MarkSH Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 This is going to be my build of the venerable Airfix 1/72 LEM using the 40th anniversary gift set: A big solid box, but actually really not much of the contents is going to be used I will be doing the LEM only and it will be in-flight during the descent phase just before the historic 'touchdown'. I wont be using the moulded base or any of the lunar survey/experimentation equipment. I will be making a new base from MDF complete with brass support arm which I've already bent to shape. I bought some more substantial gold foil 'sweetie' wrappers as the foil in the kit is very delicate and I just don't think it'll be man enough for the job. Looking forward to this very much. Cheers, Mark 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Good evening Mark Welcome ..it will be a very interesting build Enjoy it .. Cheers Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Ooh, I'll have a gander at thisl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FortyEighter Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 An interesting choice, hadn't realised this had Grumman heritage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 19 minutes ago, FortyEighter said: An interesting choice, hadn't realised this had Grumman heritage They also did a range of vans, but I thought nah! a spaceship will be more interesting. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 The first kit I made on my return to this wonderful hobby was Revell's 1/48 Lunar Module, which I think I got on sale for about £4, and I've built a couple of the Dragon Lunar modules since. There is something about the design that really is fascinating! Looking forward to seeing this in progress. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenoz Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 I was also unaware that Grumman had something to do with these... Will you build it mostly out of the box, or will you add some details to the legs etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 28 minutes ago, Silenoz said: I was also unaware that Grumman had something to do with these... Will you build it mostly out of the box, or will you add some details to the legs etc... I will be adding a few extra details, such as the RCS deflector stays. The door is wrong, so I'll be changing that. The LEM will be in-flight so I'll need to add the surface sensing probes. There are some shape issues with the Ascent Stage on the -Y but I wont have time to address them so mostly out of the box. The main effort will be getting the foil scheme, different panel colours and display base to look 'right'. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Yesss! I was hoping someone would join with one of these, cheers, ' Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Certainly something different, I look forward to your build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted October 20, 2018 Author Share Posted October 20, 2018 Afternoon all, I'm going to start with the LEM as it's a very simple basic construction, the majority of the character of the build is going to be from the addition of the foil and the paint scheme. So to start with I made some provision for the display stand brass arm to be screwed to the finished model, unfortunately the best position is the location of the LEM's landing radar which I was intending to scratch, never mind, I might make up a more simplified version of the radar block to help disguise the screw head. A glued block inside the descent stage base with a pilot hole pre-drilled so Ole' sausage fingers doesn't over stress the finished model when mounting it on the display base. The Descent stage parts (2) were glued together, not much cleanup required as it's all going to be covered up with foil, which was the next job. The sequence is going to be 1) Base, 2) sides, 3) top That way any overlapping joints would be disguised with exposed edges facing down (that's the theory, lets hope it works). I had already scribed some additional detail into the base as it was a bit plain and looking at pictures of the Dragon kit they had added some lines and circles so I tried to copy the pattern. The other point to note is the bottom face of central raised part needs to be silver coloured foil not gold but it was just easier to apply a single piece to start with. Bottom. Sides. Nearly done. Whilst the PVA glue for the foil is drying I also made a start on the Ascent stage. The first task was to address the incorrect door which even the box art doesn't show. What is that large lump in the middle of the door? it's gotta go! That's better, but now my LEM looks like an emoji! maybe the...Paranoid emoji: Ghastly isn't it! More later, Cheers, Mark. 9 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 Cool, good to see its not only me who's spent this fine saturday modelling, i like how this is shaping up mark it'll make a fine model Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 Morning all, I painted up the Descent stage last night and this morning, and there are quite a lot of different foils used, all different colours. According to one source on the coatings for the whole LEM there are; as well as the bare aluminium, 'clad' aluminium, bare epoxy fibreglass, bare silicone fibreglass, beta fabric, six types of foil, well I can't represent them all so I cut it back to three; plain gold, amber gold and aluminium. To get the amber gold effect, I liberally over-painted the plain gold foil with Tamiya X-26 clear orange, the aluminium is Sainsbury's 'basics' ultra thin and useless for the purposes of cooking, but great for foiling models kitchen foil. The top view complete with 'black' paint panels and decals. The bottom of the descent stage. Hopefully more later, a roast chicken dinner and a bottle of vino splasho may prevent however! Cheers, Mark. