Roktman Posted November 2, 2024 Report Posted November 2, 2024 Late last year at one of my Model Club's Zoom meetings there was mention how expensive kits were when all the aftermarket parts were obtained. someone else wished we could go back and just build a kit without worrying about anything. It was thought up early this year that the Club would have a group build entitled "Build Like An 11 Year Old." Being one of the sponsors of the build I was now on the lookout for a kit that I either built or could have built as a kid in the late '60's - early '70's. Not long after, I saw in an email blast from CultTVMan, that the Atlantis had the Willy Ley Orbital Rocket available. According to Scalemates, the original kit was released by Monogram in 1959, and then Atlantis re-popped it in 2024 in the same 1:193 (?) box scale size. It arrived at the house not a week after ordering and upon opening the box I was brought back to being a kid again with red, white and blue colors of the plastic. All the flash also brought back memories. The back of the box also had a surprise in that the photos were those of Allen Ury of Fantastic Plastic. Now, how was I going to build like an 11 year old? First thing I thought of was that with the colored plastic, I wouldn't paint it. Remembering back, not having an older brother or dad who built models, I probably wouldn't have known how to fill seams- so I would leave this out too. An early problem was that one of the astronauts appeared to be missing. I figured that was fine as what's the chance a little kid would lose a part - pretty good- I thought. So in the main ship I had just one pilot. Bust as you would know it, after the fuselage was glued together, I found the 3rd astronaut on a different sprue covered in flash. Perfect, I thought, as I was prying the fuselage open to get the second pilot into the main vehicle. Thinking of the 50s and how the real spacesuits were silver, both pilots were brushed with silver and just a dot of black where their face shields would be. An 11 year old would be aiming, but I just quickly made two dots... While I had the silver out I also painted the engines with the color. The rest of the model went together fairly painlessly. With the interior of the second ship more visible and smaller, I smeared around some gray paint in there. I was also at this time I saw where the painting instructions were hiding and discovered that the astronauts were supposed to be in a light green uniform. It was too late for the first two guys, but the 3 pilot was painted with a lime green, a silver helmet, and the black dot. Now it was time for the decals. I remembered that I wouldn't have know about Micro Set/Micro Sol, so I wouldn't use those either. Here it was discovered an error on the decal sheet. On the wings of the main ship was two yellow, triangular stripes, one for each wing. I cut them out, dipped them in the water and then realized that they were both for the same side. An 11 year old would have known he couldn't use them, but probably wouldn't have figured that they could be used as stencils and paint the stripes on - at least I wouldn't have thought of it. So I just left them off. After all the decals were on, many stood proudly above the plastic because of all the rivets. So in an effort of trying not to lose them with handling, I gave in and Micro-Sol'd them down ~ -1 point for me. With that I glued the two ships together and then to the stand. I came as close as I could to being that 11 year old. My other point loss would be that I wasn't going to search out the Testor's Tube Glue I remember. So I just used the Tamiya Thin that I had. With that, I was done. Thanks for looking.
Nortley Posted November 2, 2024 Report Posted November 2, 2024 Did you tear or twist the parts off of the sprues? 1
Roktman Posted November 3, 2024 Author Report Posted November 3, 2024 On 11/2/2024 at 10:06 AM, Nortley said: Did you tear or twist the parts off of the sprues? Oh, yes I did. I forgot to write that in. some parts I did cut - forgetting the theme. But most parts were barely hanging on the sprue and a little shaking knocked them off. I did the twist on the red parts leaving that round stress mark in the plastic. Which of course is right on the top of the model. Thanks for the reminder. Hehe
steev Posted November 4, 2024 Report Posted November 4, 2024 I don't think I could bring myself to twist the parts off anymore. Of course that may only be because I've spent so much on cutters. LOL But on a serious note, when are the fireworks scheduled?!?!?!
Roktman Posted November 4, 2024 Author Report Posted November 4, 2024 14 hours ago, steev said: I don't think I could bring myself to twist the parts off anymore. Of course that may only be because I've spent so much on cutters. LOL But on a serious note, when are the fireworks scheduled?!?!?! Haha, agreed. I had a hard time ignoring a lot of things. 53 years of learning and doing things the right way was hard to set aside. 😂 The bare seams drove my crazy the most. Fireworks? If you mean the build results, it happens in Dec. at our club's meeting. We have a guy who's "job" it is to take pics. I'll publish the link for those who wish to see, and maybe arrange it for their own clubs. 😉
steev Posted November 4, 2024 Report Posted November 4, 2024 I meant "launching" it with firecrackers. Kids used to do that a lot, so I hear. I only ever did that to one model. I think my allowance would have been cut off if I made a habit of it! 1
Roktman Posted December 23, 2024 Author Report Posted December 23, 2024 We had the meeting, and there were quite a few 11 year old builds on the table. Some were just general builds. Images here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.621625676879500&type=3 There were even a few that have survived from when the modelers were kids!
Firemodeler1 Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 Interesting that it says US Space Force! Or did you print those decals out special??😁
Ron Bell Posted March 11 Report Posted March 11 It was not an easy kit to get together as i recall. Many seams/gaps because there were so many removable parts. Plus big seams on that main fuel tank. I did mine as a "what if"...
Roktman Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 On 3/10/2026 at 7:35 PM, Firemodeler1 said: Interesting that it says US Space Force! Or did you print those decals out special??😁 Nope, those were the decals that came with the kit. What was that saying? Science fiction is usually the parent of science fact...
Roktman Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 On 3/11/2026 at 9:42 AM, Ron Bell said: It was not an easy kit to get together as i recall. Many seams/gaps because there were so many removable parts. Plus big seams on that main fuel tank. I did mine as a "what if"... Nice job on yours. Agreed, the kit went together fairly well, but it is a little rough. I remember building it as well as the Frog Vanguard (which was also re-popped and I built again - not easy). With the trouble these two gave me as an adult, the ones I built as a kid must have been horrific. LOL 😂
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