TSM contains two sections.

TSM is a website created to document my two hobbies, Space Memorabilia Collecting & Model Spacecraft Building

SPACE MODELS

Why a website-Quick answer, because of the project that I started in March 2018. Two and a bit years later it was complete. Along the way I gathered more than 27GB of information, learnt some new skills, made some new friends and contacts. I became a member of a fair few Facebook modelling groups, and post in a couple of them regularly. I have filed everything away in some sort of logical order, but this pile of information was getting larger whilst the build progressed, and I started to have the odd few thoughts. Where did I buy that from, why did I decide to use that, would I do it differently again, how did I do that, the list goes on. A document maybe was the first thought, then one evening sat at my PC I had a random thought. How do you make a website? That was quickly followed by a web search and the very accommodating folk at google pointed me towards their own very free website creator. The two ideas then became one as I thought that having a site like that would allow me to create a record of the build. It would also let me set down some of the thought processes that were used in achieving the end result, and to list where I found products and information along the way. During my visits to the Facebook Space modelling group people ask for ideas, information, and I will help if I can, but this can mean having to dig out information, and finding links to sites. With that in mind I thought “wouldn’t it be nice if I could direct someone to a site where they could maybe find some useful information”. 

Hopefully at the very least it will serve as a reminder to me in the future, and if it helps anybody else that would be a very welcome bonus.

I would just like to add that there is no intention to market or push any products that appear here, and the site has not been created as a marketing tool.

All of the links included to products have been included with the owners kind permission, if there is a mention of a product with no link it is because the owners were contacted but did not respond. The product can be found anyway with a web search.

If you have any ideas, additions, or if you think I have put some wrong information here please don’t hesitate to contact me at timt655@gmail.com  

SPACE MUSEUM

Space museum sounds a bit grand, but i called it this for no other reason than it shares the same initials as Tim’s Space Models, therefore TSM is an interchangeable acronym............In reality it is only a modest collection of items that I have gathered.

Every piece tells a story and a website is an excellent medium for showing each piece and telling that story with the addition of documents, pictures, and the written word. This is also allied to the fact that almost all of the items spend most of their time stored away in a cupboard as I don’t have the space to display all of them

Of all the space vehicles made I have always had a deep fascination with the Lunar Module, and it was this that started my collecting. The first things that I started with were plastic model kits of the LM, the primary source for these was e-bay. There is a space modelling reference website called Ninfinger that contains a wealth of information. Included on the site are lists of pretty much every plastic model that has ever been produced. Using this as a yardstick I set about trying to get one of every LM on the list. Over a period of about eight years most of the boxes were ticked. Towards the end of that phase of collecting there were only three of what I called my “Hit List” items left to find. Of those three I managed to obtain one, but the other two remain elusive to this day. The collection also branched slightly sideways into what I would describe as novelty or toy items, mainly LM related. These include such diverse things as Christmas tree decorations, Aquarium adornments, cigar bands, tin toys and cereal packet giveaways.

As this phase of collecting wound down a new one started, that being what you could describe as Space Memorabilia. That description can cover an enormous amount of different types of things to collect. With that in mind I decided to try and restrict my collecting to items from the Apollo program. That restriction has been followed pretty much, with only a few exceptions. I have tried to make the collection as varied as possible and not concentrate on any particular theme. The “Holy Grail” items that most collectors seek are things that have been flown on missions. The collection contains a few items that have flown status, the most prized being the electronic module which was aboard a Saturn test flight, and was part of the very first flown Apollo guidance and Navigation system. Other sought-after items are astronaut autographs. With the Apollo Manned Autographed  portion of the collection I set a goal of one image from each of the manned Apollo missions, Apollo 7 through to Apollo 17. There is one addition of a Wally Schirra from his Mercury days, just because Wally is one of my favourites. I also have one of Alexei Leonov, an iconic figure inasmuch that his was the first to “walk” in space, and there is also an Apollo link as he took part in the joint US-Russian ASTP mission. These are all I have wall space for, to quote my understanding wife- “Any more of those and it will be like living in a museum”. She did surprise me with a lovely Alan Bean from Apollo 12 for a birthday present. I also have grown to appreciate not just the machines and the men that flew them, but also the people who designed, built them and managed the Program. To this end I have also collected a few items relating to managers, flight controllers and engineers.

I was lucky enough to meet Al Worden (Apollo 15) and the photo was signed by him then. One that I did miss was a chance to meet Charlie Duke (Apollo 16). I had a ticket to go to an appearance in the UK, but due to work getting in the way of real life after being away I landed in the UK a couple of hours after the appearance finished up for the day. 

The collection has been set out in categories, and each piece has a small write up for a bit of background information.