Lunar Module Ascent Stage

The first job was to decide how to "dock" the LM to the Command module

The forward compartment of the LM as it was received

Guide tube for the connection bolt

Styrene pieces cut out to modify the interior to make the model bolt together

Highly technical method of lining up the two vehicles-with a cocktail stick........

Guide tube and docking tunnel installed

Another view of the all the sections of the model docked together. This was the first time i got full sense of how large the finished thing was going to be

The white tube is the cable tunnel for the LM lights power supply. This also doubles up as a locating peg to keep the sections lined up

View from the top of the LM, the slot is where the cable tunnel peg engages

Next job was to tackle the lighting. There are 5 coloured docking lights, one flashing rendezvous light, and an interior cabin light. This shot is of the housing for the flashing light

The forward section, and a template of the positions of lights on the front face

The template in place so that holes for the lights can be drilled

The front face lights are contained in a housing

a view of the rear of the light housing

This was the photo that spurred me to build an interior, as i realised that when the model was lit up inside all you would see through the windows was a cavernous empty space with a tube up the middle

Here i used drawings from Vincent Meens as the basis to make patterns for cutting the material to make the interior.

Material cut for making the interior

Tubes glued into the body to accept lights

The interior taking shape

Two halves nearly complete

Installed into the body

Skins attached to create the walls

The two halves reinstalled and tied together with cross braces

removed for extra gluing

Parts of the mid section ready to be dry fitted

The rear bulkhead fits in place first

Then the internal section i slid in from the front

The rear wall is inserted

Then the front bulkhead is placed

cable tunnel for lights

Trial fit of lights

Aft sandwich plate being made

Sandwich plate fitted to the back bulkhead

Aft electronics bay attached to the model

Locating tab added, and screw holes drilled. The screws engage into the internal section. This solution means that the screws pull the internals into place, and at the same time hold the rear bulkhead into place, no glue is required at all.

More trial fitting of lights and wires

Testing the interior cabin light

view of the lighting module in place, with the interior light turned on. Over the course of building the model i have lost count of the many, many times the lights have been tested

This was the final design for the docking lights. A tube within a tube, this then pushes over the tube that is glued into the main body.

Building the lights this way has allowed me to install and remove them multiple times through out the model build

A test of a red docking light

White and Amber docking lights

The completed installation. All of the lights are connected to the bottom of the connector blocks. The wires coming out of the top are the supplies and earths that through the length of the CSM, and down to the battery supplies in the display base

A front cover plate was made for the crew compartment

A tangle of wires,

More hacking and cutting to accommodate the wires

Yet another test

Time to start on "furniture", or as a good mate said "eye candy" for the inside

The Guidance computer

Some internal plumbing

trial fit

Environmental Control Unit (ECU)

Reference material

ECU front panel

ECU side panel

Completed unit

initial fit

Trial with the rear section in place

Most of the interior was scratch built, the only items that were purchased were the inner hatch shown here, and the ascent engine cover.

The ascent engine cover is at the base of the tube in the centre. This was split in half and an inside constructed with a tube, this then is a push fit into place around the centre tube

Storage cupboards and shelf

More dry fit, the top hatch was split in half, one to be glued to the removable section, the other to the main section of the cabin

Nearly there, just a few more details

Water delivery unit

All of the details completed

Time to start painting

A seen before jigs and fixtures were made to hold the model in different orientations whilst working on it

"Storage" stands were also made to keep parts on when they were not being worked on

Jig set up to hold the ascent stage

The same jig, but split in half used to hold the descent stage

This was one of the first colours that the interior was painted with, following the advice of Vincent Meens, he uses Tamiya, whereas I use Vallejo, and i struggled to find something close to his colour. Cross referencing and finding equivalents is an absolute nightmare. Another lesson that i learnt a long time ago was that even from colour charts you will never know until you have painted something.

Parts finish painted

floor panel

Docking window with aligment marking decals fitted

Pattern for the main windows, they were cut from thin clear plastic sheet. I did purchase some glass microscope slide covers, and if i build another LM i intend to try and use these

The windows are true to the real item, a glazed outer frame, with an internal seal frame, painted red.

