1/72 Dragon Lunar Approach CSM/LM

[as205]

Pete: Thanks.  The NewWare enhancements helped a lot.  The additional brass parts on the SM and the High Gain dishes came from them.  But all in all, the SM is much easier to make look good than the LM.

 

I forgot to mention in the update that the SM had to be painted twice.  I was removing the masking on the white areas and noticed that I was rubbing off the Alclad Stainless Steel paint.  I had to re-mask and re-paint it and then applied Alclad clear coat over that.  That worked, plus I was much more careful in my handling the second time around.

 

Southwestforests:  Oh yes, I'm well aware of the CA/clear styrene interactions.  That is why I used Plasti-Zap.  I've used it on several occasions before with absolutely no problems.  It didn't occur to me that it might interact with Kristal Klear.  Lesson learned on that one!  For the beauty shots, I decided I'd shoot on a black background and then edit out the rod holding it up. They turned out OK.

[as205]

I got a little more work done on the LM. I finally decided what I was going to do with the folded landing gear. I took the deployed gear parts and cut them at the hinge line. I then did some mild shaping at the joint and glued the two sections together in a folded orientation. I then applied some putty at the joint to smooth things out a bit. The picture shows the spliced gear and the folded gear from the kit.

 

It’s not perfect and the angles are of course off but I guess it’s passable. The bottom of the Descent Stage is not correct or the kit gear is too small but whatever the case it causes the folded gear into a raised angle when it should be nearly flat. But I’m really done fighting with it so I’m willing to accept it in this state.

 

I then moved back to the Descent Stage main body. I’ve finally decided to do this model as Apollo 10. The LM on Apollo 10 did not have the plume deflectors. Those were added starting with Apollo 11. I needed to use the small rectangular pieces that are not called out in the instructions to fill the open holes in the sides of the Descent Stage. They don’t fit very well, and the crinkle pattern is not a good match for the rest of the stage. Here are a couple of pictures showing how well they fit. 🤣

 

 

They are too tall and not quite wide enough for the holes. Here is a view from a different quadrant.

 

Mr. Surfacer 500 Putty was liberally applied in several layers to better blend them in. I also trimmed off the excess that is raised above the top of the Descent Stage.

 

 

Mr. Surfacer 500 applied roughly does a good job disguising the parts. Here is a view from the top.

 

Since I’m not using the pre-folded gear parts I needed to fill in the massive holes in the bottom of the Descent Stage.

 

Once I had all the holes filled I gave the Descent Stage a coat of primer to verify that I had all the imperfections covered.

 

Here is the bottom with primer.

 

Now it’s time to start applying some paint and foil. Before I get too far along with that though I’ll have to get the landing gear modified. Look for that in the next update.

 

Thanks for looking.

[K2Pete]

It's looking good Randy ... but you just may be sweating the details. Those Plume Deflector plugs just needed a little filing and right now we can't tell there was a patch there ... so ...  nice job!

The Landing Gear, again, we'll be distracted by the shiny foil and details on the Ascent Stage, like antennae, RCS etc. In my experience, details like downlocks, ladder rungs, landing probes are missed by even the Eagle eyed Judges, as well as casual viewers. Just 'weenies' like me would notice, but again, I go for the major look of the subject ... those details, um-m-m ... not so much.

 

But, like you, I KNOW they're there ... so I really do understand where you're coming from! Just don't get too discouraged by the folded Landing Gear ... they'll be tucked under the Descent Stage and we'll be dazzled, nay OVERwhelmed, by the CSM ...   ;^ D)) ... "oh, did you see the LM?" "What? ... you mean there was a LM too??"

 

Pete

[crackerjazz]

Hi Randy, I just saw this thread.  Some cool stuff going on here! : )    Following along : )

[kellyF15]

This build is looking awesome!

[as205]

Thanks for that.  It's been slow going lately, lots of outside stuff distracting me.