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Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis


Mike

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Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis



1:72 Revell of Germany

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The Space Shuttle is probably one of the most recognised air and space vehicles on this planet, so I won't go into raptures over its proud history, or the two tragic losses of ships and crew during its long and illustrious career. This year should mark the last flights of the remaining Space Shuttle airframes, so it's not surprising to see that Revell have rereleased their large scale kit.

The kit is in one of Revell's large top opening box, with a fetching painting of the shuttle in orbit on the front. Inside are 6 sprues of white plastic, one small sprue of clear parts, the instruction booklet and a set of decals.

The mould is based upon the original that was released during my younger years, although Revell have not rested on their laurels, but have added some extra detail to the kit in the shape of raised lines of insulation tiles on the underside and the large "blankets" on the upper surfaces of the big delta wings. Additional detail has been added to the opening bay doors, flying (gliding?) surfaces, auxiliary motor housings and the rear thrusters boxes. Raised detail has also been added to the rear bulkhead onto which the main engine bells attach, which is a welcome addition, as these looked very blank in previous releases.

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The hull consists of two main parts split vertically, which sit on the one-piece wing underside, with the two wing tops dropping on top to complete the main structure. There is the option of posing the internal payload bay open, and the doors can be hinged open if you choose this route. Parts for a basic payload bay are included, but these date from long long ago, so are essentially fictitious. If this isn't a problem, you have the option of modelling your orbiter doing a job of work outside the earth's atmosphere, added to which you also get 2 astronuats. If you choose to model the bay closed, it's probably still a good idea to add the internal parts for the structural rigidity they confer on the assembly.

The crew cockpit is included, with basic consoles and crew seats, which are detailed up by the addition of a comprehensive set of decals for the instruments - over 10 in total, which should give the impression of plenty of detail through the small windows of the flight deck. This marks a significant improvement compared to the original release. Another crew member is provided to add to this area, in a waving stance, although his shirt-sleeves dress seems a little out of place on a space craft.

The "roof" of the cockpit area has been made removable, so that the observer can have a proper look into the crew area, so care must be taken when putting this area together. If you opt to glue it closed, some careful sanding and filling of the seamline will be needed to avoid damaging the raised tile pattern around the area.

It may be my imagination, but I suspect that the engine bells have also been improved from the original release, as they have the coolant hoses running down each bell and look cleanly moulded. The ancillary and thrusters engine bells are less well detailed however, and the larger ones will need some cleaning up, being made up of two halves.

If you choose to model the shuttle on the ground, a full set of gear legs, wheels and bay doors is included, but the bays themselves contain only minimal detail. Some research will be needed to do them full justice.

To model Atlantis in flight, the gear bay doors are glued shut, and the payload bay should be modelled open, as the solar panels are usually deployed during the largest proportion of their missions. The solar panels are mounted inside the bay doors, and are portrayed here as separate parts - another addition not present on the original release. They are of course a little overscale in thickness, but some careful sanding should remedy this. The rest of the bay consists of a u-shaped trough with endcaps, a piece of ESA hardware - perhaps a part of the International Space Station, and some kind of telescope arrangement in a framework.

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The shuttle's manipulator arm is included in a number of parts this time, allowing you to position it as you see fit if you are going for an in-flight pose, with some additional rams and an antenna finishing off the bay fit.

Back in the noughties I bought the Real Space Models payload bay set for my original of this kit, along with the replacement engine bells (large and small), which improve the accuracy of the kit, although you'll still need to buy or scratch build the contents of the bay, and I'm happy to say that these are still available from their website.

The decals allow you to portray either the titular Atlantis, or Endeavour or Discovery, the other remaining in-service shuttles. The sheet has been expanded significantly from the original, and includes all manner of black and white decals for various areas of the shuttle, as well as the clearly visible details around the hinges of the payload bay. The NASA "meatball" logo also seems to be accurate, and you get a couple of ESA logos for their chunk of space station (if that's what it is).

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Conclusion

I'm very happy to see this released in time for the last flights of the Space Shuttle, and to see it released with some significant improvements to detail shows that Revell have been listening. It will still require care during the build process however, as it is a large kit made of large and sometimes flexible parts. Take it slow and steady however, and you will end up with an excellent replica of this awe inspiring behemoth.

Review sample courtesy of

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.

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Nice review, Mike. Makes me want to go out and buy one. Shame they didn't pair it up with the external tank and SRBs from Monogram's full stack Orbiter kit.

Obi-Jiff :fish:

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Mike

Good review, but I think you are confusing it with the Monogram version. The Revell version has always had the raised tile and blanket detail and other detail that you mention. The Monogram one is bereft of any such details.

