Ima Penin Diaz Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 The Gemini spacecraft is one of my favourite vehicles and I had a partially prebuilt one that I bought off of eBay and will rebuild it. The hull taped together ... notice the decals ... well, they'll all get removed later! Note the damage to the lower bit which resulted from disassembling the parts. This version of the Gemini was to return for a landing on Terra Firma, not water, so landing gear has to be built. On the left is the 1/48 Revell kit wherein the landing gear doors were part of the kit. I used this smaller version to create the pattern for the doors and cut them out. Using Dymo tape to make the guide ... ... and the result. With the interior bulkhead dry fit ... I need to determine the depth I can build of the bay. Building the interior walls of the landing gear bays ... ... and done. The eBay model didn't have the RCS portion so I used a piece of PVC plumbing pipe to make a new one ... And filed a bevel onto the edge to fit the kit's hull pieces. Drilled holes for the Thrusters and filled them with Aluminum tubing. ... and added styrene strips to recreate the shingles ... That'll do for now ... IPD 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwinism Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Excellent idea - I'm looking forward to following this build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Ive seen the real deal in books and articles before. Ive read it was a good idea but in practice was kind of a disaster. I think I remember something about the parachute. It was to be aerofoil in shape, to help the capsule glide back to earth ? Makes you wonder if thats where the idea of para-gliding came from ? Seeing as Im a fan of Gemini capsules I'm going to follow this build. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 You are correct ... and here's what inspired this build of mine. It's an image from National Geographic magazine circa 1964 ... 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 The Landing Gear need to built from scratch, so-o-o ... a little styrene, a couple Aluminum tubes, a spring from a pen ... ... the Main Gear ... ... the Nose Gear ... I used the 1/48 kit's nose gear for a little reference ... and done. ... the Main Gear ... this dry fit indicated that the Gear were gonna be too long, so I shortened 'em ... ... the adjusted one on top. The other one will get shortened too. The new RCS section, into which the Nose Gear will get fitted. I made an inside surface to hold all the greeblies ... Starting to look like something ... Till next posting ... IPD 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kushan_Farsight Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Loving watching this project develop. Always thought that the Rogallo wing was a good recovery concept just needed refinement. Its nice to see they are using a similar method for recovery of the SpaceX fairings , but under automatic guidance. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Excellent work. The attention to detail with the scratch built items is stunning! Respect! Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Morris Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 Amazing work. I am but a kit assembler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted March 29, 2020 Author Share Posted March 29, 2020 Nice to see you all here ... and thanks for the comments! I had just 2 reference pix for the landing gear ... this is the Nose ... ... and the Main Landing Gear. Assembling the hull, I used scrap styrene shims to fill some gaps at the heat shield and other seams ... A channel needed to be built for the lines for the Rogallo wing ... first on the RCS section ... ... and the crew cabin. At the heat shield, a groove was cut in for the lines for the Rogallo wing. To repair a missing chunk in the heat shield, Milliput was stuck in, and sanded down ... I wanted to install a skid plate onto the front of the Nose Gear. ... and done. On the top of the Nose Gear is a spool which plays out line when the Wing is deployed. This is the rudimentary pattern ... A variety of iterations and the final one to the right, made from sheet Aluminium. The spool itself is styrene tubing. And installed. Starting to detail the crew cabin ... ... and with hatches and RCS section dry fit. A dry fit of the MLG and NLG ... I held the model upside down and took the picture ... This is coming together rather nicely. IPD 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted March 30, 2020 Author Share Posted March 30, 2020 After a coat of primer I replaced some of the washers that were sanded off previously ... Some of my sketches to try to figure how best to display this model ... Using 1/2" tubing, starting to build the Rogallo wing. With a sheet of thicker paper I started to develop the patterns ... The scale of the 2 subassemblies looks about right. A possible display idea ... To support the stand, I placed a tube of Brass into the styrene tube ... a length of clothes hanger will be the main support of the completed model. Using a sheet of 0.010" styrene the wing is getting assembled ... In an attempt to show some billowing of the 'chute material, I'll try using Grocery bag plastic attached with Rubber Cement. The pencil lines will be my guide for applying stripes of Rubber Cement ... Clamping the sheet styrene to the tubing. You can also see the stripes of Rubber Cement This'll do for now ... till next posting. IPD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 I sprayed on a coat of Model Master Steel ... and then a coat of Light Grey ... I wanna try to get the effect of having re-entered the earth's atmosphere ... The hatches didn't sit correctly, so I added a few styrene supports ... That's better The decals ... they needed a lot of setting solution and a little coercion to settle into the corrugations ... They settled very nicely I'll also try to replicate the wear on the heat shield ... Getting there ... ... looks good enough! To get that worn, burnt look, I sanded down through the layers of paint ... this is just about what I was looking for. Some paint on the Nose ... Installing the spool ... I added a couple of guides / anchors to the spool because there will be some tension on it ... Main Gear installed ... And with the Nose Gear installed ... And even though it will be suspended, it was nice to see it self supporting ... I had to do a little surgery and add a couple of rods to support the Wing lines ... And then make sure it would support the weight ... That's a lot of images, let's see if it posts ... IPD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tzulscha Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 I have to say, that looks like an absolutely terrifying way to land a space craft. A lot of extra weight too. Not too surprising then, that the system was never adopted. Nice build btw. I quite like the weathering. Umm, how many of these kits do you have anyway? Side note: Maybe don't load quite so many pix on a post? It took ages to load the photos and there were maybe half a dozen that were just links. Nice pix tho... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 2, 2020 Author Share Posted April 2, 2020 Thanx Tzulscha ... the image count didn't even occur to me ... I was trying to find out what the limit for the forum software was before it said "Nope, too many!" Plus these images are larger than my usual, and I don't remember changing the resolution ... But I'll limit the image count to 10 or so. Thanx again! This is Gemini 8 and the colours of the spacecraft, after re-entry, are what I was looking for ... Adhering the Grocery bag plastic to the sheet styrene ... Attaching the lines to the wing ... I made loops out of copper wire to attach the lines to ... First coat of paint ... ... adding the Black bits. It's just Grocery bag plastic painted Gunmetal ... I tend to not use Black paint at all. Rigging the lines from the wing to the spacecraft ... Alright-y then ... the lines are all taut, they're the right length, the spacecraft hangs nicely ... I think it's done! Till next post ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 2, 2020 Author Share Posted April 2, 2020 I increased the size of the base and then took some pix with Lake Ontario in the background ... This is good enough for me ... it's unique, I haven't seen one in 1/24 before and ... I learned a lot from this build ... and I'm quite happy with the way this turned out. Tzulscha, you asked how many of these kits I had, 3. 2 were poorly prebuilt garbage from eBay and one was bought new ... but I have none left and I think the Gemini topic has been satisfied with me! Thanx for tagging along on this build! IPD 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tzulscha Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 That came out looking really good! Increasing the base size to include all of Lake Ontario seems a bit extreme but it works quite well! Good job, well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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