What the postman brought today (Real Space)

Hello Gents, I get the privilege to be the first to post in this section of Real Space about what the postman brought to my doorsteps…

Slowly I have been collecting items related to Space Shuttle and found this gem recently. It’s mix batch of resin and photo-etch in 1/72 that make up the Payload Bay for Revell Space Shuttle model produced by Real Space Models.

The resin parts are little crude to today’s standard but minor polishing will help things out. On the other hand, the photo-etch part looks nice and crisp. These are sure to help the shuttle bay as out of the kit it is empty.

Ok, let’s see some of your Real Space related goodies. :grin:

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Ok, the madness continues. To go with the rare find of Payload bay I needed another Space Shuttle. Found a good deal on eBay and hit the purchase button.

LORD have mercy cause mama don’t like! :sweat_smile:

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Metal Earth MMS465
Mars Rover Perseverance & Ingenuity Helicopter
1:30 scale

Now I just need to figure out how to open the envelope. It’s like a packet of seeds :grin:

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Wasn’t the Rover designed to unpack itself? :thinking:

—mike

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Yeah, true that! I’ll get the ladder and toss it off the roof. I think the gravity or terminal velocity told the thing-um-a-jig to activate the whatcha-mah-call-it … then - BAM - it was built and rolling

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Now that funny :joy:

Btw, I wish there was plastic kit or kits of all the different rovers. Would have been nice.

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Plastic kits of the Rovers would be very nice. I’d buy them all.
This is my first Metal Earth kit :metal: It’s all PE! The whole thing. :grin:

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Those things are fun. You’ll enjoy it, though the more complicated shapes can be a real challenge.

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Ok boys, found the Holy Grail for the Space Shuttle Launch Tower in 1/144. It was a deal I couldn’t pass. Very extensive set and will require some serious modification to the Revell kit #04911.

It has become a hard to find set so I wanted to photograph every bit for you guys to show you what is included.

LC39S123

LC39S45

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¡Ay, Dios mio!

Hi Mike,

These LVM detail sets are great and absolutely match the scale mix of the Revell Launch Tower sets 4910/4911.

Sadly, Leon Van Munster with his LVM Studios and website disappeared from the scene many years ago …

That is good to know as I was wondering about this.

If you use all the LVM Detail Sets together with the Revell Launch Tower Kit (OOB), everything fits together.

But then you have to make do with the mini-MLP (1:200),


Source: EDU-Craft Diversions

which I don’t like at all, which is why I chose a compromise solution and will be building the MLP and Crawler in 1:160 for a more realistic looking Launch pad.

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Wow, I thought Metal Earth kits were a bag of PE. THIS kit is all PE!

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That’s a lot of PE… I hope you like soldering…

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Forget soldering PE parts, John, for this you should use Gator’s Grip.

First I had only intended to use it when gluing the various LVM PE parts of the FSS/RSS and therefore lost sight of something.

A major advantage of this glue is that it is water soluble and does not harden as quickly as CA. This allows you to correct the fit of the parts for a while. During this time, the initially milky white color changes to transparent, giving an indication that the glue is dry and hardened.

Another advantage is the amazing elasticity of the adhesive in the solid state. While a contact glued with CA can quickly break off and become brittle, the Gator’s Grip contact itself should be able to withstand a 90° bend and then straighten itself up again, also known as Memory effect, which I of course know as a former materials researcher, but which I almost didn’t want to believe at first with this PE stuff.

And this behavior I had tested already longer time ago (2017).

In addition to gluing the gutters at the MLP deck, I also glued an old PE ladder and a piece of railing upright to a plastic base and let it dry.

And then came the brutal acid test for the ladder by putting on tweezers, which had flattened it.

And believe it or not, after removing the tweezers, the miraculous resurrection of the ladder actually began, here halfway through the recovery from this exertion,

and then almost to the starting point.

And the railing finally had to bow to my cent dime,

but surprisingly had the same qualities and gradually got back up, although these are only point contacts!!!

Finally, here is the condition of the subjects after this stress test, which impressively demonstrates their total recovery. Heart, what do you want more?

As a conclusion, I can rightly say that the test reports didn’t promise too much and that Gator’s Grip is really a devil’s stuff that convinced me and will help me when gluing further PE parts.

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Wow Manfred, you have found the best super glue for this sort of stuff and I want to thank you for sharing it with us with your step-by-step example of how tough this glue is.

I saw a YouTube video few months back about a glue created and sold by VMS and it kind of sold me. I have not used it yet, but I hope to do such soon. Here’s the video I was talking about…

However, it never hurt to have extra supplies. So, I will have to grab this Gator stuff and get-er done! :laughing:

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That does look really impressive. Thanks for that tip Manfred. Very useful and will keep an eye out for that now. Where did you get yours from ?

Hi Mike,

and thanks for your interesting post and the impressive video about Flexy 5K CA, which seems to be similar usable like Gator’s Grip, which is fluid and correctable and creates a solid compound.

I have ordered this XT Thin Typ and will test it’s performance.

image
Source: VMS

A furter comparison is helpful for all of us.

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Hi John,

I ordered this stuff a long time ago (2014) from its inventor Kenny Loup of Sulfur, Louisiana, but whose company and website no longer exist.


Source: gatorsmask.com

Therefore try to contact this website:

or this here:

Maybe you can get it there.

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