This is the final post of my three-year project to assemble Revell’s 1/96-scale Saturn V model kit. It’s intended to provide a few views of the completed model, and to act as a sort of index to the various sections of the stage-by-stage build log I wrote as I went along. The kit is fundamentally … Continue reading Revell 1/96 Saturn V: Fully Assembled →

After completing the entire Saturn V stack, top to bottom, I had one small additional component to complete—the Lunar Module. This sat invisibly inside the Spacecraft/Lunar Module Adapter during launch and translunar injection, and was revealed only when the SLA panels were discarded during the lunar coast phase. The LM that comes with the kit … Continue reading Revell 1/96 Saturn V: Lunar Module →

Last time, I described how I needed to extensively modify the front and back ends of the Revell S-IC stage, using resin parts from RealSpace and New Ware, combined with some custom decals and a little scratch building. Next, I needed to assemble the component parts of the stage—the fore and aft skirts, the intertank … Continue reading Revell 1/96 Saturn V: S-IC Stage – Part 2 →

Having completed the S-II Aft Interstage for my previous post on this build log, I’ve now progressed to the Big Beast of the S-IC. This stage is composed of Revell’s usual combination of moulded cylinders for the skirts and intertank, and printed styrene sheets to be rolled into cylinders for the tank sections. The stage … Continue reading Revell 1/96 Saturn V: S-IC Stage – Part 1 →

Having completed the S-II stage, I’ve worked my way down the stack as far as the S-II aft interstage—a ring structure interposed between the first and second stages to provide clearance between the S-II’s rocket engines above and the dome of the S-IC’s liquid oxygen tank below. We can see it being dropped astern in … Continue reading Revell 1/96 Saturn V: S-II Aft Interstage →

In my previous post of this build log, I eventually got the heavily modified parts of the Revell S-II stage assembled, and had replaced all the kit fairings with more correct versions from New Ware. A good coat of white paint brought all the disparate parts to the same shade, and then I added the … Continue reading Revell 1/96 Saturn V: S-II Stage – Part 2 →

In histories of the Apollo programme, the S-II stage of the Saturn V is often referred to as “troubled”. There were difficulties with weight reduction that led to a delay in delivery of the first functioning S-IIs. That may be why Revell’s rendering of the S-II is so poor—it’s clear, from the paint scheme and … Continue reading Revell 1/96 Saturn V: S-II Stage – Part 1 →

Having finished building the S-IVB third stage of my Saturn V, I moved on to the S-IVB Aft Interstage—a conical support structure that separated the 6.6m-diameter S-IVB above from the 10-m diameter S-II second stage below. The real thing was assembled into the Saturn V stack as part of the S-IVB, but after launch it … Continue reading Revell 1/96 Saturn V: S-IVB Aft Interstage →