TRIBUTE TO THE SPACE SHUTTLE FROM AIRFIX

Weekend read from Mat Irvine:

As the last of the Airfix space launchers to receive a makeover, the updated 1:144 scale Space Shuttle was released to coincide with the last-ever Space Shuttle mission, STS-135 in July 2011, when the Orbiter Atlantis made its 33rd and final flight. So how did Airfix do with the makeover?

My involvement

At this point I have to add: firstly, that the plastic in the kit remains as it was before, and secondly, that I was involved with the reissue, having been asked by Airfix to update the plans and make recommendations for the decal sheet. I have done this with previous space reissues, and also for the last major Shuttle update, a Humbrol production carried out in 1999. 

Mike Trim and Jonathan Mock

So what about the Airfix Space Shuttle this time? Although you don’t get any new parts, you do get fresh box-art by Mike Trim, who also did previous rocket reissues. There are new plans and an even larger decal sheet, drawn by Jonathan Mock.

Both the old (left) decal sheet and new (right) were a vast change from the meagre set you got with the original kit (top left). Jonathan Mock has added many new markings, and arrangement drawings with markings for various Orbiter schemes are included. 

Components aplenty

You get almost 100 parts. New components I would have liked were in the payload bay, which still carries a generic Spacelab, which - because it is one moulding with the cargo bay itself - makes changing payloads difficult.

But with the Shuttle built as intended, in Full Stack configuration on the pad with Solid Rocket Boosters, the cargo bay doors are closed anyway, so this may not come into the equation.

Details from NASA

The Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) page of the plans (above). In reality they had to be kept generic for all SRBs from STS-3 onward, not forgetting that STS 1 and 2 had their External Tanks (ETs) painted white. For more info visit NASA for mission pix, and I can also recommend Mike Mackowski’s excellent Space in Miniature Volume 3.

Mat’s mods

I built this Airfix Space Shuttle with the payload bay changed from that supplied with the kit. New sides have been built and the payload modified (above). The forward ISS docking module actually comes with the 1:144 scale Intermountain-Railway (IMR) kit of the International Space Station (ISS).

Grey not white

One slight oddity (and one I didn’t realise until I actually got a production kit) is that the plastic is moulded in the now-standard Airfix light grey, not the original - and arguably more appropriate - white. But given that the vast majority of these kits will be painted anyway, this is perhaps no big deal. The kit still makes a fine tribute to this unique spacecraft, now firmly a part of the history books.

Visit Mike Trim here.

Visit Mike Mackowski here.

Buy the Airfix Space Shuttle here.

Visit Intermountain-Railway here.

AIRFIX SATURN 1B JOINS THE 'RETURN OF THE ROCKETS'

Mat Irvine reports:

Airfix plans to have reissued all its original 1:144 scale rocketry series by the end of 2011. The Apollo Saturn V and Vostok kits have already been released, as has the modified Skylab Saturn V. 

Saturn 1B redux

Meanwhile the last of the original launchers - the Saturn 1B - has been reissued recently, and this one is likely the most welcome for collectors, as it was last available way back, in 1991.

The new runner was first made for the Apollo Saturn V.

What's new?

The new Airfix Saturn 1B has the benefit of the updated Apollo section that was retooled for the recent Apollo Saturn V kit. In the 1B’s box is a runner for this item, plus a new version of the original rectangular base. The components not required any more have been removed from the tooling. There's also new box-art by Mike Trim, the illustrator who has also been responsible for the other rocket reissues.

Finished Airfix Saturn IB, standing on new base and nameplate decal.

Italian connection with Cartograf

There are also updated plans, and an updated decal sheet that includes some new markings, and - as with all Airfix kits - it is manufactured by Cartograf of Italy, which makes a  vastly superior decal set, compared with the original sheet.

Space Shuttle to come

The only Airfix item yet to appear is the Space Shuttle, and this is due later this year, complete with a new box, updated plans, and fresh decals. 

