Here’s another space-history kit from Hong Kong’s Dragon, utilising the company’s interest in all things astronautical, especially the Moon landing missions of Project Apollo.
The kit represents what is often termed ‘the fourth stage’ of the Saturn V launcher - the crewed Command and Service modules (CSM) with Launch Escape System (LES) on top. Below the CSM is the Lunar Module (LM), encased in the conical Spacecraft Lunar Module Adaptor (SLA).
The kit is based on the existing Dragon 1:72 scale CSM and LM, with a runner for the new parts. Also supplied is a new component for the Command Module’s Boost Protective Cover (BPC). This was the outer shell used at launch, and to which the escape tower was fitted. Parts are supplied in grey and clear, though note the SLA’s lower ring (right) is moulded in black, as is the circular stand, borrowed from Dragon’s Kirin range.
The upper section of the SLA is neatly moulded in clear styrene, so the Lunar Module can be seen inside, its landing legs neatly folded for launch. The 1:48 scale Revell kit of the same subject has realistic opaque parts, and they are hinged to be folded down for viewing. The 1:70 scale Tamiya kit is a closer match to this kit, but suffers, like the Revell, from being based on the earlier-design Block I SM, not Dragon’s correctly-moulded Block II version.
You don't actually have to include the Command Module - if the model is assembled as per instructions, it is hidden inside the Boost Protective Cover.
Construction details for the CSM and LM follow previous Dragon kits, though there are assorted ‘oddities’ with these Apollo kits, the one here being the SM’s high-gain quad antenna, the dish structure at the end of the main SM body. Its flight configurations were probably glossed over when the kit was being planned, as the antenna can be built only in cruise mode, sticking out at 90 degrees - which means it won’t fit in the SLA. There’s an easy solution though - just cut off the support bar end, then cement it to hang parallel to the engine bell, dishes pointing inward.
The Dragon Apollo 10 kit has some 120 parts, and the finished model stands around 355mm (14in) high. It then sits on the circular base, taken from one of Dragon’s subsidiary trading brands, Kirin.
There is one other oddity, and that’s in the name. Exactly why does Dragon list the kit specifically as Apollo 10? While it isn’t suitable for Apollo 7 or 8, as those missions didn’t carry an LM, it suits any Apollo flight from Apollo 9 onwards.
A useful addition to the ranks of Apollo kits, especially as it's in model aircraft standard 1:72 scale.
Review kit courtesy The Hobby Company.
For more, see my article in the hardcopy Airfix Model World magazine, issue 23.
Dragon Apollo 10 kit and much more available here.
It looks nice, though I wish the legs of the LEM were hinged so you could display it on its legs if desired - I also would have liked to have seen hatches on the command and service modules that could be opened and closed if one desired to make a more detailed interior - maybe in the future? Oh yes, we need a 1/72nd Saturn 1B! That along with a launch complex would really be awesome!
ReplyDeleteNice ideas, though I suspect hinged legs would be difficult to engineer at this scale. Hinged hatches and detailed interiors really ought to be on Dragon's road map for space kits. Let's hope so, anyway.
DeleteMat says -
ReplyDelete"Working LM leg hinges on this scale would indeed be impractical, but
you can get a version with legs extended in the other Dragon Apollo
kits.
When I first saw the SM and the way it was assembled I did think it was
because a J version (Apollo 15 - 17) with the SIM bay was on the cards.
However a second look revealed this wasn't possible with this breakdown
of parts, and I still have no idea why Dragon made the SM assemble
process so complex for no apparent reason?
If you want a 1:72 scale Saturn 1B you can get one, in fact two, in 1:70
from Estes and Apogee Components. They are intended to fly, but make up
into decent static models. (And Apogee does a 1:70 Saturn V as well.)
A 1:72 Launch Complex though might be pushing it a bit. LCM (Launch
Complex Models) did a photo-etch Saturn LC in 1:144 - but that was,
IIRC, over $700..."