April 4, 2015. It’s been a long time since then, but that’s when my AS-501 model flew. Waaaaay back in March, I posted my previous AS-501 entry. In our last episode, we left the bird all in white. Here’s the reset of the story. AS-501 is, in the true sense of the word, unique. For […]

First, the back story. A few months ago, one of the guys on the LUNAR club list, Paul, sent email offering a 1:70 scale Saturn V model. It was partially completed, and needed finishing. Paul realized he’d never finish it, and wanted to see it fly. It had been modified from the original 29 mm […]

It’s been eight or ten months since the bottom part of my Saturn V crashed. The parachute for the bottom part was not ejected at deployment. In the ensuing crash, one fin was broken, the forward part of the tube and its attached wrap and tunnel cover (half-dowel) were damaged, the tube was kinked down […]

When last we visited Bed Knobs and a Broomstick, the nose cone had just been finished. I am very please to say that the first flights were very successful! It was a simply gorgeous day at Snow Ranch in Farmington for LUNAR’s May 1st launch. We were treated to lots of wonderful flights: Steve Jurvetson’s […]

Only a few minor problems on the final phases of construction. The EVA handrails looked lousy after painting. It looks like the primer leached underneath the bottom side of the rails when I painted the second side (I’d laid them on a pice of folded-over blue low-tack masking tape, to keep them still while painting). […]

The hand rails for the CM pilot’s space walk are now built. Soldering small pieces of wire togethre on that scale was a little harder than I expected: I’m a bit out of practice with that stuff, alas. But, they’re done, look at least okay (maybe even better), and are half painted. (Why paint silver-colored […]

Q-ball’s painted. I mixed some gray (primer, as it happened) and flat black, painted on with a brush. Doesn’t look great under the OptiVISOR #7 lens, but looks okay, and looks fine with the unaided eye. When I masked the fin fairings, I left a small crescent masked that should have been unmasked, and it […]

The main painting is done, most of the decals are on: we’re getting close! Still to go: an umbillical disconnet (painted: no decal for the IU’s—nor for the S-IVB’s or the SM’s, but those are done), some touch-up, painting the Q-ball (nose of the launch escape system), and eight little tiny drain decals. Some clearcoat […]

Those RCS nozzles are awfully small–but tiny paint flaws look awfully big under a #10 Optivisor lens! Though it feels good to be closing on completion, there’s still so much detail work left. Painting the nose cone atop the launch escape system is upcoming, with a bit of a challenge to mask it well. And […]

Monday, the black paint went on the S-IC/S-II unit. After it dries and cures (and I’m able!), the next step will be to mask and unmask and otherwise prepare to paint the silver on the S-IC fin fairings. After that: Unmask the S-IC/S-II Touch up the S-IC/S-II and the Interstage/S-IVB-IU units. Mask the SM radiators […]