STS-135 Atlantis

Herk · Thu 01/21/16 03:41 PM

Quote from: Bill L. on Thu 01/21/16 01:33 PM
They look great Steve. Are they all in the same scale? or what is the break down?

Bill L.

Bill,
These are all 1/200 scale. The Redstone/Mercury / Atlas/Mercury / Titan/Gemini / Saturn1b/Apollo & SaturnV/Apollo come from the AMT Man in Space kit. The two Shuttles are Hasagawa kits - Shuttle with Boosters (STS-135) and 747 with Shuttle also in 1/200 scale. I have always wanted to have a collection like this in a single scale, so the difference in size would be more relevant. I decided to show the Shuttle both on the launch pad and on the transport A/C as this has been the only program that reused the orbital component. (It also gave me the opportunity to personally honor the Challenger crew, as I was a member of the launch crew for STS 51L)

In searching for a suitable copy of the STS-51L emblem, I came across an emblem NASA had done in memory of each of the crews, Apollo 1, STS-51L & STS-107 that had been lost during space flight operations - that is on the side of the block holding the STS Transport A/C with Challenger. I am having a plexiglass support made to replace the block, which will also have the emblem.

What is difficult to see in the photos is the astronaut with the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) and the labels for the Apollo 7 (First LEM) and Apollo 11 Command modules & Lunar modules. The LEM in the AMC kit came legs folded to be put in the transition section of both the Saturn IB and Saturn V. I carefully worked to display one with legs out as it looked on the moon landings.

The MMU was one of the astronauts intended to go in the Apollo capsule. Building the MMU around him gave me a human figure of the proper scale to compare with the launch vehicles - he is VERY tiny - he will fit on your thumb! If you can enlarge photo #2, look to the right of the Redstone/Mercury - the little dot there is the gold face plate of the MMU Astronaut - careful checking of the photo there, you can get an impression of the MMU. I am going to change the base color from white to black for contest showing so small things like this will show.
Regards,

Bill L. · Thu 01/21/16 01:33 PM

They look great Steve. Are they all in the same scale? or what is the break down?

Bill L.

Herk · Wed 01/20/16 09:51 PM

Quote from: Bob S on Tue 01/19/16 06:29 PM
Hey Steve - Have you considered a diorama for your rockets & space shuttle Atlantis? - the way you had them displayed in December reminded me of the Kennedy Space Center complex in Florida....your display was laid out much the way the rockets are arranged at the complex grounds.

Bob - thanks for the suggestion. What you saw at the Christmas meeting is the basic idea for the display. I am currently working on data sheets for each of the programs showing each of the launches in that program. For the Apollo/Saturn and Shuttle programs, these sheets will be on a skyblue background. Hopefully the Lexan stand for the Shuttle transport will be ready for Richmond - if not I will have it ready for RDUCON.
Regards,

Bob S · Tue 01/19/16 06:29 PM

Hey Steve - Have you considered a diorama for your rockets & space shuttle Atlantis? - the way you had them displayed in December reminded me of the Kennedy Space Center complex in Florida....your display was laid out much the way the rockets are arranged at the complex grounds.

Herk · Wed 12/09/15 09:50 AM

Thank you.
I hope to have the display ready for showing at the Christmas meeting. Waiting on replacement escape towers for the mercury capsules - in the mail, hope to get them this week.

Bill L. · Wed 12/09/15 07:38 AM

Very nicely done Steve! I always enjoy seeing something besides the usual A/C, Cars or Tanks!
Looking forward to seeing the collection when it's complete.

Bill L.

Herk · Tue 12/08/15 09:30 AM

Thanks for the suggestion - I do have an extra orbiter. Will have to decide on which part of landing to do - parachute deployment / final rollout or post landing (this will take a numerous amount of 1/200 vehicles!)
I will put this idea in the hopper with the other projects in the pipeline.
Regards,

Ronv · Mon 12/07/15 07:40 PM

Looks good! Nice addition to the series. May I suggest that you do one to look like they do when they have completed re-entry.
RonV

Herk · Sun 12/06/15 07:06 PM

Quote from: Bill L2 on Sun 12/06/15 06:13 PM
Great job Herk on the shuttle. As a 1/200th scale model how tall is the completed kit?

When you include the MLP it stands 12" tall.
This means that the 747 Transport w/shuttle (Challenger) display stand will need to be 14-15 inches tall (still in design and production).
Regards

Bill L2 · Sun 12/06/15 06:13 PM

Great job Herk on the shuttle. As a 1/200th scale model how tall is the completed kit?

Herk · Sat 12/05/15 09:37 PM

Quote from: Lee_K on Sat 12/05/15 06:59 PM
Nicely done, Steve! That looks like there was a lot of masking off of black from white.

Lee K

Thank you for your kind comments.
You are quite correct - the large section at the nose and the wing edges (these have three different colors) plus the vertical stabilizer required masking for the final painting. Overcoming the misalignment of the black nose and white fuselage was the hardest part.
Luckily I discovered that Hasegawa had created decals for the ailerons and speed brake (in the vertical stab) AFTER messing up the original vertical stab (paint bleeding under the tape), so I ordered an additional set of these decals. This proved to very beneficial when I started putting the cheat line decal on the 747 transporter. The cheat line wraps around both the tail and the nose. (Didn't help that the window "glass" was the clear section of the decal! :-P)

Lee_K · Sat 12/05/15 06:59 PM

Nicely done, Steve! That looks like there was a lot of masking off of black from white.

Lee K

Herk · Sat 12/05/15 04:57 PM

After several long months, the display of the final Shuttle mission-STS 135 Atlantis is complete. This is the 1/200 Hasegawa Shuttle with Boosters. This will be included with my AMT build of the 1/200 Man in Space kit to have the full US Manned space Flight program from Alan Sheppard (Freedom 7) to STS 135 in constant scale. I am making some upgrades to the AMT kit and hope to have them done as well as the Shuttle 747 Transport w/Challenger (STS-51L) for the December meeting. The transport will not have it's display stand completed, but I hope to have it to show with the rest set.

This is a fairly simple kit how ever the fit of the bottom of the orbiter (molded in black with the upper two halves leaves some area at the front of the orbiter that needs filling. The filling and sanding needs to be done carefully as the entry hatch is molded iinto this area. (later kits had the entry hatch as a decal - got an extra decal set to be able to use the better decal to indicate the hatch). The mobile launch platform (MLP) is very basic but gives an adequate display stand. I have found a more detailed MLP online with Shapeways, but it is currently rather cost prohibitive.

It does come with an equipment and scientific modules for the cargo bay but the orbiter only opens this on the pad when the rotating service arm (RSA) is in place over the orbiter, so I have left them out.