2015 INCOMING - SPACE 1999 SCI-FI KITS FROM ROUND 2 MODELS, AND MORE BESIDES

The Round 2 model spectrum includes not only the AMT, MPC and Polar Lights brands, but now features the Lindberg and Hawk names as well.

MPC TITAN IIIC ORBITAL LAUNCH VEHICLE TO 1:100 SCALE

The 1:100 scale Round 2 MPC Titan IIIC launch rocket is a companion kit to the same-scale Vostok I reviewed a short while ago, and, as with the Vostok, I also helped with some technical details.

ANOTHER BLAST FROM THE PAST: ROUND 2 RE-RELEASE SOVIET-ERA VOSTOK SPACE LAUNCHER TO 1:100 SCALE

This is a 1:100 scale model of the classic Soviet A-Type launcher in its best-known Vostok version, as used to launch Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, on April 4, 1961. This time, the MPC kit comes as a Round 2 re-release.

APOLLO SATURN V LAUNCH COMPLEX: MODEL MAKER BOXES CLEVER BY BUILDING WITH BOXES

At first glance, the giant 1:96 scale Saturn V launch complex built by John Ashton (above) looks as if it could be built from modern materials. But no, take a closer look, and you realise the construction is from an older period, the builder being someone who seems to like a lot of cornflakes, for he makes his models mostly out of cereal boxes.

1:72 SCALE VOSTOK FROM FRENCH KIT MAKER MACH 2

Mat Irvine looks back:

Although the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight was on April 12, true space fans celebrate the achievement all year round. Well, that’s my excuse for looking at this kit in September!

AIRFIX VOSTOK ROCKET PART 3 - SPUTNIK OR LUNIK?

Mat Irvine discusses Vostok's background

To finish this three-part appraisal of the reissued Airfix Vostok launcher, it’s worth pointing out that you don’t just get the version that launched the Vostok spacecraft. Because 2011 is the 50th year of humans in space, the kit has been issued with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s orbital version to the forefront, but other options have included Soyuz and Sputnik - or have they?

The first satellite

First, a bit of background. Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to be launched, on October 4, 1957, and so began the ‘Space Age’. The launcher as a whole, usually called the A-type in the west, or R-7 or Semyorka (‘Seven’) by the Soviets, was based on the SS-6 Sapwood ICBM.

AIRFIX VOSTOK ROCKET PART 2 - IS WHITE RIGHT?

Airfix Vostok launchers built up, with empty tanks (left) and full ones (right).

Mat Irvine solves a question of colour

Last time (article here) I pointed out that whatever colour Vostok space launchers really were, they were not white. However photos have often made them appear partially white, so what was going on?

Super-cold liquid
The truth is that the ‘white’ in published pictures was correct, but it was not paint - instead, it was actually frost. This is because Vostok’s rocket motors used cryogenic fuels, or to be totally accurate, a cryogenic oxidizer in the form of LOX, or liquid oxygen (the ‘fuel’ was the far more mundane liquid kerosene). LOX is cold - very cold** - and once the rocket is fuelled, it chills water vapour in the atmosphere immediately outside the tanks, and ice forms on the metal skin - which of course shows up white!

A real Vostok, almost certainly Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok 1. Note the icing.

YURI GAGARIN AND THE AIRFIX VOSTOK KIT - MAT IRVINE TALKS KIT UPDATES

Mat Irvine on a question of colour

Further to last week’s report on the Airfix 1:144 scale Vostok kit reissue (see it here) celebrating Yuri Gagarin's famous 1961 flight, as I provided the change of details needed to Airfix, here’s more of an explanation.

Secret Vostok shape

The kit itself was released way back in 1969, when we in the West had only recently found out what this Soviet rocket actually looked like. Although flown as early as 1957 to launch Sputnik 1, it wasn’t until 1965, four years after the Gagarin flight, that the shape was revealed.

AIRFIX VOSTOK 1 - CLASSIC KIT TO CELEBRATE FIRST MAN IN SPACE, YURI GAGARIN

SMN report

Last week’s 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first human spaceflight - 12 April 1961 - had Mat Irvine looking at the well-produced magabook Space published at the same time. So now let’s have a look at the Airfix reissue of Vostok 1, the rocket that blasted the 27-year old cosmonaut Gagarin into his 108 minute orbital flight, and a certain place in the history books.

CELEBRATING 39 YEARS OF A DISTANT GOLF SHOT

Report by Mat Irvine
Yesterday in 1971 astronaut Alan Shepard Jr performed a sports manoeuvre that has since become a staple pub-quiz question, usually along the lines of: “What is the farthest a golf ball has ever travelled?”. For Shepard was commander of the Apollo 14 Moon mission, and, as a golf fanatic, took a golf club and several golf balls on the journey.

