Revell 1/100 Apollo Command/Service Module

[Eric Mc]

This is the Revell 1/100 kit. I think is actually originated with Heller. What it ISN'T is the 1/96 Command/Service Module the Revell included with their 1/96 Saturn V.

It is not a very accurate rendition of what the Apollo Command/Service Module actually looked like - whether a Block or a Block II design.

It is closest to the early Block I design so the aim of this project was to bring it a bit closer to that. The main ammendment was to provide the Command Module with a "solid" nose. The Block I design had no provision for docking - so did not carry any sort of docking probe (nor did it have a docking tunnel).

I also modified the engine bell and base of the Service Module.

Block I Command Modules were painted light grey. Block II Command Modules were covered in highly reflective stripes of aluminiumised mylar plastic.

The radiator pattern on the Block I Service Modules was also very different to the way the radiators were arranged on Block II Service Modules.

[TimB]

Nice - good to see a CSM in Block 1 configuration for a change.

Regards

Tim

[Eric Mc]

I've always been interested in the story of the Apollo Block I spacecraft. A certain amount of mythology has built up around its history and the way the Block II was decided on as the only manned Apollo after the Apollo 1 fire.

[omegaman]

great job with an awkward kit. As above, nice to see a block 1

[Eric Mc]

It's a pity it's such an odd-ball scale. I have the Dragon Lunar Landing set which comes with a nice Block II Command/Service Module - although in 1/72. It would be nice to build that as a comparative.

[HOUSTON]

Nice...WOW,

[jetboy]

Hi eric,nice job,dont see many done,think i have one in that scale by heller i think,very nice keep them coming....cheers Don

[Eric Mc]

I'm pretty sure the Revell 1/100 and the Heller 1/100 kits are one and the same.

[macgregor]

Great work on a rarer piece of space history, well done.

Mac

[JMChladek]

I've always been interested in the story of the Apollo Block I spacecraft. A certain amount of mythology has built up around its history and the way the Block II was decided on as the only manned Apollo after the Apollo 1 fire.

Mythology is a good term. A lot of publications seem to think that Block 1 was going to be the lunar mission vehicle until the fire, which is not true. The short of it is North American Aviation and NASA knew in 1963 that if they kept constantly changing the Apollo CSM design, they wouldn't have any ready for the early test flights since it takes about three years to assemble a spacecraft. So, they froze the design in late 1963 so they could begin fabrication of the test modules and those became the Block 1 craft since they needed the test data. Block 2 designs weren't more fleshed out and finalized until 1966 (with some relatively minor changes coming after the Apollo 1 fire).

There was one early study of perhaps sending a Block 1 with some enhanced radar antennas on a lunar orbit mapping mission, but pretty much the craft was a design dead end intended for solo Earth orbit missions since it had no docking tunnel up top. That was one of the reasons why Wally Schirra's crew who was supposed to fly the second Block 1 mission after Grissom's got it cancelled as they considered it a wasted effort since the Block 2 was going to be very different and a second Block 1 manned mission wasn't going to tell them all that much more anyway. So they became the Apollo 1 backup crew and after the fire happened, they rotated into Apollo 7, the first Block 2 spacecraft test.

Nice work on the model Eric. Apollo block 1 test vehicles 009 and 011 (Saturn 1B test flights) actually were painted white instead of gray. Apollo 1 was indeed going to be gray and I don't know what colorings were used on Apollos 4 and 6 (the Saturn V test flights using Block 1 craft with some Block 2 test upgrades). I imagine if a second Block 1 manned flight after Apollo 1 had flown, it would have been gray colored as well.

Very nice job pointing the top of the CM. That isn't a detail a lot of space modelers catch.