarding the Titan IIIC launch used. Apparently, it was only narrowed down to three possible launches back then.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=30271.0

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #13 on:** 07/02/2015 01:10 pm »

A couple of more picture of yesterday's work. I only had time to glue the pilot down. I had to remove him and trim him to fit the seat a bit. After I removed him, the paint came off his helmet. So I had to repaint that. I also painted the side thruster pods, but forgot to take a picture of them. And a picture of the rear of the XRV.

Elvis in Space · « **Reply #14 on:** 07/02/2015 01:23 pm »

Nice job. I"ve enjoyed the movie since I was a kid. The original XRV model used in the production was hanging unremarked in the Space and Rocket center museum, Huntsville.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #15 on:** 07/02/2015 04:28 pm »

Thanks. It has always been a favorite of mine as well. I have seen photos of the XRV there. Is it gone now?

I found images of the patch from the movie and decided to make a version of it that I can get put on a decal or mug. I created it in MS Paint and tweaked it in GIMP.

Below that is a Google image of the patch I found.

tea monster · « **Reply #16 on:** 07/02/2015 11:24 pm »

I always loved that thing as well. My parents took me to see this one at the cinema when it came out.

It struck me as being similar to the 'Dove' from Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, which came out the same year.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #17 on:** 07/03/2015 12:58 pm »

I remember the Dove, good old Gerry Anderson!

Painting is done. I glued the thrusters on and placed the hatch and forward window in place. I wish I hadn't even bother painting the astronaut with such detail, he is barely visible inside!

Decals are next!

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #18 on:** 07/03/2015 10:58 pm »

I started with the decals this morning, with the black stripes first. The slowly, adding them until I finally got them all on. I just launched it into orbit through an eye of a hurricane.

It is a great model, and I love that I finally have it in my collection. Marooned and Countdown are two of my favorite space them movies from the 1960s. I now have a model from each of them.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #19 on:** 07/03/2015 11:01 pm »

A few more pictures.

QuantumG · « **Reply #20 on:** 07/05/2015 12:26 pm »

Okay, I watched it. I don't think I've ever sat through a movie with that much beeping.

beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #21 on:** 07/05/2015 12:28 pm »

That was the entire soundtrack....no music, just beeps!

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #22 on:** 07/05/2015 12:49 pm »

I like the film very much! It's not without it's flaws, but it's pretty accurate in many ways. If it were to be remade, I'd like to see a rescue mission for a couple Astronauts stuck in lunar orbit or even Distant Retrograde Lunar Orbit (DRO). That would make it future proof for movie goers for quite a few years. Two Astronauts living in a small Habitat (Cygnus EAM?) docked to an Orion. When the Orion's propulsion systems fail, either an enhanced Soyuz with one Cosmonaut aboard - originally intended for a circumlunar tourist mission - goes out to get them, leaving it's tourists to fly another day. Or a fictitious Commercial ship of some type. Maybe it doesn't even need to be fictitious: hows about a Dragon on it's first BEO mission?

Good publicity for Space X, even though NASA probably wouldn't like it's own Orion ship being portrayed as flawed and in need of rescue!

I believe I once read that Martin Caidin himself reckoned that if the film were ever to be remade, he'd like to see a beyond Earth Orbit rescue. And I think 'The Martian' will cover the Mars rescue genre quite well...

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #23 on:** 07/05/2015 03:38 pm »

I really need to find the original novel that I have somewhere, with the stranded Mercury. I see the updated version everywhere. This is a story that can be updated for whatever the current spacecraft being flown. There was even a shuttle version written, Shuttle by David Onley, or it is as close to the same concept that I have read.

Rocket Science · « **Reply #24 on:** 07/05/2015 03:41 pm »

You'll like this!

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2671/1

the_other_Doug · « **Reply #25 on:** 07/05/2015 07:24 pm »

Quote from: Ronpur50 on 07/05/2015 03:38 pm

I really need to find the original novel that I have somewhere, with the stranded Mercury. I see the updated version everywhere. This is a story that can be updated for whatever the current spacecraft being flown. There was even a shuttle version written, Shuttle by David Onley, or it is as close to the same concept that I have read.

Yep -- in the original novel, the main character who flew the 3-day Mercury mission instead of Shepard (because Shepard was slated to fly the first Gemini, with a new astro named Masters) was also a member of Caidin's fictional 2nd astronaut class, but unlike in the movie and updated book, his name was Dick Pruett, not Jim Pruett. His best friend, and the guy who pilots the Gemini to the rescue, is named Jim Dougherty, not Ted Dougherty.

The overall plot of the original book is very similar to the updated novel/film, but of course references Mercury/Gemini technology. The one big thing that was incorrectly mapped out of the Mercury technology into the Apollo spacecraft, cited as the likely cause of the de-orbit failure, was a failure of a horizon scanner that's connected into the logic of the SPS ignition system. This was a plausible malfunction for a Mercury, but never for an Apollo spacecraft -- the Apollo had no horizon scanner, and indeed you could start the SPS motor by opening the ball valves feeding the combustion chamber directly, cutting out the thrust vector control system and both the CMC and the SCS.

So, while Caidin needed to have some way to describe the malfunction, by choosing to energetically arm-wave around the same issue he used successfully in the original novel, he lost a little bit of credibility with me.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #26 on:** 07/05/2015 11:46 pm »

Quote from: Rocket Science on 07/05/2015 03:41 pm

You'll like this!

