A Tip Down Memory Lane on a Saturn V

[BaldyBuilderBoy]

<t>I recently watched a reveal show where Lee said that enries for group builds had been slipping, so, feeling suitably embarrassed about my lack of activity on this front I resolved to enter this SIG. I'm also determined to complete the build this time having failed on my previous attempts.<br/>
So here goes.......<br/>
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The subject for this build was a very easy decision. I had, in my stash, an unstarted 1/144 scale Saturn V by Revell. This was one of those spur of the moment purchases where I was drawn in by a much reduced pricetag and a huge dose of nostalgia. Since then the kit has sat in my stash for over a year, which probably makes it a "spring chicken" as far as stash longevity goes..... Now that makes me think, I wonder who has the oldest kit in their stash? Maybe I'll start a discussion if it hasn't already been done.<br/>
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Anyway, back to this thread. I, like many on this forum I suspect, clearly remember being captivated by the Apollo moon landings. I have such fond memories of sitting with my family watching James Burke and Patrick Moore presenting those crackly black and white images on BBC. I remember being amazed at the power and beauty of the Saturn V launches, that iconic countdown to "Blast-Off", the images from the moon itself and finally "splashdown" and recovery of the astronauts.<br/>
I do remember that despite my father's best efforts to explain the huge achievment that I was witnessing, a five year old me just thought it was obvious that we were sending people to the moon. After all, it's not that far away.<br/>
I also have fond memories of my parents decorating the bedroom that I shared with my brother and making a feature wall on one side which they painted in a dark blue and attached some of those self adhesive stars ( like we got for good behaviour at school ), cut outs of the moon and a Saturn V on it's journey. This of course was a large dose of artistic license since it was only a small section of the vehicle that made the trip to the moon, but as a child I just thought it was cool.<br/>
Interestingly the idea of a single stage rocket making the entire round trip was considered at one point and I believe that Von Braun and his engineers had designed a vehicle even larger than Saturn which was to be called Atlas.</t>

The final dose of nostalgia for me was that as a child I had built the Airfix 1/144 Saturn V and I distinctly remember being disapointed that I ruined it with my limited skills and a scrappy paint job. It had messy glue marks all over the joints from using those horrid Humbrol glue tubes and black paint runs along the ribbed sections from poor masking and using Humbrol enamel. I seem to remember that the Enamel white was a bugger to paint too.

Hopefully I will make a better fist of it this time. Some would say that my skills are no better than when I was about 8 years old but I'm counting on an increase in patience and better materials to counteract my ineptitude.

I will try to include some history and information as I go along rather than writing an essay at this stage of the build so I will start with the sprue shots and add some updates in the near future...



Inside the box are the obligatory instructions, decal sheet and five sprues of plastic plus a display base.



One sprue is moulded in a grey colour which I assume to be representative of metal and seems to be mainly engine nozzels and tank bulkheads. The other sprues are all in white.





I'm rather hoping that this kit will go together quite well and that it wasn't in the bargain bin for good reasons....
There is quite a lot of flash visible but this is mainly on the sprue itself and the kit parts seem to be largely flash free which is encouraging.


Included within the kit are three ground crew figures that are intended to give some sense of scale but these look pretty poor to me and probably won't get used.

Given that these vehicles were a single use construction there can't be much scope for making the thing look good through weathering so I will have to come up with a different plan to give it a bit more "life".
That's all for now. I'm going off to open the box again and actually start building..........

[DBMiller]

I know all about failing to finish my GB's and SiG's! I love the Saturn 5 so a very good luck to you on this one!

[Tomcat64]

Looking forward to seeing this stack take shape.

Can't have too many Saturn Vs as far as I'm concerned

[DrSprue]

Oh great your doing Von Brauns masterpiece! Yup the Saturn 5 has been in my stash for years. This is my favorite rocket. I have the 1/144 version too, but the earlier 1983 Monogram Heritage edition. Same exact molds as I can see in your post. Good luck with the best rocket...ever....

Very cool to see two different types being crafted here as well! I will be watchin.

[DBMiller]

A little contribution to this great build! I got to see this (way back when) in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center. I love the weight difference between unfueled and fueled!

