Hotdog Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 (edited) Say hello to my next build! The Monogram 1/72 Space Shuttle (I will explain the SR-71 in a minute). I found the Monogram kit on eBay for $20 in the same packaging as the one I built OOB as a kid in the late 80s. I say this will be my next build, as I want to put my more ambitious X-15 project on hold until I develop some more skills and techniques. I plan to do this build the same as my Tamiya shuttle, Discovery, early 1990s. Instead of sitting on the runway after landing, this Discovery will be in orbit, with payload bay doors closed, preparing for deorbit burn. I will build some kind of suspension system into the belly so it will hang upside-down from the ceiling. Not sure what that system will consist of exactly at this point, but will probably include some kind of fishing line. Before I get started, allow me to review the kit. Here's what you see when you open up the box. A box that hasn't been opened in 25 years! Many of the parts have come off the sprues and are loose in the box. Some parts are lightly scratched. This is to be expected in a kit this old. The decal sheet that comes with the kit. Wonder how many of these I'll actually use? Some of these panel lines are going to have to be sanded off. Here is some of that scratching I was talking about. In this case, the area won't be visible. Check out the dings in the plastic where the sprue must have been attached to the fuselage halves. More to putty and sand! Speaking of panel lines, I love how the wings show the correct panel lines of the early orbiters. Take a look at the vertical stabilizer. There's something not right about it. I know the top edge is not the correct shape, but that can be easily fixed. The flap looks like it should be larger or something. I'll have to look into this. Get a load of the OMS engines. They look like Christmas ornaments (jingle bells)! Edited February 4, 2014 by Hotdog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Here is the flight deck. Looking forward to this part of the build. The larger scale should give me more opportunities for detailing. But those ejector pin marks and control panel lines will have to be sanded off first! The seats are very inaccurate and will require some sanding and scratch bits to get them more in the ballpark. The astronauts that come with the kit are standing, and wearing the larger Apollo-era EVA suits. This will not work. So, I ordered the 1/72 SR-71 Blackbird kit with the intention of using the seated pilots in pressure suits for my astronauts. Much to my disappointment, the SR-71 pilots are too small. If i'm not mistaken, a 1/72 figure should be very close to 1 inch in height, standing. The Monogram astronaut is there, but the Blackbird pilots, not quite. A dry fit in the flight deck confirms that I will need another astronaut solution. Oh well, now I've got an SR-71 to add to my growing stash! Here is the Realspace 1/72 SSME set. To anyone ordering these, I must suggest ordering way in advance. Mine took 38 days to arrive from date of purchase to day of delivery. I was kind of disappointed with these after waiting so long. There's a ton of flash to be cut or sanded off, and some of the detail is a little rough. I was originally going to order the Fisher engines, but at $50 the price was too steep considering the Dremel tool and all the other supplies I was having to buy to do this kit. Get a load of all that flash. I expected the grooves inside the engine bells to be more defined. Instead, they're barely noticible. Look at the image of the original Monogram kit engine bell below. They got that part right. How can I scribe the Realspace engines to look like this? My scribing tool won't fit in there. Here is a comparison of the exterior of the two engine bells. You could almost get away with using the Monogram kit engine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 The OMS engines may be a tad too elongated. They also have a ton of flash to work with. I will be using the new 1/72 shuttle window replacement set from Accurate Model Parts. The AMP window kit features the front, aft and payload bay windows, each with three layers of glass (clear plastic) like on the real shuttle. As for the astronaut problem, I have found this pair of French pilots in pressure suits from PJ Productions I think I can make look the part. And there you have it. Now if I could only get the Tamiya shuttle build out of the way. Excited about starting this one! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Really looking forward to this one! Gonna be good. Yeah, I noticed a few other people saying that Realspace's nozzles were pretty rough lately. And to me, it looks like they used the shape of the monogram nozzles to make them and I feel they are a little too bulged around the top. I prefer the shape of the revell nozzles but their detail is pretty bad...so...what to do? One thing for the OMS nozzles, if you have a spare set of SSME nozzles from a 1/144 scale revell shuttle and you sand off all of the step detail, they actually look very close to the real deal. Good luck with this and definately post progress as you go along. Bill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crowe-t Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 (edited) I'm looking forward to seeing this one as well! I had a very similar experience with a set of Realspace SSME nozzles. I had a set I purchased about 2 years ago and when I took them out for my Revell 1/144 stack the casting was terrible. I finally gave up and contacted Glenn. Glenn was very nice and immediately sent me out a replacement set. The replacement set