K2Pete

I'll be updating the images on this thread ... today is Jan 18, 2018 This is gonna be really different for me. A 10" figure model! I had the urge to build this kit, correctly, 'cuz every built model I have seen of this was so poor, I just had to see for myself why this was so. Well the kit IS inaccurate, but then, so is every single other Real, Historical, Factual Space kit I've seen. I wanna see what it'll take to make this into an accurate model of an astronaut on the lunar surface. This kit was based on the Apollo 11 moon suit. I'll be building it to l

That's a great find! They certainly are incredible photos! Thanx for the link!

Goodness, gracious ... 3 bottles? While using the airbrush, I've not even used 1/2 a bottle. Can I ask ya some questions Mark? Do you thin the paint? Do you use tape or Maskol, to mask your tile patterns? Do you use a small brush or a larger brush? When scribing, what kinda tool do you use to scribe the lines? Do you use a straight edge of some kind, like a ruler or Dymo tape? Do you sand and fill and sand your seams so they're smooth? I ask because you're spending good money on these kits and should expect much better results. I've seen, and purchased an airbrush, on ebay for about

Thanx Mike! Yup, the decals arrived and I'm trying to think of a way to display these two models. As Apollo 9 was just in earth orbit, I'm thinking of a diorama display. When it gets done, I'll post the final pix.

Thanx alot guys! The exhaust flame was just a piece of 3/8" clear acrylic rod, filed and ground down to shape and airbrushed. I had tried food colouring to give it a transparent look ( like a propane flame) but the food colouring didn't work. So opaque paint was the solution. I still wanna try to figger out a way to portray an exhaust plume ... To attach the foil, I brush on Bare Metal Foil Adhesive onto the foil, let it dry, place it on some waxed paper, glue side down, cut out and apply. No muss, no fuss. And I've used foil that had the adhesive applied 3 years ago, so it takes awhile to b

And ... done. And yes, I know the exhaust flame looks pretty cheesy, but that was something I wanted to try to replicate. I hadn't seen a LM displayed like this, so nothing ventured, nothing gained. I've added the RTG cask, Downlock links, Landing radar and 2 shields, Landing probes, 4 Antennae, MESA outline, front Hatch, Plume deflectors, Porch, Windows, Rendezvous window, Flag holder and Docking collar. Now I can give my poor, overworked eyeballs a break! Here's a 1/48 LM, and the new one, side by each. And the 1/48, 1/96 and 1/144 I've got a few more 1/48 LMs to do, and

A chamfer is is being made in the docking collar. Wrapping the landing gear with household aluminum foil. Foil from a Chocolate bar was used. Notice the antennae, the little bump outs on the Descent Stage, Landing Radar and its shields too. Plus the 'porch' was scratched too. Ascent and Descent stage paint patterns are for the Apollo 13 LM. And I decided that as many details as I could fit, I'd try to do ... so the little plume deflectors were attempted. They're just fine copper wire, Aluminum sheet from a frozen lasagna pan and CA glue.

After completing what I thought was a tiny 1/96 LM build a month or so ago, I wanted to see what could be done with an even smaller one. I asked on another forum if anybody had a spare 1/144 LM from a Saturn 5 kit and Steve Sliger sent me one. Thanx alot Steve! At this size, materials would be a problem due to scale size, bad eyes, and shaky hands ... but it was fun. Here's the build from start to finish ... even at this eensy weensy scale, it still took almost 60 hours to do! Here's the sprue shot. Not too many parts. Drilled out some attaching holes for the deployed landing gear, whic

Steve, to copy an image from Photobucket is easy. I know you can do it, young fella. In Photobucket, go to the image you want, just move your mouse over the image, and four choices will appear. Select the bottom one, "IMG code", then come back to ARC and in your message window, 'paste' your image. Eezy peezy. This way we don't hafta travel all-l-l-l the way over to collectSpace. Whew! :D Pete

Mike Mackowski's "Space In Miniature's" Apollo CSM book has a mylar tape guide, or two in it. Just doing a quick Google search turned up nothing useful, so this may be one of the only places to get one, and you may hafta buy it or Real Space's Apollo drawings. http://www.spaceinminiature.com/books/sim6.html Hope this helps Pete

The SILTS pod is so-o-o easy to build yourself MarkD ... why not try it yourself? Use either a styrene tube or rod of the proper thickness and file and fit till it looks right. It'll take less than 30 minutes. And Fisher has already stated what they wanna develop for this 1/72 project of theirs and the SILTS and Nose cap aren't in the list. IIRC, Fisher mainly does 1/32 and 1/24 kits and parts, so 1/72 is more than likely a project where they're just seeing what the market is like. If they sell out and make some moolah, they may continue in this scale ... otherwise ...

