INQUIRY: Mars Probes Model Kits?

IIRC, there used to be a Hubble included in one of the injected plastic Shuttle models.   

As far as the Mars rovers, 3D printed is likely your best option

Go to shapeways.com and search around.  3D plastics are somewhat $$ and brittle,  but once cleaned up they can be painted with acrylics or enamels.  3D nylon is less $$ and more flexible,  however it has a granular texture. 

I think shapeways may also offer other spacecraft & rockets in various scales

Thanks. But I like kits with many parts that I can assemble. More fun. :-)

Hasegawa has a "Voyager" model, and there is the old Lindberg "Vanguard Satellite" model.  I've found these listed for sale.

Generally, spaceprobe models are rare and limited production.  If you can do paper models, there are quite a few of those floating about.  Otherwise, your best bet is to cruise the auction sites like Ebay.

Good luck!

Gary

PS>  You might check here.

http://www.collectspace.com/

I have an old dicast of the Mars Pathfinder, but thats all I know of.

GAF

Hasegawa has a "Voyager" model, and there is the old Lindberg "Vanguard Satellite" model.  I've found these listed for sale.

Generally, spaceprobe models are rare and limited production.  If you can do paper models, there are quite a few of those floating about.  Otherwise, your best bet is to cruise the auction sites like Ebay.

Good luck!

Gary

PS>  You might check here.

http://www.collectspace.com/

 

 

 

 

There is a NASA web site with a number of launchers, satellites and spacecraft where you download the file and print on cardstock, for free.

Hi:

 I don't know if you can get them in Jamaica. There is a company called Fascinations , that has a line of models called " Metal Earth " much like P.E. They have both the Mars Rover and the Lunar lander and Voyager . 

 The scales are all over the place but run from 1/12500 to almost 1/144 . They do have a 1/160 train kit , but that's the largest I've seen . The Hubble ? I think I saw it on a display .They also offer Butterflies as well . ( Precolored .)

Many thanks to all of you.

But I should have mentioned in my first posting, that my focus is plastic only. I am not into metal and paper models. I wonder, why they all don't exist as plastic model kits. Are our space agencies (NASA, ESA) blocking them maybe for some diffuse reasons?

Actually :

 There's no blockage per se;. The thing is called licensing .That can be costly and where these objects are concerned it is a twisted labrynth of departments that have to sign off on it and still stay within govt' guidlines .

Thanks for the answer, though it is frustrating.

Tanker - Builder

Actually :

 There's no blockage per se;. The thing is called licensing .That can be costly and where these objects are concerned it is a twisted labrynth of departments that have to sign off on it and still stay within govt' guidlines .

 

The market is another thing. At contests in our area, spacecraft are very low on entry count, which makes me believe the market is not large. 

Additionally, I must say I object to the idea that when the government pays a private company to develop hardware, they let that company retain all licensing rights :-(

If you don't mind playing with resin and photoetch, try Realspace Models. www.realspacemodels.com  As others have said, real space as a category is lightly attended at best. The cost involved in creating such a niche model wouldn't be worth a model company's time.  Fortunately, we Glenn at Realspace and Tomas at New Ware to fill the void. If resin isn't your thing, you could always print out the paper models and use them as a plan and build it out of plastic.

Hasegawa's Voyager probe builds into a very nice model. There is a pricey PE set for it also. I built mine without the PE and I am very pleased with the result. What with the boom and antennae, I wound up hanging it from the ceiling and it looks great there.

Thanks! :-)

My main focus are the Mars rovers and orbital probes. Any chance here?

Oh;

 Probably not . The only other release I know of ,which is rare now ,  is LEGO and those are really not accurate .

Hirnsausen

Hi,

are there any plastic model kits of the various Mars probes, like the Mars rovers? Or are there kits of the Hubblke Space Telescope, or any of the probes we send to other planets or their moons?

 

Back in the 1990s, I built a snap kit of the Hubble Telescope. I'm not sure of the scale, it is molded in the silver gray color, but I thought mine was issued in a thick chrome plating. It was made by Lindberg and a decent albeit rather simple kit. I'm unsure of the scale of the model, probably a box scale item.

I did some looking and this is the kit I had, it says it was released in 1995. I probably built it some time after that.

https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/7/5/2/151752-38-instructions.pdf

http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/FirstLook/Skilcraft/Hubble-Teleskop/Hubble_Space_Telescope.html

Several years ago I too was looking for model versions of NASA unmanned space/exploring vehicles.

I found only paper and "toy" versions.

"Scientific" makes a nice remote control toy-ized Mars Explorer.