Yeah, them metallics can be tough. I have heard that Testers metallics tend to be gritty. Fingers are crossed for you sir!

On my end, as I wait for the jeep, I am working to come up with a "procedure" for making the flames. I was not planning to tackle this until the very end, but adding a jeep has turned my schedule upside down. I have a plan that involves casting the flames. I think that it might work. More testing to do.

The jeep kit is in route to me. Fingers crossed that I get it by this weekend. Then I can start working on it over the Memorial Day weekend.

Well, the paint is fine, but it doesn't have the "lustre" I was hoping for.  Not like Alcad.  Still, it will probably be suitable.  The Titan IIs didn't seem to have the same shine the Atlases did, so it will be okay.  I need to do some touch-up work on all three boosters, so I will probably let the paint cure for a few days before continuing.  Meanwhile, the Vostok can be worked on while that is happening and I need to finish up another project for a GB, so I'm plenty busy.

Good luck on making the flames!  Hope it turns out well, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get the jeep in time for the weekend!

Gary

Bakster: Good luck with the Jeep and the flames. Looking forward to seeing how all this looks when together.

Gary: Good luck there too! I frankly have had no real luck with large scale use of metallics (larger than a 32mm knight etc) outside Alclad II.  

Gamera>  I think it worked as well as could be expected.  We'll see after the clear coat and decals.

Got word my Pegasus V2 has shipped, so hopefully I'll have that soon.  Always nice to get a new kit!

Gary

Today In Space History:

1962 May 23 - . LV Family: Titan. Launch Vehicle: Titan II.

• Avco proposal for a space station. - . Nation: USA. Spacecraft: MOL.

  Representatives from Avco Manufacturing Corporation made a presentation to MSC on a proposal for a space station. Prime purpose of the station, company spokesmen said, was to determine the effects of zero-g on the crew's ability to stand reentry and thus fix the limit that man could safely remain in orbit. Avco's proposed station design comprised three separate tubes about 3 m in diameter and 6 m long, launched separately aboard Titan IIs and joined in a triangular shape in orbit. A standard Gemini spacecraft was to serve as ferry vehicle.

1963 May 23 - .

• Major redesign of the Apollo guidance computer - . Nation: USA. Program: Apollo. Spacecraft: Apollo LM, CSM Guidance, LM Guidance. MIT suggested a major redesign of the Apollo guidance computer to make the CM and LEM computers as similar as possible. NASA approved the redesign and the Raytheon Company, subcontractor for the computer, began work..

1965 May 23 - .

• American Apollo astronauts returning from the moon to be quarantined - . Nation: USA. Program: Apollo.

  The Life Sciences Committee of the National Academy of Sciences' Space Science Board recommended to NASA that American astronauts returning from the moon and planets be kept in quarantine for at least three weeks to prevent possible contamination of the earth by extraterrestrial organisms.

Gary: Again, best of luck!!! 

The V-2 sounds cool! 

My Jeep arrived. It was run through its paces on the way here.

The kit came factory sealed and the model has good detail. There is a fair amount of flash, but I have seen worse. I think the biggest challenge will be trimming out 7 tires/ rims.

BTW. Popeyes Jeep is still discombobulated from the ride over. 

Bakster>  That's a lot of parts!  Good luck getting everything together!

My Pegasus V2 also arrived today, though I do not plan to include it in this GB.  I have been working on the Vostok, getting the engines together and removing the chrome from some of the parts.  Unfortunately, the heat is making it difficult to get any painting done.

Gary

GAF

Bakster>  That's a lot of parts!  Good luck getting everything together!

Fortunately, there are a number of parts that I don’t plan on using. Like the soldiers, guns, and so on. 

Bakster

My Jeep arrived. It was run through its paces on the way here.

Jeeps can handle it.

modelcrazy

Jeeps can handle it.

Just ask Popeye. Jeep! Jeep!

Members of the Committee for Aeronautics and Space>

Comrades!  Assembly has begun on the first of the supreme Soviet vehicles that will carry our glorious revolution of the proletariat into the outer reaches of the heavens!

Privetstviye!

I've gotten the engine assembly done after removing the chrome coating on several of the pieces (soaked in Purple Power).  Will get this painted with metallic silver.  The main body and the boosters halves have been glued and when they are dry I'll assemble them, though I think I may paint them before final assembly just to make it easier.  That's it for now.

Gary

Today In Glorious Russian Space History!: 

1954 May 26 - .

• Soviet decree authorising start of studies of satellite systems - . Nation: Russia. Related Persons: Feoktistov, Tikhonravov.

