1/72 Moonraker shuttle with boosters

[Gunpowder]

This is a commision that i have been building for a while now. Its HUMUNGOUS. Its the Monogram 1/72 kit and it lit with 1 LED in the cockpit and 1 in each booster. I got the tank and boosters assembled today and fitted them all together. This is one of the most impressive models i have ever built , but is also fairly bad fitting. Its a bit of a filler magnet! It is to be painted up as a Moonraker shuttle. Heres some photos so far

And here is something in the same scale to give you an idea of size. The Airfix 1/72 Nimrod.

 

[Gunpowder]

Work progressed well today. Im really pleased with this , it actually quite like the colour scheme.I did some basic weathering , but i will do a little more once the matt is on

 

[Eagle]

Very nice.

Can't wait for mine!

Out of interest - where did you get the decals? And why '8'?

I'm unfamiliar with the Nimrod - any chance of a pic with, say, a soda can for scale?

 

[Gunpowder]

Very nice.

Can't wait for mine!

Out of interest - where did you get the decals? And why '8'?

I'm unfamiliar with the Nimrod - any chance of a pic with, say, a soda can for scale?

The decals are the Jbot ones , which you may want to get. The stripe was hand painted with my own mixture. I only chose 8 because he told me to use whatever number i wanted , and 8 was the only one that didn't disintigrate!

 

[PHArchivist]

She's a beaut! Love seeing another's take on this subject. After doing two, (2.5 actually!) I got a bit burned out, but seeing yours make me want to get back into it. Did you go straight black on the undersid and around the nose?

 

[Gunpowder]

She's a beaut! Love seeing another's take on this subject. After doing two, (2.5 actually!) I got a bit burned out, but seeing yours make me want to get back into it. Did you go straight black on the undersid and around the nose?

No i used the trusty old Nato black with an overspray of my dirt colour mix. I used straight black on the tail fin

 

[PHArchivist]

Cool. The brown over-coat is hard to see in pics, but it makes a big difference in person, doesn't it?

My theory (or guess is more like it) is that the originals had it more of a deep chocolate brown to offset if from the black space back-drop. Maybe.

 

[phase pistol]

I still think that's a hilarious scene in Moonraker, where they launch about twenty shuttles one-after-another. :lol

Go ask NASA to launch two shuttles in the same month and see how they react... :unsure

 

[Eagle]

Can anyone make high quality decals? I have the Drax artwork in vector format but not the means to make them. Also, anyone know what font 'MOONRAKER' is in?

 

[PHArchivist]

Also, anyone know what font 'MOONRAKER' is in?

I believe I used either Ariel Bold, or Ariel Black, 13 point IIRC.

 

[phase pistol]

Arial is Microsoft's knockoff of Helvetica... if you can get Helvetica I'd use that one.

- k

 

[Mike Rush]

True! Most people think Arial and Helvetica are the same thing, but there are important differences.

Plus, Arial wasn't around when Moonraker was made.

 

[R2B9]

A little dullcoat to get that gloss off the white will do wonders for scale, also.

I've got one of the 1/72 stacks (in sections) in the garage- I think I may go Moonraker on it, also. Maybe take it a step further and make the shuttle look like it'd been through a long service life like what's left of the real fleet. Of course that would mean that Bond had failed in his mission :confused

You're right... the fit of those big tank halves sucked. Actually, the kit had a lot of superdetail potential, but the fit of the big pieces was a pain in the rear. On the external tank, it was so bad that made a mold of part of the tank insulation and then I smeared the tank over with filler along the bad seams (a lot of that) then pressed the mold onto the stll soft filler. Worked pretty good at blending it together.

 

[Gunpowder]

A little dullcoat to get that gloss off the white will do wonders for scale, also.

I've got one of the 1/72 stacks (in sections) in the garage- I think I may go Moonraker on it, also. Maybe take it a step further and make the shuttle look like it'd been through a long service life like what's left of the real fleet. Of course that would mean that Bond had failed in his mission :confused

You're right... the fit of those big tank halves sucked. Actually, the kit had a lot of superdetail potential, but the fit of the big pieces was a pain in the rear. On the external tank, it was so bad that made a mold of part of the tank insulation and then I smeared the tank over with filler along the bad seams (a lot of that) then pressed the mold onto the stll soft filler. Worked pretty good at blending it together.

Yup the Matt cote is next. Another hectic 8 hours today. I managed to get the tank and boosters finished , includeing the LEDs and the bossters and the battery and switch hidden under one of the boosters nose cones. Nearly finished now.

 

[mb1k]

Nicely done. Looking forward to seeing the finished commission. PHArchivist, looks like your Moonrakers are getting some sister ships added

 

[PHArchivist]

Nicely done. Looking forward to seeing the finished commission. PHArchivist, looks like your Moonrakers are getting some sister ships added

Totally! Love seeing other takes on this subject! I'm just now building/painting yet another, but this one is SMALL...! Don't recall the scale but it's only 6.5 inches long.

 

[obiwan2]

:eek She is a beauty!!!

 

[mb1k]

Updates?

 

[Gunpowder]

Updates?

Heres the last picture that i took of it

 

[mb1k]

Looks great, right down to the correct scalloped RCC panels.:thumbsup