Apollo Command/Service Module - Block I design
Discussion
This is the Revell 1/100 kit. I think is actually originated with Heller. What it ISN'T is the 1/96 Command/Service Module the Revell included with their 1/96 Saturn V.
It is not a very accurate rendition of what the Apollo Command/Service Module actually looked like - whether a Block or a Block II design.
It is closest to the early Block I design so the aim of this project was to bring it a bit closer to that. The main ammendment was to provide the Command Module with a "solid" nose. The Block I design had no provision for docking - so did not carry any sort of docking probe (nor did it have a docking tunnel).
I also modified the engine bell and base of the Service Module.
Block I Command Modules were painted light grey. Block II Command Modules were covered in highly reflective stripes of aluminiumised mylar plastic.
The radiator pattern on the Block I Service Modules was also very different to the way the radiators were arranged on Block II Service Modules.
It is not a very accurate rendition of what the Apollo Command/Service Module actually looked like - whether a Block or a Block II design.
It is closest to the early Block I design so the aim of this project was to bring it a bit closer to that. The main ammendment was to provide the Command Module with a "solid" nose. The Block I design had no provision for docking - so did not carry any sort of docking probe (nor did it have a docking tunnel).
I also modified the engine bell and base of the Service Module.
Block I Command Modules were painted light grey. Block II Command Modules were covered in highly reflective stripes of aluminiumised mylar plastic.
The radiator pattern on the Block I Service Modules was also very different to the way the radiators were arranged on Block II Service Modules.
Thanks.
It depends on how "out" the model is. Some can be built fairly accurately straight out of the box.
This one was so hopelessly non-representative of either a Block I or a Block II Apollo spacecraft that something had to be done to make it look at least a bit like one or the other.
The vast bulk of Apollo related models that came out "in period" (1968 to around 1971) were not based on actual flight hardware. The model companies used drawings, plans and photos released by NASA and the various manufacturers as they worked through initial design, mock ups, prototypes, boiler plate versions etc and by the time the real articles were actually being used, lots of changes had happened.
Dragon recently released a new 1/72 Apollo Command/Service Module (Block II design) which is probably the most accurate mass produced Command/Service Module to date.
Airfix recently upgraded their 1/144 Apollo Saturn I and Saturn V to feature proper Block II Service Modules and Command Modules - which are a big improvement over the original releases of the Saturn I and V (which date back to 1969/70).
It depends on how "out" the model is. Some can be built fairly accurately straight out of the box.
This one was so hopelessly non-representative of either a Block I or a Block II Apollo spacecraft that something had to be done to make it look at least a bit like one or the other.
The vast bulk of Apollo related models that came out "in period" (1968 to around 1971) were not based on actual flight hardware. The model companies used drawings, plans and photos released by NASA and the various manufacturers as they worked through initial design, mock ups, prototypes, boiler plate versions etc and by the time the real articles were actually being used, lots of changes had happened.
Dragon recently released a new 1/72 Apollo Command/Service Module (Block II design) which is probably the most accurate mass produced Command/Service Module to date.
Airfix recently upgraded their 1/144 Apollo Saturn I and Saturn V to feature proper Block II Service Modules and Command Modules - which are a big improvement over the original releases of the Saturn I and V (which date back to 1969/70).
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