SpacecraftGuy

Just stunning!

Ah, Shaw, you may think so, but having followed all your other work for many years, I can pretty much guarantee that you, apparently without really trying, will still create a more accurate shape than any commercially available shuttle model so far. Sigh. Lovely work, all of it. Cheers! ex-Starseeker.

Thanks, Pete! I have to admit, your various LM builds are a Huge part of getting me motivated to finally do this, and to keep me at it. All of your projects are just stunning. Yesterday I reached some sort of unexpected milestone with these. I added the Revell twisty docking mechanism to the top of one of the CMs. And for the first time in at least 40 years, docked the CM and LM together again. It was another of those moments that sent me back in time with just such a thrill - holding the whole thing in one hand and slowly turning it to the horizontal for what might as well have b

Despite my lack of posts, I've still been working on the "Revell Project" almost every day. Progress has been tedious, but channelling my Repair Shop heroes makes it all flow, especially on the smoky days, 2 of which were 10+. What better was to spend fleeing from the world out there than visiting the 1960s? Speaking of, my old instruction sheet is dated 1967, not 1968 as I thought. So the original one of these should be called the "'67 Apollo." The '67 is the one with bits of very yellowed styrene. Less and less of them as I replace more and more of the panels. But I'm trying to recycle as mu

Finished all the panels that I'm going to "correct". And the first layer of putty. That's a Lot of putty. Still have to frame in the corrugated panel on the bottom of the aft section. But for now, I think I'm going back to work on the first LM, as pictured in the earlier posts. Here's a photo of the ascent stage docked with the CSM, which is currently in it's third layer of sanded primer, and awaiting a final layer of primer, one of these tries.

Couldn't find the documents for these other references, so I just scanned my printouts. These are the main areas of change for "accuratising" my old Revells into more detailed early stages of the LM's lineage.

Here are some of the references I've been using. They are almost all of the drawings I can find in the several thousand pages of NASA documents I've managed to download over the years. The images all look like the LM, but if you're desperate enough to look really closely, you'll find small differences between these illustrations and the things that actually went to the moon. And you can also see how close Revell came to matching the early versions. Revell did cheat in a feww places. Perhaps to simplify molding, the four upper outer corner panels on the Revell kit are slightly rounded, rather t

It's been a while since last worked on my old Apollo. May and June are the months I've set aside this year to focus on the thing, yet another attempt to get something finished before another Apollo 11 anniversary comes and goes. I've been trying to smooth the one SM that I reassembed from small and large pieces of the one I'd started to convert into a SIM bay version about 30 years ago. Trying to smooth it that silver paint will look half-decent on it is proving to be a whole lot of hours of filling/sanding/priming/sanding, repeated endlessly. Nowhere near ready yet. Needing to sw

Just plain beautiful!

I know I've written this before, but what a beautiful piece of work this is. The whole thing. Right down to the very base. I've saved the first two pages as pdf's so that someday, if I ever get started again on my own 1/24, I'll always be able to look at your work for inspiration and ideas. Thanks!

You know, if you're not already, by the time this is finished, you will be the world's leading authority on the LRV. I wonder what Neil Armstrong would have thought about your project. I wonder if he might have actually had a story. But even if he did, he probably wouldn't talk about it. Truly beautiful work!

I'm calling them done. The bumps for the conduit mounts and on the conduits themselves were partliculary problematic to get to conform to the model (maybe better decal paper might have worked easier?), and I ended up using nearly two bottles of MicroSol by the time I was done. At last count I placed 277 individual bits of decal on each model. I don't care if they are actually, truly done. I'm still calling them done. Finished. At last. Have to admit, it can be built up into a really nice little model. Today I mailed the one with the black base off to my brother-in-law for his birth

Realized that I still hadn't installed the conduits that run down the main core of the SLS. Probably possible to match paint colors, but there are a lot of mounts and clamps that run all along each pipe, so I thik I'll try to decal them instead. Of course, this way there are a whole lot of decals to apply, too. Anyway, I think I'm finished drafting the decals, and I've attached the artwork below. The twinned line that runs down the core is incorrect on the model, correct on the box art, but I just have no interest in scratching something more accurate at this stage. Didn't at the beginning, ei

I love watching your builds. Your research and attention to and recreation of the smallest details is just astounding. Even with all the photos of how you do it, I still don't know how you can actually do what you do.

Put the model aside for now while I shifted over to January/February trying to finish my X-plane and lifting body queue. And totally forgot about updating the SLS progress here. Didn't quite finish before Christmas. I still have to decal or paint the conduits and touchup a little gap in decal segments about halfway down the core. Then a couple clear topcoats to seal everything. Not much of a build thread, as all it consists of is put the model together, paint it white, and add decals. Tho' it has been a challenge nonetheless. Almost there, so better refocus and get it finished. Th