The Rocket from "Objectif Lune" and "On a Marche Sur La Lune" (Tintin)

Archive&Future · Jun 28, 2013

Since I was quite young I've been a big fan of Tintin; just recently our city library had a small batch of diecast rockets in stock (£110 each!!), but I didn't have enough money to snap one up. As such, I've decided to make my own rocket from scratch, depicting a scene from "On a Marche Sur La Lune" (Explorers on the Moon).

So first things first, I've worked out the scale. I've calculated that to make it in 1:144 scale, it will be around 340mm tall, the reason I'm doing it on 1:144 is that I want to make the Moon Tank that goes with it.

Could anybody give me some suggestions as to what 1:144 scale tank kit(s) I could use to make the Moon Tank?

Ordinarily I would sift through the ModelZone site, but that's completely down now.
Thanks in advance, and stay tuned!

portland182 · Jun 28, 2013

The running gear looks similar to a British 'Centurion' tank.
Get one for the running gear and scratch build the rest.

Not too sure if there's a kit of it in 1/144 though...

Jim

Contec · Jun 28, 2013

Rpf member wasili made the rocket a few years back
http://www.therpf.com/f11/tintin-moonrocket-3-5ft-high-65262/

Archive&Future · Jun 28, 2013

portland182 said:
The running gear looks similar to a British 'Centurion' tank.
Get one for the running gear and scratch build the rest.

Not too sure if there's a kit of it in 1/144 though...

Jim

Thanks! I'll head down to the local shop and see what they have.

Contec said:
Rpf member wasili made the rocket a few years back
http://www.therpf.com/f11/tintin-moonrocket-3-5ft-high-65262/

I looked through the thread and wept tears of joy, if mine turns out even 1/10th as beautiful as that I would be over the moon (no pun intended)
Thank you very very much!

3djinn · Jun 28, 2013

If you made it 1:100 scale you could use a Zvezda Panzer III. They are half the price of 1:144 scale tanks (at least the ones I've seen).

Archive&Future · Jun 28, 2013

3djinn said:
If you made it 1:100 scale you could use a Zvezda Panzer III. They are half the price of 1:144 scale tanks (at least the ones I've seen).

Hmm, that sounds promising. The reason that I went with 1:144 is because 1:72 wouldn't fit anywhere in my room, but after working it out, 1:100 ought to. I'll look into both suggestions and see how it goes!

Archive&Future · Jul 31, 2013

Just to prove that this isn't going to be a dead-end project, I've whipped up some 1:100 blueprints (well...half blue prints)

I found some 1:100 scale Panzers on ebay for like...less than £3 or something, dirt cheap; so I'll order a couple of those soon and start scratching the moon tank

cabour · Aug 2, 2013

Someone did an RC moon tank from a Pershing (in french) :
Maquettisme, figurines, musique ...: Le char lunaire de Tintin
https://plus.google.com/photos/106842221680672036882/albums/5675702051849578385?banner=pwa

Another one in the studying for a scratch (again in french) : Les Aventures de Tintin :: Le char lunaire
Browse all the 6 pages, there are blueprints, detailed maps of parts (pages 4 & 5) and even a Google skectup model on page 2
it seems that the pershing is the solution for the body, but the tracks are too large (page 4).

You can also try "char lunaire" (moon tank in french) on Google

Archive&Future · Aug 2, 2013

cabour said:
Someone did an RC moon tank from a Pershing (in french) :
Maquettisme, figurines, musique ...: Le char lunaire de Tintin
https://plus.google.com/photos/106842221680672036882/albums/5675702051849578385?banner=pwa

Another one in the studying for a scratch (again in french) : Les Aventures de Tintin :: Le char lunaire
Browse all the 6 pages, there are blueprints, detailed maps of parts (pages 4 & 5) and even a Google skectup model on page 2
it seems that the pershing is the solution for the body, but the tracks are too large (page 4).

You can also try "char lunaire" (moon tank in french) on Google

Fantastic links there Cabour! A goldmine of reference.
I've found a little tank model in my kitbash box, I can't tell what scale it is, the figures are smaller than 1:72, but the tank is very very small....it has the same kind of running tracks as the moon tank. I'm going to tinker around with it today and see what I can do, how it pairs up with scale of the rocket.

Thank you again!

Archive&Future · Aug 2, 2013

So I found that tank and started working into it.
First, I lopped off the slope at the back

Added wheels (from all sorts of kits, I must have used up the original ones this came with) and styrene skirting

Then bulked out the underside, spade added to the side

Curved styrene makes up the front, 5mm LEDs were used for the bubble cockpits

It really is tiny!

