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1:144 Apollo 7 Saturn IB


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In January of this year, I started building an Apollo 7 Saturn IB in 1:144 scale. It's about time I began a thread here to document my progress (and help motivate me to finish it!).

When finished, this rocket will be displayed alongside my 1:144 Bandai Space Shuttle and Saturn V rocket. So, it will need to be something a bit more spectacular than just an out-of-box build if it is to hold its own next to those finely detailed and accurate masterpieces. That being said, here's how I plan to do it:

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The yellow parts are kit parts, the red are 3D-printed items, and the blue will either be scratch-built or the New Ware Detail Set.

I spent the month of December planning and preparing, creating drawings, obtaining the Airfix kit and the first of the 3D-printed parts I would need. Since 3D printing can be expensive, I split my orders up into three separate shipments. My total cost just for 3D-printed parts alone ends up being $232.

Here we go...

* * *

DAYS 1-3

5.4 hours

Starting build cost: $160.49

I began by painting the various sections and pieces that are best painted before assembly. Then I started prepping and assembling some of the main components.

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In the photos above, you can see where I used styrene sheet to reinforce the halves of the S-IB stage. I am using rare earth magnets inside the Apollo CM and SM bulkheads to connect those two parts to each other. I've glued the kit part for the S-IVB thrust structure in upside-down on purpose, so I have a surface to attach the nicer 3D-printed thrust structure I'll be adding later.

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Above are the first order of 3D-printed parts I'll be using. These are from Michael Key on Shapeways. They are printed in FUD and FXD.

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Here are some of the parts after receiving a coat or two of primer. The details are excellent.

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Above: A quick dry-fit of the 3D-printed components with the kit parts they will attach to. Looks like I'll need to open up the forward part of the Service Module a bit in order to get the CM to nest properly on top of it.

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After priming the 3D-printed parts, I took these photos comparing them to the more generic kit parts. You can clearly see why the kit parts just wouldn't do!

Edited by Hotdog
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DAYS 4-6

7.5 hours (12.9 hours total)

Build cost to date: $243.12

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Here's the Apollo CM assembled and with a coat of Testors Metallic Silver. I don't really like the grainy finish. I think it may have been too cold when I took her out to the garage to spray her. Or, maybe it was the crappy Testors enamel paint (yuck!). Nevertheless, I carefully chopped off the pointy nose cone, filled it in with putty, sanded it flat and painted that area white. After that, I sanded down the walls of the upper part of the Service Module so the CM would sit a bit further down on top of it. In the second photo above, you can see where I am test-fitting the CM with the SM.

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Here I hand-painted the forward bulkhead of the S-IB aluminum and flat black. It's not perfect, but most of this will be covered up by the spider beam.

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Once the S-IVB was assembled, I chopped off the IU portion from the kit so I can eventually use the more detailed IU that came with Michael Key's 3D-printed SLA. Above is a test-fit of those components.

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I drew up some styrene parts to have laser-engraved via Ponoko. Above are the S-IB heat shield and various bulkheads and braces I may use later on.

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And finally, the second batch of 3D-printed parts arrived. These are from Michael Key also, with the exception of the S-IVB thrust structure, which is from John Love.

* * *

DAYS 7-14

15 hours (27.9 hours total)

Build cost to date: $333.07

I began to paint the next group of 3D-printed parts. Here is the LES and BPC with a few coats of white, and the S-IVB thrust structure got sprayed with Tamiya Aluminum and detailed with Gold Titanium.

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It was also time to start painting the 3D-printed H-1 and J-2 engines. These came from Meatball Rocketry. I'm especially happy with how the J-2 engine turned out.

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It's finally time to start assembling the Service Module. I chopped off the kit attachment rings and inserted rare earth magnets for mating with the SLA instead for a cleaner, more authentic look. I covered the forward bulkhead with an aluminum foil "thermal blanket" and glued the halves together. I painted the SM engine bulkhead aluminum and gold titanium, and the engine nozzle neutral gray, dark gull gray, aluminum and gold titanum. On the right is a test-fit of the engine components onto the aft bulkhead of the SM.

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I painted the inside of the SLA Gold Titanium, and the outside got a few coats of Tamiya Pure White. I finished detailing the LES, and began painting on the details of the CM. On the right is a dry-fit of the Apollo portion of the stack so far.

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A couple more 3D components have arrived. On the left is the High-Gain Antenna. I went ahead and glued on a piece of paper clip wire to make the boom. This is a very tiny part, and was somewhat of a pain to work with due to its microscopic size. On the right is another tiny piece, the CM-SM umbilicals. I had to cut a cavity into the BPC so it can fit around the umbilical.

Edited by Hotdog
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DAYS 15-21

22.8 hours (50.7 hours total)

Build cost to date: $393.51

Working on the S-IB stage, I assembled the interstage halves and painted the inside aluminum. I drilled a hole in the tail section for the plastic tube that will later facilitate the mounting rod in the display base.

