1/144 Apollo Saturn II

[MartG]

I'm continuing on my occasional mission to build models of most of the various versions of Saturn rocket that were proposed to NASA under the guise of studies to improve performance. It is now the turn of the Saturn II, which used the Saturn V's S-II second stage as its first stage, omitting the S-IC.

Three versions of Saturn II were proposed - the INT-17 with 7 engines on the S-II stage ( originally planned to be HG-3 engine, but this was cancelled when it was found the J-2 would be cheaper to develop to give similar performance ), the INT-18 with 5 J-2 engines and four 120 inch solid boosters, and the INT-19 with 4, 8, or 12 boosters based on the Minuteman missile.

I built the INT-18 a couple of years ago, but have only now finished the other two versions.

As always, I start with a pic of the resin parts I made for the conversion.

INT-17 parts


Various payload configurations possible, using the Airfix Skylab kit as the base


And a pic of the base of the rocket


INT-18

Part completed model, with resin parts for one of the boosters


Finished model


Base of rocket


INT-19

Parts


Finished




Rocket’s base



Currently on the workbench are another Saturn 1B variant ( INT-15, with 8 of the same boosters used by the INT-19 ) and an Ares 1

[Eric Mc]

Very interesting.

I wouldn't have fancied riding the version with the multiple boosters.

[jmorgan]

Very interesting indeed. I knew they had a few versions on paper and capable of. Did not realise this. How do you make the resin parts?

[MartG]

jmorgan said:

How do you make the resin parts?

Make a master from various materials, use it to make a mould from silicone, then pour in two-part resin