Mike N

Hi all, This shop is new to me but it came up on Google when searching for a particular kit I was after. I've never heard of them and can't find any reviews. They look to have decent variety, and prices for the bits I want are a bit below RRP, so I'm tempted. They are affiliated with Puzzle Craft on eBay, but the stock doesn't quite match and there's no free shipping for orders over £65 on the eBay store. Has anyone got any experience ordering through their website? Cheers, Mike

Can anyone recommend a good book or website that describes the changes from prototype onwards so that I can backdate the Academy kit, please? Cheers, Mike

I used to use Xtracolor matt varnish (XDFF) but having not used it for ages have found it's gone rather gooey. So before getting some more and possibly having it go the same way, what are the forum's favourites for a nice flat finish? I'll be applying by airbrush.

Wow, that's a masterclass in weathering there! Great work! Mike

A very nice selection of subjects. Great job on the biplane rigging, it looks perfect! Mike

Thank you. I'm taking a break from it for a short while to finish some other builds that were sidelined but will post back when I get onto it again.

Great idea for transport!

Both look brilliant

Thank you very much. I've enjoyed the project and hopefully I'll get it all done soon!

Thank you, James. I'm sure they looked very different brand new, but I'm going for the museum appearance! Mike

Here's an overview of where I've got up to, with a few bits temporarily held in place: Fairly close, but even with the extension to the GB deadline it was too big a challenge for me, unfortunately. I'll hopefully get the modelling side of it finished over the Christmas break, but the display side will take a bit more head-scratching. Once done, I'll post it in the Ready for Inspection area of the site. My thanks to the GB hosts and all those who commented, liked or simply viewed the story so far. Mike

Moving down to the S-II and S-IVB, the kit engine bells had their moulded part numbers and alignment pins removed. Once assembled and painted they give an adequate representation of the real thing, but without all the pipework. The S-IVB resin thrust structure offers no real securing features, so I drilled a hole in its centre. The engine had its side spigots trimmed and the centre drilled and pinned to give a positive joint. The S-II thrust structure was more confusing (there were no instructions provided with the part). There are holes around the ring which I took to be for the centre of the engine bells. Having drilled holes inboard of each one for the engine spigots, I installed the engines but they looked too close together. I then realised the moulded holes were for the spigot and the centre of the engine should sit over the moulded (silver-painted) pipes. Luckily, the real structure has lightening holes along the cruciform so I added another to match. The engine bells were again pinned, and lengths of plastic tube added to the outboard pipework. These have yet to be painted in the photo below. The real engines are covered in small diameter pipework so it's difficult to see what's going on really, so this was just a guess. Maybe later I'll add some wire to represent that stuff. Down at the base of the S-1C, the kit fins are devoid of any detail. I chose to paint them to suggest different skin sections and then run a riveting tool over in approximate patterns. Once dipped in Future and the decals applied, they don't look too bad. Finally, the mighty F1 engines were assembled. These are so thin at the lower edges they were verging on short-shot, and I ended up gently sanding them back after assembly. The ribbed areas were quite a pain to clean up, though the halves did match quite well. Like with the smaller engines, the internal surfaces had their part numbers and alignment features removed, which was very difficult to do cleanly. After some filler and paint they were OK. The KSC's engines have no doubt changed colour from how they were originally, with a weathered look. I decided to go with this appearance, so they were painted overall in RLM02 (left) and then dry-brushed with bronze (right). I'm probably going to do a bit more with them yet to add more shadow and highlights. So that's pretty much it for progress at a detail level. Final photo of progress to follow...

Well, given today is the last day of this GB, I'm going to declare my build unfinished. I'll give a status update on a few things I've done in the meantime, and hopefully later I'll post a final shot where I'm up to today. Starting at the very top, the Launch Escape System in the kit comprises what I think is a newly tooled nose cone with a somewhat simplified tower structure. I wasn't going to tackle correcting the framework but I did want to add the booster exhausts that are missing from the top. For this, I returned to the spares box and cut the tips off some 1/48 rocket projectiles: Once painted and glued on, they look fairly decent: Onto the Command Module, I'm not sure this was a part that was re-tooled since the original release despite the rest of the CSM being done, as it looks really undersize. Below left is the kit part, in the middle is the resin replacement I have, and at right is the kit nose cone. I think the resin part is designed to simply mate to the Service Module as it's base is not the convex surface of the real CM's heat shield. Hunting for a suitable curved part, I found some kind of dished plastic cover kicking around the house, and not knowing where it came from just decided to use it This was cut down and glued to the base. The resin CM is fairly rough and despite some sanding is still not great, but once painted was adequate. The heat shield was painted white from the few photos I could find of it. Finally for this brief update, the Service Module was painted and decaled: Hopefully more later! Cheers, Mike

Wow, I now have a sense of how big that model is!!

That looks really nice! Mike