mlicari Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Here's my Monogram "First Lunar Landing" build. I'm doing it for my dad for Fathers' Day, so the B-36 I'm also doing for this GB is on the back burner until I get this done! It's the 1994 "25th Anniversary" re-release of the original, but I think the only thing Monogram changed was that the shadows on the lunar surface which serves as a diorama base have to be painted. The foil that comes with the kit has some very (very, very) light adhesive which doesn't stick without help from some Microscale Bare Metal Foil Adhesive. The uneven surface of the thermal blankets that covered the lander is simulated by crumpling the foil before attaching it. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Mike, that is coming along nicely. I did not realise the kit came with the foil. How long had you spent on it up to these pictures? :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mlicari Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 Mike,that is coming along nicely. I did not realise the kit came with the foil. How long had you spent on it up to these pictures? I sure was happy to see the foil in there! :) The foil actually isn't too hard; the back of it is marked so you can cut each shape precisely prior to attaching it to the model. The time-consuming part is getting it to stick properly and waiting for the adhesive to dry. I finished this portion in two weeks, working an hour a night or so. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Having serious flashbacks here, I built that kit when it first came out "back in the day"....* * note "back in the day" has now officially replaced "24/7" as the most hated trendy catchphrase of this decade. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madmike Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 This is looking a lovely build! MikeJ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grant Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 OooH! A big one - and with lots of the right bumps and bits (compared with the Airfix one I did a few years ago). Looking good so far. Does the kit come with a base, or are you making you own. cheers Grant Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mlicari Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 Thanks for the positive comments, guys! I'm really having fun with this one. Quite a bit different from the normal routine (cockpit, fuselage, wings, paint, decals, fiddly bits, done). Does the kit come with a base, or are you making you own. The kit comes with a fairly large base molded as the lunar surface with craters, footprints, and slight depressions indicating where the shadows are. I'll post a pic tonight. To complete the diorama, the kit includes two astronauts, the American flag, and the several experiments and cameras that Armstrong and Aldrin set up. :) Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Davenport Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 That's a sweet looking job you're doing on that one so far. The only reason I'm not doing a real space kit in this GB is I want to dress mine up. But that kit is very good out of the box....and I remember building it when I was a teenager, and struggling with the foil. Justin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mlicari Posted May 24, 2007 Author Share Posted May 24, 2007 For Grant, here's a pic of the portion of the lander on the base. Obviously, the base has yet to be painted and is still in the original plastic color. You can barely make out the footprints and shadow areas. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Excellent progress thus far. Of all real space model kits done in styrene, the Monogram LM is one of those rare few that can be built into an excellent looking and mostly accurate replica out of the box. Revell was quick to get their stuff to market, but Monogram was willing to wait in order to offer a more accurate kit. In the case of the LM and the 1/32 CSM, their waiting helped us modelers immensely. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Wow, very nice looking build so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
theplasticsurgeon Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Very nice looking build - of a kit I never knew existed. I built the Airfix example a few years ago, with gold kitkat wrapper foil on the landing section - didn't get quite the same wrinkled effect as the one at NASM. I printed the Mr Gorsky story and stuck it under the base - which cause HUGE amusement when I showed the model to colleagues at work. Here is a link http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blgorsky.htm - open it at your peril. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grant Posted May 24, 2007 Share Posted May 24, 2007 Now that IS a nice base to come with the kit. Keep the updates coming. cheers Grant Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mlicari Posted May 24, 2007 Author Share Posted May 24, 2007 Again, thanks for the positive comments guys. I've assembled the ascent stage and put a base coat of silver on it. More pics later over the weekend. Very nice looking build - of a kit I never knew existed. I didn't know it existed either, until an article on Cybermodeler on the 1/32 CSM (which I didn't know about either) sent me looking for a CSM. Along the way, I found this kit on E-bay for less than $30 even including shipping. I printed the Mr Gorsky story and stuck it under the base - which cause HUGE amusement when I showed the model to colleagues at work. :) Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mlicari Posted May 31, 2007 Author Share Posted May 31, 2007 Here's some more progress, this time on the ascent stage. The rest of the kit is nearly done too. On the ascent stage I learned the hard lesson of acrylics: MM Acryl over Tamiya does NOT work. In the end, I had to repaint the black areas with enamel. :) Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mlicari Posted June 1, 2007 Author Share Posted June 1, 2007 All done! You can see my 3 pics in the "completed" thread. I'll add a few more here. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cap'n Wannabe Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 That is just too cool! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mlicari Posted June 2, 2007 Author Share Posted June 2, 2007 That is just too cool! Thanks! Although I had some frustration with the foil (and a self-inflicted problem with paint), I really enjoyed the kit. The diorama element of it was fun. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cap'n Wannabe Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 In some ways, it reminds me of the Hasegawa Egg Plane series - I had the SR-71, which came with a half-globe base and a little Russian fella staring up at the sky as the SR-71 flew over. My younger brother had the Space Shuttle, which also came with the half-globe base, and an astronaut doing a space walk. They were both fun builds. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Davenport Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 Sweet job! Great work on the LEM and the base. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grant Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 Oh, I see what you mean about the 'shadow areas' on the base. That works quite well. It's a shame, in the bigger scale, that the kit is a little more detailed, but you have made a good job of it. That will look real cool in the display case. cheers Grant Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mlicari Posted June 3, 2007 Author Share Posted June 3, 2007 Thanks guys! Having the shadow areas on the base marked off made it a lot easier to paint. I still had to do the shadows for the rocks and crater rims by hand though (I held the base up to a lightbulb to get a sense where the shadows would fall). I'm not familiar with the smaller Airfix kit, so I don't know how this one stacks up to it. But, I didn't see any glaring omissions when looking at pics of the real thing, so I think the model is pretty good OOB. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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