Completed Revell 1/24th scale Gemini spacecraft and others

[RKKoenn53]

I finally finished this 11 years after I started it. It is a 1/24th scale Gemini spacecraft. I used the basic kit, LVM photoetch parts, Real Space resin parts, and SMS decals and it was a very involved kit to build hence I kept setting it aside. Finally a real rocket scientist buddy said he'd like to buy it, about 8 months ago, and I put it back on the bench. I kept hitting stumbling points or creating glitches but finally today it is complete. It looks pretty good but I wish I could have made it even better. There comes a point when you call it done because if you continue you break things, I did a half dozen times which I had to fix.

Also I spacecraft are one of the areas of model building that particularly interest me. I started flying model rockets around 1967 and did that mainly until about 16 years ago and lower leg neuropathy limited my flying activities and I went back mainly to plastic. Here are some of my other space builds too. The Man in Space used the AMT 1/200th kit and then I added the Hasegawa shuttle to it. I bought 3D printed parts from Shapeways to enhance all the pre-shuttle rockets which made a huge upgrade to them. One big one was discrete escape towers on the Mercury rockets, far better than the solid in relief kit towers. The Gemini in the kit was awful and the 3D capsule fit correctly with great details. The Saturns and Apollo spacecraft got some nice upgrades with the 3D parts. On the shuttle I separated the SRBs which were molded onto the tank with standoffs and did a large amount of scratch building as well. I also added an aftermarket set of decals which really set it off nicely.

 

[BarleyBop]

flying model rockets around 1967

Very well done!

I was 8 in 1967, and remember well the excitement with every issue of National Geographic and the colour photos of the space program into the 70s.
I'd also seen a capsule at the American pavilion at expo '67 in Montreal!
My big kick then was to draw the rockets, capsules and lunar vehicles...

Can't wait to see more of your builds!

 

[RKKoenn53]

Here are some more of my space builds. The first is my US manned spacecraft. I used the old Monogram kit of Gemini and Mercury and the Dragon Apollo. I also added aftermarket items with the biggest being the New Ware for the Apollo. It has won awards at contests. The second was my first build of the Airfix Saturn 5 and I used aftermarket parts on it as well. Some came from a guy in the UK. I ended up selling it to a guy in Switzerland.

 

[Tommergun]

Beautiful work and display.

 

[BarleyBop]

Beautiful work and display.

Yup! Look like they belong in a museum display case or on the desks of the lead NASA engineers!

 

[RKKoenn53]

Yup! Look like they belong in a museum display case or on the desks of the lead NASA engineers!

I worked for NASA during ASTP as a co-op and then for my career from 1979 through 2011 on shuttle at KSC. I was a space buff from the mid-60s and while doing these over the past 16 years I flew model rockets from 1967 seriously until about 15 years ago. Age and genetic related mobility issues prevent flying much anymore so I went back to plastic mainly. Here's our STS-135 mechanisms landing support team on the SLF at KSC.

 

[BarleyBop]

Haha, I must have sensed you had skin in the game!
Congrats on great models and an interesting career!

 

[Tommergun]

So cool. My career has been in aerospace and I love it.

 

[BattleScale Collectica]

Great thread and model collection. The Shuttle program was so cool, and I've been lucky enough to meet one of the Atlantis pilots.
1/15 Scale Space Shuttle Atlantis With Special Guest Astronaut Col. Terry Wilcutt.

 

[Phillip1]

RKKoenn53-You have a really nice NASA space model collection. Thanks for sharing.

Phillip1

 

[tron1988]

Fantastic work. And from what I can see from your pictures there are a lot of other gems that you have made.

 

[blakeh1]

Impressive work and great display collection