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1/48 Saturn V Apollo 11 |
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Model, Story and Photographs by Stephen Thrum |
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That’s one big model! A VERY BRIEF HISTORY LESSON
The Saturn V was the ultimate
development in manned expendable rockets by the United States of America. It was
the culmination of years and years of research and experimentation, with the V2
rocket of WW2 as one of its direct ancestors, both having been designed by a
team of engineers led by Dr Wernher Von Braun. The Saturn V was designed to send
a team of astronauts and their equipment to the moon and return them safely to
earth. The model depicted here is the sixth Saturn V to fly, SA-506, more famously known as Apollo 11. Saturn V missions and their launch dates were as follows: SA-501/Apollo 4, 9 October 1967 (unmanned) SA-502/Apollo 6, 4 April 1968 (unmanned) SA-503/Apollo 8, 21 December 1968 (Borman, Lovell, Anders) SA-504/Apollo 9, 3 March 1969 (McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart) SA-505/Apollo 10, 18 May 1969 (Stafford, Young, Cernan) SA-506/Apollo 11, 16 July 1969 (Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin) SA-507/Apollo 12, 14 November 1969 (Conrad, Gordon, Bean) SA-508/Apollo 13, 11 April 1970 (Lovell, Swigert, Haise) SA-509/Apollo 14, 31 January 1971 (Shepard, Roosa, Mitchell) SA-510/Apollo 15, 28 June 1971 (Scott, Worden, Irwin) SA-511/Apollo 16, 16 April 1972 (Young, Mattingly, Duke) SA-512/Apollo 17, 7 December 1972 (Cernan, Evans, Schmitt) SA-513/Skylab 14, May 1973 (Unmanned) HISTORY
OF THE MODEL
Around 9 years ago I first began discussions with the staff of the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium about building a number of scale models for display in their foyer. Many of these centred around the Apollo moon missions. One of the dreams they had was for a very large and impressive Saturn V, with 1/48 being the obvious scale of choice, as ceiling limitations prevented even larger scales. (1/32 having briefly been considered owing to the availability of the Monogram Apollo CSM kit.) First of the series of models for the Planetarium though were some common kits (Though these ended up being major rebuilds and super detailing!) such as the 1/48 Monogram Lunar Lander, and 1/32 Monogram Apollo CSM; with some not so common kits such as the Lunar Models 1/20 Lunar Rover and Real Space Models Lunar Prospector.
Following an initial dry run with the tubes, I built 2 jigs to enable me to assemble the model horizontally. The jigs comprised a series of circular templates lined with rubber insulation to prevent slipping and scratching.
F-1 ENGINES
One of the first elements I put my
thoughts to constructing for the model were the first stage F-1 engines. These
monsters generated 1 500 000 lb of thrust each! I have seen slow motion footage
of these operating, and all I can say is RAW POWER!! Obviously, they are a
complex mechanism, and with that huge engine bell it was going to be a challenge
to build, or so I thought! Armed with a scale cross sectional drawing, I went in search of an appropriate plastic wine glass from a discount retail store. Unbelievably in the very first store I went into, the very first wine glass I picked up was a perfect match for the engine bell, and I do mean a perfect match! Not only that, at $1.50ea I was looking at a bargain. Off I went back to my workshop with 5 F-1 engine bells, with the intention to slowly assemble the five engines as I progressed with the main body of the rocket. I felt by doing this, I would be able to break up the monotony of adding all that ribbing on the rocket body. First though, I quickly did a dry run with the five wine glasses and a quick stack of the acrylic body tubes and Apollo CSM kit. Things were already looking tall!
Once I began work on the first F-1 engine I realized my folly, and decided to get a mould made and cast a complete set of engines. This would not only save me time (which I lacked!), but also meant I could put a bit more effort into the one master. Building up the ribbing etc was a simple matter of using Evergreen strip and rod, and also automotive body filler. Though the flight engines were wrapped in foil insulating blankets, the ribbing and plumbing was still noticeable through the blankets. I simply duplicated the originals by building the engine, and its main plumbing, then covering them in aluminium foil pieces. Engine plumbing was a combination of parts from my spare parts box and sprue runners from an Academy B-50 model kit. (Perfect for diameter and radius bends.)
EXTERNAL
DETAILING
The stages of the Saturn V have several
areas covered in ribbing. This ribbing forms the reinforcing for the areas not
containing a pressurised fuel tank. David Weekes set of drawings (10 in all) is
invaluable in detailing the Saturn V. The ribbing is extremely numerous and is
composed of differing sizes, and here
Scaledown’s
stock of Evergreen stripping
proved exhaustible! Fortunately the sizes I required were in stock and promptly
ordered from the wholesaler. I could not possibly fathom the cost of this had I
had to pay retail! The external detailing also included a number of fuelling and electrical umbilical attachment points. These were scratch-built using sheet styrene, Evergreen strip and tube, and spare parts. Locating the appropriate points accurately on the stage proved an easy exercise, as I labelled the stages identically to NASA. (See photo) This is in the form of Roman numerals i, ii, iii, iiii and the letters A, B, C, D. These are clearly marked on the David Weekes plans. Further up the rocket, it then translates into +X, -X, +Y, and –Y co-ordinates for the Lunar Module and CSM sections.
