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1/48 Apollo Lunar Spacecraft


K2Pete

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When this kit was re-released a few years ago, I bought one. I had built this kit in 1968, on a Saturday afternoon, while listening to WKBW and Simon and Garfunkel's brand new song, Bridge over Troubled Water. This was always my favourite model and played with it constantly ... back then.  ;- D

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I also had scored a trove of old LMs and parts off of eBay and thought of displaying the original kit, and my heavily modified version, side by side at Model Shows

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I wanted to show the viewer a Before and After of the same kit. They could compare the fit of the original kit and see what can be done, hopefully to inspire kids into the hobby

I was also intrigued by the folding Landing Gear of the old kit's design and wanted to keep that feature ... so I could play with it!  ;- D

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This was gonna be depicting Apollo 17 so a lot of scratch building was involved ... for instance the folded up LRV on the side of the LM was included.

I used the New Ware Update set as well, but little details like the RTG, and Landing probes, had to be created.

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I also wanted it to fit inside the SLA ...

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The inside of the SLA was highly detailed too ...

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This is the ebay score ... after using Easy-Off to remove old paint ... and then after being washed ...

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A new Heat Shield had to be built ...

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... and the BPC was made ...

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and off to page 2 ...

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Edited by K2Pete
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A lot of other items had to be scratch built too, like ... the CMs Docking Probe

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... the Plume Deflector supports ... 

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... the High Gain antenna ...

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... the Large Radiators and Handholds for the SIM Bay plus all those new surface details ...

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...another view of the new surface details. Using styrene disks and Aluminum foil ...

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... the Umbilical Connection cover had to be built and installed ...

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... and DONE.

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This was another satisfying build ... plus it tapped into those old, old memories which was a really nice bonus!

Thanx for popping in and taking a peek!

Pete

 

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Mark you're very generous with your positive remarks and I really appreciate 'em! Thanks!

I only have 2 more models to post on these pages and they are BOTH my favourites. Both took a lot of time and when they were done ... man, what a good feeling!

Till next time

Pete

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Outstanding work! I’ve been enamored with this kit since my old best friend had one when we were both kids back then. I tried for many years to get one on eBay bay, but there was a guy who seems to buy them all up for a high price then re all them for a lot more. I was overjoyed when Revell re issued this kit and knocked the bottom out of his market. I bought one at my old LHS with my rewards points and a small bit of cash for a far more reasonable price. I’ll definitely be using your build here for reference to upgrade mine when I build it one day. I took photos at Kennedy of the Apollo on display there, but your build has many details in the shroud area that I could not get. Thanks for sharing this!

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