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Hi Mark, you've made a great start on this. I'm looking forward to see how you replace the hatch & how you fit the stays for the deflectors. Will you detach the deflectors from the thrusters? While hunting the net for colours etc on the LEM I found one particularly useful site here 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 Evening all, I've moved onto the LEM Ascent stage now, and the main assembly like the descent stage is minimal, just the two halves and the clear parts. I painted the insides black before gluing the windows in place and mating the two halves. I've added some ribbing to the door area and fitted a blank to the door orifice, the actual door will be detailed before being glued in place later. I have also added the four RCS cluster blocks which have been liberally coated in Mr Surfacer and textured with an old brush, in reality they were, like a lot of the LEM covered in foil, but I couldn't get the foil to stick solidly enough so compromised, they're going to be painted black anyway. Front view. Side view. The seams were sanded smooth and a coat of Tamiya primer has been applied: Rear view with panel lines and metal buckling effect added. Some ribbing detail needs to be added below the rear panel. A couple of seams need cleaning up but nearly ready for some detail painting 6 hours ago, andymoore said: Hi Mark, you've made a great start on this. I'm looking forward to see how you replace the hatch & how you fit the stays for the deflectors. Will you detach the deflectors from the thrusters? While hunting the net for colours etc on the LEM I found one particularly useful site here Thanks Andy, I'm not going to separate the deflectors from the RCS thrusters as I feel it's going to be rather delicate and too problematic to align it all independently so it'll just be a case of drilling some holes in the Descent stage to accommodate some thin plastic rod to represent the stays. Thanks for the link, very useful stuff in there, cheers. More later, Mark. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Excellent progress Mark! I like what you have done with the foil.......and no foil but foil areas! Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 Evening all, Further progress: I have added some ribbing to the underside of the ascent stage and I have started the detail painting, although with so many conflicting 'takes' on how the LEM was covered, clad and 'painted' its going to be a rough interpretation at best. The Ascent stage has been given several coats of brush painted Vallejo metal colour aluminium as a base coat for the detail painting. Extra ribbing detail. Detail painting. Its also been 'messy' time at Mission control tonight with a bold application of Polyfilla to the MDF base in an attempt to recreate a small portion of Mare Tranquillitatis. Initially applied with a palette knife, the Polyfilla has been smoothed with a large Hake...the brush not the fish! and of course I couldn't resist adding one small crater to my Polyfilla moon. "Picking up some dust. 30 feet, 2 ½ down...…" In other news I have been assigned the task of icing the Christmas cake this year. Cheers, Mark. 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Really do like the work that you have carried out on this especially the foil and the different variations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted October 23, 2018 Author Share Posted October 23, 2018 Hello all, I'm now moving onto the fiddly legs and the necessary foil application, but before that I did a little more to the display base. I coated the top surface with neat PVA and sprinkled some Fine grain scatter grass/earth all over it and sealed it with spray mount and hairspray, I need to add a few larger grains and rocks for a bit of interest. When the top is dry I'll give the side the same treatment. The whole thing will be primed grey and then airbrushed with a limited range of greys. I also tried to apply a bit of texture to the RCS plume deflectors using bushed Mr Surfacer: The thrusters have been drilled out and then painted flat black; Moving onto the legs; the assemblies have all been made up and test fitted, so it was a case of getting on with the foiling which is patience testing to say the least! I cut and shaped the three surface sensing probes using 0.8mm copper wire: A quick test fit for probe length, they're surprisingly long being in reality nearly five foot, I'm going to use short lengths of heat shrink tubing white glued in place for further leg detailing. I'm adding a reduced number of the tape strips around the primary strut. Cheers, Mark. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Cracking build so far Mark. i think it needs a soundtrack! Never tried linking to YouTube before, hope this works: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 You've put the hundreds and thousands on the Christmas cake i see, also the lander is coming along rather well, i like the legs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSH Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 6 hours ago, Hewy said: You've put the hundreds and thousands on the Christmas cake i see, also the lander is coming along rather well, i like the legs All it needs is a dustbin lid and a Clanger.....apparently 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 14 hours ago, zebra said: YouTube Good work z, you did it with witch craft I'm sure 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Coming along nicely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazey Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Oh, wonderful choice for the GB! I didn't know this kit existed (may have to search eBay if it's out of production). On 10/21/2018 at 2:32 AM, MarkSH said: Ghastly isn't it! Also good to see reference to "your plastic pall who's fun to be with 🎼" Regards, David 1 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