Explorer 1 & Vanguard 1

[bianfuxia]

Earlier this year I built these and mounted them on a stand that came with the 1/144 Revell Space Shuttle.

 

The one with stripes (for those who may not know) is Explorer 1, the US' first satellite, and humanity's third after Sputnik 1 and 2. The little ball shaped one is Vanguard 1, the US Navy's eventual success after its earlier failures. That was humankind's 4th satellite.

 

Explorer 1 is associated with both Van Allen (after whom the Van Allen radiation belt, so beloved of Apollo hoax believers, is named, precisely because this satellite discovered it), and Werner von Braun, the Nazi rocket scientist who featured heavily in PBS' very good "Chasing the Moon" documentary.

 

A flight backup of Explorer 1 is at the National Air & Space Museum here in DC; the other day the Navy had a stall at an event on the Mall outside it with a mockup of Vanguard 1.

 

The kit is very simple - basically a couple of pieces of resin and the four pre-bent brass rods.

 

 

I masked and painted it with Vallejo flat white and black and a mid-brown for the rings about midway down. Probably I should paint the brass silver but I kind of like the look.

 

A simple quick and cheap build but one which makes a good addition to my spacecraft collection.

 

Hope you like it.

 

 

 

 

 

This public domain NASA image gives you a sense of scale (Von Braun on the right of frame):

 

Just for fun here is my own model of the Jupiter C rocket which launched it:

 

 

Here's a link to the Explorer kit: 

http://www.realspacemodels.com/shop-galapagos/124-explorer-1-vanguard-1?category=1%2F24+kit