Well I don’t usually overlap builds, but I knew I was going to have to wait a bit before I could get back to the Millennium Falcon. I started my next project which is another kit from Martin’s Models from the UK. This one is a conversion set that modifies an Airfix 1/144 Saturn IB into a Saturn I Block II SA-5. It was the first Saturn I flight to have a live S-IV second stage. I love that rocket. It has those great classic lines.
Again the resin parts are quite rough and some are out of round, but it will be a great starting point and should build into a nice model.
I started by removing the pour plugs from the parts and doing any necessary trimming to the resin parts. Next I started removing the fins from the thrust structure of the kit part. This time I would not be removing the fairings from the base part since SA-5 had these. When I used the Airfix kit to make the SA-205 Apollo 7 Saturn IB a few years ago, I had to remove them. For SA-5 I did have to remove part of the top of the parts that made up the first stage fuel tanks since SA-5 had only a very small flat section. In the picture you can see how much had to be removed. The part on the right has the extra plastic cut off while the part on the left has not been modified yet. You can also see how much the plastic had yellowed over the years. I bought this kit when Airfix re-released it in the 1990’s.
You’ll notice that I had to fill a couple of divots that I made when I was removing the fins. I got a bit zealous with the Dremel and created an oopsi moment.
Next, I moved on to some of the resin parts. The tapered interstage needed to be sanded a bit on both ends to get a flat and square surface. Unfortunately the interstage is not quite round. I’ll have to do more work here to get a more rounded part. The nosecone was not pointed enough for the version that was on SA-5. I started tapering it a bit more. I’m almost there. I’m not sure how much more I can sand it though. I keep hitting air bubbles that prevent a sharper point. I’ll continue to try and refine it.
Sorry for the out of focus on the interstage pic above.
Thanks for looking. More to come.
Luhman-ations 