And now for
something completely different. The 50th anniversary of the first moon landing
generated a wave of space flight related kits to be reissued including this one.
It's the mercury capsule (spacecraft) on top of the, then still, slightly
unreliable Atlas rocket. In an attempt to keep up with Soviet advances John Glen
was sent up for the first American orbital flight. The launch went perfectly but
unfortu
nately the flight had to be cut short due to uncertainty about the state
of the spacecraft. Atlas rockets have turned out to be very reliable in the end
and are still being produced in Huntsville Alabama.
I remember this
flight as portrayed beautifully in the 1983 movie "The Right Stuff"
supported by "The Planets" by Gustav Holst (Jupiter at the moment of
launch). So, ever since I saw that scene I had wanted to build an Atlas rocket
with a Mercury capsule. And here it is.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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The kit
is dated. The original kit was first released in 1962 and was actually an
adaption of an even older kit without the Mercury capsule. The moulds show their
age but, believe it or not, fit was all but perfect. Lots of flash needed to be
scraped and sanded away but that was sort of the standard in the earlier days of
model kit building. As the pictures show, this model includes the launch pad and
ramp accompanied by a number of vehicles. The vehicles are slightly toy like but
the launch pad is amazingly detailed for a kit of this age. What's not included
is the giant red service tower. I decided not to build one myself.