YURI GAGARIN AND THE AIRFIX VOSTOK KIT - MAT IRVINE TALKS KIT UPDATES

Mat Irvine on a question of colour

Further to last week’s report on the Airfix 1:144 scale Vostok kit reissue (see it here) celebrating Yuri Gagarin's famous 1961 flight, as I provided the change of details needed to Airfix, here’s more of an explanation.

Secret Vostok shape

The kit itself was released way back in 1969, when we in the West had only recently found out what this Soviet rocket actually looked like. Although flown as early as 1957 to launch Sputnik 1, it wasn’t until 1965, four years after the Gagarin flight, that the shape was revealed.

The first two Vostok boxes. Bottom is the 1969 original, above is the 1991 version, with my suggested additional wording: ‘Soviet A-Type Launch Vehicle’.

Slimline boosters

Because details were still sketchy even in 1969, the kit was not entirely accurate. To be fair, most of it did come out pretty close, but the main problem was with the four tapered boosters. These were too thin, and made the rocket look sleeker than it actually was. In reality, these boosters are somewhat fatter, making the rocket look more dumpy. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to correct them in this reissue, but everything else has been sorted, including the colour recommendations. 

New box for the Airfix Vostok launcher. Three configurations are included, but the emphasis is on Yuri Gagarin, as 2011 is the 50th anniversary of his flight, and the box features a commemorative sticker. New Airfix space kits have box art by Mike Trim, who also did designs for early Gerry Anderson TV series.

Green rocket

When the full-size mock-up was first seen, it was painted white, and as most US space launchers were white, it was assumed quite naturally that this was correct, and this was the Airfix recommendation too. However, once photos of the real thing appeared - though most were atrocious quality, and if they were in colour, even more atrocious colour - it was apparent the rocket wasn’t white. Instead, it was a dark camouflage colour, almost certainly green. This made sense, as the rocket was adapted from a missile, which tend to be camouflaged. So the paint instruction then became ‘camouflage green’, and this has been in place for a decade or so now. 

Trying to sort out which grey to suggest, using Humbrol’s colour chip book.

Updating the kit

However, given the task by Airfix to update the introduction and colour schemes for this reissue, I looked into the matter further. One rumour was that the ‘green’ is actually grey. However, most images still looked green, a result it seems of colour bias. Most film stock - we are talking traditional film here - has a bias to one section of the spectrum. Ektachrome tended to be biased toward blue, while Kodachrome went the other way, toward orange. Soviet-era film went towards green, and it appears, extremely so. If the rocket WAS grey, this, on the face of it, the most boring of colours, is actually in many ways the most enigmatic and due to a phenomenon known as metamerism, ‘real colour’ can take on various hues depending on many factors, particularly lighting. So you ended up with the grey of the Vostok launchers being referred to as ‘green’ because that’s how they looked in most photographs. It wasn’t until Western observers started to travel to what is now Russia, and were able to see the rockets directly ‘up close’, it was discovered they were painted grey, not green!

Vostok launcher with the other options, Luna and Soyuz. You get two nameplates - one in Cyrillic lettering (as here) and one in Roman script. The completed launcher is in the accepted ‘grey’ - though, depending on your monitor settings, it may still look green!

Shades of grey

That solved one major problem for me, but introduced another - OK it was grey, but what grey? As the kit was Airfix, and the paint section of Airfix’s owner, Hornby, is Humbrol, the paint recommendation had to be, fairly logically, a Humbrol colour. The slight problem was that Humbrol makes 27 shades of grey, (28 if you include primer), so which shade should I recommend? After a lot of head-scratching, I first ended up with a shortlist of ten, then whittled it down to either 126 US Medium Grey or 156 Dark Camouflage Grey. I was tending towards the former, but then realised that it was close to 27 Matt Sea Grey, which had a clear advantage - it was available not only in Humbrol’s classic tinlet, but also in a spray can. So to make everything easy, the choice for the Vostok, and any similar Russian/Soviet launcher, is Humbrol 27 Matt Sea Grey.

So the rocket is grey - but it can also be white… More on that next time!

See Vostok kit here.

See more in my article on building the Airfix Vostok launcher in Airfix Model World, Issue 5. AMW is here.