was 'better' but still had a lot of flash. I have to say I'm overall very disappointed with the Realspace resin SSME's. I understand resin parts sometimes have some flash to clean up but the Realspace nozzles go beyond a little flash. I've purchased resin parts from other sources that have absolutely no flash and look as nice as any styrene part. That being said, I'll be using the Monogram kit's SSME nozzles when I build mine, unless I fine a set of Cutting Edge resin nozzles. Fisher is also a consideration but the Monogram nozzles do have a nice shape and the detailing inside looks accurate. With some Evergreen rod added to the outside of the Monogram nozzles they should look accurate. BTW, Hotdog, are the Realspace and Monogram SSME nozzles both the same size? In the picture you posted they look exactly the same size. Mike. Edited February 20, 2013 by crowe-t Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Yes they are the same size. I'm tempted just to use the Monogram SSME's and just add styrene for the fuel lines like you said. And I'm not above ordering the Fisher engine set either despite being $275 into this already. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crowe-t Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 (edited) The details inside the Monogram SSME's looks perfect and most of the outside details look accurate enough. I'd just add some styrene(fuel lines) to those and see if you can get a refund for the Realspace SSME's. The Fisher SSME's also got the inside details accurate but the nozzle walls are a bit too thick when viewed from the rear(picture attached). IMO, the Monogram SSME's wall thickness looks better. Edited February 20, 2013 by crowe-t Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 (edited) I just tried to remove some of the flash from the Realspace SSME's with my exacto knife and it was damn near impossible without manhandling them and risking cutting off needed details. I would have to take my new Dremel with a sanding attachment and go over almost every line and seam on these things in order to get them nice and clean!! Isn't the point of purchasing aftermarket parts to get something accurate and more useable than what came with the kit? At this point, I could make the kit parts look real enough with less time and effort. I am ready to return these to Realspace, although I think I could still use the Realspace OMS engines (the Monogram kit OMS engines are ridiculous and unusable). So now the question is, do I try and fix up the Monogram kit engines or order the Fisher set? I'm leaning towards the latter. They are really nice and the only flaw seems to be the thickness of the outer edge as crowe-t pointed out. Hmmm... Edited February 21, 2013 by Hotdog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crowe-t Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 (edited) The Fisher SSME's outer thickness isn't really a flaw. Monogram just got that area a bit better but the Fisher SSME's are overall very accurate. You can always add some details to the Monogram SSME's too see what you can make of them and still order the Fisher set. The Fisher set is a bit pricey but sometimes, you get what you pay for. Edited February 21, 2013 by crowe-t Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DutyCat Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 (edited) Hotdog, have you seen this.... Monogram Beany Cap Master It is not quite ready for release yet, but it is close. Gotta figure out how to cast it in clear resin. I may have to send it out. Gil Edited February 21, 2013 by DutyCat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Hotdog, have you seen this.... Monogram Beany Cap Master It is not quite ready for release yet, but it is close. Gotta figure out how to cast it in clear resin. I may have to send it out. Gil That looks really good. I plan on purchasing one once you get it all figured out, to use on a future build (or if the AMP window replacement parts don't work out). If I were to go with your beanie cap solution I would want to make the rest of the orbiter match, which would mean going the scribed styrene route and tiling the orbiter. For this build, I plan to cover the orbiter with photo decals like I am doing on my Tamiya shuttle build. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DutyCat Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 (edited) That looks really good. I plan on purchasing one once you get it all figured out, to use on a future build (or if the AMP window replacement parts don't work out). If I were to go with your beanie cap solution I would want to make the rest of the orbiter match, which would mean going the scribed styrene route and tiling the orbiter. For this build, I plan to cover the orbiter with photo decals like I am doing on my Tamiya shuttle build. Well, here is what I am going to do with mine... 1. Manually tile and texture the upper surface, because that is a really obvious, key feature of the shuttle. I have a "plan" for the thermal blankets. 