Apollo 11 Lunar Module “Eagle”

[Mike]

Apollo 11 Lunar Module “Eagle”

1:48 Dragon

The Lunar Module, or LEM as it was known during the Apollo missions was the fragile excursion vehicle that took the astronauts from their Command Module in orbit around the moon, down to the dusty grey surface below. It consisted of a large hexagonal base with four support legs and a single reaction motor that did the majority the work of reducing the descent speed of the module on the run down to the moon. The upper section is the combined Ascent stage and crew compartment, where the two occupants sat during the journey to and from the surface. A set of small windows give the pilots a view of the exterior, and a quartet of small thrusters give them fine control over the module’s attitude.

Apollo 11 is of course the most famous module, as it was the first to land men upon the moon, which of course resulted in Neil Armstrong’s famous first steps on the moon and that immoral phrase uttered as his foot made contact with the surface.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"

The kit is a new release from Dragon, who have a growing range of Real Space kits in their repertoire. The kit arrives in a top opening box of similar size to their 1:35armour kits, but it is printed in portrait orientation, perhaps to give it a slightly different “feel”. Inside are eight sprues of a matt grey styrene, some parts of which have been painted a convincing gold colour, a single part for the base of the descent stage, a small sheet of decals, and a single sheet of instructions.

First impressions are good, and the gold effect paint sets off the crinkled surface of the descent stage parts well, although some visible seams will need scraping away, thus meaning that the gold effect is more of a neat touch for the less advanced modeller, who isn’t bothered by seamlines. The more advanced modeller will remove the seams and have to either touch up, or completely re-spray the gold areas to repair the damaged finish. What it does accomplish however, is show the modeller the quality of the moulding of insulation material, which is first class.

The ascent module builds up quite cleverly, with long tubular friction mountings keeping the module rigid, and simplifying assembly. There is no pretence at an interior here, and the windows that are present on the real thing are supplied as decals to keep it simple. The various antennae and the important direction control thrusters are simple to install, and each have hollow reaction bells, enhancing realism.

The lower descent module is mostly covered in the heat resistant gold material, and as stated earlier, some re-spraying of the gold surface will be needed if removing the seamlines is your bag. The legs attach to well-defined mounting lugs, which should make for a strong joint. The dished feet don’t have the odd spikes that are sometimes seen under them, so check your references if you’re planning on modelling it in-flight. The big reaction bell in the central underside is very well moulded, but has no aperture for the reaction gases to exit the bell, so check your references and decide whether you want to replicate this area.

The painting guide is on the bottom of the box, and as well as the pre-painted gold areas, silver and black are the main colours used for the exterior. The black areas different widely between the various modules, so remember to check your references carefully before committing to paint. Even panels that do appear to be “black” seem to be more of a very dark grey in some pictures, and there are details to the areas that require some close inspection.

The decals are printed in Italy, and consist of a pair of US flags, and the “United States” labels emblazoned on the descent stage sides, and the four windows, two triangular and a further two lozenge shaped in the “roof” to monitor the docking procedure with the CM. These decals are black with silver borders, and white markings that were used to guide the landing and docking process.

Conclusion

This is a very nicely presented kit, and having it in 1:48 is really nice for those of us that also have an aircraft habit in this scale. The parts are well engineered, with a lot of slide moulding evident to produce more accurate parts without complicating the build, which is to be applauded. The inclusion of pre-painted gold parts is more of a gimmick than of use to a “serious” modeller, but it will please plenty of folks that want to build a nice looking replica of this most famous and fragile space craft.

The replication of the wrinkled insulation material is first rate, and the lack of a cockpit interior doesn’t bother me in the slightest, although I would have liked some more realistic windows. Overall though, it’s a great looking model, and I’m really looking forward to building it at present, as I have a fondness for the Apollo programme.

Review sample courtesy of

[Julien]

Looks like a good job on this one.

Julien

[GordonD]

The dished feet don’t have the odd spikes that are sometimes seen under them, so check your references if you’re planning on modelling it in-flight.

The 'odd spikes' were the probes which triggered a signal when they touched the lunar surface. If you listen to a recording of the Apollo 11 landing, Buzz Aldrin reports: "Contact light! Okay, engine stop!" which meant that they were only a few feet up. All the LMs carried them, though from Apollo 11 onwards there wasn't one fitted to the front footpad as the astronauts were wary of tripping over it if it buckled upward in an awkward direction. (Which might have led to the first words spoken from the surface of the moon being "Damn!")

[Dave A]

Gordon beat me to it. Plus I think the 'immoral phrase' Armstrong uttered was 'Good luck Mr Gorsky'; if you believe in urban legends... But then if you believe that, you probably don't believe they ever landed on the moon... ;-)

[spruecutter96]

I love the "Mr. Gorsky" story... I really hope it's true (but have a feeling it's not).