When sanded down those little 1/144 engine bells do look the part! Good work! I used the same method a couple years ago on one of my shuttles. And if you're gonna try to detail the SSMEs, Bill, I tried to do it myself on the Tamiya 1/100 shuttle and I used a combo of thin styrene rod and a couple gauges of copper wire. Just FYI ;)

Mark, are you expecting to just open a jar of paint, that's the specific colour you want, and spray it? I hate to break this to you but uh ... you're gonna hafta mix it yourself. I mean ... you've got plenty of reference pix, pick a couple for your mission and mix up some colours till you get a match. And I know you've noticed that there are a heckuva lot of colour variations on your ET ... you're just gonna have to mix 'em up yourself. I mix 'em right in the airbrush's paint cup. Eezy-peezy! Pete

Alrighy-y then! Thanx a lot Jay for the review / preview and the better photos. Now a good, informed decision can be made regarding those niggly little detail issues. As Bill ( niart7 ) said, the critiques offered weren't intended to put down Brian or Fisher, but to suggest improvement in the parts. We've all built a Shuttle model ... or 6, and we know what we're looking for. I, for one, wasn't comparing the look of the parts to the kit's parts, but to what else was offered in the aftermarket. From my POV, I'm thrilled to read that Fisher took these suggestions and actually made the effort

Ah snap! I figgered you were posting those gorgeous decals here to whet our appetites for a really detailed decal sheet! But I completely understand, Bill! You HAVE done a terrific job in the research and look of 'em! I'm looking forward to seeing them on the model!

Uh ... what I meant was ... I hope you're gonna have a placement map for all these stencils ... And the R ESCUE detail is a nice catch! ... but what about those "GROUND" Idents?

You must go here to see the most accurate, scratchbuilt, LM in 1/24. http://spacemodels.nuxit.net/ You'll see 'Current Projects" and click on "1/24 LM-5". Vincent has a very detailed build up and blueprints, with measurements, on each page, of anything you may need.

Nice decals Bill! The hatch decals DO look purty, ... but is it the sheet or the jpg ... the yellow arrows read R ESCUE The hatches "with texture" and "without texture" look the same when I enlarge 'em ... what's the difference? The black tiled hatches, why are they ID'd as Ground? ( ... what's that old joke .. "Waiter, this coffee tastes like mud! Yesser, it was ground this morning" ba da ... bump I'd love to know where they all go! Holey Cow! Combine this decal sheet with Keith's belly decals and we've got no excuse for an inaccurate shuttle model ever again!!

For tile decals, try ebay ... Ed Bisconti sells 'em, I don't what they're like. And here ... http://www.keithmcneill.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/1.html Keith posts here from time to time and this link will take you to his site and a photo of his 1/72 shuttle, with his decal on the belly. His email address is at the bottom, send him a message. They may be a little expensive, but you'll only find out if you 'talk' to him.

So, the black tile pattern around the windows are masked and painted? You did a nice job on 'em!

It's not too-o-o bad ... but have you painted the belly grey? It shouldn't be ... Have you delivered it already, or can you still make corrections to the model? The window decals look good, are they homemade or did you get it from someone else? Pete

You're doing a terrific job on this build! The LES looks just fine and I love the details you're installing! And the details you're putting in, on the SLA as well as the stringers etc., are clean and precise! And the kit's Service Module looks excellent too! For reference, is it just poring over hi-rez photos, or do you have another reference document too? Just curious. This looks great! Thanx Pete

Aw-w-w come on guys ... let's cut Fisher Models some slack ... huh? The SSME's DO look good! Out of 100, IMHO they're still get a 93! That RCS package DOES look good too, right? (We'll just hafta match those surface details to the rest of the Orbiter) And we don't know if the OMS bell is the correct shape, and bearing in mind the size of 'em, those little tile details look good too, right? ... we's just be speculatin' about the proportions at this stage. PLUS ... they're still coming out with Wheels (and Tires?) for the Nose and Main gear ... plus the cockpit ... plus the Fuel

MarkD ... don't hold your breath on any revisions. i don't think Brian is too happy with my reaction. :o Mig31 ... here's a link to a hi rrez pic that I also supplied to Brian's thread on LSP... and all I asked was for him to provide a profile pic of his little OMS engine ... and he didn't. So, I'm gonna assume he realizes the OMS is not right, proportionally. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-114/hires/iss011e11252.jpg Fisher's RCS package is lovely, the SSMEs wall thickness is too thick, but I wanna see the whole enchilada ... As it stands, I'll be buying Rea

I'd love to see more pix Brian ... close-ups of the SSMEs would be nice too ... I'd like to see if the lines on the exterior are molded solidly onto the surface, or if it'll be matter of gently carving out the flash between the lines and the engine bell. See, I've got 5 of these 1/72's waiting to be built and they are screaming at me to get some more stuff for 'em. Pete