This is a heavy paper UNBUILT model kit of NASA's Apollo Saturn V Rocket Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT) and Mobile Launcher Platform in 1:100 scale. The rocket is not included. It is not built. It stands about 54" high. Intended for Estes 1:100 scale model. This is a newly rescaled "beta" version adapted from the 1/96 kit for Revell. The photos are of the 1/96 kit but the 1/100 scale model is exactly the same. While scaled to 1/100, the fit is untested and offered at a greatly reduced, introductory price. The rocket is not included.
The paper kit is intended for display only and cannot be used for launching.
This heavy PAPER (60 lbs. test) model kit includes:
The heavy paper (60 lbs.) is tested and deemed best for precision and other factors. After glueing, laminating, folding and assembly, it bears up strongly.
Will require scissors, water based various color marking pens, cutting board, white glue, cardboard (or foamcore) for sub-support on some parts, etc (Not included). The model shown uses cardboard. But all color cover and graphics are included.
The model accurately depicts the Apollo era Launch Umbilical Tower and Moblile Launcher Platform. Minimal adaptation of the rocket base "hold-down" supports might be required, but is not anticipated.
A vintage 1968 Revell unaltered Saturn V model is shown, but is not included.
Bare bones "kit" to reduce costs to you... No packaging... Comes rolled in a USPS Priority package. Includes 38 parts sheets and 90 page instructions manual CD. Lay the sheets flat at room temp under a load (books) for 48 hours or so.
Please note... The pricing may go up at any time, due to printing company policies. These are printed to order so please add 1 additional week of delivery time expectation. The printing company sometimes experiences delays so delivery time will be adjusted accordingly. Add to that... I make it to the post office about once a week so delivery time will be reflected accordingly, OK? Shipping costs reflect required time, resources, packing material, not postage fees only. Paypal is required unless arrangements are made prior to auction end. S/H quite a bit more for international buyer due to additional supplies, resources and time in aforementioned reasons. Customs rules will be adhered to. And be sure to read description carefully or email questions if you have any concerns at all, as this item is sold with money back guarantee on purchase price only. Be sure to stop by my other auctions. Lots of fun and interesting items! Have a great day!
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This is a verbatim re-scaling of the 1:96 kit. Rendered by artist David R. Maier, it is printed on 60 lbs. card stock. Please see the 144 and 96 auctions for additional detail pictures.
It occurs how silly the Saturn 5 model rocket looks, displayed without it's Launch Umbilical Tower. In reality... the Saturn V rocket existed on its Mobile Launcher Platform for the entirety of its tenure on the planet... having been constructed upon it. Indeed, it existed in flight wholly, for a matter of only 3 or so minutes on its flight to the Moon. You can get away with Gemini, Mercury, even Constellation... But, this rocket's just got to have a tower next to it.
So, here it is! An excellent display accouterment for your plastic model launch vehicle.
Assembling this piece might seem daunting, but it is really only a matter of just starting... Then going step by step through the Procedures Plan. Oh, maybe have a stack or 2 of your favorite dvds running in the background. It can be likened to being a less arduous build than the famed U.S.S. Constitution sailing vessel.... C'mon... show a little backbone, will ya?
The printing on the parts sheets is quite rugged, but if replacements are needed, they will be made available. Anticipate full project support and simply email: HoustonFlight@sbcglobal.net.
No painting required, at all! All the intricate graphics detailing is already done. Just coloring of exposed white paper surfaces and edges with your water based (preferred) color marking pens (not included).
The strength of the paper is more than adequate, especially in load bearing parts, which will be folded and glue-laminated, creating a type of "ply-paper" strength. The engineering design of the actual L.U.T. also comes into play. Larger, load-bearing parts will have a cardboard, (not included) sub-support. It ends up being sturdy. Included is a 'desk wedge/bar" display sign depicting lunar moon rock.
This paper model kit comes professionally color laser printed on 38, 11"x 17" card-stock sheets. The 90 page instruction manual is patterned after the official Apollo program Flight Plan (just for fun) and is on a CD. A trip to Kinko's will provide you with a hard copy... black & white or color.
The parts graphics capture a lovely, weathered, flight used LUT, which is how it looked for the majority of its service. It is as complete and accurate as the medium will allow for. I will say this, though... it is quite more accurate than the one seen in Tom Hank's Apollo 13 movie, excellent dvd as it is.
