1/12 Atomic City Mercury Friendship 7 - COMPLETE!

These are the area I'm talking about, and you mention the cross-braces which are the parts I spoke of below. At least I don't feel too bad about not turning up any pictures of this compartment if you couldn't find any either. And I also note all the EXTRA detail you include in these two images as well. Such patience.....where can I find a quart of that?

 You may already have mentioned and I missed it, but do you plan to leave out the figure and just mount it for display as it would be seen in a museum? That would bring you much closer to completetion when the nose is complete. It would almost be too distracting to have to look past the astronaut figure inside the capsule, although you must have also considered that inclusion of the figure would give a great feel for how cramped it was in these tiny little Mercury capsules.

Thanks again for the reply and new images for us all...

Bob

Hi

Thanks for that, Progress is slow at the moment as I'm interested in seeing how you one comes along :) I can over the next few days post more stills or I could e-mail them to you. It'll take me me a little time to go through all the footage.(there is roughly 24hrs of footage altogether)

These are all from the 6 disc DVD set from spacecraft films, and I've found them very helpfull and interesting to watch.

Let me know what you would like me to do,

Regards

Michael

Michael - thanks for that - very interesting. The images I do have show that the containers appeared to be "dropped in", but I did not realize they were connected together. Perhaps we can coordinate something and post a link for Mercury references. I found this particularly difficult when doing research for my kit - few online images are available. Certainly there must be huge amounts of detailed imagery of Friendship 7, if not all the capsules, and these should be made available online.

Also, I see you are making progress on your Mercury - good work there! I'm so happy to see another 1/12 Mercury getting built :)

Hi Astrazoic

I took this still from the Preperation film of Freindship 7. Not sure if it is any help but it does show the Parachute container being installed and it's Colour. I'll see if I can hunt down anymore footage of this compartment for you. (if you like)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41701767@N02/4146987650/

I have hours (literally of Mercury footage) Let me know if you would like to see more stills.

Regards

Michael

Got some work done on the recovery module. I added an interior wall to the unit, some bracing and a BUNCH of rivets. Time consuming, to be sure. The interior cross bracing and components have also been started, and I'll post photos of these when I get further along.

There is very little, beyond random photographs, describing what is inside the recovery module. Two quadrants house the parachutes. The other two quadrants are filled with assorted components, including antennas, squibs and connectors running to the forward module. Each capsule had a different arrangement, and photos of this compartment for Friendship 7 appear non-existent. So, I am taking some artistic license. The interior is mostly interior green and silver.

http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury116.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury117.jpg

Bob, I cannot seem to find the instruction sheet, so I'm not sure what parts those are. I will take a guess, however, and tell you that the interior of my recovery compartment will be mostly Interior Green and Silver. The various components will be silver or black, mostly based on artistic license as there are very few photos out there. Hopefully, when I post photos of my progress, this will help. In any case, let me know what these parts are, and I will try to get an answer for you!

Hello again...

In your assembly thus far, you're at a place where I have stopped in the antenna fairing and recovery compartment. Do you happen to know what colors are used (specifically) for pieces # 110 and #109 in Step 5 of the included instruction sheet? I have not been able to find a reference for these colors. Even a suggestion as to how to paint this would be appreciated, or perhaps a source for images of these finished parts.

Thanks again for your (and everyone else's) helpful suggestions, and for taking all of us with you on such a museum-worthy WIP as well.

 

Looking good

It sure does!

Main body has been primed with Tamiya Gray Primer and, remarkably, everything looks perfect.

http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury113.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury114.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury115.jpg

Snowed in this evening, so I put the finishing touches on the capsule (sans recovery module) before priming (tomorrow, probably). All washers, screws and rivets have been installed, as are these linear features that appear to be grommets between hull plates. I also added brass rods for the 14 perimeter vents and thrusters (second photo).

Finally, I discovered that the persicope is actually covered by a door, so I added this.

http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury110.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury111.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury112.jpg

I use Tamiya low-viscosity cement (green cap on small, cubic glass bottle) so that capillary action does most of the work. The result may look messy, but once a coat of primer goes on, all evidence of cement is gone - it goes on like a thin wash of paint, for example. I highly recommend this product.

The capsule, sans recovery package, has been sanded and prepared for rivet installment. I have started installing the rivets, as you can see in the photos, using David Weeks' excellent Mercury drawings (these are a must for anyone building this kit). The rivets are made by punching out appropriate sized washers first, using thin sheet styrene. The rivets themselves will be cut from thin styrene rod.

Much more to do, but the process is going by much faster than I anticipated.

http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury108.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury109.jpg

Enrique,

The ribbed hoses are scratchbuilt using solder wrapped in copperwire. This allows for easy bending. Much of the wire harnesses are tied together using waxed dental floss. The scale is slightly off, but it made my life much easier. I emphasize "waxed" as this provides a slight stickiness that helps considerably in terms of retention and reduces fraying.

Phil,

Thanks for the response. It was an interesting time.

Thanks for sharing your look at it.

Mike

It looks like the real thing. That's as big of a compliment that I can give. I mean it really looks like the real thing.

Unbelievable work!  Thanks for sharing it... it is really inspiring!

If I may ask: what did you use to replicate the wrap ties on the instrument panel harnesses?... also for the hoses, did you use plastic tubing wrapped in copper wire? What did you use to make the tiny toggle switches on your panel?

Again great work! and also thanks in advance

Enrique

Integration complete! The aft bulkhead was successfully joined with the forward section. I have begun working on the recovery module while the cabin section dries (glue, putty and all that).