Upper deck was made from styrene, forward floodlight added

Vinyl, etched brass and kitbashed details were added. Cockpits masked

Primed

Basecoat

Aaaand more to come later!

Archive&Future · Aug 2, 2013

Two more coats later:

Scale-wise against the blueprints (this was while it was in primer)

Yes? No? Suggestions?

curlyhairedboy · Aug 2, 2013

i think the styrene upper parts should probably be beveled in more, based on the pictures in the first post....it's sort of like the tank should be converging at the top, and the box part is just a bit too wide. you're getting close!

Archive&Future · Aug 2, 2013

curlyhairedboy said:
i think the styrene upper parts should probably be beveled in more, based on the pictures in the first post....it's sort of like the tank should be converging at the top, and the box part is just a bit too wide. you're getting close!

Yeah I know right

my moon tank is waaay inaccurate, it's too tall and doesn't have enough wheels, there are loads of issues with it BUT seeing as it's mainly there to (hopefully) complement the rocket, I'm not too worried

Archive&Future · Aug 2, 2013

I gave it a deep blue wash, and a sky blue drybrush to bring out details. Smaller details like the tools were picked out, and the wheels were painted in a grey/gunmetal mix. I'm gonna call this done

Construction on the rocket should start within the next couple of weeks

curlyhairedboy · Aug 2, 2013

your paintjobs continue to impress! :thumbsup

Archive&Future · May 14, 2014

Rodger and I finally got hold of a lathe (for a mere £47 no less, in entirely perfect condition including tools

)

A couple of months ago I glued 3 layers of kitchen work surface together, and planed off the edges. We had to cut it down a little more to fit on the lathe, but then we had all sorts of issues with balance and the lathe wobbling about all over the place (don't laugh...we're new to this)
We spent a couple of hours correctly setting up the lathe, bolting it to the bench and then cutting the block down to the correct 75mm diameter, and finally squaring off the ends

Even the plate is technically too big, at 105mm. Here is the correct diameter of 75mm, you can see how much we needed to take off

Having it with a squared profile still gave us balance issues

So we angled the table saw to 45 and created an octagonal profile

Here's Rodge taking the profile down

Then I spent half an hour creating the beginning of the nose cone

And after that I had to pop off to work, so that's as far as I am for now

joberg · May 15, 2014

Glad it's continuing; like the tank btw...and as a Belgian (lived not far from Hergé's resting place) it's nice to see someone taking on that rocket

Archive&Future · May 15, 2014

joberg said:
Glad it's continuing; like the tank btw...and as a Belgian (lived not far from Hergé's resting place) it's nice to see someone taking on that rocket

Thanks Joberg, it's such an iconic rocket I don't know why we haven't seen more builds! I'd love to build it bigger than 1:100 scale, but I think the largest scale we could fit on the lathe might be 1:80? 1:72 is too big for the lathe by a mere 3"

wasili · May 18, 2014

Late reply from my side, but thanx for the kind words. I had a lot of fun building mine. I've build a few since the 90's (different techniques and materials), but there is something timeless and instantly recognizable about the shape and colorpattern.

Love the work your doing, and can't wait to see the final result.

Cheers,
Wasili

Archive&Future · Jun 9, 2014

WELL, I've goofed up a little and also forgot to take many documentation photographs so bear with me on this update.

I turned the wood down to the profile I'd made according to my blueprints....however it looked way way too long and narrow SO I turned 40mm worth of length off.....judged it by eye :facepalm
I realised my mistake and Rodger and I evened it out to match the diameter of a 31mm hole saw

Then we took a 50mm fencing support, cut it down, squared it off, drilled the 31mm hole, then whacked it onto the rocket with a lot of PVA

While that was happening, I drew out the wing profile on a slab of wood, cut it out and copied it onto paper templates. As you can see (or ...not...see) I didn't take any photos

The wing is thinner on the 'bell' side than the rocket side, and I'm TRYING to get a teardrop profile but so far all I've managed is rounded edges. Anyway, using that same 50mm fencing support we cut 3 lengths to turn to make the landing bells

I made one but screwed up....it snapped and flew off the lathe. It isn't such a nice wood as the kitchen countertop used for the fuselage

I don't know if you can see it, but there's a line in the middle of the block at the bottom. That's where I'll be cutting it off at, not too short, not too long

I'm on 12 weeks of holiday now, so expect updates soon!

The Rocket from "Objectif Lune" and "On a Marche Sur La Lune" (Tintin)

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