Apollo 11 Saturn V

As a child of the 60's, the Apollo missions to the moon was one of the fond memories for me. 

I can still remember watching the launches on TV...
 

When Dragon released a 1/72 kit in 2013, I was interested, but there was no way I could economically justify such an exorbitant purchase, and I had no place to display such a large model! Fast forward 22 years... 

I am in a better place financially. I bought a house that has a front hall that includes a little alcove. It may have been a place for plants of some sort of decorations, but I immediately through it would be a perfect place for that 1/72 moon rocket. I looked on line and found a couple in the $250 to $300 range, which for me was a bit pricy. I went to the 2025 IPMS Nationals in Tidewater Virginia, and low and behold, there was one on sale for $120. It had some work done on it, but also included a bunch of after market stuff, so I snapped it up... 

This is my first dry fitting. The pervious owner did an excellent job assembling the larger pieces. He wrapped the smooth section with thin styrene sheets and sanded them smooth. He also added plastic strips to the connecting rings to make each stage fit together much more snuggly.  

I have ready many reviews and build articles and am well aware of the many inaccuracies that can be found with this kit. I am what you might call a "Couch Scale Modeler" (i.e. If it looks good from my couch, I am happy with it) so the plan is to build it pretty much from the box.  

 

 

 

I loved how the orange tank tops came out. Sprayed Tamiya chrome silver first then Tamiya clear orange. Too bad that once the rocket is assembled, they will never be seen again... 

 

 

So I started assembly. I gotta say, I have never worked with pieces so large.  

Because of the size, much of the larger bits will be assemble while I sit on the floor... 

One can tell that this was originally as fully built and painted display piece and not a kit. The plastic is really thick and hard. This instruction are quite vague about certain parts placement. The first stage is pretty much done. 

Here is the second stage. There are a lot more bits that go on this stage. The sprues hold all of the fairings and things and the instructions do not indicate very clearly where they go, and while there are attachment pins on the pieces, there are no corresponding holes. I may end up just cutting the pins off.  

I'm gonna need a bigger bench... 

Here is the first and second stages assembled. Never realized how many lumps and bumps are on this thing. I did end up drilling some holes to help with alignment. I also drill some unnecessary holes. Fill and sand...
 

Test fitting in the display area... 

 

The kit came with RealSpace Models resin Saturn V Batted F-1 Engine Bells. The kit parts are beautifully molded, but completely off scale and the actual flight versions were covered with insulation (batting). This set of five engine bells replace the kit parts. 

I was a little concerned when I opened the box. The parts were quite large, but the white resin hid a great deal of detail that only became noticeable under a coat of paint. The gloss black will be the undercoat for silver. 

That covering was insulation to protect the engines from the aggregate heat that accumulated around them at launch and during flight. (From bugsandrockets.wordpress.com/) 

Tamiya X-11 Chrome silver... 

This the Rocketdyne J-2 engines, five for second stage and one for the third, plus the VTR-10 decent engine for the lunar lander. 

Dry fitting the J2s. Again, the accuracy of this kit is highly questionable. The engine cluster on the real Apollo 11 third stage had the engines much closer together. To be fair, my research has turned up some drawing and early mock ups that look quite similar to Dragon's. 

The risk of buying a kit second hand is the possibility of missing parts. In this case, a duplicate spue containing part for the lunar module landing gear is no where to be found. The good news is that A) most of this part will never be seen, and B) I ordered a cheap airfix version to cannibalize.... 

Full can of Mr. Surfacer, killed... 

...and two cans of Tamiya white primer... 

The rescue tower is done in all clear plastic to show off the command module.  

Working with clear plastic is a PIA... 

The lattice had me worried, but the fit was pretty good.  

all done... 

Hit everything with on last coat of white primer... 

Screwed up the chrome paint so went to good old Rub'nBuff... 

 

 

The Tamiya gloss pure white went on quite well... 

Restacked to ensure I line up the black paint correctly. I marked the "belly" of the rocket with little bit of tape... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decaling time... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put a 1/72 P-51 next to it for scale...