  The technological basis was the N-3 project, which covered various engine and propulsion approaches. In 1955 a unit was formed within Tikhonravov's section of OKB-1 to develop the first satellite; this included Feoktistov, Bazhinov, Maksimov, and Soldatora.

1964 May 26 - .

• Voskhod Cosmonaut Training Group selected. - . Nation: Russia. Related Persons: Benderov, Lazarev, Polyakov, Boris, Sorokin, Yegorov.

  The group was selected toprovide payload specialists and physicians for Voskhod spaceflights.. Qualifications: Engineers, scientists, or physicians nominated by their parent organizations; under 40 years of age; under 170 cm tall; under 70 kg in weight.. In 1963 it was decided to fly the Voskhod multi-seat spacecraft. There followed a chaotic struggle between the commander of the Soviet cosmonaut team, Kamanin, and leaders of other military and civilian scientific and engineering organisations over who would fly on these missions.

Looks good comrade. Those boosters are very stonk and will bring the Motherland to victory.

Bakster

My Jeep arrived. It was run through its paces on the way here.

  

Guy in the passenger side back seat had a bad day.  He deserves a medal for that test.  Or a new face at the very least.  Sheesh.

Looking forward to more of your build, Bakster.

T e d

Ted4321

Guy in the passenger side back seat had a bad day.  He deserves a medal for that test.  Or a new face at the very least.  Sheesh.

I know! The man is thrown around like a rag doll. It’d be a miracle to not do a face plant.

Thanks Ted!

GAF

Comrades!  Assembly has begun on the first of the supreme Soviet vehicles that will carry our glorious revolution of the proletariat into the outer reaches of the heavens!

Comrade, you are a great credit to the Russian space initiative.

Mach71,

You can use enamels over lacquers, but usually not the other way around.  I remember when Tamiya's auto colors first came out, there were warnings by reviewers about waiting too long to apply additional color coats due to cracking caused by the difference in drying rates between the initial coat and the later coats. There's about a three hour window after the initial coat is applied to being too late and having to wait until it fully cured (about 30 days). This info may be out of date, but it's served me well. You shouldn't have problems applying the enamel over the Tamiya, but I would test it first.

Thanks lewbud, 

I think thats the safest course. I have both on hand so I'll use the enamel.

Gary the Vostok is looking good!

No progress today as I was watching the Indy 500.

I thank the Commissars of the Committee!  The Vostok is currently awaiting our suppliers to find the correct paint color for the main body.  The images look green, but specs call out "gray".

Update:

Work continues on the Atlas/Mercury.  After a disappointment in the spray paint applied, I found a bottle of ModelMaster's "Silver" and decided to try brushing this over the existing.  I masked off sections of the booster at seam lines and then carefully applied a thin coat.  The effect was startling.  The booster had that luster I was looking for, and with little evidence of brush strokes.  Having succeeded at getting the Atlas into presentable shape, I glued the Mercury capsule to the adapter and started detailing.  Not sure about details, but I might try some decals later.  They'll have to be very small!

That's it for now!

Gary

Today In Space History:

1969 May 26 - .

• Landing of Apollo 10 - . Return Crew: Cernan, Stafford, Young. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Cernan, Stafford, Young. Program: Apollo. Flight: Apollo 10.

  Apollo 10 splashed down in the Pacific at 12:52 p.m. EDT on May 26, 5.4 kilometers from the recovery ship. The crew was picked up and reached the recovery ship U.S.S. Princeton at 16:52 GMT. All primary mission objectives of evaluating performance and support and the detailed test objectives were achieved.  The flight proved the Apollo mission profile and hardware for all mission phases except the final descent to the lunar surface. The way was cleared for Apollo 11 to attempt the first landing on the moon.

Note From The Mission Director:

The Mission Clock says we have 54 days left.  I dug out some old stuff today I'll be posting soon.  The 50th anniversary is coming up fast!

Mission Director (GAF)

Gary: Looks good to me!!! 

Bakster: The guy drives that Jeep like my nephew... Last week he somehow knocked my brother-in-laws old S-10 out of park, or maybe it was in neutral I don't know. Anyway it rolled down the hill and hit the power line causing the transformer to somehow blow out and leave the whole neighborhood without power. Lucky the guy came out from the power company and was able to rig some sort of bypass..... 

Anyway on a happier note I did get a chance to watch 'Cosmodrome' last night and it was interesting. I found it kinda funny that the Russians had this supposed super rocket engine stowed away. Aka that it was better than American rocket engines- um well other than them not being wholly American- the British, French, Japanese etc use the same sort of rocket engines- maybe better than Western designs but seems like this British documentary was trying to set up some sort of Russian vs. American thing that didn't really exist. 

