SCALE MODEL NEWS

Mat Irvine looks at a new model company’s premier release Despite the number of German V-2 rocket kits that have been made (and, ahem, a comprehensive list can be seen in my book Creating Space ), 1:24 is a scale that’s not been used before. It is not a standard scale for military or aircraft models, which tend to be 1:32, 1:35, 1:48 or 1:72. However, 1:24 is one of the main automotive scales, so this new V-2 kit could open the door for those interested in building dioramas, with a whole range of interesting additions. The sturdy box in which your 1:24 scale V2 arrives. First kit release This V-2 comes from a new entry in the field, the intriguingly named SpaceMonkey Models, run by James Duffy out of Georgetown, Texas. This is the company’s first kit, although James also runs rocket.aero (pronounced ‘rocket dot aero’) which specializes in DVDs of aircraft and missiles.  The comprehensive decal sheet features mostly markings for captured V-2s, launched from White Sands, New Mexico. ...

Mat Irvine reports Mike Mackowski is a long-time space modeller and one of the main members of the online Yahoo ‘Space Modelers’ group. Over some years now, Mike has compiled seven hardcopy books especially for modellers on spacecraft topics, including titles for Gemini, Mercury and two volumes on Apollo, one for the Command Service Module and one for the Lunar Module. Now he has produced his first ‘Tech Report’, a series intended to be shorter and to be available only as a download, thus having the advantage that they can be in colour. Skylab details Tech Report #1.0 (TR1) is on Skylab, prompted by Mike’s particular interest in America’s first space station. Mike worked for a time at McDonnell Douglas in St Louis, where Skylab’s airlock module was built. Previously he had spent time as a student at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the Skylab trainer was housed. He was also at Marshall when Skylab was actually launched in 1973. What’s in the TR1 pdf TR1 ...