1/144 NASA Ares 1

[MartG]

1/144 NASA Constellation Ares 1

The Ares 1 formed part of NASA's now cancelled Constellation programme, and would have been used to launch the Orion CEV into Earth orbit. It used a solid booster based on those used by the Shuttle as a first stage, and a new cryogenic 2nd stage using an udated version of the J-2 engine used during the Apollo programme. The original design envisaged the 1st stage to be the same 4 segment design as the Shuttle SRBs, but as the design was developed revised estimates of the Orion's mass made it necessary to upgrade it to 5 and then 5.5 segments.

Prior to it being cancelled in 2010, NASA carried out a semi-successful test flight called Ares 1-X, with a dummy 2nd stage, - I say semi-successful due to damage to the booster following stage separation. Video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDwL6eVCQ2c. More info on Ares 1 here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares_I.



The finished model stands approximately 75cm high, and due to the fact that the long, thin design is rather unstable I've included a display stand in the kit

Resin parts ( stand not shown )



Finished model




Now to crack on with the ( huge ) Ares V