The detailed photographic images on the model add a trompe l'oeil 3D effect. In many ways, it is more realistic than plastic, resin or photo-etched brass parts can possibly achieve. As it turns out, there is just something about a plastic model, as fine as it may be, which the viewer thinks, "That's a really detailed plastic model." But when you take actual photographs of the real item and use them for your color cover, the brain doesn't quite know what to think. It's seeing the real thing... With plastic or brass etched kits in general, you've perhaps got a precision form, but it's covered with a layer of non-scale glomular paint, which has always lessened the viewing effect of the model. With printed on imagery, you have a higher scale precision in many respects. Even unpainted plastic parts add an undesirable translucence which again, is non-scale. The printed parts read as opaque.
... Are you GO or no-GO?
There is one word you will hear as your friends enter the room and see the impressive piece you're building. And that word is, "Wow." The paper idea lent itself quite nicely to the actual LUT construction, since it was essentially made from flat metal stock, and the card-stock finishes with a higher crispness in edges and precision feel in many of the parts. One advantage to having parts with printed graphics is that no painting is required and lends much higher detail. This gives it a level of artistic expertise in its texture not commonly available, creating a fine faux effect to many of the surfaces.
It will take some doing, (sometimes arduous).... and a bit of overall "MacGyver-ing" to craft this stately addition to your den or party room's decor. (I view the more painstaking phases as being a sort of astronaut psychological training test as in the movie The Right Stuff...! which really took the edge off... ). But, once done... it's done! It is designed to allow for a bit more of a simplified construction, if fewer parts are used at the builder's discretion, still capturing a sense of being a worthy platform for this grand piece of space equipment. So... one may skip or simplify many of the more intricate assemblies and still have an impressive piece.
I liken the construction of this Apollo Launch Umbilical Tower Model Kit in card stock, to that of building say, the larger sea vessel models such as The Constitution Sail Ship or Academy 350 Titanic with rigging and brass etched add-ons. So now ... a more recent addition to the history of exploration is added!
Expect to trim and fit a few parts, since no 2 towers will be precisely identical, due to variations in individual assembly. I would say there is more "trimming to fit" involved than a ship model... but less than a balsa wood B17 aircraft. If you would like one built for you, just let me know. Probably cost prohibitive, due to time, etc... But, you never know.
The 144th and 96 scale towers are online... The 1:96 Crawler Transporter (CT) paper model is now online. The 144 CT is soon to be online. Be sure to add to your eBay emailed search notification list and you'll receive a code 3 response. Other Apollo kit ideas are also being considered including 1/24 scale Apollo CSM/LM/Adapter spacecraft, as well as a 1:32 Lunar Module for Monogram's CSM. Whatever suggestions you may have would be welcome and can be emailed to HoustonFlight@SBCglobal.net.
You are looking at the first prototype, which has been slightly revised, but without any casually noticeable changes. Over 1000 hours of painstaking engineering and rendering have gone into this unique piece.
Equitably priced... considering printing costs alone... (Kinko's charges $3.50 per 11x17 color sheet and they don't even offer 12 x 18) But, add to that... your completed Apollo Saturn V Launch Umbilical Tower model will be worth quite a pretty penny... So if anyone gives you guff about how much time this is taking... They can be informed that the finished piece will be worth 100s and 100s and 100s and 100s... (and 100s). To put it in 2001: a space odyssey terms... I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over...
SIDE NOTES
The LUT and Command Module (CM) represents the only flight used piece of hardware that survived the Apollo program, the only endeavor in history which succeeded in landing a human on another satellite.
Sadly... the actual, original Launch Towers were only recently destroyed because of lead paint environmental concerns. There was a most illuminated and concerted effort to save LUT #1 and erect a monument to human kind's singular successful venture to another satellite, but, though a superbly gallant effort was made to save it, unbelievably, this unique piece of space flight history is now gone forever. Can you imagine if the USS Arizona wreck or mighty Memphis Belle had been scrapped? ...Or the Mayflower had been saved? Since the only part of the Apollo mission to return to the Earth was the space capsule itself, the LUT represented the only other piece of actual, direct, flight used hardware which survived. The most ultimate of historical artifact losses. But... nice to know that parts of the original launch system were incorporated into the STS Space Shuttle's... the Colby Crane, many of the tower sections and launcher platform base can be discerned in the current pad array. Perhaps they will be used in NASA's new Moon Shot program, Constellation.
As we embark on the next chapter of manned space flight... This is sure to be an impressive... and valuable homage to one moment of pure, inspired human endeavor in exploration... space or otherwise.
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