Airfix Saturn 1B
Discussion
The long awaited re-issue of the Airfix Saturn 1B kit has finally happened, with a pair of kits arriving earlier this week. Like the Saturn V the revised Apollo/SLA parts are on a dedicated runner together with the stand, with the original parts deleted. The decal sheet has had minor revisions to include a few camera targets.
Although it's supposed to represent the SA-205 Apollo 7 mission, the first stage still has the skirts around the engines which only flew on SA-201 and the turbopump exhaust fairings which were only present on SA-201 and SA-202. The S-IVB 2nd stage has the two ullage motors as used on the Saturn V S-IVB-500 version, rather than the 3 present on the 1B's S-IVB-200.
The 1st stage H-1 engines supplied are all the same, though on the actual vehicle the inner and outer engines differed in the arrangement of the turbopump exhaust. The outer engines had an annular exhaust around the engine bell, while from SA-203 onwards the inner ones had a duct attached to the engine bell exhausting in the middle between the four engines.
With my 'resin casting' head on I decided to make a few improvements to the kit. First thing I've made is a replacement for the plate at the top of the 1st stage. In the kit this has bumps for the tops of the fuel tanks, but lacks the spider beam and seal plate which went over the top of the tanks.
I'm still working on the 1st stage engines, so watch this space :wink:
Another thing I've made is a set of decals for the 1st stage fuel tanks. The white rectangle with United States is supplied in the kit with white backing which isn't quite opaque enough to be applied over black paint, and masking off the white area can be a real pain to get right. I've also included mission numbers for the first two flights on this sheet.
I've also produced the alternative nose fairings used for the SA-203 and SA-204 flights. SA-203 flew without any payload, with the S-IVB being capped with a large fairing.
SA-204 carried the first LM to fly for an unmanned test flight. The SLA was capped by a simple conical fairing
All these parts are available via my website at http://homepages.tesco.net/martin.goldsack/
Although it's supposed to represent the SA-205 Apollo 7 mission, the first stage still has the skirts around the engines which only flew on SA-201 and the turbopump exhaust fairings which were only present on SA-201 and SA-202. The S-IVB 2nd stage has the two ullage motors as used on the Saturn V S-IVB-500 version, rather than the 3 present on the 1B's S-IVB-200.
The 1st stage H-1 engines supplied are all the same, though on the actual vehicle the inner and outer engines differed in the arrangement of the turbopump exhaust. The outer engines had an annular exhaust around the engine bell, while from SA-203 onwards the inner ones had a duct attached to the engine bell exhausting in the middle between the four engines.
With my 'resin casting' head on I decided to make a few improvements to the kit. First thing I've made is a replacement for the plate at the top of the 1st stage. In the kit this has bumps for the tops of the fuel tanks, but lacks the spider beam and seal plate which went over the top of the tanks.
I'm still working on the 1st stage engines, so watch this space :wink:
Another thing I've made is a set of decals for the 1st stage fuel tanks. The white rectangle with United States is supplied in the kit with white backing which isn't quite opaque enough to be applied over black paint, and masking off the white area can be a real pain to get right. I've also included mission numbers for the first two flights on this sheet.
I've also produced the alternative nose fairings used for the SA-203 and SA-204 flights. SA-203 flew without any payload, with the S-IVB being capped with a large fairing.
SA-204 carried the first LM to fly for an unmanned test flight. The SLA was capped by a simple conical fairing
All these parts are available via my website at http://homepages.tesco.net/martin.goldsack/
Eric Mc said:
Could you pm me the details?
Eric - pics and pricing are on my website at http://homepages.tesco.net/martin.goldsack/Eric Mc said:
Splashed out and bought the revised Airfix IB yesterday. (as well as the reissued Vostok/R7 rocket).
The new Skylab Saturn V looks interesting too.
Eric - the Skylab kit still has all the parts except decals for the Apollo version too ( S-IVB, SLA CSM etc. ) so you could have just bought that and updated your old 1B kit with the spare partsThe new Skylab Saturn V looks interesting too.
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