1/72 Dragon Apollo 10 (converted to Apollo 13 diorama)

[Lee Chambers]

Hi all, been working on a new real space project this last week or so. I bought this kit off eBay, I wanted to convert it to be Apollo 13. 

I have opened up one of the compartments and scratch built the damage from the explosion. Adding some RGB (Red, Green, Blue) flashing LEDs to give a flashing explosion effect. I also wanted to light the thruster rockets on the side of the command module, however the nozzles were micro small and there was no way it was possible to drill them out to add lighting of any sort.

 

I did a slight cheat and drilled some small holes through the back of the wall of the service module which allowed light to pass through underneath the nozzles and has give me a satisfactory effect of the retro rockets firing.

 

I plan to mount the model on a tube running through the rocket motor nozzle of the service module going through up into the Lunar module. This tube will be driven from a motorised gearbox which will allow the spacecraft to slowly rotate, the plan is to have the model in some form of box that will have a space background and also showing the debris field following the explosion of the oxygen tank.

 

"Houston, we have a problem".

 

[The Chief Smeg]

Awesome 

[Lee Chambers]

1 minute ago, The Chief Smeg said:

Awesome 

Cheers !

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Great work 👍

[Lee Chambers]

5 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Great work 👍

Thanks,it's only work in progress at the moment,so please don't take the pictures of the separated LEM as accurate,the crew needed the lower half to make course corrections and to escape the moon's gravity to get home.

[Tony C]

Looks great, I’ve been considering something similar but considering is as far as I’ve currently got!

 

I don’t know if its of interest but I do seem to remember reading somewhere, that the CSM engine bell was also damaged in the explosion but cannot find any pictures which show this!

[Lee Chambers]

On 22/07/2018 at 23:33, Tony C said:

Looks great, I’ve been considering something similar but considering is as far as I’ve currently got!

 

I don’t know if its of interest but I do seem to remember reading somewhere, that the CSM engine bell was also damaged in the explosion but cannot find any pictures which show this!

Thanks Tony,i too have struggled to find much accurate reference pics,only really have what Jim Lovell shot when they separated from the service module,very grainy pics,but it may have been internal damage as i am amazed the high gain antenna survived as well as it did,although Lovell remarked it looked damaged.

[k5054nz]

Fantastic work, especially in 1/72! Great job!

[Lee Chambers]

5 hours ago, k5054nz said:

Fantastic work, especially in 1/72! Great job!

Thanks,i have complete most of the kit build,working on the base for the diorama at the moment,i will post another update soon.

[Lee Chambers]

Hi all, just a quick update on the Apollo 13 build. I have mostly finished the model build, I am using an old fridge food storage box that I converted to be the base for the diorama. I have added a crew patch to the top of the box which I painted gloss black and sprinkled into the lacquer coat some silver metal flake to give a star field effect. 

 

The inside of the box is painted with a matt finish to cut down on reflections, this also has a star field effect. The motor is geared to rotate at 3 rpm, I used a 23a 12v battery housed in a compartment that I made and has a small slide switch to power up the lighting. I still have to fix the motor to the outside of the box and attach the 7mm stainless steel tube that holds the model.

 

For the debris trail, I used some fibre optic strand to support the cotton wool which has been sprinkled with some metal flake particles. This was glued in place with a spray of Tamiya matt clear. More to come soon guys.

 

[Lee Chambers]

Hi everyone, my build is now completed, you can see the final reveal in the link below.

 

Edited August 5, 2018 by Lee Chambers