1/12 Mercury Freedom 7 WIP

Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

Posted by Lancair IV on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 8:57 PM

Spent a little time on the Periscope tonight.

Rob Byrnes

Novi, Mi

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Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

Posted by Lancair IV on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 5:00 PM

Primed the Port Hole Windows. A lot of work yet to be done.

Upper Port Hole Window

Lower Port Hole Window

Started the Periscope by adding detail to the base

Cheers

Rob Byrnes

Novi, Mi

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Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

Posted by Lancair IV on Sunday, May 3, 2015 8:16 PM

Glued the Upper and Lower Port Hole Window Outer Panels in place.

Started the Escape Tower

Rob Byrnes

Novi, Mi

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Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

Posted by Lancair IV on Saturday, May 2, 2015 9:03 PM

Applied a coat of primer to the corrugations to see how bad they are.

Upper Port Hole Window inside panel glued in place with mask.

Lower Port Hole Window inside panel glued in place, masked and primed.

Rob Byrnes

Novi, Mi

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Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

Posted by Lancair IV on Saturday, May 2, 2015 10:34 AM

Please post a picture of that Don. I would love to see it.

Rob Byrnes

Novi, Mi

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Don Stauffer

Member since
November 2009
From: Twin Cities of Minnesota

Posted by Don Stauffer on Friday, May 1, 2015 9:00 AM

I just got a neat birthday gift yesterday from my son and daughter-in-law yesterday. It was a collection of a photographs of a Mercury Atlas and a couple of Mercury capsule photos, and a bit of insulation from one of the capsules, all mounted in a nice Mahogany frame.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

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Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

Posted by Lancair IV on Thursday, April 30, 2015 8:59 PM

Removed the Snorkel Explosive Door and started adding the corrugations.

Continued with building of the corrugations by adding putty and doing some rough shaping.

The upper 2 corrugations are removed by adding putty.

Determined the upper and lower Porthole window locations, removed the panels, and started building the replacement panels from the inside out. Lower Porthole Window

Upper Porthole Window

Lower porthole Window Inner Structure started

Cheers

Rob Byrnes

Novi, Mi

Reply

Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

Posted by Lancair IV on Thursday, April 30, 2015 5:35 PM

Sorry for the late update. Spent a couple of days in Toronto on Business.

The Inside of the Capsule with putty applied

Added .040 X .040 Styrene to create the Corrugations.

Rob Byrnes

Novi, Mi

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GAF

Member since
June 2012
From: Anniston, AL

Posted by GAF on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 10:04 AM

Nice to see a WIP thread on a space subject. Smile

Keep posting!

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Archangel Shooter

Member since
October 2006
From: Tucson, AZ

Posted by Archangel Shooter on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 1:18 AM

That's quit some modification you're doing. Just how accurate is the kit compared to the drawings you have?

On the bench: So many hanger queens.

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Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

Posted by Lancair IV on Sunday, April 26, 2015 8:00 PM

Not a good start. I didn't like the way the Hatch looked as a replacement panel. The Rivets were in the wrong place and the corrugation wrong as well. So I started over creating 3 layer .020 Styrene lamination pieces and glued them flush to the Inside of the capsule.

I started creating the outside corrugation by adding .020 strips and filling any voids with putty.

Rob Byrnes

Novi, Mi

Reply

Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

Posted by Lancair IV on Sunday, April 26, 2015 1:42 PM

I removed the Rectangular Window from the Capsule. The Kit Hatch will replace this area.

Rob Byrnes

Novi, Mi

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Lancair IV

Member since
June 2005
From: Novi, Mi

1/12 Mercury Freedom 7 WIP

Posted by Lancair IV on Sunday, April 26, 2015 1:35 PM

This is the Atomic City 1/12 Mercury Spacecraft. I'll be modifying the Capsule to represent Freedom 7. Alan Shepard's flight on MR-3 May 5, 1961. This capsule had round port hole windows rather than the rectangular window found on the remaining Mercury flights. I purchased a set of drawings from Real Space Models by David Weeks. These are a must have when doing this type of mods. The first thing I did was create a new Hatch. The Hatch that came with the kit will be used to replace the rectangular window. I laminated 2 pieces of .020 Styrene and taped to the Capsule to get the correct shape.