Fellow Modelers,
Below are photos of AMT’s 1/200 scale “Man In Space” NASA rocket collection which includes the Mercury Redstone, Mercury Atlas, Gemini Titan, Apollo Saturn 1B and Apollo Saturn V. I built this model in 1995 (a long time ago!). AMT first released this kit in 1969, when the world’s frenzy of landing a man on the moon was at its greatest height. I was fortunate enough to buy this model from a vendor at the 1994 IPMS National’s Contest held in Omaha, NE. Finding it made me the happiest man at that convention! I still think it is the single greatest and most original real space plastic model kit ever produced. AMT/ERTL re-issued this kit in 1998 and again in 2017. When I began building my model the two biggest challenges of the project were:
-modifying each rocket’s out of scale and toy-like features
-creating all the decals from scratch (Note: this kit was issued many years before any after-market decals were available like what Tango Papa Decals offers.) Every decal I made consisted of black square/rectangles, white squares/rectangles, black numbers/letters and red letters, so I got what I needed (except the America Flags) from various SuperScale letter, number and trim color sheets. This was a VERY tedious task and I ended up putting on 374 individual decals! For me building this kit was a labor of love.
I removed the raised rivets and most of the raised panel lines on all the rockets since at 1/200 scale they would not be seen. Listed below are the specific modifications made:
-Mercury Redstone (5.0625” tall): Scratch-built the emergency escape tower/Reshaped the nose of the capsule/Reshaped the adapter section between the capsule and booster
-Mercury Atlas (5.6875” tall): Scratch-built the emergency escape tower/Reshaped the nose of the capsule/Added a drain line near the booster nozzles
-Gemini Titan (6.5625” tall): Modified and reshaped the capsule adapter and equipment sections/Reshaped the nose of the capsule/Cut out the vent slots and drilled round vent openings between the 1st and 2nd stage boosters/Replaced plastic gimble braces with small metal rods
-Apollo Saturn 1B (13.50” tall): Removed all the raised detail from the service module/Scratch-built a boiler cover plate for the capsule/Added an umbilical connection between the capsule and service module/Added small metal rods to join the capsule to the escape tower
-Apollo Saturn V (21.9375” tall): Removed all the raised detail from the service module/Scratch-built a boiler cover plate for the capsule/Added an umbilical connection between the capsule and service module/Added small metal rods to join the capsule to the escape tower
I mounted the rockets on a stained wooden base and added black brass nameplates beside each one. A larger central nameplate has the project’s name (STEPS TO THE MOON) with the dates of when Alan Shepard flew the first Mercury Redstone mission and when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I hope you enjoy the photos.
Phillip1
