Ron Denning
Kansas City, Missouri
“Having grown up in the 1960s during the space race, I have always been fascinated by launch vehicles and spacecraft,” Ron says. So, he was over the moon when he found Revell’s 1/96 scale Apollo Saturn V — so much so that he scratchbuilt the rest of the launch complex. “I wrote several letters to NASA trying to obtain information. I guess they finally got tired of my letters and gave me the name of the contractor who had built the three original launch platforms and umbilical towers. The gentleman with whom I spoke was actually there in the ’60s when the launch complex was being built. He asked me how detailed I wanted to make my tower. After I explained my plan to him, he said ‘watch your mailbox.’ Several days later, a box arrived from Florida with more than 300 drawings of the launcher base, umbilical tower, service arms, white room, and interface drawings with the crawler, and the launch pad accessory towers. It was like Christmas in July!” From there, Ron scratchbuilt with styrene sheet and structural shapes.