Hotdog Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 When John Glenn passed away last month, I felt compelled to to build something to honor him with. The only Mercury kit I had in my stash was the 1:48 scale Revell Mercury & Gemini kit. I felt like I could build it pretty quickly if I didn't bog myself down with the details and just do an out-of-box build. So, without doing any research, I opened the box and got started... DAY 1 7 hours Starting build cost: $35.79 I began by painting the John Glenn figure. I used Testors Chrome Silver for his suit, and Gloss White for the helmet. I detailed the straps with Flat Black and painted his face Skin Tone Light. While waiting for all of that to dry, I started painting the various interior elements. I used Google on my phone to pull up photos of other modelers' builds to see how they painted them, and kind of gave the interior my own interpretation of what I found. I'm certainly not going for accuracy with this build, especially at such a tiny scale. One bit of research I did do was download Mike Mackowski's Space In Minature guide on building the Mercury Spacecraft. After reading it, I realized there were some easy mods I could make and would need to make in order to make the kit look "real" and not toy-like, as there are a couple of glaring inaccuracies and generalized parts of the exterior. I discovered that I would need to purchase a second kit in order to lengthen the recovery compartment. I found one on eBay, and continued to plug away with my build while waiting for that to arrive. DAY 2 1.5 hours (8.5 hours total) Build cost to date: $43.48 I finished detailing the interior, and got Glenn strapped into his seat. I cut out the panel for the periscope and scratch-built my represnetation for the periscope using some spare rod and styrene sheet. I also painted the window frame Testors Gloss Red Acryl and installed the window per the kit instructions. I glued the retro package onto the heat shield, and painted the entire assembly with a Tamiya Aluminum spray can. Then I masked off the retro package and sprayed the heat shield Tamiya Rust Brown. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 DAY 3 3.5 hours (12 hours total) Build cost to date: $76.23 The second Revell kit arrived, so I used the recovery compartment parts from that kit to lengthen the compartment assembly from the first kit, as shown in the photo above. I filled the seam with Squadron green putty and sanded the seam smooth. The biggest challenge of the entire build was getting the side panels of the crew compartment to line up correctly. Thanks to my periscope modification, the interior bulkhead holding Glenn and the couch no longer fit the way they should when the panels were placed around it. So, I had to modify the bottom of the interior piece by grinding part of it away with my Dremel tool. No big deal, since you can't really see this part of the interior from the outside. It still took a lot of time and trial-and-error to get everything to line up as it should. DAY 4 3.5 hours (15.5 hours total) Build cost to date: $76.23 With the crew compartment all closed in, it was time to attach the heat shield. Thanks to some wonderful gaps, I had to mask off the seam and fill it with putty before sanding it smooth. I also began detailing the forward sections. Here you see the recovery compartment capped off with some thin styrene sheet. I later sanded it flush with the rest of the exterior. I also took on the tedious task of detailing the antenna fairing. The kit part (in gray) was pretty generic, so I used thin styrene sheet to represent the destabilizing flap, drogue chute door and the teflon insulation. I also drilled holes for the horizon scanners and backed them with putty. I finished off the detailing by adding some thin wire from a stripped twist-tie. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 DAY 5 7 hours (22.5 hours total) Build cost to date: $76.23 With the heat shield firmly in place, I painted the red stripe around the outer edge very carefully with a brush using Testors Gloss Red Acryl. While that dried, I painted the straps for the retro package Testors Model Master Aluminum and glued them in place onto the retro pack first. Once that dried, I then glued the other end of the straps to the outer edge of the spacecraft. I painted the thrusters gloss red and the nozzles flat black and glued them into the retro pack. The nozzles are so tiny, I kept dropping them and lost a few of them in the carpet while trying to sand off excess flash. Luckily, I had the second kit to steal extra nozzles from. With the majority of the assembly work now complete, it was time to finish painting the spacecraft. I hand-painted Testors Flat Black onto the capsule, being extremely careful around the red portion of the aft section and the white teflon of the antenna fairing. She is now ready for decals. DAY 6 1 hour (23.5 hours total) Total build cost: $76.23 I applied the kit decals today to finish off Friendship 7. Godspeed, John Glenn! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K2Pete Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Very nicely done! It ... looks ... GREAT! And you got the decals to sit in those corrugations beautifully! ... and it's nice to see the Capsule without the Launch Escape System ... It's a different kind of fun just doing a quick, almost OOB build, but really satisfying! Great Job Hotdog! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 Thanks, Pete! Solvaset is a lifesaver when it comes to decals :D Yeah, I've built this kit before with that LES and it's a real pain. I thought Glenn's Friendship 7 would be better depicted in orbit configuration anyway. It's most definitely outside of my comfort zone to just open a box and start building, but maybe it's more fun. Normally I'm spending hours and hours researching and planning before starting any build. Thanks for looking! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Wow!!! Awesome quick build, Hotdog! Great buildup and final product! Realspace is surely humming with activity -- I'm getting a good dose of inspiration for starting the new modeling year. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Beautiful job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crowe-t Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 Excellent job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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