And the assembly is completeed with a secondary glazed inner frame

Completed assembly

The commanders window had a graduated scale printed on the inner and outer panes of glass as an aid to determine the angle of approach during landing. This i reproduced here with waterslide decals. In this case as they were white i could not produce them, I drew a set up and Jim Botaitis of JBOT Decals produced them for me

With all the internals painted it was time for final assembly, not the silver tape wrapped around the light assemblies, this it to stop light leakage

Windows in place

Rear bulkhead ready to go

All in place

Lights tested (again !!)

Floor and side panels for the front compartment

Panels installed

Hatch trial fit

Lighting module painted up

Light module dry fitted. This contains four of the seven lights that are in the ascent module

Interior light test

Finally after a lot of work, and tons of tests it was time to finally close up the front compartment

Lights all in place and the front being fitted. It is a snug push fit and is held in place with one small screw

And yes you guessed it another test to make sure that all was still working.

I have developed a habit of viewing every piece of packaging as having a potential for use in my model making. One of the wife's face masks was repurposed for the front hatch outer covering

The photos here of the front hatch are a little out of sequence, as this was completed before the front compartment was attached. The outer was cut from the face mask packet

An image of the real thing

Decals attached.

The door handle and pressure dump valve covers madw with survival blanket, the hatch was framed with bare metal foil

The panel ready for a trim

Trimmed and fitted, held in place with double sided tape

Hatch fitted

It took four attempts to produce the front panel, it was a bit tricky getting the holes in the correct locations

Front panel dry fitted

Another light check

A screen grab from a video captures the flashing light

Paper patterns cut and laid out. The patterns were then taped to the Aluminium sheet using clear frisket film and used as a cutting guide

Panels cut and laid in place

Patterns laid out around the bottom of the crew compartment. The numbers and arrows were areas that need extra material added

I experimented with trying to paint details on the black pyromark areas to simulate the fixings. Very unsuccessfully i might add.

Kitchen foil was glue using Microset foil adhesive for the thruster pod extensions

The ridges under the crew compartment were covered with greaseproof paper, then painted black

The area was then overlaid with the insulation blanket. These black blankets were produced in the same manner as the descent stage from sections of metallised food pouches painted flat black, and slightly rumpled. The rumpling is very subtle, and does not show up well in photos

More blankets applied. The whole external coating system on the LM was a very sophisticated and intricate construction that served two functions, one was thermal control and the other was to protect the craft from small fragments of stone and dust that had the potential to cause serious damage if they hit.

Some of the facing panels were different to the previously described Inconel, pyromark painted ones. These were flat black anodised, mainly around the fwd window areas. Here is a reference photo.

These flat black panels were made from styrene sheet

fitting the panels

Set of panels ready for painting

Panels painted, and now it is possible to see the very slight bends that are present on a couple of them

Panels prefitted

Another shot of the front, here you can see the two panes of "glass" in the window due to the two LDP markings

A panel being cut

The same panel being dry fitted. The panels were attached to the model using double sided tape. The tape had to be the exact size of the panel, and you only get one shot at applying it. If the panel is not lined up and needs to be removed it is scrap as the tape is very sticky and basically the panel gets mangled when you remove it

A random shot of the workbench. This was when i upgraded the lighting from a table lamp to a panel light LED. The difference is not short of amazing, and i would strongly recommend any modeller to get some type of LED lighting at their workspace. In this case i bought the bare panel light for about £25. I used the old power cord from the table lamp. The frame was made from a few scrap pieces of wood (by my brother i might add, as woodworking is not my strongest point). It is on a hinged bracket and can be folded up flat against the wall when not in use.

Side panels under construction

small panels were made by working the sheet around a former In the case of the triangular piece shown here a pencil was carved with a craft knife to make a form.

After the unsuccessful attempts at reproducing the fixings by painting them on i decided to use these rivets. They are resin castings made by a company called the Titchy Train Company. They are a little too large for the 1-32nd scale, but are the smallest available. A hole is drilled in the model and they are pushed into place

I used the back section of the model as a testbed for the process, which when perfected included painting them first and making a tool to insert them. i was also experiencing difficulties with the double sided tape to stick to the model. The solution was to coat it thinly with two part epoxy resin. All though smoother i think it worked because it increased the surface area that the tape has to grip against as the 3d printed surface is very grainy

Another random fit check

A rivet being installed

An extra storage box was created for the LM to keep the devil dust at bay

Further riveting

Window frame sections

Frame sections installed

In the case of the larger curved panels the tape was applied to the model, then the panel after.