Other details such as the F-1 engine shroud attachment points were scratch-built using more Evergreen strip.
I also took the opportunity to mould the ullage rocket units, of which four appear on Apollo 11. Early Saturn V’s had 8 of these motors (see the AMT kit which feature all 8!), and later Saturn V’s actually deleted these, as they were considered unnecessary. Their omission assisted in increasing the weights of later missions.
3rd STAGE INTERSTAGE This section of the rocket is a truncated cone shape. I built this by constructing two acrylic circular plates with acrylic supports in between. The two acrylic circles corresponded to the diameters of the 2nd and 3rd stages. I then glued a section of 0.5mm styrene sheet to the outside of these, with Evergreen ribbing providing additional detailing and rigidity. As you can imagine, with only a thin wall this section if man-handled (as I had been the other sections) would have been irreparably damaged. I placed two brass tubes through this unit (One centred, the other offset) for ease and strength in reassembly. I needed to do this, as the model is transported in several sections, and then slides together for final assembly.
F-1 ENGINE
FAIRINGS
I at first avoided even thinking about how I was
to build these units, as I had so much on my mind. Finally, when I could avoid
it no longer, I opted to build all four individually, rather than make one and
cast it. I began again by using the David Weekes plans, which
have a flat pattern of these units. I built mine using 0.5mm sheet styrene cold
rolled into the cone shape, trial fitting the first one to confirm I had the
right shape. Only a slight amendment was required from the pattern provided in
the plans. See below
The Command Module was covered in Evergreen scrap to build up a surface for the Boost Protective Cover. Much sanding and puttying later, I had a convincing Command Module ready for painting. Modellers take note, the engine bell for the Service Module has incorrect details, but I left this item out, as once assembled, you can’t see it. The Launch Escape Tower was used straight from the kit initially, however, with four hours to go before delivery, the lattice tower was destroyed beyond repair when I inadvertently bumped the base of the model during some final brush painting. The entire CSM assembly toppled off the model, pulverising the tower on impact. Oh the tragedy!!!!!!!!! I desperately gathered many, many pieces to attempt a reassembly, but alas, one hour into that task I realized I hadn’t made a full recovery. Blow this, I then went to the drawings and scratch built a new unit. Speed modelling!
DISPLAY
BASE
I wanted to enhance the overall impression of the
model with a base that resembled the launch pad. The real pad was rectangular in
shape, and included the support tower. I elected to model a stylised launch pad,
square in shape to fit into a custom display case that was being made for the
model. The support tower was omitted both for sanity
reasons and practicality (It wouldn’t fit!). I have seen one made in 1/33
scale by a modeller from the US. That model now resides at the
Smithsonian. The most critical criteria for the base was that it needed to support the rocket and prevent the rocket toppling over. Weight saving was definitely not an issue. I laminated several pieces of 18mm MDF board together, two of which had a square section removed from the middle to allow for the F-1 engines to sit through. I placed a mirror on the very bottom piece to give a view up into the engine details. (The external engine shrouds mostly hide these.)
The base was then covered in 1.5mm sheet styrene, with vertical ribbing made from Evergreen strip. Support stands were modelled on drawings of the real support stands, with a little bit of simplification. (These can be detailed at a later date if need be, including the hold down shrouds.) The base was painted in a basic grey colour. I had a replica Apollo 11 plaque made up, along with another nameplate that included my own name as the builder. This is the first time I have ever added my own name alongside my Scaledown logo to a commissioned work, such was the pride I had in this particular model.
DECALS Steve Evans from Hawkeye Models printed up a set of decals based on the David Weekes plans. The decals he produces were some of the nicest and most forgiving sets of decals I have ever used. Forgiving in that I laid down one of the very long vertical “UNITED STATES” in the wrong spot, only to discover that fact when I had laid the others in their correct positions. A touch of warm water, a lift with the tip of a scalpel and I was able to relocate the decal.
Also included on the sheets were the photo-reference targets (see these at the top of the second stage in the photo above on left.) CONCLUSION This model is by a fair margin my favourite model I have ever made to date. (Previous favourite was my 1/48 F-15 ACTIVE that can be seen on the Hyperscale site) What began with 9 years of planning and dreaming concluded in a 4-5 week actual build! Some areas I would like to get to again (such as adding the Lunar Module!), but that is unlikely as it now resides in its new permanent home. It is certainly a model not for the faint hearted. I am certainly very proud of the end result, and hope as many people can view it at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium as possible.
Thanks go to the following:-
Stephen
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Photos and text © by Stephen Thrum
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