2. Decal the bottom. The small black/gray tile texture on the bottom, although visible in some close up photos, is really NOT a noticeable feature from any distance. Hopefully this combination will yield a good result, without me going crazy trying to manually scribe thousands of tiny tiles for the bottom. Texturing the top is going to be painful enough. Edited February 21, 2013 by DutyCat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ralf Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Hotdog I am looking forward to you build. I also have this one in my stash so I am curious how yours will turn out. Do you plan to make your own decals? Too bad that the Realspace engines turned out to be so disappointing. For the interior engine bell scribing maybe a dental probe would work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 (edited) Hotdog I am looking forward to you build. I also have this one in my stash so I am curious how yours will turn out. Do you plan to make your own decals? Too bad that the Realspace engines turned out to be so disappointing. For the interior engine bell scribing maybe a dental probe would work. Yes I have already started on a deluxe set of shuttle cockpit decals for this build that are looking really, really nice (almost the entire flight deck will be covered in decals). The rest of the orbiter will be covered with photo decals as well. Once I'm done with both of these builds, I should have sets of orbiter decals in both 1/72 and 1/100! Edited February 21, 2013 by Hotdog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vehicle Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 For the OMS engine this diagram shows it's exact shape. http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1785.0;attach=82787;image The RSM version is 99 percent close to the real thing. You would only need a tiny bit of detailing,but it's accurate. This photo also shows the shape of the nozzle. http://www.collectspace.com/review/ov104_omsnozzle01.jpg The surprising thing is the OMS nozzles and SMEs should be the same identical shape (with the SMEs covered in the extra pipes for cooling around it. The model kit doesn't do this at all. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Going to look into having a test shot of this model done at Shapeways. I don't think I can do the internal piping though, it makes the file twice the size of their max allowable download...still playing with it though. Their minimum wall thickness for the frosted detail plastic is .5mm so in order to fake in the the thin edge, I put a long tapered chamfer. It shouldn't be too noticable. I'll let you know how it comes out. Bill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vehicle Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 You should make the OMS engines too Niart17 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 I might do that, but like I said, it's so easy to make them out of the Revell 1/144 scale SSME nozzles, and there are so many people that haven't used theirs (opting to replace them with Realspaces) that I don't know if it's worth it. Bill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vince Hoffmann Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Oh boy, this is going to be good! Maybe your model will get me enthusiastic about finishing mine ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Going to look into having a test shot of this model done at Shapeways. I don't think I can do the internal piping though, it makes the file twice the size of their max allowable download...still playing with it though. Their minimum wall thickness for the frosted detail plastic is .5mm so in order to fake in the the thin edge, I put a long tapered chamfer. It shouldn't be too noticable. I'll let you know how it comes out. Bill Bill, What if the inner part of the engine was a seperate (thin) piece? Or make the outer piping a separate piece. Just some ideas to get the file size down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ricardo Salamé Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Hey Hotdog, Were you purchase the windows? , in the AMP site I only canfind U Boat detail sets Thanks Ricardo The OMS engines may be a tad too elongated. They also have a ton of flash to work with. I will be using the new 1/72 shuttle window replacement set from Accurate Model Parts. The AMP window kit features the front, aft and payload bay windows, each with three layers of glass (clear plastic) like on the real shuttle. As for the astronaut problem, I have found this pair of French pilots in pressure suits from PJ Productions I think I can make look the part. And there you have it. Now if I could only get the Tamiya shuttle build out of the way. Excited about starting this one! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Hey Hotdog, Were you purchase the windows? , in the AMP site I only canfind U Boat detail sets Thanks Ricardo They probably don't have them for sale on their website yet. They JUST finished making the first sets this week and I am getting the first one (yay, I get to be the guinea pig!) You can try emailing them like I did, or wait for them to come available on their site. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 They probably don't have them for sale on their website yet. They JUST finished making the first sets this week and I am getting the first one (yay, I get to be the guinea pig!) You can try emailing them like I did, or wait for them to come available on their site. Awesome! I have been wanting to see these things installed and painted up. Can't wait to check them out. Bill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vehicle Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 To help. I will say careful painting the AFRSI you add. The surgical tape curls up like bacon as the paint dries. Any tips guys on fixing this problem? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 To help. I will say careful painting the AFRSI you add. The surgical tape curls up like bacon as the paint dries. Any tips guys on fixing this problem? That won't be a problem on this build, as I will be creating photo decals to simulate the thermal blankets and tiles.t Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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