With the exception of the improved decal set, nothing else has been changed.

By the way, the payload is the ubiqitous ESA Spacelab which comes with just about every shuttle kit,, first flying on STS-9, Columbia in 1983.

This release has been out for a while.

I also believe that the Realspace Payload kit is sized for the Monogram kit, so won't fit this one perfectly.

I hope this helps.

Keith

Edited by saturnapollo
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Keith, I was just about to spring for the Realspace engine bells and payload sets. How much modification is needed to fit the Revell kit ? As STS-133 is due to launch in November, it'd be nice to have one at the Nats for the final (if NASA is to be believed) shuttle flight.

It'd be nice to see the mission patches for either STS-132 or STS-133 as bases as well.

sts132-s-001.jpgpatches_8a.jpg

Andy

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Andy

I don't know actually. I've always just scratchbuild my own payload bay.

I suspect there wouldn't be any modifications needed for the engine bells, but I do know that Glenn sized the payload bay to the Monogram kit.

By the way, STS-133 won't be the final flight. STS-133 is currently scheduled for September but will probably slip to November carrying the Permanent Logistics Module. STS-134 carrying the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is curently scheduled for November but that will probably slip to around Feb 11. And of course there's still a chance that they will get the Launch On Need mission launched as STS-135.

Keith

Edited by saturnapollo
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As I have a Real Space payload bay, I'll test fit it tomorrow, if I have a few minutes, to see whether it works. The engine bells should fit regardless :)

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Talking of the Space Shuttle, have you guys seen this?

clicky

Daz thanks for sharing that link that is truly amazing has Shark64 moved onto space shuttles lol reminds me very much of his level of detail

Russ

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That's a nice review on Revell Big 1/72 shuttle....the decals are indeed an improvements to the older set.

Pity Revell didn't came up with these fine decals on their earlier releases.. :who-let-rip:

I could have used it on my Revell Atlantis shuttle.

Cheers

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  • 4 months later...

Hi folks

I've had one or two more orders for shuttle decals and I've now run out

of decal paper. Unless I get enough orders to make it worthwhile to send

for more paper I will turn down these people's requests. Before I do

so, I thought I had better make sure there is no-one else out there

requiring decals. If there is I can make up an order for another batch

of paper.

So one more time - 1/144 (Revell), 1/200 (Hasegawa) or 1/72 (Revell or

Monogram) shuttle underside black tile decals made from photos of the

real orbiters.

Prices for 1/144 and 1/200 are £14.20 per sheet and 1/72 - £45.50.

1/72 Revell kit with applied decals

http://www.keithmcneill.pwp.blueyonder.co....S%20Firing4.jpg

http://www.keithmcneill.pwp.blueyonder.co....de%20slope2.jpg

1/144 Revell kit with applied decals

http://www.keithmcneill.pwp.blueyonder.co....20%2811a%29.jpg

If anyone is interested, I will send out more detailed info regarding

the decals. Please do not send payment at this point. I would however be

asking for payment before I place the order for the paper. This is due

to some 50% of the people who requested 1/72 decals not following

through with their order (my thanks to the few who had the courtesy to

advice me).

Thank you.

Keith McNeill

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  • 2 years later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 2 months later...

Wow! I have this kit that I bought a very long time ago and have recently just started working on again! Which brought me here, so thanks for posting all of this great info!

I'm guessing my kit is the older. It looks like its from 2001 and is depicting the 100th sts with Endeavour. It explains the cargo included which is the same in the kit you have. It says Endeavour visited the ISS. It carried a robotic arm which was installed on the ISS. I am not sure if the pay loaded pices included are part of the mission or not, but it describes these pieces as well. There is a space lab for one half. The other section is an ESA experiment module with a telescope mounted to it. It also contains the experimental arm.

I wish I had your decal kit for sure. There are hardly any decals for thethe cockpit. The escape door on the side didn't match any of the pictures of the shuttle I found, which led me to painting almost all details on it by hand. There were no decals for the edge of the wings. I ended up taping these lines off to paint them in.

I would like to try and add something to the cargo bay to make it look padded. I would also like any suggestions as how to make the exterior look weathered. I don't really have any ideas on these things yet. For anyone interested, I can try to post photos of what I have done so far!

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  • 1 year later...
  • 4 years later...

It seems more accurate than the Monogram Shuttle.  Revell will release the full stack shuttle with boosters later this year.  I wonder if they will use their shuttle in place of the old Monogram in the box ?

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