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AMT Man In Space (MIS) Build - Saturn 1B


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All:

As I mentioned in the thread on what kits are you going to build, I was planning on doing the AMT Man In Space collection along with the Hasegawa Shuttle kit. Here's the box for the MIS kit.

MISbox103082007.jpg

So that this thread does not get too large over the next 6 months, I thought I would break it up into seperate threads, one for each launch vehicle. This thread will be devoted to the Saturn 1B build. I started this one first so that I don't have to do two large white and black rockets at the same time! :D

Let the games begin!!!!!

Mike

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The first thing that I needed to do was figure out how to have the model stand upright when the kit is finished. The MIS kit comes with a pretty weak plastic part that is supposed to support the completed Saturn 1B. I have decided to finish a wooden plaque to mount the MIS collection, so I worked up a different option. I took a brass rod and found a slightly larger aluminum rod to serve as a sleave.

MISSaturn1B00031small.jpg

I then assembled the first stage of the Saturn 1B, and drilled a hole dead center for the aluminum tube. This was then epoxied into the first stage to serve as a support for the brass rod.

MISSaturn1B00071small.jpg

Time to let everything dry and cure up before the rest of the assembly! Oh yea, after everything is set, I'll cut the aluminum tube flush with the bottom of the first stage and sand the bottom plate smooth.

Have fun modeling! :D

Mike

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Hey Mike, do you plan to do any accurizing to the S-IVB detailing? I seem to recall that AMT somehow mirror imaged it relative to what it should be when they tooled up the kit oh so long ago. BTW, your tube idea is similar to what I came up with for my 1/72 shuttle stack (in the inspiration gallery) to get it to stand upright on a base.

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Hi Jay! I had not realised that the S-IVB stage was a mirror image. I still don't quite see it, so I plan on letting that problem go. My philosophy for this build is to do the easy corrections on the different kits, but stop before a full blown scratchbuilding job. I actually want to finish this sometime this century! :thumbsup:

Have fun modeling!

Mike

Hey Mike, do you plan to do any accurizing to the S-IVB detailing? I seem to recall that AMT somehow mirror imaged it relative to what it should be when they tooled up the kit oh so long ago. BTW, your tube idea is similar to what I came up with for my 1/72 shuttle stack (in the inspiration gallery) to get it to stand upright on a base.
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Well, I had some time this weekend to work on my GB entry. Here's a little tip that might be useful for those building the Saturn launch vehicles. I first glued the different stages together for the Saturn 1B. I then joined them together (with glue). I ended up with a step (slight mismatch) in the corrugations between stages. :taunt:

I solved this by applying Mr Surfacer 500 to the places where the stages joined. I then took my scriber and basically routed out the corrugations. This resulted in a smooth transition between the different stages. If I need to differentiate between two stages, I would rather do that by paint or shading to keep in in scale. Here's a photo of what I meant by rescribing the corrugation sections. This was before I applied the Mr. Surfacer.

MISSaturn1B005small-1.jpg

Until next time, have fun!

Mike

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I decided to do some work on the point end of the rocket system. The LES that comes with the kit is pretty nice, but could stand to use a small modification. If you look at the main part of the LES, you will see a small thin rod to the left of the main body.

MIS_Saturn1B_0143102007small.jpg

The LES is a hollow framework up to the escape system itself. I cut the rod off slightly to the left of the small knobs seen in the photo. This gave a little support for the rocket nozzles which I added next. I then added both parts of the escape tower framework. Once this was dry, I went to work with some sandpaper and a small set of files to remove flash and generally clean everything up. You can see in this photo the overall effect of having the hollow tower.

MIS003010052006small.jpg

Before I glued the tower to the BPC cap, I filled in the hole at the top of the cap with putty and sanded it to shape. I then added the tower to the BPC. Finally, this was shot with a gray primer, flat white and two coats of gloss white. Voila!

MIS_Saturn1B_0174062007small.jpg

In general, this LES went together well and looks pretty good. I also started to work on the LES for the Saturn V, and this was not such an easy adventure due to poor molding of the parts. More on that LES when I start my Saturn V thread.

Until next time, have fun modeling! :thumbsup:

Mike

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  • 3 weeks later...

Time for another update on the Saturn 1B. I spent some time assembling the various stages and priming the stack. Here's a photo in progress:

MISSaturn1B0006small.jpg

And here is one after the full assembly (minus the LES) and after priming. I did the usual putty/sand/wash/prime/repeat sequence :woot.gif: to get to this stage.

MIS_Saturn1B_004412302006small.jpg

Now it's off to the painting/masking/painting stage. Have fun modeling!

Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...

After taking a long look at the Tango Papa decal sheet for the AMT MIS kit, I decided that my luck with decals is not the best and opted to mask and paint the Saturn 1B scheme. The Tango Papa decal sheet does come with many of the black stripes needed, but I was concerned that I would either screw these up applying them or have them not fit well over the corregated sections.

I first painted the Saturn 1B with Model Master flat white (to cover the gray primer) followed by several coats of MM gloss white. This was allowed to dry for almost 2 weeks then polished out with very fine sanding paper (up to 1200 grit) to get a very smooth surface. I then masked the white parts of the rocket. This was a slooooow process! :wacko: here's how it looked after masking and before the next paint coat:

MIS_Saturn1B_0159052007small.jpg

After I finished with the masking, I shot it with a coat of MM gloss black. Voila!

Saturn1B110a082007small.jpg

Now it's on to the decal stage!!!!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

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  • 3 weeks later...

Although the Saturn 1B is pretty much white and black with a touch of color from the US markings, there is another spot of color. These come fom the various yellow antennas that are placed on support panels near the top of the first stage. These can be seen as different yellow items placed on the flat panels which are at the top of the LOX and Fuel tanks of the first stage. These details are easy to add and add a bit of color to the finished vehicle. In the AMT kit, the antenna base is molded as a single flat panel located over the 4 primary fins (I, II, III and IV). In reality, these are actually a pair of thinner panels in the same location. These can be simulated by simply using a thin black decal stripe down the center of the flat panel. I modeled the antennas by cutting a .010 x .040 Evergreen strip into little pieces and spraying them yellow. For the Propellant Dispersion system Antennas, you need 4 of these. They are placed in pairs, one to each panel above fins I and III. On the panel over fin II there is a single telemetry antenna on the top right panel. The telemetry antenna is the roughly the same shape as the Dispersion Antennas but with a longer main body. On station IV, there is another telemetry antenna in the same position and two smaller Offset Doppler antennas on the left side panel. Here's a shot of the little plastic pieces after cutting and shaping.

MIS_Saturn1B_0161052007small.jpg

Here's a shot after painting the antennas yellow. The flat pieces are the Offset Doppler antennas, the short angled pies are the Propellant Dispersion antennas and the longer angled pieces are the telemetry antennas. I made extra pieces so that I can choose the best looking ones to attach to the model and also offer a sacrifice or two to the carpet monster if needed:

MIS_Saturn1B_0168052007small.jpg

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And here's how it looks when the antennas are added along with the decal strip to simulate the split in the panels. This was actually a lot easier to do than it might appear.

MISSaturn1B104112007MJIsmall.jpg

I'l post a shot of the completed decaled rocket in my next post. Earlier today I sprayed a satin overspray to blend everything in and I accidently flooded the Saturn with too much overcoat. :D That's what I get for taking a short cut and using an old single action airbrush on too big of spray volume 'cause I was too lazy to change to my more usual Iwata Eclipse. I'll need to hide the result away for a couple of weeks to allow it to dry and figure out how to fix the drips! :banana::banana:

Have fun modeling (even when it gets #@*(&^*%$@(*&*^$!!!!!!!! )

Mike

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I am on the home stretch with this puppy! I have completed the decals on the Saturn 1B. Things never turn out as easy in real life as they do when you read the instructions. :cheers: I ran into major problems using the Tango papa decals for the SM. I went through 2 copies and managed to rip up both of them. Drats! :cheers:

I got by this problem by duplicating the metal panels on the SM with many strips of silver decal stripes in different widths. Definitely a slow build at this point! Otherwise, the decals went on OK and the finished product looks decent. Here's what the Saturn 1B looks like at this stage.

MISSaturn1B010122007MJIsmall.jpg

Now all I need is to paint some of the fine details, add the LES and engine nozzles and I have 1 model finished in my MIS project!

Have fun modeling!

Mike

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  • 4 weeks later...

1 down four more to go!! :banana: I completed my Saturn 1B last weekend, but due to my travel schedule only just managed to snap some photos of this sucker. Here's the finished Saturn 1B out of the MIS set:

MISSaturn1B008012008MJIsmall.jpg

MISSaturn1B010012008MJIsmall.jpg

MISSaturn1B004012008MJIsmall.jpg

Overall, I am happy with the way the Saturn 1B turned out. In the last photo, you can see how I replicated the BPC look using a mechanical pencil. From a normal viewing distance, it's an easy way to duplicate the look!

Now it's on to finishing the remaining 4 in the MIS series!

Mike

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