50th Anniversary Moon Landing Saturn V 1/72 Dragon Models

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 18

Greetings peeps hope you are all well as I continue with this build this time it’s the LEM Shroud and my take on it as opposed to Dragons
Before I get started on the shroud I had to add additional detail to the third stage namely additional fuel lines from the top of the tank and some internal structure to the top end of the 3rd stage to finish it off
So 1st off Dragon have moulded this and the adapter section at the bottom in clear plastic now I know why so you can see the Luna Module inside from one side of the rocket and you paint the other side white to represent the actual view you would get
I went for something different I still used the clear section but I have added the petals so you get an impression of what the actual shroud worked and would look like unfolded I kept the clear plastic as it adds rigidity to the structure
So 1st up is to design 2 outer sheathing to fit over the clear plastic using a special design program I found on the net free to use
Having designed these 2 structures after around 6 failed attempts for various reasons I used the one shown in the photos
The LEM upper shroud was cut into the 4 petals bent into the correct shape using a piece of dowel then the outer formers were made from 1mm thick card using a ruler and pen i didn’t bother measuring the strips width as I used the thickness of the pen line as my size guide and detailed the rest of the petals using paper structs this was because the fit of the cones originally was almost airtight they just dropped into place so any extra thickness would result in the covers not fitting correctly
The whole system locks into place using the bottom shroud as the locking section which keeps the petals pushed firmly against the clear plastic and the top of the petals will be secured by a white elastic 3mm diameter I’m using a rubber band at present till the elastic arrives
The petals themselves are attached to the base of the top section of the shroud by way of 3 x 1mm 40mm flexible plastic strips bent in half with one section glued to the petal and the other ends glued to the inside of the clear plastic upper shroud along with some scratch building to represent the hinge system still more is required for allowing the LEM to sit correctly in the structure
Hopefully the pictures will fill in the missing gaps of my waffle

Regards

Colin

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 19

The build continues with the command & Service Modules this time
Not much to say about the actual building lousy fit which I’ve come to expect anyway down to specifics
Command Module heat shield to give it a more substance than just plain bland what I did was whilst the paint was wet was to to press a nylon fly screen material into it this gave the impression of tiny hexagonal structures which you might just be able to make out on the heat shield picture and resembled what I’ve seen in a picture doing my research on the heat shield

Next I decided to foil wrap both the command and service modules I figured they were made of metal so what better medium to coat them in other than metal
After finishing the command and service modules and putting them together there was a 4mm gap all around due to the plate in the service module being too high by this time everything had set rock hard glue wise so I wasn’t going to pry open the service module and risk damaging it so what I did was wrapp round a 5mm piece of foiled paper this effectively hid the gap and gave both the service and command modules a nice snug fit
It might not be technically accurate as the white radiator panels now have a large silver expanse above them instead of being almost flush with the command module but I’m happy with the outcome
The foil was my old standby sweet wrapping foil glued on with Microsacle metal foil adhesive it left a few creases but I’m happy with the result
Next the engine bell assembly was foil wrapped and the nozzle painted in various shades to resemble burnt iron I then dry brushed the inside to represent the rings on the inside of the nozzle and finally assemble the rcs thruster units and painted them then stuck them onto the service module with a bit of painting and gluing the handrails to the command module that has completed this stage next is the Luna Module

Regards

Colin

[boatman]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 19

The build continues with the command & Service Modules this time
Not much to say about the actual building lousy fit which I’ve come to expect anyway down to specifics
Command Module heat shield to give it a more substance than just plain bland what I did was whilst the paint was wet was to to press a nylon fly screen material into it this gave the impression of tiny hexagonal structures which you might just be able to make out on the heat shield picture and resembled what I’ve seen in a picture doing my research on the heat shield

Next I decided to foil wrap both the command and service modules I figured they were made of metal so what better medium to coat them in other than metal
After finishing the command and service modules and putting them together there was a 4mm gap all around due to the plate in the service module being too high by this time everything had set rock hard glue wise so I wasn’t going to pry open the service module and risk damaging it so what I did was wrapp round a 5mm piece of foiled paper this effectively hid the gap and gave both the service and command modules a nice snug fit
It might not be technically accurate as the white radiator panels now have a large silver expanse above them instead of being almost flush with the command module but I’m happy with the outcome
The foil was my old standby sweet wrapping foil glued on with Microsacle metal foil adhesive it left a few creases but I’m happy with the result
Next the engine bell assembly was foil wrapped and the nozzle painted in various shades to resemble burnt iron I then dry brushed the inside to represent the rings on the inside of the nozzle and finally assemble the rcs thruster units and painted them then stuck them onto the service module with a bit of painting and gluing the handrails to the command module that has completed this stage next is the Luna Module

Regards

Colin
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Lovely to see such a detailed model keep it comin as im enjoyin lookin at all you pics Colin
chris

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 20

The LEM
Ascent Stage
Built the main structure terrible fit in places so had to resort to filler anyway main structure was built and foil wrapped this was an arduous task and I would not recommend it to anybody as I used around 30 pieces of foil to cover the convoluted shape of the ascent stage after this was done some detail painting was applied
Next the various antennas were assembled and painted and finally i foil wrapped the rcs thruster assemblies then added the nozzles this completed the ascent stage the last bit being the engine exhaust