Panel on the commanders side

More panels attached

The lumpy area at the top right of the picture is called the "Coffin". Here the small rectangular panel on the side of the coffin is being fitted

The coffin is seen here from the front-The white area with the small hole in it

The area around the Rendezvous Radar (RR) is covered. The two holes are the mounting for the radar dish

A dry fit of the RR. Vincent has constructed this from three parts so it can be swiveled about. This mimics the real item that had small electric motors to point it in the required direction

The RR lined up as it would have been at the time in the mission my model is depicting

Then work was started in covering the coffin with aluminium panels. This was by far the most difficult area to achieve a halfway decent effect

I started by using the patterns from Vincent's Drawings, but they didn't work at all for me. This was because he uses a different material which totally conforms to the surface, and is considerably thinner than the aluminium sheet

The first strip was made and tack taped in place for a fit check. This was then removed and flattened. The flattened panel was then used to produce the shape of the abutting side of next panel along. This next paper pattern was left oversize on the remaining three sides, placed in the model and then trimmed to shape. From this pattern an aluminium panel was made. The first set of panels that were made did not get fitted because the double side tape threw the fit out of place, and i had to make another set by inserting card that was the same thickness as the tape under the paper patterns to allow for the difference

This is a shot of the original patterns from Vincents sheets. As can be seen they are not straight forward shapes

Here is a shot of the real thing

The second panel is in place, and lines marked for the next panels

A set of panels ready for fitting.

The panels as fitted. The rivets were simulated by pushing a pin, very carefully into the underside of the metal

Another angle showing the completed coffin

And with the RR in place. At one stage of making the panels when i was struggling to achieve something halfway decent i was considering making a resin casting and having a bash at stamping it out of a single piece of Aluminium

The coffin was completed with the addition of the flat panel at the front. Overall the model has its strong and weak points. This is one of the areas that i am quite proud of

The nearly finished front section, only the thruster pods remain to be detailed

Paper patterns made for the uderside

These were then used to produce panels from styrene sheet. Each piece was separatly cut and then taped at the joints to allow it to conform the the surface the whole panel was then covered with mylar. As with other panels made it was only taped to the backing on the reverse side

Finally the panels were stuck in place. One area was left bare until final assembly, as this would get damaged when the model was repeatedly put in and removed from the assembly jigs

Here a couple of sections of the metallised food pouches are being painted flat black

sizing up the panels for the front face. Due to the fact i had added extra panels the patterns that i had prepared prior to this were in some cases a lot too small, this meant starting them again from scratch

A panel being covered

The painted material is wrinkled up before being applied to the styrene backing

Three panels in place

A close up shows the wrinkled effect, it is quite subtle, and sometimes not noticeable in photos.

In this case the rivets were attached to the panel prior to fitting as the support tube that ran across the front of the module did nit allow esay access to push them home

the edges of the panels were dry brushed to give them extra definition

The right hand side was then attacked. Just as a double check i penned the model with identifiers for the finish on each section

Panels cut and applied

A panel being cut. The pattern is taped into place with clear adhesive sheet so that it is visible for cutting. A sheet of paper is always laid over the bare exposed metal, as it is very easily scratched. Cutting the panels and getting a decent fit is not an easy job. The thickness of a scalpel blade either was can make the difference between a good or a scrap panel

Some of the smaller panels were made as one piece with the adjacent one, they were then placed in the folding jig for bending into shape

An example of three panels made from one piece. The joint lines were scribed onto the face before they were bent

the panelling up one side was completed. The edges at the joint lines had aluminium tape applied. Not all of the joints were taped on the real LM, most of them were but joints, but i needed to tape all of mine to hide the tiny inaccuracies in the panels. There are rivets showing on some of the real panels that are situated on the side and top, but are that small they would be virtually invisible at this scale. I decided against adding a bunch of oversized rivets that would in my opinion make the model look toy like. They fixings on the front panels are appreciably larger on the real LM, and that is why i took the decision to add some to that face.

