jharding58
01-23-2012, 03:11 PM
I have finally received a few of the new Dragon Models (11014) 1/72 Mercury Redstone kits. These are relatively good mouldings and seem to come close to the scale specified of 1/72. Box art depicts the MR-7 lifting from the pad, although I am not too sure about the hills in the background. The instructions for this kit are contained on the rear of the box. Assembly and painting/marking instuctions with pictures and very little language.
Possibly one of the more interesting aspects of the kit is that all the cylindrical parts, and the capsule are moulded in one piece. Possibly one of the most fiendlishly engineered pieces of tooling in that the long axis of the tubes are parallel to the break line of the mould. Only downisde of these parts is that they are completely smooth. Not a weld seam to be had. The fins and motor bell are moulded individually, while the fin can provides an internally moulded tube to receive the support wire.
The LES is finely moulded with the tower constructed of six parts; three legs, three sets of trusses. The motor components are as you would expect, single main motor body, motor base, aerospike, three escape motor bells, and the jettison motor assembly.
The capsule is composed of three pieces; main body and parachute compartment, antennae can, and the LES leg attachement cap. Shingle detail is moulded quite well at this scale with the single window adjacent to the hatch. There is no porthole on this capsule. There are some additional parts which I would guess are associated with either a planned release, or a scrapped content of the capsule removed form the booster since the capsule stops at the shingles. These are the retro pack straps, retro nozzles, and manouevre thrusters. There is also a separately moulded door for the antennae can which would be open in flight. What is missing (and obviously so based upon the large gap on the sprue and cut edges) is the heat shield and retro pack base. A shame really since it would be nice to be able to decide how you wished to model this spacecraft.
There are three bases on a single sprue moulded in black plastic. One is the 3.5" stand for the Redstone and includes a single piece of wire to serve as the support. There are two additional bases of about 1.75" which I am guessing would be for the capsule only.
Decals provided are for both capsules but the crack is absent for Liberty Bell. The booster decals consist of the upper roll pattern, mid stack black stripe, US markings, and booster identifiers for MR-7 so you are on your own for Liberty Bell.
To our specific interests if the capsule is released independently then the booster looks to be a BT-50. If you wish to modify this kit to flying condition it is probably a 13mm candidate but woul dbe heavy at best. You would need to open up the caps at the end of the booster sections and trim away the exhaust vanes moulded on the fins. Weight might be a problem as the sprues weigh in at 2.2 oz. Deduct the overhead and you are possibly looking at 1.5 oz. for the flying parts.
Dragon manufactures some interesting kits and generally follows up with a series. They seem to be quite committed to the Space Program so there is possibility that there is an Atlas and Titan LV in the coming months (N.B. According to the Dragon Models website the Gemini capsule is already released). For those that wish to compliment Dr. Zooch's BT-50 based Redstone and the Atlas you may have an answer to the fiddly bits on the top of the booster.
Possibly one of the more interesting aspects of the kit is that all the cylindrical parts, and the capsule are moulded in one piece. Possibly one of the most fiendlishly engineered pieces of tooling in that the long axis of the tubes are parallel to the break line of the mould. Only downisde of these parts is that they are completely smooth. Not a weld seam to be had. The fins and motor bell are moulded individually, while the fin can provides an internally moulded tube to receive the support wire.
The LES is finely moulded with the tower constructed of six parts; three legs, three sets of trusses. The motor components are as you would expect, single main motor body, motor base, aerospike, three escape motor bells, and the jettison motor assembly.
The capsule is composed of three pieces; main body and parachute compartment, antennae can, and the LES leg attachement cap. Shingle detail is moulded quite well at this scale with the single window adjacent to the hatch. There is no porthole on this capsule. There are some additional parts which I would guess are associated with either a planned release, or a scrapped content of the capsule removed form the booster since the capsule stops at the shingles. These are the retro pack straps, retro nozzles, and manouevre thrusters. There is also a separately moulded door for the antennae can which would be open in flight. What is missing (and obviously so based upon the large gap on the sprue and cut edges) is the heat shield and retro pack base. A shame really since it would be nice to be able to decide how you wished to model this spacecraft.
There are three bases on a single sprue moulded in black plastic. One is the 3.5" stand for the Redstone and includes a single piece of wire to serve as the support. There are two additional bases of about 1.75" which I am guessing would be for the capsule only.
Decals provided are for both capsules but the crack is absent for Liberty Bell. The booster decals consist of the upper roll pattern, mid stack black stripe, US markings, and booster identifiers for MR-7 so you are on your own for Liberty Bell.
To our specific interests if the capsule is released independently then the booster looks to be a BT-50. If you wish to modify this kit to flying condition it is probably a 13mm candidate but woul dbe heavy at best. You would need to open up the caps at the end of the booster sections and trim away the exhaust vanes moulded on the fins. Weight might be a problem as the sprues weigh in at 2.2 oz. Deduct the overhead and you are possibly looking at 1.5 oz. for the flying parts.
Dragon manufactures some interesting kits and generally follows up with a series. They seem to be quite committed to the Space Program so there is possibility that there is an Atlas and Titan LV in the coming months (N.B. According to the Dragon Models website the Gemini capsule is already released). For those that wish to compliment Dr. Zooch's BT-50 based Redstone and the Atlas you may have an answer to the fiddly bits on the top of the booster.