Jabberwocky Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Right, I'm calling this done. It's by no means perfect, but it's as close as I'm ever going to get it. My apologies for not carrying on with the WIP I had intended to provide, but a new kitchen, car trouble, Christmas and other examples of domestic reality got in the way. I had originally intended to keep the Service Module bay transparent section, but soon realised that no amount of wire and foil was going to make this... ... look like this... ... so I decided to close it up and rely on the excellent PE, resin and decals from New Ware to liven it up. Unfortunately the two sections of the Service Module appear to have been moulded in two different diameters, so a lot of filling, sanding, refilling, resanding and profanity ensued. If I ever build this again, (and that's as likely as me coinciding with a supermodel, a bottle of baby oil and a bouncy castle), I shall probably build the cylindrical section from scratch and add the large EPS radiator panels from styrene strip, as an ugly seam runs right through one of them. The original smaller ECS radiators are all sanded off and replaced with resin parts from New Ware. So here are some general shots of the thing, showing how most of the fabulous New Ware PE detail inside the Command Module is now completely invisible. I used chrome BMF to represent the Kaplon tape on the Command Module, scribed with a sharp scalpel blade. I know it was sharp, I didn't feel a thing. Lots of blood though. New Ware provide decals for all the Beware of the dog signs and fridge magnets that cover the thing. They are beautifully printed and legible if your eyesight is better than mine. They are very thin and delicate, and one or two of them came apart, but nothing that wasn't solvable with careful handling. Various waste vents and orifices were drilled out to give a sense of depth. New Ware's PE High-Gain Antenna dishes are gorgeous. I found that laying the flat pieces in the hollow at the bottom end of an aerosol can and gently tapping them with a small ball-pein hammer coaxed them into a suitable curvature. I had a disaster with the painting on the Service Module however. Something reacted with everything else and silver paint, white paint, primer and even the CA glue holding the PE in place started falling off. This resulted in a lot of extra work, repainting and more blue air. The lovely detail on these big PE panels lifts an otherwise bland area rather well though. So I'm glad it's finished and it looks quite impressive on the shelf, although that's due more to New Ware's add-ons, (highly recommended), and the Space in Miniature book no. 6, (also highly recommended), than my efforts. It's my small tribute to the people who saw the Apollo project through and inspired us all. Thanks for looking, Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetboy Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 HI,THATS A BRILLIANT LOOKING cm,you have made a nice job of that,hope mine will look as good...thanks Don....ps do you fancy bottom the resin lander ive got that would fit on top of this,cos i dont.....excellent job again....Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabberwocky Posted February 9, 2013 Author Share Posted February 9, 2013 Thanks for the kind words Don. A resin lander? I'm intrigued, who produced that? Having admired your builds on here though, if you don't want to tackle it, then it would probably be a bit too challenging for me! Any chance of a picture of it? Cheers, Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetboy Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Thanks for the kind words Don. A resin lander? I'm intrigued, who produced that? Having admired your builds on here though, if you don't want to tackle it, then it would probably be a bit too challenging for me! Any chance of a picture of it? Cheers, Paul Hi paul,the landers,by vista models,its been lying around for good number of years,i think its that old the resin has formed a new specie,s of life by its self,i will do a few pics later for you,theres a lot o pieces,+white metal legs,it looks daunting,btw did you remove the gold on your cm or cover it,just out of intrest?it does look good....cheers Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triumphfan Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Great looking model. Shame about the WIP but you have provided some lovely completed shots. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinj Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 excellent job again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Excellent work - it's a big beast innit? If that's the size of the Maplin photo booth, it's what? 9" long or more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabberwocky Posted February 10, 2013 Author Share Posted February 10, 2013 Excellent work - it's a big beast innit? If that's the size of the Maplin photo booth, it's what? 9" long or more? It stands about 9" tall, and is around 12.5" long. I think the next build will be something smaller - whatever it is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macgregor Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Great build, have this one to do with the new ware stuff myself, nice to see how it goes together & your'e thoughts on the cylinder halves of the service module. Mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NathanR Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Wow, that is beautiful! I'm working on this one too, I've got the new ware astronauts and the RealSpace control panel (I'm not quite ready for PE parts!). Just curious, how did you paint up the top shelf of the SM? The part has a fair amount of detailing on it, but I've not found any reference pictures from the real Apollo spacecraft, I've been wondering how to paint it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabberwocky Posted February 10, 2013 Author Share Posted February 10, 2013 Wow, that is beautiful! I'm working on this one too, I've got the new ware astronauts and the RealSpace control panel (I'm not quite ready for PE parts!). Just curious, how did you paint up the top shelf of the SM? The part has a fair amount of detailing on it, but I've not found any reference pictures from the real Apollo spacecraft, I've been wondering how to paint it... Thanks! It's difficult to be exact about certain details, as many pictures show the craft in various stages of construction and not necessarily 'as flown' and no two craft were identical anyway. I used pictures from the NASA archive and www.apolloarchive.com/ as well as the Space in Miniature book 6 by David Weeks and Michael J. Mackowski as references. The book says that the top of the SM was covered in silver mylar and should be painted the same colour as the SM body, most of which was covered in thin layers of cork for insulation and painted an aluminium colour. I got over the problem by sticking the CM and SM together anyway, the thing is too delicate to handle with the PE EVA handles sticking out of it. Sometimes you have to make an educated guess or cheat! Please show us the RealSpace CM interior when you've built it, it would be interesting to compare it with the New Ware one. The control panels weren't too bad, they were flat sheets of PE put together in layers, but some of the external handles and brackets needed some tricky folding. One of the frustrating things about the interior set is the tunnel to the LEM, which is built up from PE, (I found that wrapping the PE sheet around the top of a Tamiya X-20 thinners bottle gave a ring of approx. the right diameter), including the hatch cover and handle, but when it's in place it's impossible to see it. Still, I know it's there. Enjoy your build, Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper108 Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 nice job look great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mekon Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 (edited) Lovely build, really like the mylar pattern you've replicated. The resin LM mentioned earlier may be the Vista Replicas kit. I have one of these along with a never released Surveyor (for an Apollo 12) diorama along with a LRV for a J mission. It's pretty basic kit but they do come up on ebay every now and then. Here's a link to a reveiw by Sven Knudsen. http://www.ninfinger.org/models/vista_reps/lm.html Edited February 10, 2013 by mekon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoppaMoomin Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Stonking build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omegaman Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 That looks great, will be a good inspiration for when I get round to mine! Thank you for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now