A closeup shot showing the taping applied. Getting the tape cut accurately and applied nicely was an interesting task

And yes another check to ensure that the light was still visible after the addition of the panel

A quick look through the right hand window

And the view through the left

Sizing up the panels for the left hand side

Making a pattern for the black blankets at the base of the left side

Close inspection shows that some of the outer covering over adjacent panels was made up from one section. This was replicated where possible as it meant theere were less seams to deal with

The inner side of the metallised food pouch

the outer paper side that has been painted flat black

The panel is attached to the backing

the finshed panel ready to be fitted

Fitted and all good

Cutting a top section panel

The reverse side is covered with double side tape

The panel is pushed into place. Some very small areas were covered in Aluminium tape as it was not possible to get a decent finsish with sheet aluminium

The recess is completed. The holes are mounting places for various antenna

Cutting the panels for the top face

First two are taped into place

a shroud for the antenna mount post was formed

In some cases styrene was not used as a backing, here the paper template was used. This method was used when the completed assembly need to be extra thin. It was very surprising how just minute changes here and there could transform something that looked like a pile of junk into something halfway decent

The panels from the preceding image are stuck into place

Around these areas i paid particular attention to making sure they were constructed exactly as the photos looked

A trial fit of antenna

The rear electronics bay was the next item to be covered. At its base is a radiator, this was a 3D printed item supplied with the kit

the radiator painted up and attached

In the case of the coverings around the rear pair of thrusters household foil was applied directly to the surface. This finsh is pretty consistent with the real item

The back face of the bat with one aluminium panel attached

Adjacent panels were made and framed with Kapton tape

The panel set in place

Patterns for the rear of the bay

work started on the top panels

More black panels added

The bay nearing completion

As Apollo 9 was a test flight a comprehensive set of photoso the LM were taken by Dave Scott from the command module as Spider was put through its paces. The craft was rotated through all orientations. Although some of the lighting conditions threw parts of the module into shadow is is possible to piece together a good idea of the position and types of coating present

Rear panels, showing the epoxy that was placed on the model gives the panels applied a rumpled look that was evident on the real thing

Cutting the templates for the thruster pod coatings

The covered pod, with trimmings. This part of the job could be described as a right pain in the rear

A reference picture of the real pod

I had been podering for a while on how best to cut a circular disc with a hole in the middle to complete the top section of the LM. I ended up "Abusing" the circular cutter by screwing the cutting tip tension to its maximum and spinning the cutter for a good five minutes to completely cut through the aluminium sheet. It ruined one of the cutting tips, but the result was worth it

Covering the front thruster pods, the top first

Due to the small size of the coatings Microscale foil glue was used. This meant applying a piece at a time and leaving it foe a fair few hours to totally cure before trying to apply the next piece

During one of the in between periods of thruster pod application the EVA handrail was made and fixed to the model. This item is not supplied, and is made by gently forming a very thin strip of styrene. There are some rasid mounting points on the model, to give and aid to locating the handrail i drilled some dimples on the back face

Side view of the rail

Front view of the rail

A tray full of the small detail items

Painting the radar and communication dishes

UHF antenna painted

Josh Buma who produced the panel decals for me also produced the docking target decals, this was the drawinf that i gave him, it was produced from Vincent Meen's drawing with the addition of dimensions at the correct scale

Cutting the base decals, as the docking ring was one piece i had to cut the base decals in half to install them. I did try to thread a complete one over the t bar at the top, but it just got hopelessly folded over

Base decals on, and a coat of varnish applied. This sealed these decals in, allowing extra decals to be applied with out disturbing the first ones

The finished article

The Rendezvous Radar and its support structure were covered in an insulating material

Vincent Meens supplies a set of patterns that can be cut out, glued to the radar to simulate the covering. Here again i take my hat off to him as these are absolutely superb and fit like a glove. I think that i could have achieved the same effect without his drawings, but it would have taken a lot, lot longer than it did

Here again the circle cutter came up trumps for cutting out the circles

gluing the parer sections to the trunnions

Covering the arms

A trial fit

The finshed iten, the paper softens the edges and really gives it the effect of being coveried in an insulator