FIRST LIGHT - LOOKING AT NEW PARTS FOR THE AIRFIX SATURN V REISSUE

A MAT IRVINE REVIEW
About mid-August you should be able to buy the reissued Airfix Apollo Saturn V kit. You’ll immediately note that there is new box-art, showing the huge rocket heading for orbit. However, what may not be apparent is that this issue now has the upper - Apollo - sections corrected. All previous issues (and the kit was first issued 40 years ago, in 1969) have been incorrect.

It was wrong in two aspects. Firstly, the Service Module (SM) - the cylindrical part below the conical crew-carrying Command Module (CM) - was too thin. Consequently, this affected the Boost Protective Cover (BPC) that covered the CM at launch, and the Spacecraft Lunar Module Adaptor (SLA) that housed the Lunar Module (LM). The height of the SM was correct, but the diameter was too small.

Secondly, the Service Module had the wrong radiator pattern. It showed a Block I pattern, which was correct for uncrewed flights, but all manned flights used a Block II SM, with a different radiator pattern. Airfix was not the only company guilty of this - Saturn V rocket kits from Monogram, Revell and AMT also had the Block I pattern.

The only kit from a mainstream manufacturer, (as against a ‘garage’ or specialist), with the Block II was the 1:32 scale Monogram Command Service Module (CSM). This has been recently reissued by both Revell US and Revell Germany - see SMN’s previous post on this subject.

But now you can add the Airfix kit to the ‘got it almost right’ list, even if corrections have waited until the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. There are nine newly-tooled parts: the SM is new, and this has entailed new bulkheads, SLA and BPC. Just one niggle though - the Command Module has not been re-tooled, so its diameter is still too small, but frankly, you can’t see it anyway when the BPC is in place.

The pictures show the attractive new box-art (top), the assembled rocket (middle) and note here that the original rectangular base has returned. The bottom picture shows the new-tool Apollo parts (far right) compared to the old.

Visit Airfix here.

MAT'S US DIARY: THE SPOILS OF KANE COUNTY

Mr J thought you’d like to know what I’d bought at the Kane County Toy Fair, so here’s what’s going to be filling my travel bag. In the picture, from top left to bottom right:

The 1971 AMT Corvette that was issued as the ‘yearly’ or ‘annual’ kit, for that year. At Kane County, this benefited from ‘do a deal’, as it came down from $65 to $45.

The kit in bags marked ‘The 20 Mule Team Rolls’ comes from the TV series Death Valley Days, sponsored by the Borax Corporation. This ‘generic western’ was introduced by the ‘Old Ranger’ - picture on the plans - one of whom was Ronald Reagan, and featured different stories each time. This kit is 1:48 scale and includes 20 mules and three wagons.

The Mako Shark was one of General Motors’ major show cars, elements of which were utilised in later Corvettes, such as the one on the left. This kit is built, but may be restorable - and anyway, the box is nice!

The box for the Jo-Han 1961 Rambler is just that - a box - but there is a growing market in mint boxes. Anyway, I have an old kit of this in a tatty box...

The Johnny Lightning ‘Classic Plastics’ are 1:64 scale cars, versions of which were made as AMT kits, and you get a miniature version of the kit box. These aren’t exactly old, but there weren’t exactly expensive either - two for just $5.

I’m not really an aircraft collector, but these 1:28 scale Revell WW1 aircraft have interesting boxes. I already have the Fokker Triplane, so with this one, there’s only one still to get. There was a fourth kit made in later years, but the box is far less interesting.

Mat Irvine