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After painting the the H-1 engines aluminum, I went ahead and started putting together the components that will make up the heat shield of the S-IB stage. I originally tried to make the flame curtains out of Milliput, but at this small scale it cracked and broke apart when bent into shape. So, I ordered some Apoxie Sculpt which is stickier and smoother and it worked a lot better. I painted them aluminum and glued everything together. In the larger photo is a dry fit of the assembled heat shield and tail section with the S-IB tanks.

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Contiunuing on with the S-IB tail section, I sanded off the incorrect stringers under the fins and replaced it with a laser-engraved wrap. It's not the perfect solution, but it's better than what was there (I would later discover that the New Ware detail set comes with a photo etch for this part - doh!). Note the styrene sheet I placed inside the tail section. This is to help the heat shield sit flush with the end of the aft of the S-IB when it comes time to glue it in.

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The New Ware detail set has arrived! This photo-etch and resin kit gives you the tedious little details, some of which would be almost impossible to create from the usual scratch materials. It will be my first time working with photo etch. You have to use super glue to apply them to the model, which bonds instantly and doesn't give you any room for error with placement.

Meanwhile, it was time to paint the exterior of the Service Module. I used Mike Mackowski's Apollo Spacecraft SIM booklet as my reference for Apollo 7's unique SM paint scheme.

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* * *

DAYS 22-26

8.8 hours (59.5 hours total)

Build cost to date: $423.76

After painting the Service Module, I finished it off by painting the HGA, and gluing it on to the aft bulkhead, along with the engine parts. All that's left now is to add the RCS thrusters and decals, and I can call the Service Module done.

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With the New Ware detail set in hand, I began to glue on the various photo etch and resin bits to the IU, interstage and S-IVB.

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I then gave the interstage a few coats of Tamiya Pure White, and glued the tail onto the S-IB tank section.

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Which leads me to the part I'm really dreading about this build: Smoothing out the seams where the tanks and tail parts meet! Ugh. My plan is to try Apoxie Sculpt, but I'm open to suggestions.

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While trying to finish detailing the Command Module, the fragile FUD material cracked like an eggshell! :(/>/>/>/> Oh well. I wasn't all that happy with it anyway. So, I ordered a second one from Michael Key. This time, I filled it with a 2-part epoxy to strengthen it. His Apollo CM is very thin and delicate at this scale, so I highly recommend doing this if you plan to use these parts for your Apollo builds. I used Tamiya spray cans this time and the paint job turned out much, much better :)/>/>/>/>

Edited by Hotdog
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DAYS 27-34

12.7 hours (72.2 hours total)

Build cost to date: $476.93

To finish off the S-IVB thrust structure, I glued on the J-2 engine and the helium tanks, and very carefully hand-painted each tank chrome silver. It was only after doing all of this that I realized the Apollo 7 Saturn IB only carried one helium tank here! Doh! Oh well, too late to fix this now. If I ever build a 1:144 Saturn V, maybe I'll swap out the stages.

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Time to finish the Command Module. I detailed it using gloss black for the windows, a pinkish-red for the thrusters and my own custom decals.

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Above is a better look at the finished CM.

Finishing up the Service Module, I painted the RCS thrusters aluminum and gold titanium, and applied decals from Space Model Systems.

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* * *

Here are the finished Apollo Spacecraft components:

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Edited by Hotdog
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Mated to the SLA:

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The complete Apollo Spacecraft portion of the Saturn IB stack:

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So this is where the build stands as of now. Hopefully now I will feel motivated to get back to this one and finish it off. I'm not feeling real good about smoothing those seams on the S-IB stage tanks. :(/>/>/> I'm tempted to order the Realspace Models S-IB parts and just use that instead. What do you guys think? Thanks for looking.

Edited by Hotdog
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Well-l-l-l ... done! :thumbsup:

The details on the SLA have blown me away! And is the wall thickness on the BPC so thin that it just slips over the CM? :blink:

I can't help you with the Tanks and Tail besides filling and sanding or replacement of the tubes entirely. Sanding and blending cylinders is a royal pain.

Great job Hotdog ... and at such a small scale! :woo:

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Nice work. 👍

For the sake of accuracy, the APS fairings on the S-IVB were different on the S-1B vs Saturn V. The raised section on the center of the fairing is unique to the S-V, the S-1B was flat. Airfix used the same parts for their 1B & V kits. The number of ullage motors was different as well, 3 vs 2. See this illustration from Wikipedia

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Thanks, guys! This has been a fun build so far.

K2Pete - Yes, the BPC is very thin and fits over the CM like a glove. So much so, that the CM gets stuck inside and is hard to remove, and I worry that repeated use might scratch the paint and decals on the surface of the CM. It's such a tight fit, that even the powerful rare earth magnets inside aren't strong enough to pull the CM out.

