Soviet LK-1 Lunar Lander 1/72
Discussion
This is a bit of a departure for me, a 3D Printed model. There was little in the way of assembly required as it came fully formed. Most of the work was in the painting. Despite that, I did add a few things that are missing from the model, chiefly a ladder to allow the Cosmonaut to get into and out of the spacecraft and it also lacked the two communication antennae that are prominent on the real thing. These items were scratchbuilt by me.
The "Cosmonaut" is actually an Apollo astronaut from the Arfix "HO/OO Astronaut Figures set.
I bet NASA never knew that one of their astronauts defected
The base is from the Airfix Lunar Module kit.
The real thing never made it to the moon, of course, as the Americans got there first and the impetus went out of the project. Another big factor in abandoning the project was because they couldn't get their giant N-1 rocket to work properly, all four attempts to launch it resulting in dramatic explosions.
Note that this Russian "lunar module" was single crew only, the Cosmonaut on board would have been responsible completely for getting it down safely onto the surface - and back up again to the orbiting Soyuz spacecraft. Transfer from the Soyuz to the LK-1 (and back) would have been by a spacewalk only as there was no connecting tunnel between the two docked spacecraft.
The "Cosmonaut" is actually an Apollo astronaut from the Arfix "HO/OO Astronaut Figures set.
I bet NASA never knew that one of their astronauts defected
The base is from the Airfix Lunar Module kit.
The real thing never made it to the moon, of course, as the Americans got there first and the impetus went out of the project. Another big factor in abandoning the project was because they couldn't get their giant N-1 rocket to work properly, all four attempts to launch it resulting in dramatic explosions.
Note that this Russian "lunar module" was single crew only, the Cosmonaut on board would have been responsible completely for getting it down safely onto the surface - and back up again to the orbiting Soyuz spacecraft. Transfer from the Soyuz to the LK-1 (and back) would have been by a spacewalk only as there was no connecting tunnel between the two docked spacecraft.
mcdjl said:
Looks good.
Where did you get the original 3D model from?
Through Shapeways. I'm not sure who actually manufactured it. To be honest, as 3D models go, it's rather crude. You can see the layering from the manufacturing process. In fact, it stands out much more sharply in the photographs than it does in real life. The only alternative in 1/72 would have been a very expensive (over £100) short run injection moulded kit - which I don't think is available at the moment anyway.Where did you get the original 3D model from?
I bought this book way back in 1982 - when a lot of what was contained within it was quite revelatory. Even though it's now well over 35 years old, it's still a good read and gave us our first peep behind the cloak of secrecy and disinformation that was part of the Soviet era space programmes.
There have also been some good TV documentaries since the 1990s which covered the same material including a Horizon entitled "Red Star in Orbit".
I'm not really aware of any stuff since James Oberg's book. However, a noted expert on the Soviet Era space missions is Irish space historian, Brian Harvey. I went to a talk he have in the 80s on this topic (just before Oberg's book came out) and that was a revelation too. He writes articles on both Russian and Chinese space missions so it might be worth while searching him out on the internet.
There have also been some good TV documentaries since the 1990s which covered the same material including a Horizon entitled "Red Star in Orbit".
I'm not really aware of any stuff since James Oberg's book. However, a noted expert on the Soviet Era space missions is Irish space historian, Brian Harvey. I went to a talk he have in the 80s on this topic (just before Oberg's book came out) and that was a revelation too. He writes articles on both Russian and Chinese space missions so it might be worth while searching him out on the internet.
Eric Mc said:
I bought this book way back in 1982 - when a lot of what was contained within it was quite revelatory. Even though it's now well over 35 years old, it's still a good read and gave us our first peep behind the cloak of secrecy and disinformation that was part of the Soviet era space programmes.
There have also been some good TV documentaries since the 1990s which covered the same material including a Horizon entitled "Red Star in Orbit".
I'm not really aware of any stuff since James Oberg's book. However, a noted expert on the Soviet Era space missions is Irish space historian, Brian Harvey. I went to a talk he have in the 80s on this topic (just before Oberg's book came out) and that was a revelation too. He writes articles on both Russian and Chinese space missions so it might be worth while searching him out on the internet.
Thanks Eric. I have the Boris Chertok Rockets and People vol 1-4 on .pdf but not got around to reading it yet.There have also been some good TV documentaries since the 1990s which covered the same material including a Horizon entitled "Red Star in Orbit".
I'm not really aware of any stuff since James Oberg's book. However, a noted expert on the Soviet Era space missions is Irish space historian, Brian Harvey. I went to a talk he have in the 80s on this topic (just before Oberg's book came out) and that was a revelation too. He writes articles on both Russian and Chinese space missions so it might be worth while searching him out on the internet.
Eric Mc said:
Through Shapeways. I'm not sure who actually manufactured it. To be honest, as 3D models go, it's rather crude. You can see the layering from the manufacturing process. In fact, it stands out much more sharply in the photographs than it does in real life. The only alternative in 1/72 would have been a very expensive (over £100) short run injection moulded kit - which I don't think is available at the moment anyway.
I bought some bombs from them that I couldn't find anywhere else, nice little things.Gassing Station | Scale Models | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff