"Everything is Go!" Mercury Capsule and Atlas Booster by CDW - FINISHED - Atlantis - PLASTIC

[CDW]

Had to take care of a matter in a small city about 50 miles from home this week. While there, saw a Hobby Lobby nearby and had to take a look inside. This was my first ever visit to a Hobby Lobby store, and it was quite impressive. They even had a decent scale model section to my surprise. Downloaded a 40% off coupon on my phone then bought this repop of an old, old, Revell kit was many days gone by. The little booklet that comes inside the kit box describes John Glen's first orbit around the planet and has some interesting vintage 60's photos of that event. With a 40% discount, the kit was $17.99. A bargain at that price.

 

I have seen photos of the finished model done by others and it's quite decent. A little clunky by today's model standards, but still a neat looking space model that will make you recall those days when we were younger. Will give this thing a go and see how it comes out. 

[mtaylor]

Interesting model.  Does it include the launch pad like on the cover?

[CDW]

Yes, it includes everything you see on the box.

[Old Collingwood]

Interesting build  - I once built the Airfix Apollo  Rocket   it was massive  - well I was smaller then as a kid.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

Hmm.... tempting. But Our Lady of the Beautiful Hen is keeping busy.

[catopower]

I've admired this model kit since I was a boy. A friend of mine had built it and I loved that it had the whole launch pad complete with the erector truck. May not live up to modern kits with their photo etched brass, but the kit's still a classic.

 

Congratulations on your find!

[popeye the sailor]

I went through a space stage when I was young.........had the capsule and the LEM.   later buying the kit that had them both........they could be done docked together.   I had to do a report on the moon landing at school......got in big trouble when I failed to produce it when it was due.   long story { my parents were brought into it }........ended up with a poor grade and I still had to do it.  not a happy time     haven't heard of the company.......is it a fairly new release?

[CDW]

3 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

haven't heard of the company.......is it a fairly new release?

When Revell USA went out of business a few years ago, Atlantis bought a lot of their old tooling, this being one of them. We are lucky that someone took on these old molds. In the near future, Atlantis will be offering the big scale Turbo Prop Engine kit. As far as I know, that kit has not been released since Revell produced it as part of their History Makers series of kits. So yes, this is a fairly new release of a very old kit originally from Revell.

[catopower]

Sometimes it seems like the old companies don't really appreciate their own early work. So, maybe it's just as well they are gone and replaced by a company that understands the importance of these old models. At least we're lucky enough to be able see them again and maybe build them.

[CDW]

Started putting this kit together today, lots and lots of cleanup of the parts is necessary to remove flash, ejector pins, etc. Remember, this is a very old tool and it shows it's age. 

It seems reasonable to me to assemble this model in sub assemblies, some large, then paint the basic colors and detail paint last. Tomorrow, I should get some photos of the major sub assemblies before painting.

Here are a couple of photos of the contents of the kit.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2019 by CDW

[lmagna]

Kind of reminds me of the old 1/200 Revell Esso North Cormorant off Shore Platform Kit. Should be interesting.

[CDW]

Just now, lmagna said:

Kind of reminds me of the old 1/200 Revell Esso North Cormorant off Shore Platform Kit. Should be interesting.

I have never seen the contents of the Revell Off Shore Platform, but they fetch a smart price on Ebay. Will bet there is a ton of plastic in that model.

[lmagna]

30 minutes ago, CDW said:

Will bet there is a ton of plastic in that model

There is/was. It came in red, yellow, and gray plastic. I built it for my father-in-law as a Shell rig when he retired from Shell many years ago. I have no idea where it went when he died but I am pretty sure it is long gone now. 

 

I would bet that if they reissued it today with added PE for much of the structure it would be a killer model. But the same could be said of this model too. PE for the more delicate parts would make it really pop, no matter what the vintage.

Edited October 16, 2019 by lmagna

[Canute]

May want to clearcoat the decal sheet, if they're as old as you say they are. Probably not much in the line of replacement sets out there.

[CDW]

1 hour ago, Canute said:

May want to clearcoat the decal sheet, if they're as old as you say they are. Probably not much in the line of replacement sets out there.

The decals are new. Only the tooling/molds are old Revell, this kit was just reissued by Atlantis. A bargain if you buy it at Hobby Lobby using their 40% off coupon.

[CDW]

This model is getting close to paint now. There is more to be added after some basic painting is done as well as some detail painting. The rocket booster and Mercury capsule are very basic assemblies, not complicated at all.

 

[Canute]

Looking good. Nice and spindly looking. PE would turn this into an even spiffier gem.

[CDW]

3 minutes ago, Canute said:

Looking good. Nice and spindly looking. PE would turn this into an even spiffier gem.

You never know....since a new company is handling the molds now, maybe some PE company will come along and start producing aftermarket items for models like this. That would be nice.

[CDW]

 

[CDW]

 

[Canute]

I remember the manned launches that happened later, with Sheperd, Grissom and Glenn. The nuns rolled big TVs into my 7th grade class so we could all watch history being made.

[CDW]

Looking at the videos, it's interesting the model captures a lot of the basic launch structure correctly. At first I thought it was more imaginary than scale, but now that I look at it, it's much closer to scale than I thought it was with a few exceptions.

Look at the second video to see how the launch pad had a thrust deflector built onto the launch platform...this is reproduced on the model launch platform.

[lmagna]

So are you going to modify the kit to reflect the actual launchpad?

[popeye the sailor]

  they have this at oldmodelkits.com

 

sorry I haven't been 'round.....copped a nasty cold during my work week    getting back up to speed though...I feel better     the pad looks super........and yea........if there was some PE involved,  it would enhance it greatly.   there used to be a big push for these missile models.......cripe,  between Aurora,  Revell,  Monogram and Strombecker,  there were quite a few kits.  are you going to make a base for it?  a sheet of 1/16 or 1/8 plastic should do the trick  

[catopower]

Growing up next to Vandenberg AFB in the 60s, I remember weekly missile launches. It was the norm in the town of Lompoc, where you'd be inside, hear a rumble, the windows would start to rattle, you rush outside along with every family in the neighborhood standing out on their lawns, and watch the rising streak of smoke.

 

You'd watch and look closely so you could see the puff of smoke from the staging. After a while, all you could see was the speck of light from the upper stage engine fading into the distance, and people all wandered back into their homes.

 

They were all unmanned flights – a lot of them, test flights.

 

They were very inspiring to a kid at a time when the space program was in full swing!

[CDW]

Just now, lmagna said:

So are you going to modify the kit to reflect the actual launchpad?

No plans to modify anything with this kit. Completely stock. When I finish it, will sell it on Ebay and many buyers just aren't interested in paying for added extras.

[CDW]

Just now, popeye the sailor said:

Just now, popeye the sailor said:

sorry I haven't been 'round.....copped a nasty cold during my work week    getting back up to speed though...I feel better     the pad looks super........and yea........if there was some PE involved,  it would enhance it greatly.   there used to be a big push for these missile models.......cripe,  between Aurora,  Revell,  Monogram and Strombecker,  there were quite a few kits.  are you going to make a base for it?  a sheet of 1/16 or 1/8 plastic should do the trick  

Sorry to hear about your cold...did you get a flu shot by any chance? I heard on the news today the flu is sending lots of folk to the hospital. 🤥

As for adding a base, see my above reply to Lou.

 

[CDW]

Just now, catopower said:

Growing up next to Vandenberg AFB in the 60s, I remember weekly missile launches. It was the norm in the town of Lompoc, where you'd be inside, hear a rumble, the windows would start to rattle, you rush outside along with every family in the neighborhood standing out on their lawns, and watch the rising streak of smoke.

 

You'd watch and look closely so you could see the puff of smoke from the staging. After a while, all you could see was the speck of light from the upper stage engine fading into the distance, and people all wandered back into their homes.

 

They were all unmanned flights – a lot of them, test flights.

 

They were very inspiring to a kid at a time when the space program was in full swing!

I too was totally wrapped up in following the space program during that era. Like others (Canute) have said, vividly recall the television sets being rolled into our classrooms so we could watch the historic launches....so much fun.

Did anyone else get issues of the Weekly Reader newspapers in school? They always had fascinating reports on the space program. As a kid, I built every space model I could get my hands on, including Estes rockets, Jetex powered aircraft, and even some baking soda/vinegar rockets! Those baking soda rockets would spray that vinegar all over me when I launched them and mom hated when I came inside the house smelling like vinegar. She would make me hose myself down outside before coming in the house. 😅

Lost a lot of my Estes rockets as wind would carry them WAY far away from the launch site and would never find them.

[Old Collingwood]

I was reading some facinating stuff  supposed to be genuine transcripts from Apollo 11  (I think it was)  live  comms between the astronauts  and mission control, where they were reporting other crafts on the moon that were said to be larger and more advanced.

Nothing more was said about it though  so who knows  -

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

I too did the Estes rocket thing back in the day.  One was the Mercury but the beast was Saturn V.   Lost the Saturn V when one of the motors (it had 5 as I recall) blew up on launch.  Irritated me but it wasn't uncommon as some their motors did blow like a fire cracker.