Lost American Projects: A Spacecraft Modellers Guide (eBook)

INTRODUCTION

This book is intended to be a follow-on to my original book published by The Crowood Press Ltd, Scale Spacecraft Modelling, but this time there are detailed descriptions of what could have been built, from my colleague David Baker. It is intended for modellers who have at least a passing knowledge of model building. Scale Spacecraft Modelling featured in detail many aspects of building models of spacecraft and rockets, including information on the types of tools and paint required, working environments and other aspects such as spray painting, applying decals and scratch-building additional parts. Consequently these minutiae are not repeated here – the recommendation, somewhat obviously, is to please read the earlier book!

However, there are some aspects that come up fairly frequently in this book, that perhaps do need a little further explanation.

As this book features spacecraft that were planned, but not built, there are no commercial model kits of them. But all were based around craft that had been designed, built and launched, and for which commercial model kits have been made. So the starting point for many of the builds included here can start with an existing kit.

Because of the subject matter, the numbers of the kits used here do get repeated, but most should be reasonably easily to obtain, if not from one manufacturer, then maybe from another. Plus many modellers still have stashes of unbuilt kits tucked away (invariably referred to as ‘loft insulation’), so these can finally have a use! It could also be a time to dig out old, already built kits that maybe have seen better days and perhaps should have been consigned to the dustbin or garbage can. But recycling is all the rage, and anyway most modellers are extremely reluctant to throw anything away – ‘You never know, it might come in useful…’ – and these conversions may indeed be the chance to prove that point.

Of course the model kit industry does not stand still, and although all the model kits in these conversions have been available at some time or another, and may even still be widely available when this book is published, it does not mean that they will be forever. But new kits of the same subject get issued, and old kits frequently get reissued. And local model clubs still run shows and swap-meets, where modellers have tables full of their old stock of kits that they will ‘never get round to building’, so sell them off (then invariably spend the cash on buying yet more kits from fellow modellers on other stands, so the stock never really diminishes…). In addition there is the joy (or otherwise) of those on-line auction sites where obsolete kits can be obtained, some still at amazingly reasonable prices.

Here is a short list of the main kits used in these conversions, and where there are alternatives.

MODEL KIT CONVERSIONS

Saturn V

In the 1:144 scale used here for the conversions, the two mainly available kits of the Apollo Saturn V are from Airfix and Monogram. (The latter is now under the Revell name, but it is the same kit.) In more recent years 4D issued a ‘visible’ 1:144-scale Saturn V, though the Airfix and Monogram/Revell are going to be easier to find and cheaper, even at today’s prices.

But if you wish to adapt the scales of the builds using the Saturn V, there is one from AMT that is down in scale to 1:200, and up in scale there is the 1:96 example from Revell. Even larger is the newest kit from Dragon, in 1:72 scale. Airfix also makes the Skylab Saturn V in 1:144, and Dragon makes it in 1:72, where most of the parts are the same as the Apollo version.

Saturn IB

The main kit here is the Airfix one in 1:144 scale, but AMT makes one in 1:200 scale in its ‘Man in Space’ five-rocket set, and Dragon makes one in 1:72. There are also resin versions in 1:144, from RealSpace Models and New Ware.

Space Shuttle

The conversions here use 1:144 scale, and most use the Airfix kit. However, Revell also makes a similar 1:144 kit. Both companies make this as the Full Stack set-up, so with Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), External Tank (ET) and the Orbiter itself. In fact Airfix only makes this set-up, while Revell makes separate Orbiter and full stack kits. A full stack kit is also made by Minicraft. (This started life as a G-Mark kit, then Entex, now Minicraft, but the kits are identical, though the moulding colours can vary.) A 1:144-scale Shuttle Orbiter has been made by Bandai (now a rare kit), and Dragon makes an Orbiter by itself, and also with the Boeing 747 SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft).

1:72-scale kits of the Orbiter have been made by both Revell and Monogram, which were different as they were then separate companies. More recently 4-D makes a ‘visible’ 1:72-scale Orbiter. Monogram also makes a full stack 1:72 Shuttle – it is likely that this is the largest commercial ‘space kit’ ever made, or ever likely to be made.

Tamiya made an Orbiter in 1:100, but there was no matching Booster section. In smaller scales Hasegawa and Lindberg make full stack Shuttles in 1:200 scale; the latter was also available under the AMT name. (As AMT also makes the 1:200 ‘Man in Space’ set, it makes this transfer of name somewhat logical.) Then there are even smaller-scale Shuttle full stack kits in 1:288 scale, originating from Union and Academy. The Union kits have also been issued under other names, such as Revell and Doyusha. These have been available as full stack, Orbiter only, and with a 747 as the SCA. (If you are wondering as to the ‘oddness’ of this scale, it came about as it is half of 1:144, itself half of the traditional aircraft scale of 1:72.)

Apollo

Revell has made the most of Apollo over the years, with kits in 1:96 and 1:48 scales. The 1:48 especially is used a great deal in these conversions, as although from very early years, and based on ‘boiler-plate’ mock-ups, it does still look the part, and has many useful parts for these conversions. Monogram and Dragon have also made good use of Apollo, and the Monogram 1:48-scale Lunar Module and the 1:32 Command Service Module (CSM) find their way into these pages. The 1:72- scale Airfix Apollo Lunar Module is also a source of parts.

The X-15

The X-15 is available as a true 1:72-scale kit from Monogram and MPM. The oft-quoted ‘1:72’ Revell kit that dates as far back as 1958 is not, in fact, 1:72, but 1:65 – close, but not 1:72. However, recently the original Monogram kit has moved under the Revell name, so care must be taken to ensure that you have the ‘1:72’-scale kit and not the older 1:65. There are other scales of the X-15, but the conversion included here relies on a similar scaled XB-70, and for that there is really only one kit, the AMT version. (This is now under the Italeri name, but it is the same kit.) There are 1:48-scale X-15 kits, even one in 1:32, but a similar scale XB-70 would be impressive, though extremely impractical.

Gemini

Most Gemini conversions will use one of the two scales made by Revell, namely 1:24 and 1:48. Other kits have been available: Imai, also issued by Bandai, made one in 1:28 scale and Dragon has one in 1:72. There have been several in resin in 1:32 scale, especially from Collect-Aire and Raccoon, but firstly these were produced in small numbers and are consequently rare and expensive (if they can be found at all), and although they could be used in conversions, here we stay with conventional styrene. There are other Gemini spacecraft models, but they are far smaller and will be the payload for a Gemini-Titan II launcher vehicle.

Mercury

The Revell 1:48-scale Gemini was made as a double kit with America’s first craft to carry an astronaut, Mercury. Unfortunately Revell never made a 1:24-scale Mercury kit to match the 1:24-scale Gemini, only the 1:48 (and 1:110 scales to go with its two launch rockets). Different...