Lindberg Lunar Lander

[AndrewR]

This kit dates back to 1958, so it is older than me! It's based on the speculations and predictions of rocket pioneers such as Werner von Braun and Willi Ley. Originally it was a Lunar Explorer, not a lander, but was modified, likely soon after JFK's commitment to land on the moon during the 1960s.



Double-sided bilingual box (English-French). Only 41 parts, moulded in a very hard white plastic. There is a bit of flash, but not a great deal.



There are a few technical problems with this spacecraft. No hatches or airlocks being fairly fundamental!



There's also no way to steer the rocket - no thrusters. Not surprising, as orbital manoeuvres didn't really get going until Buzz Aldrin had finished his PhD and figured out how to do them correctly, and tested them in the Gemini program.

Then, there's the very narrow stance on those tiny landing feet. This would be as easy to topple over as Humpty Dumpty.



Another thing missing are solar panels - not invented yet!

Then there's the problem of getting out of the capsule (via the non-existent airlock!) and down to the lunar surface, 20 metres below. Not exactly "One Small Step"



So I intend to try and address all those concerns, as well as trying to make it look a little busier - add some more tankage, storage bins, stowage for a lunar rover.



I've already identified some bits from the spares box, and especially recent builds, which will be useful for extra stowage and external gubbins. Airfix Boston wheel halves- landing pads, Matchbox Swordfish ASV radar housing and Airfix Hawker Hunter cannon pack as external equipment boxes, with interesting shapes.



I haven't decided on the back-story yet, but possibly the Commonwealth Lunar Expedition of 1975.

cheers


Andrew

[AndrewR]

The interior does not need to be at all detailed, and so I just used some bits of round and square plastic rod, plastic strips and sprue to manufacture an interior.



I also enlarged two of the windows to a rectangular shape. This should make the capsule look a bit less like a diving bell!




There will be a central pillar, which would be the access point to both the docking hatch in the nose, and down to a storage deck below the flight deck.



I have an old marker pen top which is the right diameter to be the docking adapter on the top of the crew module.




That's enough physical change to the inside. Everything else will be done using paint. Everything was primed and then painted an extremely pale green grey - a drop of flat green in some light grey primer. The next stage will be brush coating a few highlight colours on the interior.

cheers

Andrew

[PaulBradley]

I haven't decided on the back-story yet, but possibly the Commonwealth Lunar Expedition of 1975.

Was that the one with huskies and ponies, or the one with modified Sno-Cats? I always get the '74 and '75 expeditions mixed up.....

[AndrewR]

Following the end of the Cold War in 1968, brought on by the Prague Spring, and the successful Apollo landing mission by Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, a UN Commission of Space and a new Exploration Treaty was signed. The Commonwealth decided to pool their resources and establish a launch base at Woomera in Australia. The lunar landing vessel was a combination of one of the four crew capsules of the Commonwealth fleet, the Mahatma Gandhi (UNCOS-3003), and a landing module (UNCOS-3415) made up of two standard UNCOS type 11 modules (spheres) with a custom made landing leg and cargo assembly.

The standard crew capsule was modified to include a side airlock for lunar excursions, as well as the standard docking port on the nose.




The original design called for the use of a standard orbital load carrier, but the additional small service module in the design made this unwieldy.






The engineers at Woomera removed the smallest CSM module to create a more compact design.

[AndrewR]

By reusing standard components,the Commonwealth was able to significantly reduce overall costs of the mission.

The more compact version, without the small spherical service module, is pictured below.



This had been one of the main objectives of the UN Treaty of Space Exploration, which had set up a technology sharing bureau. The crew capsule and spherical modules were all standard units, which all space exploring nations or multinational consortia used. This drove down development costs and made space exploration accessible for many nations or groupings.



The original configuration of modules (pictured above) was the one used by the US Trans-Venus probe, launched in 1974.

[AndrewR]

Priming today!



The seams on the spheres and crew module are a mixed bag, but quite a lot of work needs to be done in other places.



The landing pad feet are the Airfix Boston wheels!


I hope to make the legs adjustable for height by using the aluminium tube inside styrene tube attached to the legs, to look like shock absorbers.




I have also been working on the artwork for the decals.

[MarkyM607]

Enjoying this so far!.

[Eric Mc]

Expecting Dan Dare to make an appearance at some point.

[AndrewR]

Expecting Dan Dare to make an appearance at some point.

I did think about it Eric - but this kit doesn't quite have the Frank Hampson style about it.

[Dazzled]

This looks really cool Andrew. Its got a touch of the Flash Gordons about it

[AndrewR]

This looks really cool Andrew. Its got a touch of the Flash Gordons about it

I haven't used a single washing up squeezy bottle so far!

[AndrewR]

Working on the decals tonight.



I always print up multiple copies of everything, in case of disaster! I'm not sure how the solar panel decals will turn out. I may have to try a different technique. The solar panels are actually tables created in PowerPoint and then shrunk down to an appropriate size!

The Crew Module (Gandhi) is UNCOS-3003 while the service module will be UNCOS-3415. In my UNCOS system, the first digit signifies the nationality or national grouping of the craft. So 1 = USA, 2 = Russian Federation 3 = Commonwealth, 4 = Nationalist China 5 = Communist China etc

cheers

Andrew

[Old_Tonto]

Great stuff Andrew. Looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Where did you get the kit?

[AndrewR]

Great stuff Andrew. Looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Where did you get the kit?

Ebay. There were quite a few listed in the US and the prices weren't too bad, but the postage charges were ridiculous in most cases. For $35 p&p I'm expecting the kit to arrive in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce

There's one listed on US Ebay at moment for reasonable price and shipping

[AndrewR]

I worked on the legs last night:

I'm using the original from the kit as the upper strut, and then made new lower struts from Evergreen I-beam rods, with holes drilled in to match the original parts. I haven't finished cleaning up the drilling yet.




The pads are wheels from the Airfix Boston, and they are dressed up with styrene and aluminium tubes.



I haven't worked out exactly how I'm going to attach them to the external frame yet. They have to be sturdy though, because they are going to have equipment storage pods on them.

cheers

Andrew