Hasegawa 1/200 Space Shuttle Update 2

I decided to add the Ku-band antenna to this model. I found an antenna that I should be able to modify for this in my box of spare parts. It started out as a Lunar Module steerable S-band antenna on a Revel 1/96 scale model. Above is a picture of the original part.

I did some chopping and adding of small rods and strips and came up with a passable version for the 1/200 Hasegawa shuttle. Here is a photo of the completed amalgamation before I give it a new paint job.

I then moved on to modifying the payload bay part. I removed a large block of plastic that was part of the Canadarm mount point. That exposed a hole in the wall that was under the removed block of plastic which was filled with Tamiya white putty. I removed the molded in payload bay pallet. The three Canadarm rest cradles had their excess plastic removed as well. I also filled in a couple of notches that supported an equipment rack above the pallet. Finally, I added a mount point for the Ku-band antenna. I’m not too worried about some roughness in the area of the molded in pallet. It will all get covered with insulation blankets soon. Here is an annotated photo.

Here is a photo of the modified payload bay dry fitted to the shuttle body.

A photo of the original payload bay is on the first post of this series.

I glued the black portion of the shuttle nose together. I think I’ll have to do some drilling and seam work on this part.

The underside will need some additional work on the bottom. There is a lump where you are supposed to drill a hole to attach the shuttle to the external tank. That is not needed and will get sanded off. I test fitted it to the main fuselage of the shuttle and this part is a bit narrow on the sides. My initial plan to fix this is to add a post to push the sides outward a bit to get it to fit better. We’ll see how that works later.

Finally, for this session I added a ground support port to the Spacelab between the two extensions I added earlier. It is a sliver from a 3/32 styrene rod.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking.