This post was finished several weeks ago. It got stuck in the draft folder for a while. My mother died around the end of January and I completely forgot that this post was in limbo. I’ve not done much on the model in the weeks since then. I’m beginning to get back around to normal and so I have picked back up on the model. It is a nice distraction from everything else that is going on. I hope to add a few more posts in the coming weeks. So, without further delay here is Update 9.
With the major modification of the Ascent Stage complete I glued the Ascent Stage together. I then spent some time filling and smoothing the modified under side of the Ascent Stage.
The “face” is not glued in place. I’ll have to wait until the painting is done because of the windows in it. I was happy that all the pieces of the Ascent Stage fit together very well and will need little to no filler. Here is a photo that shows some of the panel lines.
I did modify the front where the window section joins the rest of the Ascent Stage. I noticed that it might be possible to see those pegs through the front windows so I cut off the most visible areas.
Also note that I have glued in the rear RCS fixtures. New-Ware did not provide replacements for these as they are of the correct shape. However, you do have to cut off the two nozzles that are molded in. They are pointed at an angle from the center line. This is not correct. One should be pointing straight out away from the module, and the other should be pointing directly out from the back. I was afraid that I would have to reuse those nozzles after repositioning. But, I noticed that my kit had two “D” sprues. That left me with plenty of extra nozzles. Now I can use the extra nozzles for both the fore and aft RCS quads. I like the looks of the kit nozzles a bit more than the resin ones. The only downside is that the kit nozzles are not quite as deeply hollowed as the resin ones. Here are the two LM RCS sprues.
The lower sprue shows one nozzle cut off. I used that one to help me with drilling new holes in the aft RCS quads.
Now I guess I’ll get the Descent Stage glued up enough so I can put primer on both stages. Then I get to start foiling/painting the model.
Thanks for looking.
Luhman-ations 