AMT 1/200 Saturn V with lunar module

[gaz45]

This is my entry into this SIG

A simple low parts count kit but that doesn't make it easy although i will be building this OOB

20171004_155504 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_155557 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_155615 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_155633 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_155645 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_155700 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_155817 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_155850 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_160020 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_160117 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_160130 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_160142 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_160149 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171004_160208 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

What Was the Saturn V?

Untitled picture1 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr
The Saturn V rocket was used to launch astronauts to the moon.
Credits: NASA

Untitled picture by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

The Skylab space station was launched on a modified Saturn V rocket.
Credits: NASA

The Saturn V was a rocket NASA built to send people to the moon. (The V in the name is the Roman numeral five.) The Saturn V was a type of rocket called a Heavy Lift Vehicle. That means it was very powerful. It was the most powerful rocket that had ever flown successfully. The Saturn V was used in the Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s. It also was used to launch the Skylab space station.

How Big Was the Saturn V?
The Saturn V rocket was 111 meters (363 feet) tall, about the height of a 36-story-tall building, and 18 meters (60 feet) taller than the Statue of Liberty. Fully fueled for liftoff, the Saturn V weighed 2.8 million kilograms (6.2 million pounds), the weight of about 400 elephants. The rocket generated 34.5 million newtons (7.6 million pounds) of thrust at launch, creating more power than 85 Hoover Dams. A car that gets 48 kilometers (30 miles) to the gallon could drive around the world around 800 times with the amount of fuel the Saturn V used for a lunar landing mission. It could launch about 118,000 kilograms (130 tons) into Earth orbit. That's about as much weight as 10 school buses. The Saturn V could launch about 43,500 kilograms (50 tons) to the moon. That's about the same as four school buses.

What Is the History of the Saturn V?
The Saturn V was developed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. It was one of three types of Saturn rockets NASA built. Two smaller rockets, the Saturn I (1) and IB (1b), were used to launch humans into Earth orbit. The Saturn V sent them beyond Earth orbit to the moon. The first Saturn V was launched in 1967. It was called Apollo 4. Apollo 6 followed in 1968. Both of these rockets were launched without crews. These launches tested the Saturn V rocket.
The first Saturn V launched with a crew was Apollo 8. On this mission, astronauts orbited the moon but did not land. On Apollo 9, the crew tested the Apollo moon lander by flying it in Earth orbit without landing. On Apollo 10, the Saturn V launched the lunar lander to the moon. The crew tested the lander in space but did not land it on the moon. In 1969, Apollo 11 was the first mission to land astronauts on the moon. Saturn V rockets also made it possible for astronauts to land on the moon on Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17. On Apollo 13, the Saturn V lifted the crew into space, but a problem prevented them from being able to land on the moon. That problem was not with the Saturn V, but with the Apollo spacecraft. The last Saturn V was launched in 1973, without a crew. It was used to launch the Skylab space station into Earth orbit.

How Did the Saturn V Work?
The Saturn V that launched the Skylab space station only had two stages. The Saturn V rockets used for the Apollo missions had three stages. Each stage would burn its engines until it was out of fuel and would then separate from the rocket. The engines on the next stage would fire, and the rocket would continue into space. The first stage had the most powerful engines, since it had the challenging task of lifting the fully fueled rocket off the ground. The first stage lifted the rocket to an altitude of about 68 kilometers (42 miles). The second stage carried it from there almost into orbit. The third stage placed the Apollo spacecraft into Earth orbit and pushed it toward the moon. The first two stages fell into the ocean after separation. The third stage either stayed in space or hit the moon.

[DrSprue]

Oh I will be wathcing, The Saturn V is the most powerful rocket ever made!! What an accomplishment of engineering.

Good luck with your build!

[Twokidsnosleep]

This will be cool, following along
Good luck with it, Gaz

[BaldyBuilderBoy]

Nice one. I'll be watching with interest. I am intending to enter the Revell 1/144 Saturn V so it will be great to compare them.

[gaz45]

Thanks guys

[gaz45]

So here we are Part 1.
Looking at the instructions the Hull stages are not glued together I don't know if this will be a problem with the stability of the final result or not only time will tell.

First up the stage one hull

20171006_134922 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

Not a bad fit so far using masking tape to hold in place while the glue dries.
There will be a little work on the seams hopefully just a little sanding will be needed.

20171006_140539 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

The rest of the parts for stage one

20171006_142806 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

Stage one complete

20171006_144927 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171006_144936 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171006_144943 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

Now for stage two and assembled as with the first one

20171006_151909 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171006_153409 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171006_153418 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

On dry fitting the 2 stages it is a tight fit so the need for no glue as recommended in the instructions is not needed.

20171006_153536 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

Stage three as with the first 2

20171006_154337 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171006_154857 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171006_154903 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

A quick dry fit of the finished stages so far.
A small box for the kit itself but so far it is 17 inches high and there is still the L.E.M. housing, the service module and the command module.

20171006_154923 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

That is all for now it is going to be a quick build
Thanks for taking the time to look and comment.

[DrSprue]

Oh that looks really great Gaz, and whats cool to see is that this model does not have the engines halves cut in the middle like my 1/144th which leaves those edges to sand. Come to think of it the second stage is way more accurate with its engines as well. Very cool. Looking really good so far.