Internal light test:

http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury102.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury103.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury104.jpg

Standard shots with flash. Obviously, more careful photos of the interior will be forthcoming when the model is actually completed

http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury105.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury106.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury107.jpg

Mike - Thanks for the questions. I am representing Friendship 7 as it appeared immediately after reentry (no retro pack and no escape tower). The capsules appear to have been significantly dinged up prior to each flight, which surprised me. According to some experts I know, each capsule was used to train the astronauts before the single flight, mainly because each capsule was unique to the astronaut. Once the vehicle completed the flight, it was safed and handled by engineers. No one else was ever allowed to get inside the capsules until submitted to museums, at which point curators and staff photographed the artifact and, in most if not all cases, installed lighting systems to facilitate viewing.  

Forgive me if someone asked this and I missed it. In what state of the spacecraft, will your final display represent? As it appears today? In flight? Just post flight?

I'm curious because of the heavy weathering you've represented so well in the cockpit.

Did the many flight checks, etc., prior to the flight really ding up the cockpit that much? Or are you representing it as it looks today where I suppose many many folks, down through the years, were allowed to climb in to see it for themselves?

I know it is covered in plexiglass now, and it has been a while since I've seen it, so I don't remember the details.

Again, just really curious. Wonderful work.

Mike

I, too, bow to your expertise and craftsmanship! I also understand your last quote, about the "scary moment", just where WILL that astronaut figure fit? It would almost be acceptable to just leave him out and have the entire interior in view for everyone in the future as they come across this gem!

Om mani padme hum

Bob

It keeps geting better and better. I've seen lots of great superdetail work, but nothing comes close to this, it is the finest miniature work ever. I hope you take heaps of pix and def do the album thing, and you show this everywhere.

(Also insure it...tho it's priceless).

When totally complete, let us know, there shoud be a celebration!

......well, words are not everything to discribe this amazing work of miniature art!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way, your links are not "active" directly from the thread at the moment when I posted this, I had to see the pictures by replacing the picture number one at the time.

Again SUPERB work!!

Thanks again, everyone

Ok - almost at a big milestone: the joining of the aft bulkhead to the forward section.

I installed the instrument panel into the forward section, and added the mirror and window doors, among other minor details.

I then added wire harnesses and other details to the aft bulkhead, including the cooling hoses you see in the lower right quadrant. What remains are two more cables and the clock over the astronaut's left shoulder. Once that's done, the scary moment comes next!

Once the parts are joined, the model will be "over the hump"...

http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury96.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury97.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury98.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury99.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury100.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury101.jpg

Wow, this just gets better and better. Way to go, Astrazoic!

Kevin

 

 

 

                         Very great job !!!I have the same kit and if i can just do 1/10th of what you've done, i would be happy.You will certainly light the interior, it would be so sad to let all your scratchbuilt interior hidden.Any idea of what is the most accurate mercury mission to build the Atomic City kit ( as you know there are a lot of differences for each capsule/mission and it seems that the MRC replica is based on a MA mission, not an MR. 

I believe that this is worthy of the National Air and Space Museum, and I am serious. Simply superb.

SUPERB DETAILING!!!!!!!!!! This model is so realistic and with so fantastic detail, that a photo album should acompany this model everwhere with all the progress photos you have posted, so people can see all the magnificent scrachtbuilt prototypical detail of this spacecraft model.

In my personal opinion, the "icing on the cake" would be an astronaut figure standing outside of his ship...like a postflight press photo.

Congratulations on a work of art!!!

Just spectacular!
The little details are remarkable. If we saw it at a show, I'm sure we could be looking at it, poring over it, for an hour ... and still not see 'em all! The scratches on the Periscope column, the insulation on the 'P' clips on the thick harness, the 'cheat sheets' ... just remarkable!

Thanx Phil, for keeping us up to date! It's a real treat!

Pete

The instrument panel is now finished, as is the forward interior (previous post). This weekend, I will integrate both, a rather scary situation because the work space is very limited.

While the instrument panel looked finished earlier, I forgot to add the little notes and cheat sheets that John Glenn posted all over the place. Lots of color-coded dots and dashes were used, pasted next to switches. I have no idea what these meant, nor is there any record of the meaning of these color codes and notes. I did make the note cards white - the yellowing apparent in the real thing today is due to age, after all. Glenn (or someone) also scribbled tick marks around some gauges using a marker. Needless to say, this is a very analog machine!

Also added are safety wire around two push-pull controls on the left panel. I also added some components to the back of the periscope housing, and a camera in the little hole immediately left of the periscope viewer.

Finally, I touched up the toggle switches with a dab of silver.

http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury91.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury92.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury93.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury94.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury95.jpg

Yes, that's correct. All the dead end stuff will be hidden...

Beautiful. I take it that the wires that lead nowhere will be hidden behind the panel?

Once again, just awesome work.

Kevin

I have finally reached a key milestone: the installation of the instrument panel in the capsule itself. However, I will undertake that assembly tomorrow. Therefore, it seemed wise to take a few photos of the interior before installing the panel, as a good deal of the detail will be obscured. About 60 percent will be visible along various angles, and since the interior will be lit the details will be relatively easy to see.

I am also posting these photos as a reference for other modelers who may be interested in building the Mercury.

http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury86.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury87.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury88.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury89.jpg
http://www.philsmith.us/Mercury90.jpg