crackerjazz

Here's a comparison of the sizes. I was going to recommend the Aerobonus as the detailing looks awesome -- maybe cut it somewhere in the middle and extend it, add cables and rework the spearhead. But, yeah, I guess you're better off with the kit part.

Hey Steve, I got that warpage on my Eduard MERs as well. I tried the boiling water technique and ended up with pretzels so that was some money down the drain. I then purchased some Aerobonus MERs which are secured on blocks that prevent warpage. I'll try to measure them tonight but I believe they're also shorter than the kit parts. The front fairing has sharp sides that will need sanding to shape, and looks smallish. You need to add cables, and the swaybraces are fragile.

I found a used Revell Intruder kit and borrowed the MERs -- they look really good. I did pick up some of those Aerobonus sets. But these kit swaybraces take to rough handling better, so building is quicker with less worry of breakage. My only complaints are that the rear ends are not the circular kind; the cables are not too scale-looking but viewed from a distance they look great. And those sink marks/deformations right above the bottom pylons, wow. Although I think they won't be too visible when the bombs are attached. I'm trying not to do too much additional work as I find I get too hung up on details that I don't get to finish any build, while the stash just keeps growing.

Wow, that's spectacular work, Pete! I think you should skip painting this in the end in order to showcase the scratchbuilding better or they will be just like regular kit parts. I like it this way somehow This is what I call sculpting in plastic!

Sure thing.

Wow, that is so sad to hear, Pete. I'm not sure how I'd react were I in your shoes. And I thought I'm unlucky because of my blurring vision and reading glasses. Losing vision in one eye is bad enough -- I'd find it impossible to drive without any sense of depth, but to hear something like that from the doctor would send my world crashing down. Really hoping he's wrong. Great photo with Charlie Duke, by the way!! And great scratchwork on your Gemini so far!

Hi Tracy, thanks!

Sorry, I was referring to the forward mount. I'm trying to get the splay right to match it to the kit's airframe. I couldn't find my caliper at the moment : ( Would you be able to mark roughly where the fairings would be and measure this distance between the bottoms of the fairings?

I can only drool : ) It looks fantastic, Bill! I tried to zoom into the photos and the prints look amazingly smooth and just so much better than those stepped Shapeways parts.

Really glad to see it it works, Tracy! : ) For the forward mount, still working on the fairings, sorry -- it's a bit of a challenge for me. I got a request -- would you be able to measure the distance between the mounting points? I'll have to scale it down to size after modeling and wanted to make sure it matches your intended mounting points (as your shuttle might not match the line drawings exactly). I'm also toying with the idea of a metal core (piano wire or some metal rod) sandwich so that the forward mount won't have to be cast. Just not sure if the resulting strut diameter of the scaled down mount would allow it.

Hey thanks guys! Hi Manfred, I've uploaded the upright-printed one to Shapeways. Was wondering, remember that time when Shapeways said the track shoes weren't printable and you did some magic trick to make them print it? How'd you do that exactly -- maybe you can do the same?

Thanks guys! : ) Manfred, don't celebrate just yet : ) We still don't know if it will mesh well with the track shoes : ( Maybe I should upload just one first and you can test with the tracks?

Masterpiece!

There's a thermal blanket that I bought online from KSC as Ricardo recommended. It's not as red as the foil on that LEM pictured on the box though. If you want I can cut up a portion for you. I don't see it online on KSC now, but I see one on Amazon, just boxed differently: https://goo.gl/images/x8TQBB https://www.amazon.com/Outdoors-Original-Emergency-Survival-Blanket/dp/B003Y6FFZM

I thought it was coming out later in the year so when you posted that you saw it I had to look it up. Was able to convince my wife to see it with me last night. Powerful acting - highly recommended. I don't know what they did to make everything look like the 60's -- not just the props -- can't put my finger on it but it's remarkable. And it has to be seen on the big screen because of the sounds such as creaking metal during flights/launches like everything's gonna come apart. If that's really how it feels in a spacecraft I wouldn't want to sit in one. I really watched the movie for the LLRV scenes -- and was in LLRV heaven - all 5 seconds of it : ( If it was CG it was very convincing -- no trace at all that it was fake. All the spacecraft seemed very realistic. I'm not sure if they were real footages -- they didn't seem to be. Maybe they used large scale models? Wanted more and slower shots of them, though.