[gaz45]

Cheers mate

[Skullfish]

Excellent! think its going to be all in the paint job on this one, how to make it look as big as it is! Good luck with the build, following along.

Jase

[gaz45]

Cheers mate

[TommyKillander]

Looks really awesome!

Nice touch that it includes the LEM.

Godd luck!

Tommy

[gaz45]

Thanks mate

[Tomcat64]

Great start Gaz and looking awesome already.

Like a couple of the other guys I've got a Saturn V in the stash so will be watching with interest especially how you handle the painting on the ribbed sections

[gaz45]

Cheers mate

[gaz45]

Ok right the second build session on this.

The L.E.M module now this needs to be painted up as it sits inside the L.E.M. housing

20171013_141501 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

A little clamping was needed to get the seam lines to hold together.

20171013_142634 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

The module is now built and will be primed in Ultimate glossy black primer in preperation for the paint.

20171013_144639 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171013_144648 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171013_144714 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

The L.E.M. housing

20171013_154642 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171013_155342 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

So far i would like to say that the fit of the different sections is very good so no glue will be needed as it says in the instructions which is good as this allows for different display perposes.

The parts for the Service module and completed

20171013_160544 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171013_161632 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

Now there are 3 crew figures for inside the command module But they are so small and have no detail to speak of I will not be painting these as they are already in white plastic

20171013_161950 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171013_161943 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

Then finally the top section that is the Launch escape system rocket with the support frame, thruster chambers and the cockpit heat shield.

20171013_163707 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171013_164910 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

So that is the build part finished and it looks like this

20171013_170001 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171013_170038 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

So for a small box this kit builds up to be 22 inches high.

This will be left to dry before attending to the seams.

That's all for now and thanks for taking a look and for your comments.

[Tomcat64]

That's a really nice looking stack Gaz - nice work mate

[DrSprue]

It really does have the structure of that wonderful rocket. Looks really cool so far Gaz!

[gaz45]

Thanks guys

[gaz45]

Just a small progress report today

The L.E.M. has been primed in Ultimate glossy black primer

20171016_113402 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171016_113411 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

Once dry the lower half has been painted using AK Xtreme metal 47 Gold

20171018_120958 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

When this was dry the gold was masked and the upper half along with the landing struts were painted in AK Xtreme metal 481 polished aluminium

20171020_103505 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171020_103522 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

and to finish off this section the seams on the sections have been sanded and a little sprue glue added just to fill any small gaps

20171020_104804 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

That's all for the moment thanks for stopping by and for all your comments

[DrSprue]

for 1/200th that LEM looks great!

[gaz45]

Cheers mate it does

[Tomcat64]

Coming along really nicely Gaz - great work

[TeufelHunden]

The L.E.M. looks great. I too will be using gloss black primer hopefully my rocket will look as good.

[gaz45]

Thanks guys

[Stokesy44]

That's a fine looking beast and I love the ickle pickle LM.

[gaz45]

Cheers mate

[gaz45]

A little more progress with this
It has been primed and painted up with zeropaints pure brilliant white then left to dry over the weekend
Then the masking was done ready to apply the black tamiya paint

20171129_104114 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171129_112225 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

There was a little bleed through and a little over spray so i'll call that weathering lol.

20171129_115602_HDR by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171129_115614_HDR by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

All that's left to do now is the silver and the decals

That's all for now thanks for taking a look and for your comments

[DrSprue]

Man thats a big ship... How much zeropaints did you use on the whole thing?

[Twokidsnosleep]

Looks great, some good progress Gonna be huge!!!
Most importantly, how is the beer fund coming along in the can in the background???

[gaz45]

Man thats a big ship... How much zeropaints did you use on the whole thing?

It is mate just a quarter of a bottle

[gaz45]

Looks great, some good progress Gonna be huge!!!
Most importantly, how is the beer fund coming along in the can in the background???

Thanks mate the beer fund pot is now full

[gaz45]

Just a short progress report
after some more masking the silver has been laid down using AK xtreme metal steel
and once this is dry it will be clear coated ready for the decals using a 50-50 mix of x-22 and mr color leveling thinner

20171206_234251 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171206_234315 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171206_234234 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171206_234224 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171206_234528 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171206_234623 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

The finish line is in sight now.
That is all for now thanks for looking and for your comments

[DrSprue]

Its looking really great Gary.

[NorthernModeller]

Really enjoying how this is coming along, I imagine that was not the most fun to mask up Looking forward to seeing the final result

[gaz45]

Thanks guys. No the masking was tricky

[DBMiller]

Beautiful ship! I'd love to build one but that paint scheme always seemed like such complex masking. Nice work!

[Tomcat64]

Really nice work Gaz, the work on the masking has paid off in full there - that's a really tidy looking stack.

[gaz45]

Thanks guys it did take me 3 attempts at the masking

[gaz45]

The decals are all on so i think i'm finished

20171220_143839 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171220_143846 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171220_143943 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

20171220_144114 by Gary Wilcox, on Flickr

I will post some photos in the reveal section
Thanks for all your comments.