Here is my build of Bruno Vanhecke’s Saturn 1B. His model comes in 1/300th scale, but I enlarged it to 1/288th, a more common scale for model rockets. I modeled SA-206, which flew the first crew to Skylab.
I built the basic shape of the model, then used spare copies (printed out about a percent or two larger) and cut out the corrugated sections of the body and glued them to the model to provide some accurate relief. Like most launch vehicles, the Saturn 1B has all kinds of vents, cable tunnels, antennas and other bits and pieces adorning the sides, so I added what I could. I count 166 additional scratchbuilt pieces I added to the model.
The hardest of those was the Launch Escape System tower. I took the kit part, covered it with wax paper and taped it to a small square of wood. This was my template for where the pieces should be.
Using a new No. 11 blade, I cut v-e-r-y thin strips from white cardstock. These pieces would make up the tower. I built two opposite sides of the tower (assembling them over my template) and let them dry. I cut them out, set them on their sides on the guide and added the other two sides of the tower. Once everything was dry, I trimmed it as best I could and glued it on the model, then glued on the LES rocket tower, also scratchbuilt, on top of that.
I’m thinking of tackling Bruno’s Saturn V next....
I built the basic shape of the model, then used spare copies (printed out about a percent or two larger) and cut out the corrugated sections of the body and glued them to the model to provide some accurate relief. Like most launch vehicles, the Saturn 1B has all kinds of vents, cable tunnels, antennas and other bits and pieces adorning the sides, so I added what I could. I count 166 additional scratchbuilt pieces I added to the model.
The hardest of those was the Launch Escape System tower. I took the kit part, covered it with wax paper and taped it to a small square of wood. This was my template for where the pieces should be.
Using a new No. 11 blade, I cut v-e-r-y thin strips from white cardstock. These pieces would make up the tower. I built two opposite sides of the tower (assembling them over my template) and let them dry. I cut them out, set them on their sides on the guide and added the other two sides of the tower. Once everything was dry, I trimmed it as best I could and glued it on the model, then glued on the LES rocket tower, also scratchbuilt, on top of that.
I’m thinking of tackling Bruno’s Saturn V next....