Otto

:lol: It is a 1999 Hallmark Christmas ornament. It turned out to be 1:48 scale.

To do a rear deck is easy, if that is all I have to do.

Since the nose is wrong on this kit, is there any easy way to make a MF out of this SMT kit? I can get this kit dirt cheap and I am not interested in the SMT but am in a MF. I believe that I read somewhere that most of the SMT rear decks were replaced with MF decks because of CG problems. Can that be done on this kit?

Here is a drawing that makes sense and it is NOT from a NASA website.

I found that sight some time ago. here is a drawing from that sight. I challenge anyone to make sense of the dimensions on this diagram from this official NASA website. It must have been a PhD that wrote down those dimensions. They can do Calc and DifEq but they can't add.

I bought this book a couple of months ago and it is fantastic. If you require any dimensions for ANY rocket for documentation, they are there in "station segments" It is the best investment I made for rocket modeling. This is the 2008 fourth addition which is the most recent one.

New one piece body tube that is actually round unlike the kit parts or the aftermarket resin parts. No gluing no sanding no filling no mass no fuss. Plus it is the correct length according to the drawing dimensions. The aftermarket conversion kit is a total of .75" too short. That is a scale 3' in error. That is a BIIIIIIIIG mistake. It would made the model 20.062" tall, which is a scale 963" instead the 1001" according to the drawing. When you take the body tube length into consideration, please realize that the ATTIC models conversion kit would still be missing the length of the tail unit ex

Take a look at the pictures of the real airplane some pages ago. The nose is not so tapered on the real airplane as it is on the model. That is actually a pretty nifty way of doing it. The nice part about the larger scale is that you can cut more slits and keep things more round.

Iraq is also getting 24 L-159 ALCAs (Aero/Boeing) these are being traded for Oil for the Czechs. What the heck, even Poland bought F-16s and the Czechs are buying f-35s when the lease on the SAABs runs out in two years. It's a strange world we live in today.

What I will do is remove a 3/16 ring section from the lower body tube and graft it to the tail section and than remove a second 3/16" section from the body tube to shorten it again. Since Photo Bucket" is down again, I will add pictures a little later.

I have already posted this in the Jupiter-C forum, but for those who do not read that one I will post it here. I have just discovered that the rocket model is 0.16" (4mm)Too short. Fortunately I have discovered where and it will be an easy fix. It is the tail unit that is too short. This will make the fin repair even simpler than expected. It will also make the conversion to the Mercury/Redstone easier and more accurate than any on the market. The "tail unit" is 7.7 scale inches too short. This is a drawing from "Rockets of the World"

Well guys; I have just discovered that the rocket model is not the right length. Fortunately I have discovered where and it will be an easy fix. The tail unit is too short, and the main body is too long. This will make the fin repair even simpler than expected. It is actually a simple fix that any "careful" modeler can do. The rocket is 3/16" too long. That is a scale 9". The most interesting part is that the "Tail Unit" is also too short by 3/16". What this means is that there will have to be 3/16" added to it and a total of 3/8 removed from the body tube.

I decided to make a slight correction to the fins. The ones on the model are extremely blunt where they're supposed to be sharp and the upper wedge is too narrow and the rise is not high enough from the steering wings. Once the strips dry I will fill the gap and sharpen the fins. i should have done the research before I mounted the fins and done this mod before mounting.

Body tube Finished and mated, ready for paint.

Have you seen the list of started projects in my signature? Besides the other kits in my possession that I want to do. I might get to it by the time I am about 75 or so.

There can be built, three distinct Mercury/Redstone rockets. The MR-1 with one color scheme and double porthole capsule. MR-1A - MR-3 which had the second paint scheme and round portholes and the final versions MR-4 threw MR-8 which had the second paint scheme and center-line window on the capsule. The decals will cover all of these.

I promised to write up this conversion. Since I am doing the Jupiter-C and the Gemini/Titan scratch build. I bought the ATTIC models conversion and there is also one from "New Ware". The Revell 1:48 Gemini/Mercury set is being re-released in January and there is also a Beautiful 1/48 Mercury available from real Space models. I have actually decided to do my own conversion "tube" in one section instead of using the ATTIC or New Ware conversion tubes. It is a lot of work to make the Glencoe tube round and to than mate the upper section to it and blend everything. I will make everything in one "p

Here is an immage of some of the pieces you get from ATTIC for the Mercury/Redstone conversion. You can use the complete Revell Mercury capsule if you wish, or just the escape tower.

There are quite a few very deep sink marks and prominent ejector pin marks on this kit. Be prepared to do some filling. I still consider it worth it. They are easy to get at and easy to fix. The kit is only $14 and a bit of work can make a very nice model. Once you decide to build the ATTIC Mercury/Redstone conversion, those parts are much worse. There is another conversion available from "New Ware" but for the $36 with shipping you get almost nothing. Granted it is a very nice nothing but to pay that much for 3 resin pieces is silly. I paid $20+post for the ATTIC conversion and got a bunch of

I have one more kit squirreled away for a cold winter day. I have contemplated 100 times about putting it on ebay but have always decided against it.

This was the first resin kit I built some years ago. I was surprised how crisp the detail was and how well it went together.

Hi Guys, This model has survived for quite a few years. This was one of the test shots of the HiPM kit before it was released way back when and was used as a model at trade shows. It was a popular model and I am sorry that it is no longer available.

I think the term is "strut" I'm an old F-4J mech and the gear was made simple for us dinosaurs.

By the way guys. In the background there is a 1:48 Lunar Rover.