In fact, Alan Shepard didn’t use a whole golf club, just the head of a Number 6 iron, which he attached to the end of one of the mission’s soil sampling scoops. Then he plucked the ball from a spacesuit pocket, dropped it on to the lunar surface and hit the ball - albeit in rather ungainly fashion, as the stiffish suit allowed only one arm to be used for the purpose. It was probably not the ‘longest’ drive ever, but was certainly the ‘farthest’ in the sense that the drive was some 385,000 km (239,000 miles) from planet Earth! Besides the publicity exercise, the shot did have some scientific merit in showing ball behaviour in an airless, one-sixth gravity environment.

The scenario was celebrated some years ago in one of UK-based ReHeat Models’ excellent astronaut figure kits, depicting the actual club-hits-ball moment. ReHeat, which was the brainchild of Mike Holloway, did a number of astronaut figure kits all to 120mm scale, (approximately 1:15), and made from resin. Others included Yuri Gagarin in his Vostok ejector seat, both Apollo 11 astronauts, and John Glenn.

Unfortunately ReHeat is no longer making these astronauts, but the kits are well worth looking out for on web-based auction sites.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1 My assembled and painted ReHeat Models astronaut.
2 Parts laid out.
3 Shepard working on the Moon.
4 A video frame-grab of the actual stroke.

LUNOKHOD MOON LANDER - THE LITTLE ROVER THAT COULD

Mat Irvine reports
Today is the 37th anniversary of the second - and last - landing on the Moon by a Soviet automated rover, the eight-wheel Lunokhod 2, taken to the lunar surface by the Luna 21 carrier vehicle.

Following the Lunokhod 1 that landed on November 17, 1970, Lunokhod 2 performed even better, sending back more than 80,000 TV images and travelling nearly 37 km (23 miles) over a period of some four months, until it stopped working. The precise reason for this has never really been determined, but it’s thought that either moon dust covered the radiators and it overheated, or perhaps it fell into a crater - or both.

The Lunokhods (Russian for 'Moonwalker') are arguably the most delightful-looking spacecraft ever designed, fact or fiction. They actually look more as if they were created by Rowland Emett (famed for his whimsical creations) than as working scientific equipment. A Lunokhod would make a great model kit, and although none has appeared to date, there is the terrific battery-powered toy I show here, from the Russian Ogonjek company.

I’d heard rumours of a Lunokhod model kit, and as Ogonjek made kits of Soyuz and Vostok among others, it seemed perfectly feasible - but no one had ever seen one. Then a photo of the box was found, but there were still no details. Finally I managed to get my hands on the real thing, courtesy Tony James of Comet Miniatures in London. The Ogonjek Lunokhod is not a kit, but a toy, and comes with that classic ‘Russian toy’ look. It is motorised (six C-size batteries), and is ‘remote controlled’ via a stout cable - forget radio control!

The original Lunokhod 2 is of course still on the Moon, but it is now officially owned by Richard Garriott, the computer games developer and space tourist, and son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott. Richard purchased Lunokhod 2 and Luna 21 in the 1993 Sotheby’s Soviet Space Sale in New York.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1 A Soviet-era drawing showing how a Lunokhod sat atop its Luna carrier vehicle, before rolling down a long ramp.
2 A full-size Lunokhod replica on display at the Cosmosphere and Space Center in Kansas.
3, 4, 5 The Ogonjek Lunokhod, the name applied in both Russian and English, one on each side. The box is a typically Russian item with very basic colours, made from thick, but not exactly sturdy, card.

Visit Comet Miniatures here.

Visit the Cosmosphere here.

Look at Rowland Emett's work here.

SUPERB HAND-BUILT SPACE MODEL AUCTION

For model makers, Russian space equipment is not especially well provided for, but for collectors it’s a different story, with a host of interesting items that come on sale from time to time. For example, the canine cosmonaut Laika’s trip to space in 1957 was celebrated with her image on sorts of mementos, including a cigarette brand named after her (top picture).

For well-heeled model fans, a superb hand-crafted spacecraft to 1:25 scale has featured in a Live Auctioneers sale (middle picture). As the description puts it: “Manufactured by the NPO Lavochkin Institute, in 7 x 13 x 16 inch custom wooden carrying case. An exquisitely executed model of the first manned spacecraft, presented to a major rocket designer for a 70th Anniversary by the Chief Constructor of Rocket Engines Valentin Glushko. Includes extraordinarily delicate detail. Few surface flaws, missing one thin antenna, still very fine. Beautifully made and a worthwhile addition to any fine model collection. A rare opportunity to purchase a classic space model. This model last sold at Christie's New York for over $16,000 USD in 2001”.

This time round, the model fetched £18,000 USD (£10,980 GBP), and in a recession too!

Talking of space exploits, today’s the day in 1960 that the USSR’s Sputnik 5 (bottom), loaded with a space zoo that included the dogs Belka and Strelka, a pair of rats, 40 mice and a number of plants, left orbit after little more than 21 hours in space. Importantly, they were returned to Earth safely, unlike Laika, who died when her air supply ran out, but not before she had proved that a mammal could survive the stresses of takeoff and weightlessness.


Visit Live Auctioneers here.