GordonD

At least they're not doing what Revell used to do and make the plastic fit the box, resulting in some bizarre scales.

Is it just me or does the box seem much larger than it needs to be for the amount of plastic inside?

Maybe if they'd included the demur you'd have been charged more... 😄

No, you've always been like that. But now I'm officially allowed to do it!

The banter dates back to the English Civil War. One day Oliver Cromwell was planning troop movements when one of his staff came in and said, "Oh, Oliver, I see you have some new toy soldiers!" Cromwell glared at him and said, "NEW MODEL ARMY!"

Missed this on Saturday - thanks, Enzo! I'm now at the age where I'm officially allowed to be mean and crabbit to everybody.

Good to see that you still like your toy trains... 😛

We've lost another Apollo astronaut - Tom Stafford has died aged 93. Veteran of Gemini 6 and 9, Apollo 10 and Apollo-Soyuz.

The film models were deliberately made with brown tiles so they would show up against the black space background. Offhand I can't remember if the Marines' shuttle had normal black tiles but it was only seen briefly and wasn't the focus of attention like Bond's was.

I see your Gabrielle Drake and raise you AYSHEA BROUGH!

Went into my local model shop today and this leapt off the shelf and into my arms. I tried to put it back but it seemed to be stuck to my hand. As they wouldn't let me leave the shop without paying for it, I was forced to buy it.

This was delivered yesterday: some fascinating models in there, none of which I'll ever attempt. Projects that never got off the drawing board. Available on Amazon.

For those who have built (or are building) the Moebius Aries IB lunar shuttle from 2001: A Space Odyssey. What colour did you paint it? Obviously some shade of grey, but which one?

(only twenty thousand made)

Only a few days after the death of Ken Mattingly, we've now lost Frank Borman as well, aged 95. He was commander of Apollo 8, the first manned lunar orbital mission, and also set an endurance record on Gemini VII. He was the oldest living American astronaut, eleven days older than Jim Lovell (who accompanied him on both of his flights).

Small correction - it was Voskhod 2. Voskhod 1 squeezed three men into a Vostok capsule so that the Russians could go one better than the two-man Gemini.

Just learned that Ken Mattingly died on 31 October. He was the original Command Module Pilot on Apollo 13 but was dropped just three days before launch after it was found he'd been exposed to German Measles. He eventually flew on Apollo 16, followed by two Shuttle missions: STS-4 and STS-51C, for a total of 21 days 4 hours 34 minutes.

The reason early Russian spacecraft used airlocks is that their electronics were air-cooled, so the cabin had to remain pressurised.

I'm sure you would have remembered if it was an issue. There are actually a few builds on YouTube so I'll check them all and see if anybody else raises it.

I have a question about this model. There's a build video on YouTube in which the modeller says that there's a mistake in section 8 of the instruction sheet in that the numbers of the cam stop parts have been reversed. He says that if fitted as shown the landing gear won't deploy properly. Is this the case?

I had one of these too and like everybody else had major problems with the decals. They just didn't want to stick to the surface.

Maybe you needed glasses?

Up until the mid-sixties there really was an optician in Edinburgh called Frank Seymour.

One of the great things about being a pedant (Hi, Enzo!) is that it's never too late to submit a correction. Those things on the inside of the payload bay doors are not solar panels but radiators to dispel excess heat. The Orbiter used fuel cells to generate electrical power.

Picked up one of these little beauties from my local hobby shop (Wonderland Models) yesterday. The man said they've been flying off the shelves (they had one left after I got mine) and were waiting for the new delivery to come in. Thanks to Dave Fleming for clarifying that the extra plastic on part #32 is a moulding error - it fitted so neatly between the seats when offered up to the body shell that I wasn't at all sure. I have a soft spot for the Bond Bug - no, I've never owned nor even sat in one but there used to be a motorbike showroom at the end of my street and there was one in stock for a while. To a twelve-year-old boy it looked really cool!