Space Shuttle OV-099 Challenger by Ferrus Manus - Revell - 1/72 - PLASTIC - the Orbiter as she appeared on her final flight

[Ferrus Manus]

Hello all, 

I bought Revell's 1/72 scale space shuttle orbiter back in July if this year, and it has been sitting in my closet unbuilt ever since. It's time to finally open it up and start it! 

I planned initially on building the orbiter as the Columbia, as she would have appeared later in her life. However, as I was doing later research on the kit, I found out that A. all of the space shuttle orbiters had different thermal protection patterns, and B. the only orbiters you could model accurately are Columbia as she would have originally appeared prior to STS-9, and Challenger. 

So, I chose Challenger. 

Here's a look at the box: 

From what I've gathered, the kit shows its age, but with a little effort and skill, can be transformed into an extremely good-looking (although maybe not picture-perfect) representation of the orbiter. So, I am making a few decisions about the model. 

1. Just the orbiter will be built. I will not be purchasing the Monogram stack in order to represent the boosters and external fuel tank. That being said, Challenger especially deserves to be modeled as the full stack. 

2. Most of the tile work will be a painting exercise. I specialize in ships, not spacecraft, so I will likely build out of the box as much as possible for the sake of not risking the kit. 

3. Challenger is the only orbiter whose orbiter-specific markings are not included in the decal sheet. This was a massive oversight by Revell, and I will be purchasing a set of decals for her. 

 

Once more, as I have stated in the title, I will be depicting Challenger, quite possibly the second-most legendary spacecraft of all time, only being surpassed by the Saturn V, as she appeared immediately prior to her 73-second flight into the unknown. Wish me luck. 

[ccoyle]

An interesting and poignant subject, but when I reflect on the facts that the first crewed shuttle flight was in 1981 and the last in 2011 (already fourteen years ago!), I feel a bit old!

[Ferrus Manus]

Honestly, I feel a bit old as well. I was born in 2004, right at the beginning of the tail end of the Space Shuttle program- the shuttle returned to flight when I was a year old. After the cancellation of STS, I personally mailed a letter to President Obama asking why his government had shut it down (I was 6 or 7 at the time). He actually got back to me a couple of months later, and in the typical fashion of a politician, danced in circles around the question without giving a response. To date, I still miss the shuttle program. 

 

[realworkingsailor]

I remember being in school at the time, I was seven or eight years old. We had been talking about space in class all that week leading up to the launch, and were supposed to go to the school library to watch the launch. On the day of, the viewing was unexpectedly canceled. I think they had planned to record the launch and show it a few times as seating space in the library was limited.  The cancellation was very last minute. We were all lined up ready to go from the classroom to the library, when we were told to go back to our desks, no show today. It took a while to put two and two together, but it’s one of those things that has stuck with me. 
 

Andy

[Jack12477]

2 hours ago, Ferrus Manus said:

Honestly, I feel a bit old as well. I was born in 2004,

Ye gad's, I must be real ancient of days!🤫 born pre-Pearl Harbor.  I remember Challenger very vividly.  Also remember the capsule cockpit fire that killed 3 astronauts on the launch pad. 

Update : Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee—died in a fire during a launch rehearsal test for the Apollo 1 mission January 1967.

Edited Wednesday at 06:27 PM by Jack12477

[amateur]

It’s always longer ago than you first think…. 
I guess those two minutes of footage are remembered by everyone. Always wondered why the columbia-footage isnt so well known. I guess it is the difference between seeing something disintegrate, and ‘only’ seeing some abstract dots on the horizon.
 

Jan

[amateur]

7 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

Ye gad's, I must be real ancient of days!🤫 born pre-Pearl Harbor.  I remember Challenger very vividly.  Also remember the capsule cockpit fire that killed 3 astronauts on the launch pad. 

Yup, you may consider yourself somewhat elderly

 

Jan

[Old Collingwood]

Its amazing  when  you look at Elon Musks  latest ventures with his Super Heavy Rockets  - BIggest  Rockets Ever made.

 

OC.

[Ferrus Manus]

@amateur having seen the footage and news reports for both disasters numerous times, I think the main contrast is that the Columbia landing was going to be just another shuttle landing, until it wasn't. All there really was was a disintegrating "meteor" in the sky, and the shuttle was never heard from again. Challenger, on the other hand, was being watched by the entire United States. She was being cheered for, saluted, egged on to her flight into orbit. As one commenter said, schools paused their sessions for the day to watch the launch. The entire nation stopped what it was doing to watch Challenger soar into space, and so it seems fitting that Challenger would have made a larger cultural impact. 

[Ferrus Manus]

6 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

killed 3 astronauts

My father was only four years old at the time of the Apollo 1 disaster. 

[Canute]

Here's a site for paper models of all the shuttles and their cargoes/payloads: https://axm61.wordpress.com/

 

We need a space pickup truck like the shuttles to haul the follow-on space station. I think "Alpha", the current facility, will get decommissioned in 2030. Of course, that could slip.

 

My flight of aviators had just sat down for lunch in front of a big screen TV when the news came over the news feed. We were stunned. Crikey, that was a long time ago.

[Ferrus Manus]

To begin with this build is the flight deck of the shuttle. 

I likely will not put an extreme amount of time or effort into the flight deck, as it will be nearly invisible underneath the thick, heat-resistant glass of the cockpit and upper windows. Here is an official Revell image of what the flight deck is meant to look like when complete: 

And here is a picture of the Challenger's actual flight deck: 

This photo, taken by NASA, shows four members of the actual STS-51L crew training inside the shuttle. Take note of how cluttered the shuttle's flight deck is. Also take note of how flimsy the seats seem to be. This is for multiple reasons- first being the fact that some of the seats were meant to be stowed while in orbit. Secondly, a Space Shuttle seat is not meant to have all of the equipment that, say, a fighter jet's seat would have. The Shuttle was only meant to experience a maximum of 3 G's at any point in the flight, and the astronaut's emergency life support equipment was carried underneath the seat. In fact, when Challenger's flight deck- or what remained of it- was fished out of the Atlantic Ocean, it was discovered that at least two of the astronauts had activated their personal oxygen supplies, and that Michael Smith, Challenger's pilot, had activated several switches on his control panel in an attempt to restore electrical power to the spacecraft. 

 

Christa McAuliffe in the commander's seat, 1985: 

Edited 19 hours ago by Ferrus Manus