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2671/1

That is great! That really had some influence on the film.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #27 on:** 07/05/2015 11:54 pm »

Quote from: the_other_Doug on 07/05/2015 07:24 pm

Quote from: Ronpur50 on 07/05/2015 03:38 pm
I really need to find the original novel that I have somewhere, with the stranded Mercury. I see the updated version everywhere. This is a story that can be updated for whatever the current spacecraft being flown. There was even a shuttle version written, Shuttle by David Onley, or it is as close to the same concept that I have read.

Yep -- in the original novel, the main character who flew the 3-day Mercury mission instead of Shepard (because Shepard was slated to fly the first Gemini, with a new astro named Masters) was also a member of Caidin's fictional 2nd astronaut class, but unlike in the movie and updated book, his name was Dick Pruett, not Jim Pruett. His best friend, and the guy who pilots the Gemini to the rescue, is named Jim Dougherty, not Ted Dougherty.

The overall plot of the original book is very similar to the updated novel/film, but of course references Mercury/Gemini technology. The one big thing that was incorrectly mapped out of the Mercury technology into the Apollo spacecraft, cited as the likely cause of the de-orbit failure, was a failure of a horizon scanner that's connected into the logic of the SPS ignition system. This was a plausible malfunction for a Mercury, but never for an Apollo spacecraft -- the Apollo had no horizon scanner, and indeed you could start the SPS motor by opening the ball valves feeding the combustion chamber directly, cutting out the thrust vector control system and both the CMC and the SCS.

So, while Caidin needed to have some way to describe the malfunction, by choosing to energetically arm-wave around the same issue he used successfully in the original novel, he lost a little bit of credibility with me.

I have the 1969 version on order, so I can read it soon. I still can't find my 1964 version anywhere. They never mention why the SPS does not fire in the movie, it is left a mystery, concentrating on the rescue. Investigation would be later, LOL.

I have found all of my copies of the Cyborg novels he wrote!

I am glad I never knew he was claiming telekinetic powers, or he would have lost a lot of credibility with me.

JAFO · « **Reply #28 on:** 07/06/2015 06:34 am »

Quote from: Ronpur50 on 07/05/2015 03:38 pm

I really need to find the original novel that I have somewhere, with the stranded Mercury. I see the updated version everywhere. This is a story that can be updated for whatever the current spacecraft being flown. There was even a shuttle version written, Shuttle by David Onley, or it is as close to the same concept that I have read.

"Powering up out of chimp mode, standby one."

I still use that line.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #29 on:** 07/07/2015 02:15 am »

My Titan IIIC model arrived today. I did some scaling of the XRV, and the base of the lifting body scales out to 10 feet----the diameter of the Titan. It WOULD fit in a shroud, if the two fins fold up and then deploy. While no indication of this ability is shown in the movie, it doesn't mean it isn't there. I have a beat up old lifting body toy, which just happens to be the right size to fit under the nosecone of the model. Now I have to decide what length to make the nosecone, something that would fit the XRV, or what is shown in the movie.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #30 on:** 08/06/2015 06:42 pm »

I finally finished the Titan IIIC with a little X-RV under the shroud. The wings had to be removed to fit under the shroud, so they must deploy on orbit. The kit comes with a clear nosecone so you can see a satellite under it. I masked off the window for the X-RV and painted the nosecone white. It was kind of hard to try to mesh the fictional X-RV onto a real Titan, but I think this comes close enough for me. I am ordering a Dragon 1/72 scale Apollo to build Ironman One next.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #31 on:** 08/06/2015 09:50 pm »

And I noticed I had the engines twisted 90 degrees.....oops. So a bit of surgery, and fixed.

mike robel · « **Reply #32 on:** 08/06/2015 11:56 pm »

I have both copies of Marooned and also No Man's World. The Marooned ones are pretty beat up.

Nice Job.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #33 on:** 08/07/2015 01:25 am »

Thanks, Mike. I just got both copies and read the Ironman One version. I found a hard back of the Mercury version.

ChrisWilson68 · « **Reply #34 on:** 08/07/2015 04:29 am »

Quote from: Ronpur50 on 07/01/2015 04:32 am

No pilot figure is included, but I have plenty of 1/72 scale astronauts from the Airfix Lunar Module kit. I chose a seated one and had to remove his legs so he would fit inside.

The Moon isn't the only harsh mistress.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #35 on:** 11/24/2015 11:30 pm »

I finally got another Apollo CSM kit from Dragon and converted it into Ironman One. It isn't that much of a conversion. I just had to relocate the SM to CM umbilical, the high gain antenna and one of the blade antennas. I created the decals and printed them. It is 1/72 scale to match the XRV.

Oh, just realized that the windows haven't dried clear yet....still white. I will update a photo later.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #36 on:** 11/24/2015 11:33 pm »

Here are the two of them together.

mike robel · « **Reply #37 on:** 11/25/2015 02:03 am »

You need a 1/72 Voskshod and some space walking Astronauts.

I sometimes thing about doing one in 1/48 or 1/72 based on the first book. Then I sit till the urge quietly passes.

Nice work.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #38 on:** 11/25/2015 09:25 am »

Thanks. To do the Voskhod, it would need to be about 1/48th scale, it was way oversized in the movie. I may do some astronauts.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #39 on:** 11/26/2015 03:10 am »

After the windows dried clear, I put Ironman One into orbit. Here is a shot of it using it's RCS, just like in the movie.

Bubbinski · « **Reply #40 on:** 11/26/2015 03:15 am »

Nice! I remember seeing Marooned a long time ago, one night I was staying in a motel. Good work on those 2 models.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #41 on:** 11/26/2015 03:47 am »

Thanks, I have always loved it, just for the great images of the Cape during it's golden age, if for nothing else.