MEGA BUILD THREAD - The Mighty Saturns 1/100 Scale

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I see the two variants of the Saturn V, are the two Saturn 1Bs also different?

One of the Estes 1B kits will be built as Apollo 5. There is a Boyce nose on top of one of the boxes. The other Estes will be built stock as a Skylab flight. The two Boyce 1B's will be AS-203 and Apollo 7.
 
A couple more people who deserve thanks for helping make this project what I wanted it to be:

@dshmel and @dbpeirce for selling me the Sirius Rocketry resin parts (fins/fairings and capsule with LES) that I will be using to build the Apollo Saturn V. I built one in 2019 but got the weight balance wrong and crashed it. I snagged another kit before they went OOP, and this Saturn V will be my vengeance/redemption.

@Saluki for making me the 3D printed Capsule/LES for the Estes Saturn 1B. The part is a solid piece with an impression of the LES lattice, rather than the actual delicate lattice. Similar to the Sirius part, but it wasn't as important to me to have the actual Sirius part since there's no vengeance on the line for the 1B.

Like I said, I will be diving into these eight builds when I am done with my Doorknob and Venus Probe. I probably am going to start a build thread for the Venus Probe this week. It seems build thread-worthy.
 
Antares JS
This is quite a project you have ahead of you. Are you going to build them one at a time or all at one time?
Will there be a build thread on all of them?
If you need some extra capsules or anything I can help you with, just let me know.
 
This is quite a project you have ahead of you. Are you going to build them one at a time or all at one time?
Will there be a build thread on all of them?
If you need some extra capsules or anything I can help you with, just let me know.

Being just one guy, I can't literally work on all of them at once, but I am planning to have them all as open projects at once, as in if something is drying on one of them, I will move on and do something with another. Also, operations that are similar across multiple rockets, such as installing the plastic corrugated wraps on the Saturn V's and cutting the tubes for the Boyce models, will probably be done all at the same time for all models with that operation.

I am not planning to do eight individual build threads; all the action will be right here in this one thread. That's why it's a MEGA build thread. :cool:
 
I noticed you mentioned the Sirius Saturn V above. That, from my understanding, is indeed a beautiful model, but it's 1/64th scale, isn't it? Just curious... Love your backgrounds, air rockets, a tiny sandal, kids' toys... reminds me of when the grandkids are around!
 
I noticed you mentioned the Sirius Saturn V above. That, from my understanding, is indeed a beautiful model, but it's 1/64th scale, isn't it? Just curious... Love your backgrounds, air rockets, a tiny sandal, kids' toys... reminds me of when the grandkids are around!
Sirius offers resin capsule and fin parts in 1/100 scale as upgrades for the Estes kits. That’s what Antares means.

https://www.siriusrocketry.biz/isho...00-1-100-saturn-cone-and-fairing-set-294.html
 
Love your backgrounds, air rockets, a tiny sandal, kids' toys... reminds me of when the grandkids are around!

I have a three year old daughter and usually build my LPR's on a dinner tray while sitting on the couch in the living room where all her toys are, with something fun on TV in the background. She required a little bit of training to know what was okay to touch and what wasn't, but in general there's no problem now building rockets with her in the room.
 
I admire your moxie. Looking forward to the build pictures !

(PS You should build the Boyce 1/100 Mercury Redstone to display with the Saturns. It really shows how humongous they are !)
 
I admire your moxie. Looking forward to the build pictures !

(PS You should build the Boyce 1/100 Mercury Redstone to display with the Saturns. It really shows how humongous they are !)
I have the Redstone next to my static 1/100 Saturn V. It's occurred to me that you've been flying a bit in that Redstone before you even pass the top of the Saturn! And I'm not sure which is crazier - getting on top of that teensy little ballistic missile with no recourse - you ARE coming back down, properly or other wise - or making your way to the top of that flying skyscraper and heading for the moon. As I've gotten older, I've really grown to appreciate the abilities, the discipline, and the raw courage of our 1960's astronauts. It still no small thing to go into orbit, but these early guys, yow!
 
you ARE coming back down, properly or other wise

Another way of looking at it is that you are coming back down whether your retros work or not. In that sense, the suborbital flights were less risky.

While I would hop on a Gemini (except for the Gemini 7 mission. Ugh.) or an Apollo spacecraft in a heartbeat, Mercury just seemed to have a lot less safety margin than the later spacecraft did, and really wasn't built to last as was shown when things kept breaking down during Cooper's Mercury flight.
 
Finally did some gluing today. Motor retainer threads on the motor tube, launch lugs on a tank tube, and detail bits on the stage 1/stage 2 transition. All this is still just SA-5 so far.

Next will be painting the fin can, tank tubes, and transition before gluing the first stage together.

20210519_204314.jpg

20210519_204328.jpg
 
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