Eric Mc Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Last year I built Dragon's nice little 1/72 Gemini spacecraft. Now that I have the time to get back to a model building project, I thought another Dragon space kit would be rewarding to tackle. 2015 was the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) - which took place in July 1975. It was a political mission as much as engineering, scientific or technological and had been dreamed up by President Richard Nixon as part of his "détente" programme with the Soviet Union. Originally, they had looked at the idea of a Soyuz docking with a Skylab space station or an Apollo docking with a Salyut. In the end, they went for a simpler option by having an Apollo and Soyuz dock with each other. Ironically, by the time the mission flew, Nixon had resigned in disgrace and it was left to President Ford to garner any positive PR from the events. It was the last ever mission using Apollo hardware. The next US manned spaceflight was the first Space Shuttle mission in April 1981. A few months ago I purchased Dragon's 1/72 kit of the ASTP. Dragon has produced a whole raft of Apollo based kits. Almost all of them feature the same Command/Service Module - which is no surprise as this spacecraft was intrinsic to all of the manned Apollo flights. As far as I am aware, it is the only mainstream injection moulded kit of the Block 2 Command/Service Module and it certainly looks accurate enough to me. The Soyuz spacecraft that is included in the package is resin rather than polystyrene - which is an odd choice of material. However, as you can see from the pictures, it results in a very simple model. The one part of the Soyuz that I am not entirely happy with is the depiction of the solar panels. A blue coloured "sticker" is provided which is supposed to replicate the look of the solar cells but I think it is far too blue and garish and I plan to try an alternative less brash way of showing these panels. I haven't quite worked out how yet 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny_7713 Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Cool project! Will be interesting to see what you do for the solar panels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted February 13, 2016 Author Share Posted February 13, 2016 Having a bit of a think about that. Looking at pictures of the real thing, they have a more charcoal grey appearance than blue. There is no raised detail of any significance on the panels, so the "grid effect" will have to be achieved by painting or decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyG Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Take care with the Apollo service module - it's not easy to get everything straight and true (I'll do better on my second attempt with the one in the Apollo 11). IIRC some of the parts are also numbered differntly in the instructions as to what they are on the sprues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted February 15, 2016 Author Share Posted February 15, 2016 The instructions do seem to have been written by somebody who wasn't actually looking at the pieces in the box. There are, in effect, no instructions on the assembly of the Soyuz - although it is a fairly easy assembly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 I'll be watching this one with interest - I built this kit a year or two back and was very happy with the outcome. Be aware though that the Soyuz makes the completed model too heavy for the stand - I ended up gluing a large extension to the base to stop it toppling over. Issue 57 of Airfix Model World had a review build which you might also find interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 I have that issue of Airfix Model World and have been reading it carefully. My plan is not to use the supplied stand at all but to fabricate something different that supports both ends of the assembled model. I'm also referring to Mat Irvine's Airfix Model World article on his build of Dragon's "Lunar Approach" kit. It contains essentially the same Command/Service Module. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 I've built the 'Lunar Approach' kit as well and the stand has the same problem so making your own is a good idea. The reason for the odd parts breakdown of the Service Module, by the way, is that Dragon were planning a cutaway version though I don't know if it ever appeared. Not that I would have bought it anyway... Here's my own completed model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 Do they do a J series Command/Service module with SIMBAY? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Do they do a J series Command/Service module with SIMBAY? Yes, there's this one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 Ooh - that's tempting. The prices quoted for these kits can be a bit eye watering but now and then they can be got at more realistic prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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