BOOK REVIEW - THE NEW SCALE SPACECRAFT PRIMER

IN 1990, SPACE MODELLER MIKE MACKOWSKI from Phoenix, Arizona, produced A Scale Spacecraft Primer. This was the first title in a modelling series called Space in Miniature, and now here’s an excellent 2015 update, The New Scale Spacecraft Primer.

‘SPACE SUITS - A GUIDE FOR SCALE MODEL BUILDERS’ ON RELEASE NOW

MAT IRVINE REPORTS 

Here’s the latest in the series of ‘Space in Miniature’ black and white books from Mike Mackowski. This eighth in the series concentrates on that basic necessity for working in space, the space suit.

TRIBUTE TO THE SPACE SHUTTLE FROM AIRFIX

Weekend read from Mat Irvine:

As the last of the Airfix space launchers to receive a makeover, the updated 1:144 scale Space Shuttle was released to coincide with the last-ever Space Shuttle mission, STS-135 in July 2011, when the Orbiter Atlantis made its 33rd and final flight. So how did Airfix do with the makeover?

SPACE IN MINIATURE MODEL REFERENCE GUIDES

Mat Irvine reports
Mike Mackowski is a long-time space modeller and one of the main members of the online Yahoo ‘Space Modelers’ group. Over some years now, Mike has compiled seven hardcopy books especially for modellers on spacecraft topics, including titles for Gemini, Mercury and two volumes on Apollo, one for the Command Service Module and one for the Lunar Module. Now he has produced his first ‘Tech Report’, a series intended to be shorter and to be available only as a download, thus having the advantage that they can be in colour.

Skylab details
Tech Report #1.0 (TR1) is on Skylab, prompted by Mike’s particular interest in America’s first space station. Mike worked for a time at McDonnell Douglas in St Louis, where Skylab’s airlock module was built. Previously he had spent time as a student at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the Skylab trainer was housed. He was also at Marshall when Skylab was actually launched in 1973.

What’s in the TR1 pdf
TR1 contains images of the actual Skylab (perhaps surprisingly, not that many were taken) and many drawings showing schematics of what was a very complex object, especially when it came to the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) that once in orbit, had to rotate 90 degrees from its stowed launch position.

Making a 1:96 scale Skylab
TR1’s end-section has details of Skylab models that have been available (not many) with reference to my own Creating Space book, and then a chapter on modelling a Skylab in 1:96 scale. In all, you get 22 pages as a pdf download, well worth the asking price of $6.00 USD.

Visit Yahoo Space Modelers group here.

For Tech Report #1.0 and previous books, check out Space in Miniature here.

See Creating Space here.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1  TR1 download cover.
2-3  Space in Miniature hardcopy covers.
4  Mike Mackowski (left) with Mat Irvine at the 2002 US IPMS Nationals held at Virginia Beach, US.
5  Logo for the Yahoo Space Modelers group.

A NEW LOOK FOR THE AIRFIX LUNAR MODULE KIT

A MAT IRVINE REVIEW
When asked by Airfix if I would take a look at two potential reissues to celebrate the Apollo 11 40th anniversary, I knew there were some changes that were going to have to be made. First, the Saturn V had to have its Service Module corrected, which was done, and which I covered in a previous posting. Second, the 1:72 scale Lunar Module (LM) needed looking at.

You can be picky and say some details on the Airfix LM are not quite right, but overall it is actually pretty accurate. However, one aspect needing a change was the supplied colour scheme. When the Lunar Module was first announced (originally it was called the ‘Lunar Excursion Module’, but NASA reputedly dropped the ‘Excursion’ as it sounded a bit like a vacation, though the pronunciation ‘lem’ remained) it was usually seen in a black and white finish. However, this was only for early non-final ‘boilerplate’ versions, but the colour scheme got through to the early Airfix artwork and this has never been changed, until now.

So my main task was to ensure that the new colour instructions were closer to the actual scheme of the flightworthy LM, given the limitation that this is a kit aimed at the general model-maker. With designer Jonathan Mock doing excellent graphics and a new decal sheet, you now have a colour plan that uses black, gold, aluminium and silver - and if these aren't absolutely every single shade seen on the real craft, they're much closer than plain ‘black and white’.

And that’s not all with this new Airfix kit. You also get the Astronaut Set included, which conveniently provides two Lunar Rovers (for Apollo 15 through 17) and other astronauts in alternative poses. The only brand-new part is an extra vacuumed-formed base that can incorporate not only the LM, but as many astronauts and equipment as you like. It's a good size, measuring some 347 x 246 mm (13.6 x 9.7 in). A last-minute decision by Airfix was to include a sheet of gold foil, to cover appropriate areas on the LM Descent Stage.

The pictures show the new box-art (top), another first for this kit, which has always used a variation of the original painting. The back (middle) has neat renderings of what’s in the box, including the astronauts, which were rapidly built by me!

The box contents (bottom) include a separately packed LM and its two astronaut figures, all moulded in polystyrene. The astronauts are polyethylene, a material that does not take enamel paint or conventional plastic cement, but you can use superglue and acrylic paints. As Airfix designates the kit as a ‘set’, eight small pots of acrylic paints are supplied, along with paint brushes and cement.

And finally - if you want to add more detail, the plans include the address for Mike Mackowski’s excellent Space in Miniature website. His book SIM 7 Apollo Lunar Module is packed with information.

Visit Airfix here.

Visit Space in Miniature here.