And the Russians have been launching rockets for the past fifty or so years. What were they using from '71 or so when these super engines were mothballed to the present? They gave technology to the Chinese- were these not the super engines or the older regular style ones? 

I can accept the Russians having better engines because they did go the bigger, more powerful route as opposed to the West and our more computers, more high-tech route. Aka the US, UK, France etc went with more accurate nukes, the Soviets didn't - they just went with bigger ones - and they needed bigger boosters to carry them. 

And I read a book about the Soviet space program years ago. Seemed Sergei Korolov did not get along with engine designer Valentin Glushko which really screwed their program over. (Actually Glushko reported Korolov and had him sent off to a work camp for about ten years before the Second World War-more than enough reason I think to hate him). And Vladimir Chelomey had his program entirely separate from the main one that funneled off money and resources. The Soviet program was a mess, a giant government controlled mess... 

Sorry, didn't mean to knock the program. I really did enjoy it and sorry if I come off the wrong way...  

Gamera

Bakster: The guy drives that Jeep like my nephew... Last week he somehow knocked my brother-in-laws old S-10 out of park, or maybe it was in neutral I don't know. Anyway it rolled down the hill and hit the power line causing the transformer to somehow blow out and leave the whole neighborhood without power. Lucky the guy came out from the power company and was able to rig some sort of bypass..... 

The next time my power goes out I will be blaming your nephew.

Cosmodrome: I am no expert on the subject. I can only say that I found it interesting and informative.

Gary, imaging your Atlas next to the jar of paint shows how small the model is. Nice work, Vladimir.

Bakster

 

 

Gamera

Bakster: The guy drives that Jeep like my nephew... Last week he somehow knocked my brother-in-laws old S-10 out of park, or maybe it was in neutral I don't know. Anyway it rolled down the hill and hit the power line causing the transformer to somehow blow out and leave the whole neighborhood without power. Lucky the guy came out from the power company and was able to rig some sort of bypass..... 

 

 

The next time my power goes out I will be blaming your nephew.

Cosmodrome: I am no expert on the subject. I can only say that I found it interesting and informative.

 

 

And the scary part is he's almost up for his learner's permit... 

And again thanks for the tip, I really did enjoy the documentary even if I had to rip on it a little... 

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day holiday!

Bakster>  Yes, these are 1/200 scale models so they're on the small side.  And your nephew will never forget that, because that story will be told to his dying day! 

Gamera> I watched the History Channel special and came to pretty much the same conclusion.  I note that until the Americans got hold of them they exploded on launch, so maybe the Russians were not doing so great after all.  Just my opinion, of course.

Started scanning in some old stuff I dug out of storage yesterday while looking for a pin.  Here's something from the early 70s for those who have visited the Alabama Space and Rocket Center.  Place has changed quite a bit from it's birth.

I need to see if I can find some of these films on Youtube.

Gary

Gamera

And again thanks for the tip, I really did enjoy the documentary even if I had to rip on it a little... 

You are welcome.

I made some progress with this Jeep project, and it is going well. Yeah-- there are some fit issues here and there, but they are mostly tied to me, and not the kit. It's been enjoyable to build this OOB. I have not built a 4 wheel vehicle in many years and I had forgotten about their own unique challenges. Primarily with the frame, springs, shocks, and drivetrain, the alignment is critical. (and wheels)

End of update.

Bakster>  Looking good!  That old Monogram-type brown plastic brings back memories.    It's a bit early, but do you have any idea of what you'll do for the trailer unit?

Gary

GAF

Bakster>  Looking good!  That old Monogram-type brown plastic brings back memories.    It's a bit early, but do you have any idea of what you'll do for the trailer unit?

Thanks, Gary. 

Well...prior to buying the Jeep I purchased a kit that has some ground crew equipment. I will kit-bash one of the units so it fits into the trailer. It will require mods, but the kit should provide the basis for what I need. As to what the unit will be, I am thinking an air-compressor of some sort that drives air through a hose into the airframe. It will be much like the scene in the movie. The compressor itself will be fictional, since I don't have a good basis to work from.

The plan has changed a few times from the start so, we will see when I get there on how it shakes out!  Lol.

PS: I mentioned OOB but I do plan to paint it all. I am building as much as a can, within reason, before paint. Actually, with luck, I might hit the model with paint by the coming weekend. I'll be pressing this hard because the clock is ticking.  

For those that are interested, Apollo 11 has just been released on Blu-Ray. I am picking up a copy this week.

FYI