You are absolutely right about those APS fairings, habu2. The New Ware kit comes with some nice resin replacement fairings, but I didn't feel confident in my ability to cleanly remove the kit fairings without destroying the stringer detail around them. So I came up with an easier solution, and that was to sand down the kit fairings until they looked like the smaller ones used on the IB. It's not perfect, but close enough. I'll snap a pic next time and post an update.

Edited by Hotdog
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Good grief you are a maniac... but in a good way.

Concerning the fit of the aft end of the S-1B to the fuel tank bodies, Apoxie might work to at least build up the area a bit, but it could be a pain to sand evenly. I am thinking a slicker method to try would be to use thin styrene sheet to take up the stepped areas. To measure the shape to cut, lay a piece of masking tape down and draw the borders or one fuel tank transition area (glue edge, sides of the tank and the curved lip at the bottom) then transfer the tape to a template you can cut. Use the template to create eight pieces of plastic to transfer over and liquid glue them on. If you do it right, it can likely minimize the step seam and that might be the only area that needs a little filling and blending. A high build primer can likely make short work of the rest of the seams. Granted I have never done this, but I have done similar work on other models using similar methods.

Another idea that might work would be to carefully mask the rear fin unit and the fuel tank tubes, leaving those crescent shaped areas exposed and shoot on a few layers of a high build primer over the exposed plastic until the step is minimized, then carefully pull the masks off, sand and blend the surface before adding the paint primer coat. Gunze Mr. Dissolved putty can work too (and likely would be better for this task), but you would need to do a few brush paint applications to get it to fill right.

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Wow! Very nice. While reading through this, I didn't realize that the pieces out of the box were so plain. What a great template to use when I start on mine. I will keep an eye on this one. Great work.

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That's a great idea, Jay! I have already ordered the Realspace Models Saturn IB kit, so I'll take a look at it when it arrives and figure out which direction to go in from there.

John - Thanks for offering the 200 thrust structure. I may go ahead and get that from you since I haven't attached the 500 thrust structure to the S-IVB yet. I've already spent a small fortune on this build, so what's another $15 to get it right? Oh, any plans to scale your Apollo parts up to 1:72? I've got the Dragon kit and I want to approach it in the same manner.

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Yeah, I was encouraged by how well the 1/144 parts where coming out, so I decided to go for the gusto and start designing for the 1/72 model. The plan is to utilize the dragon bits from the IU up to the LES, and scratch the rest using 3D printed parts, and Plastruct tubing and domes. It’s going to be hella expensive but with the time saved from laying all those stringers, I might actually complete it.

I also think that I’ll try to make some of the parts compatible to be used with the full Dragon Saturn V, for those that just want to dress-up their kit.

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  • 1 month later...

DAYS 35-39

18 hours (90.2 hours total)

Build cost to date: $500.00

I've made good progress with this build since my last update. After finishing the Apollo spacecraft, it was time to move on to the booster. I chose to tackle the relatively-simple interstage first. This will be my first attempt at painting Apollo-style roll patterns onto stringers, so it's best that I test my painting technique on a smaller section that would be easier to strip and do over if necessary.

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Above you see the masking, detailing and finishing with the decals. It was a pretty straightforward process of applying the Tamiya tape, spraying clear coat over everything, letting that dry, and then spraying a few coats of Tamiya Flat Black. I waited until after painting to glue on the retro-rockets.

Next came the more complicated S-IVB stage. As you can see in the first photo, part of the lip that connects the IU to the SLA broke off during handling. Not a big deal, since this will be hidden by the SLA when fully stacked and assembled. In the bottom picture, you see how I have it masked for painting the forward horizontal stripe, and the aft vertical stripes. There were too many compound shapes to attempt doing all of the striping in one spray, so for simplicity's sake I'm splitting the painting for this stage up into two steps.

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Below are the results of the first spraying on the left. On the right are the results after masking it again and doing the second spray to get the aft horizontal stripe. I've also went in and painted in the remaining details. Finally, it's time to add the decals.

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Below is the result after adding the decals by Space Model Systems. I used a few of my own decals as well. I've also attached the thrust structure, which I mentioned in an earlier post erroneously has the extra Saturn V helium tanks. I haven't glued this in, so that I can go back and replace it later with the IB thrust structure that has the single tank. For now, this will have to do.

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Here's a couple of shots showing the finished portions of the stack. I'm happy with how she's turning out so far.

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And now on to the most dreaded part of the build...the first stage :pray:/>

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

Wow I"m blown away. I'm actually planning to start a similar build but after seeing this I'm going to have to up my game. I'm really impressed with the super work! Would you be able to post links to the Shapeways stores where the 2D printed parts came from? I may know one of them but not both, and Shapeways' search engine pretty much blows. 

 

Many thanks!

 

Bob

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