DBM_Sat_5 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM_Sat_5_2 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

[DrSprue]

A little contribution to this great build! I got to see this (way back when) in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center. I love the weight difference between unfueled and fueled!

DBM_Sat_5 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM_Sat_5_2 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

Wow that is so cool.... A very large pipe filled with 1 million pounds of explosive!

[BaldyBuilderBoy]

It really was a mighty machine.
I've been fortunate enough to visit both the launch site in Florida and also the space centre in Houston. The whole space program has been a great endeavour.
When we were in Florida we were supposed to see a launch of the Shuttle but it was postponed with just a few minutes to launch. We did , however see the launch of Mars Global Surveyor. Not particularly spectacular from the distance we were away from it but the significance of it's journey and mission was not lost on us.
I suspect that the Shuttle would have been an altogether more impressive sight.

[BaldyBuilderBoy]

Made a start on the build at last.
The detailing is not great but then I guess at 1/144 scale it will be a bit sparse.
First step in the instructions was to put together the halves for the F1 engines and then move on to the rest of stage 1.

The five F1 engines assembled....... These are going to need a little TLC with the seams, particularly inside the nozzels but all in I'm quite happy with the fit.



I am a little disturbed about the plastic in-fill between the turbine pump and the main engine. I have considered cutting it out but at this stage I am not sure. I think it may be there to give added strength to these parts because they will potentially have to bear the weight of the completed model, which I suspect will be quite considerable.



This kit is basically going to be a series of tubes stacked on top of each other so I will need to pay attention to the fit of each section. The halves of the stages seem to go together ok but I have already found some issues where the stages come together. This may need some attention. As yet I'm uncertain how to tackle that particular problem.

Dry-fitting the halves for Stage 1, showing the seam lines.


I mentioned in my initial post that there doesn't seem to be much flash on the actual kit parts but typical for a kit of this age, and particularly Revell there is the obligatory makers copyright mark moulded onto one of the outside surfaces......

In this case it is on the floor bulkhead of stage one and as such would be out of sight under normal display conditions; but you've got to love the way they used to do this.................
Out with the sanders then matey!

That's all for now, I'm going off to sleep on the choices about cutting out that extra plastic on the F1 engines. Please send me good vibes so that I make the correct decision.

[BaldyBuilderBoy]

Have found another little problem:
Step six shows the fitting of the stage one structure onto the base and clearly shows part number 8 attaching to the base section to form the lower part of the conduit.
The instructions for this step show a recessed area for this with no ribbing.


However....... on the actual base no such recessed section exists on any of the sides.


I suppose that this could be a blessing in disguise. At least it cannot have been moulded on the wrong sides and / or out of alignment. Guess its going to need some surgery to complete this section then.

I also know that the diameter of the base is slightly greater than that of the stage one section. I think I can fix it as I make the final attachment, however I have already found that the interstage ring has the same issue.......
I fear that the completed model could end up looking like this:


Guess that's what you get from bargain-bucket kits.

[DrSprue]

Hi BBB,
Yup, checked my Monogram Heritage Saturn and same thing with the issues with no molding in the ribbing. The instructions look very similar but my copy shows a dotted line around the edges where yours shows it as your scan does with that solid pattern.

I can tell now more-so than ever that these molds are exactly the same so Revell and Monogram as we know had the same molding equipment. My base plate tho says "© MMI" in the same area as yours with Revell. No date tho.

If you seem stuck in any area of your build, just ask and I can scan it in for you if you need a second reference. I just love this rocket most of all. Good luck with the build!

[BaldyBuilderBoy]

Thanks Dr Sprue.
I'm enjoying the build so far and have a few ideas running around in my head as to how to make some improvements to detailing and fit. My skills might be lacking so it could end up being a complete dog's dinner when I'm done.

[DrSprue]

Thanks Dr Sprue.
I'm enjoying the build so far and have a few ideas running around in my head as to how to make some improvements to detailing and fit. My skills might be lacking so it could end up being a complete dog's dinner when I'm done.

No problem! Oh if youve never seen this site, this guys got alot of cool info about so many Saturn 5 and other cool rocket kits, but mostly box art for every rocket I can imagine!
http://www.ninfinger.org/models/space_models.html