[bert model maker]

I have an early 1/48 apollo spacecraft that is a block 1. I want to paint the service module with the correct white colored areas for the block 1. I have looked and found very little in regards to paint patterns. If anyone here knows where i can find good paint pattern reference photos, could you please post pictures or links to the pictures ? thanks !

 

[flyingfrets]

Best I've found at covering the more obscure hardware are these guys...

http://www.spaceinminiature.com/books/sim6.html

 

[Ductapeforever]

Bert, here you go. Apollo block 1 Service Modules didn't have the white radiator panels as the block 2's. Here are the color references.

 

[bert model maker]

Perfect thanks, thats what i was looking for. I am also thinking about the command module being gray & do a tribute to apollo 1 & what it would have looked like if they had a LEM mission.

 

[flyingfrets]

Perfect thanks, thats what i was looking for. I am also thinking about the command module being gray & do a tribute to apollo 1 & what it would have looked like if they had a LEM mission.

Bert, only problem with that is a Block I CM had no probe & was incapable of docking with an LM.

I did something along the lines of what you're talking about (commemorating Apollo I) about 20 years ago. Did the Block I CSM on a simple black aerodynamic stand with the Apollo I mission patch at the base. Very stark, but effective.

Good luck with your project whatever way you decide to do it!

 

[bert model maker]

hi frets, this model kit is the one i have wanted for so long & saw, bid, & won on ebay only to have it arrive shattered to pieces because of NO packing material just the box itself with a priority US mail box wrapped around it and taped up like a mummy. It is a 1967 model and it is a block 1 with lem, 3rd stage adaptor & the CSM with launch escape tower on top, it is in 1/48 scale. I was thinking since it is a block 1 confiquration i would paint it up as a block 1 with the different white areas on the SM. the CM for Apollo 1 was a light gray and thought it may look good in those colors. The SM is silver & i have the correct paint for that as well. The kit instructions have both SM & CM left all white & the LEM painted silver & black with foiled areas. I remember it as a kid being all white and nolstalgia tempted me to have it that way again.

 

[flyingfrets]

Ah...gotcha. Nostalgia is a valid part of the creative process.

Thought you meant to display them in a docked configuration at first. And Apollo I was indeed mounted on an SLA atop the SIB (though I believe it would've carried simple ballast instead of an LM or test article).

Nice model BTW. I had one of the reissues but I never got around to building mine.

 

[bert model maker]

What are you going to do with it if you still have it ? mine was missing 14 small parts mostly for the lem. the nosecone tip for the escape tower is also a part that was missing. can you believe someone actually thinking a plastic model in a box that has lots of room to rattle and bang around would make it in 1 piece traveling cross country by U.S. Mail ? I made the seller refund half my money & they did. I wanted to keep the kit because i may never get another crack at finding another & winning it. That little nose cone tip for the escape tower is something that i need to make it look right.

 

[flyingfrets]

If I still had it, you'd be welcome to it. Unfortunately, my collection was lost when I relocated about 8 years ago. The kits I have now are all pretty mundane, off the shelf stuff anybody could find.

Only real space I have now is a 1/96 Aoshima CSM and a 1/100 scale Tamiya Sikorsky Sea King I plan to bash into a splashdown diorama...if I can ever find the time. I'm sure you know how that goes!

 

[bert model maker]

I sure do, thanks frets ! how do you like your 1/96 apollo kit ?

 

[flyingfrets]

I wish I could say it's more detailed than Revell's, or that they corrected the inaccuracies, but it's not & they didn't (still Block I).

The upside is that the existing detail is crisper than Revell's (especially Revell Germany's reissue), but not $40 worth compared to about $10 for either Revell kit.

I think RealSpaceModels' kit is about as detailed as you're ever gonna see in 1/96 scale...which is no swipe at Glenn, his kits are first rate, but they're solid resin as opposed to the styrene versions we're talking about.

 

[bert model maker]

I wish that the old space kits would all be reproduced, they were great kits

 

[iamweasel]

Revell Germany repopped the Columbia and Eagle kit, though it hasn't been available in the US you can get it through Hobbylink Japan.
I ordered mine awhile ago and haven't had the chance to check how the detail has held up over the years.
They seriously should put some thought into putting out the other real space kits they have.

 

[bert model maker]

I Agree. They need to reissue the apollo spacecraft in 1/48 to match all of the lEMs that are out there in 1/48.

 

[flyingfrets]

It's a shame there's only ever been one styrene CSM released in 1/48, and that's the one on your workbench. That one has always been something of a rare bird too. I don't know if it was the awkward size of the box, the cost, or both but it was never an easy find.

Understandably, the LM kitted in several scales (Monogram, Revell, Aoshima - 1/48, Airfix - 1/72, Revell, Revell AG, Aoshima, Heller - 1/96, Monogram, Airfix, Revell - 1/144, and Airfix, AMT - 1/288), but to display both vehicles in scale, you basically had Revell, Revell AG and Heller at 1/96.

Yeah, I know both spacecraft were done in 1/144 & 1/288 as part of the Saturn V and Saturn IB (talk about an inaccuracy!) but at those scales, detail is far too simplified.

It'd be great to have a readily available, accurate CSM in a standard aircraft modeling scale like 1/48 since we have the LM, Mercury and Gemini at that scale (though the Revell Mercury and Gemini are getting scarce too. Not counting sleaze-bay, last I saw of them was the Grissom comemmorative set...10 - 15 years ago).

Since none of the maufacturers saw fit to correct the inaccuracies of these kits in the last 40+ years, I seriously doubt we'll ever see new tools for any of them in styrene .

That's where realspacemodels came in. Excellent, accurate kits of these spacecraft in several uniform scales. Only real drawback is trying to do "in flight" displays due to the weight of the solid resin.

BTW: beware the Revell AG Columbia & Eagle kit...detail is VERY soft and the plastic is too.

 

[bert model maker]

thanks frets, this kit is the one i have wanted for a long time & even though it arrived completly demolished, the lem parts mostly, the CSM is in good shape and thats why i kept it and demaned & recieved $50 back from that seller. trying to identify tiny pieces by visually comparing them to small drawings in the instruction booklet is slow going.

 

[flyingfrets]

Hey Bert, out of curiosity, were you dead-set on an original? I know there was a reissue in the mid-90's (that's the one I had) that pops up on the 'bay semi-regularly. Generally gets $60 - $85 + shipping for a complete, unstarted one.

I actually would like to get hold of another one, but I've got too many other things going on right now and I think the wife would shove it straight up my...er...where the sun don't shine since I haven't touched a model seriously in about 6 years.

I keep planning too, but life keeps getting in the way...

 

[bert model maker]

I only saw 1 original on ebay and the rest were the 1983 release kits. they even sell them with the major parts missing but want a fortune for something you can't even build. this one i got has everything except 14 small parts and every part smashed off the parts trees. even the parts trees are snapped into 3 pieces i wish this kit would get reproduced in the same 1/48 scale.

 

[LGFugate]

Just to add a slightly off-topic flavor to this discussion, does anybody remember the magazine "Air and Space Modeler"? It was a short-lived run of a most excellent modelling magazine in the 1969-1970 time slot. One of the articles was a 1/48th scale Saturn V to go with the Revell CSM kit. It was made of paper as I recall. (It wasn't as nice as the 1/48th scale paper model kit available for free at the Lower Hudson Valley Paper Gift Shop website (http://jleslie48.com/), though.

Larry

 

[LGFugate]

I just found the article on-line! Go HERE: http://models.lemut.net/papermodels/Saturn-V/


Larry