List of rocket models

[Jérome the frenchie]

Hello everybody

I am a plane modeller. I have a passion for the rockets. I'd like to know the kits existing today.

Mainly for the well known launchers Saturn V, Ariane 1,2,3,4,5 (I'm french...) , Atlas, Space Shuttle, etc...

I think the scales are 1/200 and 1/144 ? 1/72 and 1/48 are very big, aren't they ?

Thank you

Jérôme

[habu2]

Jérome, check out these links: ninfinger.org (scroll down) and realspacemodels.com

[Jérome the frenchie]

Thank you for those very interresting links !

I'll be back, I'm working on a X Wing

[indydog]

Almost every space vehicle and most satalites are modeled in some form or another. I can't think off the top of my head any that have been missed....some of the Russian ones perhaps.

1/200, 1/144 and 1/72 are the primary scales for space models. There are a few oddballs...1/96 for example.

[Jay Chladek]

Well, of the Ariane boosters, I've only seen kits for the Ariane IV and V.

In 1/144, Revell of Germany did a nice Ariane IV sitting on a launch pad. It can be tough to find though. I had to go to the Telford IPMS UK show in 2004 to find mine (and I live in the states). Heller does one in 1/125 and another in 1/288, but they are rudimentary and need a little accurizing. In 1/96, Dragon and Revell of Germany did the Ariane V as a partnership (Revell got the Europe issue, Dragon issued it in the far east). Heller also offers an Ariane V in 1/125.

In 1/288, you tend to find a lot of the Soviet boosters from the Protons to the Buran/Energia combo as all were offered by OTC Start in Russia. In 1/288, Minicraft and Heller offer US space shuttle stacks.

In 1/200, you can find all NASA's manned space launchers. Mercury Redstone, Mercury Atlas, Gemini Titan and Saturn's V and 1B can be found in the AMT Proshop "Man in Space" kit and Hasegawa does a shuttle stack in that scale as well. DML also offered an NB-52 with X-15 and Pegasus booster set if you want to add a little spice to a 1/200 collection.

1/144 is the most numerous with plenty in styrene for manned US and Soviet launchers and lots of resin kits from Realspace for the stuff that styrene doesn't cover or which needs accurizing. Monogram also offered a set of US and Soviet ICBMs in this scale at one time, but the models are a little on the crude side.

Past those scales, things tend to get a bit big for rockets and you tend to find more spacecraft kits. In 1/73 scale (yes, 1/73 since they are flying rocket kits), Estes corp offered models of the Titan boosters, but they are OOP now. Biggest scale detailed flying rocket kit currently in production is the Estes Mercury Redstone, scaled to about 1/35 with a plastic Mercury capsule on top. They also did an Atlas, but it is OOP. Biggest of the big in styrene kits is the 1/72 Space Shuttle with boosters from Monogram and it is a monster due to its size. The 1/96 Saturn V from Revell of Germany is also a tall machine, but it is more slender then the shuttle kit.

Edited July 20, 2005 by Jay Chladek