Descent Stage
This was again foil wrapped this time in gold foil scavenged from my rollo chocolates I used to eat at work been collecting gold silver bronze and any other bits of foil that come my way for years knew some of it would come in handy one day
Anyway after the stage was foil wrapped I gave it a very light red wash this turned the foil into a reddish gold colour which is what I wanted next black was applied as per references I found on the net as dragons diagrams are next to useless
The next stage was to start assembling the landing leg assemblies starting with the top struts again foil wrapped and painted as required
Then came the legs themselves again foil wrapped this time with gold reddish gold and silver the pads were foil wrapped and painted as per my reference material
Finally the folded bracing struts were foiled wrapped and all the pieces were assembled onto the descent stage
The egress platform was added again gold foil wrapped the rcs protector shields were painted and assembled and the engine nozzle was added as the last item
Finally the 2 stages were joined together I cannot guarantee my construction is 100% accurate but it’s the best I can do anyway all we have left to do now is the Launch Escape System all the outer trunking and pipework then the decals so still about another weeks worth of work to come

There will 2 sets of pictures 1st set is the ascent stage followed by the descent and both joined

Regards

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 20 Second Set of Photos LEM Descent Stage

[boatman]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 20 Second Set of Photos LEM Descent Stage
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HI Colin this is a fabulas bit of modeling an im enjoying it very much very well done on covering the crafts in metal foil an ive just had a quick look through as im busy building my hms tiger ship build but tonight im gonna have a proper study of your work an go through the whole build itself as i love the saturn 5
ATB chris

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 21

Shortest Section Of The Build

The LES or Launch Escape System

This should have been a straightforward build but true to Dragons way of doing things it’s missing detail and a bad fit to boot never mind here’s what I did
1st off added 4 ribs down the length of the rocket boosters assembly and also added the canard wing assembly buy using a hole punch to produce a circular piece of card this was then cut in half and a centre section added then the 2 half circles were glued either side of the centre piece to form an oval to represent the canard wing covers
I then constructed the lower assembly and after a lot of teeth knarling & swearing managed to get it to fit more or less correctly into the boost protective cover the whole assembly was then painted in the requisite colours ie white for the cover struts and rocket motor tower with the engines picked out in a brownish gold
A tip for anyone attempting this kit would be to do this section in reverse ie build the structs into the boost protective cover 1st then build the upper stage with the rockets and glue this onto the struts already fitted into the boost protective cover & not as the instructions state which to build the rocket stage and join it to the struts then finally join that to the boost protective cover as you will find the struts won’t line up properly then all sorts of grief starts to happen let’s just say it took me 5 attempts to get the result you see in the pictures due to the struts not lining up properly anyway that’s it for this brief section next time hopefully you will get the final part which is for the external fuel conduits and decals

Regards

Colin

[JR]

Evening Colin, just found this and had a read through, some model ! Think a lot of modellers would have given up so well done for persevering. Great photos though out , certainly a battle but the results are worth it .

[boatman]

HI Colin great to hear you are persevering with this model but your pictures wont show all there is is a little sqaure so could you please repost full size pics ?
chris

[boatman]

HI Colin whats happening on this build ?
chris

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 22
Sorry for lack of posting this section has taken longer than I thought it would due to lack of detail
So without further ado here’s what has been done starting with the 1st stage and progressing upwards to the 3rd

So 1st off the main ducting on 1st stage as mine will split into several sections in the final incarnation of this build I have added fuel piping to the the ducting using a drinking straw and 2 cotton bud stems to represent the internal piping
Next off the ducting needed banding added as in the real thing this was done with a thin card strip glued to the inside and then wrapped around the ducting before securing to the other side inside if that makes any sense 18 strips and nearly 2 hours later I had one section done the whole process was repeated on the other side
This takes us to the interstage which had no external detail whatsoever so I’ve added various appendages to represent various aerials and blade antennas along with some parts that actually came with model
2nd stage again added additional external blisters etc along with the supplied stage clamps and also added the black and white stripe pattern down one of the stage
3rd Stage now we come to the real disaster as far as I’m concerned with what dragon supplied or didn’t in this case
So ducting was wrong they supplied rounded it should be square again no banding this was adding differently this time as it’s much finer so what I did was make the ducting using a design from my vector drawing program and print it out in thin card fold it into a square cross sectioned tube and then tie and glue thread around the ducting as per photo to represent the actual ducting
Next I added a lot of exterior detail of various shapes and sizes to represent what the 3 Ed stage should look like including umbilical access panels and finally the worst admission the 2 retros that stuck out from the base of the third stage
I have added exterior detail to the ISU but is unpainted at present and along with the lem shroud needs finishing
The model now has been gloss painted ready for the decals to be added
Still detailing the outsides just the lem shroud to go and bit of dodgy paintwork to attend to here’s a couple of pictures to be going on with note this not finished yet about another weeks worth of detail to be added including the actual decals thus is page 1 of photo’s another page to follow

Regards

Colin

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 22 Second set of pictures

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 22
3rd page of photos apologies but they show it better than words can

Regards

Colin

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V 1/72 Scale Dragon build Part 22
Page 4 of photos this is last of this section and shows where I’m up to as you can see the rocket has been glossed and cleaned up from its tatty appearance previously along with all the missing exterior detail according to my research oh the last 2 photos I couldn’t resist stacking the whole thing together even though it’s not finished yet

Regards

Colin

[boatman]

SORRY Colin but your pics dont show all i can see is a load of tiny sqaures :crying:
chris