1/48 Gemini

by Pete Malaguti

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This is the 1/48 Revell Gemini that I had assembled many years ago, and recently disassembled, and then reassembled with some modifications and added detail.

I cut off the nose, about 1/4", and made a disc from sheet plastic to replace it and scratch built the radar components and drag chute mortars. I also built up the inside of the hatch doors. The window coves in front of the hatches, were sanded down smooth and replaced with a piece of thicker aluminum foil ( ... from a frozen lasagna lid ... ) and the shingles were replicated by burnishing the foil on another section of the 'capsule', thereby forming the shingles into the foil. The foil was cut to size and glued down with super glue. The thrusters on the adapter section right behind the capsule were all scratch built, because the kit items were incorrect.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

The horizon sensor, and the three little open access doors on the narrow adapter, were also scratch built.

The seam between the two adapter sections was sanded down and replaced with two widths of styrene strip, ( ... one wide, one narrow ... ) and glued in place on top of each other. The foil on the back of the adapter was made with a wrapper from a chocolate bar. To support the foil, I glued 12 supports in to the back of the adapter and glued the foil to them. The boom magnetometer coming out of the back was made with stretched sprue, styrene rod and a small piece of aluminum sheet, from a printing press, cut into a triangle, and all glued into the adapter in a pre-drilled hole.

The strips of gold foil hanging off the adapter section were formed with narrow strips of aluminum sheet, wrapped with the gold foil and glued with super glue.

 

I then placed the extended antennas on the adapter section, into pre-drilled holes.

Finally, the decals were from Rick Sternbach, at Space Model Systems, and were applied in the usual manner.

Pete

Photos and text © by Pete Malaguti