1/350 Moonlander

[frank2056]

Andrew - In "The Spaceship Handbook" the drawings don't show the hex grid. I think the nozzles just look better with the grid than an open nozzle (on the kit).


I've been making some progress. Here's the temporary stacking of the parts:

[Rick Lowe]

 

[Mossie]

Loving this.  Quite the kit, its a good size.

Regarding the Paragrafix sets, I've got one for the Pilgrim Observer kit. They include a few extra details that aren't direct replacements for the kit details that you can use if you feel like it. A nice approach.

[frank2056]

Almost there. I repainted the crew sphere just to make it different. I had some self-inflicted challenges during the build - I mistakenly glued the vertical rods to the horizontal support rings before I had everything aligned, so I've been struggling to work around/correct the issues. I also cut the Earth departure tank supports off, faced the stumps off... and didn't like the way they looked, so i replaced part of the missing beams.

Okiofuge dis a far, far better job.

This is where it stands - some parts are still just tacked in place. The high gain antenna dish is held up with poster putty. The dish is pointed towards the horizon, since I'm going to make this a lunar pole mission. I may add solar panels (vs the mercury powered solar thermal generator):



The dish needs a little work to make it rounder and close off the petals:




I still have a lot of work to do, but it'll be slow this week since my wife is having surgery on her broken wrist.

[Rick Lowe]

Looks good. 

And all the Best for the Missus; hope all goes well. 

[Old Wombat]

I'll say write it again:

I like it! The metallics look more industrial than the white of Okiofuge's. 

[Rheged]

Family Rheged extend their best wishes to your good lady regarding her wrist surgery, and also to you whilst you look after her during her convalescence

[NARSES2]

Looking good 

Hope the Mrs is ok 

[Dizzyfugu]

Cool! 

[buzzbomb]

Really like this, it looks of the era and totally of the era practical.

Love it

[frank2056]

Thanks, guys. Lisa tripped on the raised edge (2"/50mm) of a sidewalk slab and broke her wrist and scraped her chin. She looked like she had a Māori chin tattoo for a couple of days.
Her surgeon is one of the top 5 wrist surgeons in the US. It's going to be an outpatient surgery. We're taking a Waymo down to the surgery center (in downtown LA) - I don't feel like driving through the fractal dimensions of the downtown LA freeway interchange. One wrong lane change and we could end up in 1300s Mongolia.

As far as this build, I'm stumped with what to do with the repaired tank supports. The joints between the re-glued rods are flimsy, not straight and impossible to sand without breaking the joint. I thought of wrapping foil around the joints to disguise the mess,  but I tried gold Bare Metal Foil, and couldn't get it to stick.
I'm thinking of carefully applying some putty and painting that gold (so it looks like crinkled foil).

[Rick Lowe]

What about some thin walled tube to join the two bits? It wouldn't look out of place.


Not good for the Mrs, but having one of the Top Men treating her is a good thing (as long as she doesn't end up in a warehouse somewhere...    ). 

[frank2056]

Rick - I tried it with some styrene tube, but a thin brass tube should work - thanks!

Not good for the Mrs, but having one of the Top Men treating her is a good thing (as long as she doesn't end up in a warehouse somewhere...    ). 

Thanks! The surgeon is a woman (and pregnant).  The surgery shouldn't last much over an hour.

[Captain Canada]

Wow ! What a great looking kit ! Love the way the nozzles move.

[frank2056]

It really is a great kit, despite the size. All the problems have been self inflicted. The only major (and it's major) problem with this kit is the scale. It is nowhere near 1/350. When it's finished, I'll show the difference.