1/72 Revell Space Shuttle Orbiter W.I.P. Done! w/Photos

That looks great :)

So you're not going to hang it up somewhere at a glide angle? 

Whoa! This is fun! I finally wore out the applicator in my Shuttle re-entry kit. This could go on forever, lol. The craft will be displayed on its landing gear so most of this won't be seen anyway, but it was entertaining. I always build clean models but space shuttles actually do look a bit worn. Gotta go with the flow. I was actually sizing up the gear assembly when all this got started. The model is heavy and the gear looks somewhat fragile. I think this should be saved to the last step. This is all a little clumsy as the model has a 8" tall tail. I've got it supported on gallon size paint cans for the moment. Reporting.

Max

A bit of nit-picking here. This pod assembly is on par with the poor windshield design. The booster ports seem to be an afterthought. Not that it's not a clever kit of the time, but this is a viewed area that needs better detail. Try as I might I just couldn't make different size ovals look round with a brush. I finally used a drill bit to round the holes and make them the same size. Details ,details.  

Max 

Hey thanks Steve! All is good when it makes you smile.   There's still minor stuff to figure out like the final display. Something like this might be the way to go. I'd started to make a couple of stowing cradles as I was going to have the arm in the stowed position but this configuration looks kinda cool. Anyway the cradles will give me display options. Still fiddling.

Max

Hey Max, I like that effect! Good job. I am smiling here. It looks really good.

The little man must be elated!

Hey Steve and Pat, Thanks for the comments! Now I'm starting to play with the re-entry look. All new to me. Some of it is looking like what I'm after. Some pictures show shuttles looking a bit rough after return. Still messing with it. Check it out, it's a start!  

Max

It is looking great! 

Nice job Max.

Steve

PS: Happy Independence Day weekend...

This morning it was time to finally attach the wing to the fuselage. A little scary but I practiced it several times. I discussed all this a while back but today was glue time. For as floppy as it looked it fit remakably well with a bit of juggling and some clamps. I also hung on with both hands for several minutes to insure a really good fit. I think I'll leave all of this alone for the rest of the day!

Max

Hi,

It looks like its in the home stretch now 

Pat

Yay! Nothing like decals to fire you up on the project! The little man is probably smiling also although it's really hard to see what's going on with that dark visor thing. I'll let the decals set overnight and maybe get some flat lacquer on most parts tomorrow. Fun!

Max

I was kinda curious when you would take a break from all those distractions lol. 

That chrome looks great BTW.

A rainy day in Kansas. Back to the VAB. I needed a break from this one old guy painting an entire house by himself and being honest, I have been sneaking a little time in on the motorcycle project which is de-cruding at this point. I did finish up detailing the 52 cargo bay door hinges last night. Boring. This morning I mounted the radiators inside the doors. My that chrome paint does jump out! One radiator on each side is glued allowing the second one to hinge out. I think it's time to finish up the decaling and spray things flat for the re-entry treatment which seems like it's going to work.

Reporting again,

Max

The shuttle project needs some rain or Kansas heat to drive me inside. I did disassemble the vintage racer project to make it fit in the stash. What a mess. These 1/1 projects are so big you just work on them a piece at a time. Another great day in Kansas as was yesterday. Lots accomplished on the distracting outdoor house refurbishing project. Lookin' good though.   All is well even though I'm still behind, lol. Be patient!

Max

A brief report and another thing to put on our "don't do list". The shuttle re-entry kit is working good but a learning curve is being worked out. The final finish on the model is Model Masters flat lacquer in a spray can. It has a nice shuttle look and a tooth for retouching as in weathering, re-entry and the tile texture. If you get too much soot or streaking, most of it can be removed with a dry cloth or even more with water on a Q-tip. Rubbing alcohol seemed like something to try and it removed the soot along with the lacquer flat coat. All repairable and part of the learning curve experiment process I guess and something to put on the list.  

Short report, weather great! Time to work on the house project which is kinda rewarding. Like modeling, sections are done right and when finished give one at least some pride that you can do it yourself and the result looks good. At least that's the thought process to get me through this mess. LOL! Onward and thanks for looking!

Max

The pod on the left has the faint sooty look that I'm after but I wiped though the lacquer coat. Learning here. Another shot because the little man wanted to be in the picture and this does show the subtle effect that I'm trying to achieve.

Hey Max, we are on the same wavelength or something. I bought a similar weathering kit for my Seaview. It is different colors, but it is the same sort of kit. I bought it just last week. Too funny.

I am wishing you luck, and I am looking forward to see how it works out for you.

Whoa! Check it out! A Space Shuttle re-entry kit that the little man and I have been waiting on. Well, just one of many delays and excuses but I've never been a quick model builder anyway. This house thing is a legitimate excuse and the new vintage road racer motorcycle W.I.P. has begun on the Hodaka motorcycle forum at hodakaforum.com on the chat group under The 2 the Max Project. Another long winded project I'm sure, usually good for a year or two or until your billfold gets empty, lol.

Back to the re-entry kit. A bit scary and lots to try. I'll hope I can make this work or at least fake some suggestion of heat, wear and tear. The black tiles streak shades of gray and the white areas are sooty and rust color streaked in most pictures. I'll start on the two pods shown first to see how easy it is to fix mistakes. We'll see, I always say.

Back to work, now my wife's Camry has the service light on. Yet another necessary thing on the to-do list. Cheez, the life of a do-it -your-selfer. How else would it be done right?

Onward and be patient, launches are often postponed for various reasons, lol!

Report with excuses,

Max

Max, that looks like a definate deviation. The little man will be jealous. 

Another potential deviation occurring here. The little man is not happy. I did promise him we'd finish the shuttle first but I did buy yet another weird 1/1 kit at a sale yesterday. I've already posted it under acquisitions. It's a vintage 1971 Hodaka flat track racer which are great money pits but entertaining to build. All fun!

As for the shuttle project I've been studying the re-entry weathering and testing different things to get the effect. I've ordered a Tamiya weathering kit to see if I can replicate some of the effects. Since the tiles aren't accurate at least I hopefully can get the look of a used orbiter. Another factor for this effect is that a large number of tiles are replaced after each flight and the mix creates a checkerboard pattern. I'll strive for a after-first-flight look is the plan to get out of that one, lol. We'll see.

OK, small report on too many projects. At least I'm not bored in semi-retirement. Drat, I even have to work as a photographer today which I at least recieve income for my silly projects. Onward!

Max

Hodakamax

The house project keeps getting extended as I find more water damage and have to fix things before I can continue to paint. Two additional days of repair has left the little man restless as I am not working on his shuttle project. First things first I tell him, I've got to take advantage of this weather. Now I see him watching me on my project. I don't know if he's inspecting or just trying to make me feel guilty.

Just a quick report for your entertainment.  

Max

 

That is an AWESOME perspective shot! LMAO!! I think he's trying to take your ladder lol!!

I can almost hear him saying: "Uh Max . . .   You missed a spot"

QC guys    

Max, that is a hoot. Thanks for the laugh.

The house project keeps getting extended as I find more water damage and have to fix things before I can continue to paint. Two additional days of repair has left the little man restless as I am not working on his shuttle project. First things first I tell him, I've got to take advantage of this weather. Now I see him watching me on my project. I don't know if he's inspecting or just trying to make me feel guilty.

Just a quick report for your entertainment.  

Max

Hey thanks Steve and Chris! Yes the little man has been complaining that his ladder is 1/48 scale and a big step for a 1/72 person. Hey, it was all I could come up with in the spares box. And Chris, close on the color, SW Custom Sage Green which dries ultra flat in minutes and really blends in the wooded scene. Hmm, it might actually work on aircraft! I do have plenty. lol. 

Max

Nice work Max.  I like the color.  RAF Interior Green ?

. . .  And the Shuttle looks great too.

Chris

Max, I am glad to see that you are using a better ladder than the little man was.

It looks like you have a cool house, and nice job with your upkeep...

The Challenger is looking sweet! 

Nothing phenominal happening on the projects. More on the domestic project than the Shuttle. Maybe two boring reports will be better than no report. lol.

First the really boring report. I did finish up a major section on the house and I'm attacking another today. It's starting to get hot in the Kansas afternoons and I  try to work on things in the morning. Anyway that's my excuse. My wife did shoot this picture this morning to prove that I really do work at least part-time.

As for the boring report on the shuttle, I'm trying to get all these door hinge areas defined. I tried painting the teeny defined areas with the teeny brush and tried some with the tape trick. This all sounds easy and mundane but there's 26 two part hinges making for 52 places to define and they are approaching the limit of my vision and steadiness. This is as bad as house painting.

Ok, that's the report. Gotta keep things moving here.

Max

Hey Mikey, as you probably know, the Enterprise was the prototype but was not fitted with thrusters nor the thermal tile system. Most of the mistakes involve tile configuration which could change even between flights. The designers of the kit probably had drawings and advice but it was early in the game and they did fairly well on an ever changing system. Also the complexity of the real craft did have to be abbreviated in the model. 

First flight of the Enterprise was in February of 1977 and the model was dated 1979. The first STS-1 flight to space was April of 1981, two years after the model date. The designers probably had only conceptual designs of the tile system but actually did fairly well with what they had to work with. All speculation on my part but not a bad model for the information available at the time.

While discussing the tile, Here's an actual piece of it that my wife got as a gift from a friend who worked on the project. I did get to witness a demo of this material in action. A 3'' cube was heated with a torch and began to glow brightly. As soon as the glow moved to the center you could handle the cube with your bare hands. A cool experience so to speak! I can't get my wife to let me repeat the experiment on her treasured gift! lol.

Max

Check out pictures of the Enterprise as the model is based on the enterprise's configuration being the only Shuttle to not go into space.

Hodakamax

 

 

Bakster

Nice work on the Windows Max. That is pretty sad at how poor a fit they gave you for this model. How can manufacturers release stuff like this. It irritates me. Again, that is a really nice solution to the problem.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Steve! There are some clever designs in the old kit but the windows are certainly lacking. The date on the mold is 1979 and the first flight of a space shuttle was April 12, 1981. Maybe there just wasn't enough information at the time which could account for all the inaccuracies in the model design. Even the window shape is wrong. It appears they just gave up on the windows before release. Who knows? Anyway it's not too bad a representation and has been a fun one despite areas of challenge.

Fortunatley, it's one of the most photographed and documented craft ever built. A big part of the fun of this project is being able to find almost unlimited pictures and information to compare with the kit. I'm beginning to become a wealth of useless information, as my wife says, about Space Shuttles, lol. All part of modelling I tell her.

One thing leads to another on this kit and the OOB concept quickly fades away on this project. Again, where do you stop on one of the most complicated things built by man? lol. All fun and educational.  

Max

 

Hi Max,

Glad you got a kick out of the avatar.   Here's the origin in case you're wondering . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Birdmen

When singing the Jr. Birdmen anthem - kids would do the hand-goggles thing.  This was in my Dad's era or slightly before. 

And yep.  I feel the same about ladders.  Used to lug around and run up and down a wooden 40 footer like it was nothin.  Those days are gone !

Chris