Glencoe's Retriever Rocket

[Roktman]

Hey Guys,

 

This time I went old school and built the old Glncoe Retriever Rocket kit. Besides one broken ring the kit was pretty straight fwd.

 

The first thing I noticed when I opened the kit is that the large "flight deck" windows reveal ... nothing when you look in. So I had two choices, to create a flight deck or to darken the windows so you can't see in.

I chose the former and started my search for parts to fill the void. The model box says the kit is 1/72 so I got my casts of a 1/72 pilot and created a few more. My craft will have 3 in there. I also found 3 seats on Megahobby. Looking for 1/72 instruments to busy up the area, I came up empty, so I did the next best thing in getting PE instruments in 1/48.

 

 

The windows are thick plastic, so I painted the inside frames black and stuck the PE to the frames

 

 

Except for the port hole windows - one was eaten my the carpet monster- the build went along well. I used Microscale Kristal Klear to all the portholes so they all matched.

I wonder why the paint on the boxart doesn't match the instructions? Hmmm.
Anyway here it is. Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

After all the work done inside, you can't see anything...

 

 

[RGronovius]

Nice job on the kit. I built it back in the 90s when it was first reissued by Glencoe. I think the instructions and box art don't match because they are for the original kit, Disney's RM-1 Lunar Reconnaissance Craft by Strombecker. http://fantastic-plastic.com/RM-1%20MOON%20ROCKET%20PAGE.htm

 

I never realized this until I bought a Disney DVD box set of their Tomorrowland TV shows a dozen years ago and saw this spaceship in the movie. It flies from the yellow space station to the moon, the top observation bubble was used by a crewman to film the moon surface as it orbits and returns to the space station. The funky nose bulb houses the nuclear reactor power source for the ship.

 

The show is a yawner and tough to get through since it is so outdated.

 

This youtube video talks about the spaceship and the "bottle suit" tucked into the bottom of the ship around the 30 minute mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZImSTxbglI

 

Do not watch while operating heavy equipment.

[Roktman]

Nice job on the kit. I built it back in the 90s when it was first reissued by Glencoe. I think the instructions and box art don't match because they are for the original kit, Disney's RM-1 Lunar Reconnaissance Craft by Strombecker. http://fantastic-plastic.com/RM-1%20MOON%20ROCKET%20PAGE.htm

 

I never realized this until I bought a Disney DVD box set of their Tomorrowland TV shows a dozen years ago and saw this spaceship in the movie. It flies from the yellow space station to the moon, the top observation bubble was used by a crewman to film the moon surface as it orbits and returns to the space station. The funky nose bulb houses the nuclear reactor power source for the ship.

 

The show is a yawner and tough to get through since it is so outdated.

 

This youtube video talks about the spaceship and the "bottle suit" tucked into the bottom of the ship around the 30 minute mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZImSTxbglI

 

Do not watch while operating heavy equipment.

Thanks.

Showing the model pics on another forum, I was shown a YT link to the 2nd part of the show (I think they broke it down to 3 parts). Agreed, compared to today it was a bit on the dry side, but for being done in the 50s (?) it's comparable. On the bottom of the model the bottle suit is there and came with a figure and the glass top. The figure included prolly was 1;48 scale, which really makes the bottle suit too big for the "scale" of the craft.

Not seeing this show before, I was also surprised the bubble was used for filming. I was also surprised the cylinders were able to be ejected.

[RGronovius]

I /wish I had seen the video before building the kit. It would have been useful. When the flares are fired out, the lower hull opens. To me, it looks like it opened way too wide and would have meant the flare compartment occupied the crew area. Neat nostalgia piece regardless.