MPC Pilgrim Observer Upgrade

[jargonking]

In an attempt to break a two month bout of modeller's block I've dug this out of the stash....



I've got several almost-finished projects on the go so I'm hoping this build will pull me out of the doldrums.

I'll start with a parts run-through for anyone unfamiliar with the kit....

Chrome parts....most of these will be either stripped or replaced....the clear nose is an option I won't be using either....



Asteroid-type base...deep enough to hide the battery for the lights....



Some nice decals although all the small ones appear to be generic aircraft stencils....I may invest in the aftermarket sheet for this...



Solid nose cone will be going in the spares box too....



Lots of fuel/LOX tanks...



The moulding is typical '70's fare with some fine raised details...the moulds are in pretty good shape, probably because it hasn't been reissued since then...



Habitation and hydroponic modules...expect some lighting in these....



The brass upgrade set...typical high quality from ParaGrafix...note the antenna arrays and the long truss assembly...



So, on with the build....

[jargonking]

The etched truss ready for assembly...it can be assembled without any special folding tools...



I used the kit part that the etch replaces as a former to fold around....



The plastic part was removed and the long joint held tofether with tape while CA glue was run into the joint...



The finished truss...it's remarkably strong...



Note the end plates folded in and glued...



Strangely the three engine bells are moulded with solid bases so require hollowing out and the trailing edges thinning...



The truss was test fitted into the central core assembly...one odd thing about the kit is the complete lack of painting guidance other than the front and rear of the box...going to go for red for this assembly I think....





I decided to blank off these openings in the rear engine section as you can't see anything behind them anyway...I used small sections of Evergreen strip....



Blanks completed....



These are parts that will be used on the build but which I'll paint so I set them aside to de-chrome...



These are chrome parts that are either replaced by etched brass or that I intend to replace with aluminium rod so these are headed for the spares box...



The only piece I'm using off the chrome sprue as it comes is the mirror for the telescope...



Parts to be de-chromed were set in a glass dish...



Parts were soaked in neat household bleach, a process which normally removes chrome within about ten minutes....not this time, the bleach had no effect after an hour so I resorted to foam oven cleaner...still no joy, the MPC chrome is pretty much bullet proof....

[jargonking]

Meanwhile it was time to remove the moulded struts on the habitation modules...



These are replaced with brass parts although I'll leave them off until I've done the seams on the modules....



I'm intending to light the interiors of the habitation modules so first job was to line the halves with self-adhesive aluminium tape...this acts as both reflector and a light block to prevent the light bleeding through the styrene....



To finally strip the chrome I resorted to caustic soda....12 hours later it had worked on all bar one stubborn piece...I'll scrape that back by hand....

[jargonking]

Started work on replacing the soft-detailed chrome parts with sharper pieces made from sections of aluminium tube...



The main engine assembled...I used a section of the kit's styrene truss to form a mounting point for the new brass one....



Side view of the engine a little washed out by the camera flash....



I cut some lengths of fine square-section Evergreen strip....



The strips were used to detail the inner wall of the rear thruster housing along with some aluminium tube....the strip locations were matched to the moulded strakes seen on the outside...



Small sections of sprue were used to link the aluminium pipes to the moulded-on pipework...



Test fit of the main engine components and truss...



The brass truss really adds to the realism and lifts the kit out of the toy category....



Main engine was detailed with brass wire to replace the styrene pipework...



First subassembly completed and awaiting light weathering....the main tanks are still to be added....



The aluminium tubing is a vast improvement on the kit parts. I also added some interest to the red tanks by wrapping a thin piece of aluminium tape around each end....



The bulkhead behind the red gridwork was sprayed gold to simulate mylar foil similar to that used on the Apollo programme...



The painted truss test fitted....I'll leave it loose until final assembly to avoid damage...



Main engine module fitted to the truss....



I used Humbrol Metalcote Polished Steel for the main module and Plasti-Kote Chrome for the engine bell...



Is it just me or does it look like a dustbin?



I also added the larger tanks, again with some aluminium tape bandings....



I've decided to go for a very clean look on this build to resemble a NASA desktop model, the type you might find on the Mission Director's desk....

[jargonking]

Finished lining the hydroponics module with foil tape and installed the windows....think I'll go with green lights in here....



Same deal with the habitation module...white lights in here with the odd window blacked out....



The nuclear fuel section....



Lined the forward module with foil tape ready for lighting....



The ParaGrafix set provides additional hatches...



Hatches installed....






I've been experimenting with the lighting for the habitation module....I decided to go with just four 3mm ultrabright white LED's mounted two per side of a white card separator....

First I cut the card...this came from the backing card from the brass set and serves to both reflect the light and prevent a see-through effect through the module....



I also painted over certain windows to give the effect of certain cabins being unoccupied...this helps create the illusion of separate rooms rather than one large area like on Skylab...



The LED's were taped on to the card facing opposite ends of the module...here it is test fitted...



And lit....note the pieces here are not yet cemented together hence the light leaks round the seam....



The ParaGrafix set provides some tiny figure shadowcasters for the windows which I'll install before gluing up the module....



I'm currently bogged down in a lot of the smaller details which, due to the lighting, need completing before the next round of painting and major assembly...

First up is the capsule...I wanted to have this docked with the main ship but with the cockpit lit so the first job was to carefully open up the windows...



The interior is lit by two 3mm red LED's....space is tight in here so I soldered the legs together and fed the wires through the nosecone...the resistor will have to be connected on the inside of the main ship...



The back wall of the capsule was lined with a piece of aluminium tape to reflect the light forwards...I did think of adding some detail here but the capsule is so close to the main ship when docked that you can't really see directly through the windows anyway so in the end I left it plain....



Here's a lighting test....



And in the dark....obviously a coat or two of flat black will be required as a primer to block those light leaks....



Here it is test fitted to the airlock on the forward module....



There are two viewing ports next to the airlock that I intend to light....



I'm not certain what these two assemblies represent...I'm guessing additional telescopes or cameras...anyway the end sections were not perfectly cylindrical after cleaning up the seams so I added an additional section of brass tubing....I'll leave these brass parts in their polished state to resemble mylar foil....



Some more minor details....

The antenna masts provided in the kit are a little crude and given that they will be supporting some awesome looking etched dishes I decided they needed replacing....here's one of the kit parts...



And here are the replacements made from sections of aluminium tubing grafted on to the kit hubs...the top one is for the four-dish array whilst the lower one is for the main communication dish....



Finally, I've had comments on various forums and Facebook particularly from people who think I must operate in some kind of zen-like bubble of order and calm....nothing could be further from the reality, here's my work area currently....



I do tend to clear up between projects but typically I tend to be working in a clear area about 4" square....

[shangos70]

Lovely stuff.

[Clashcityrocker]

Looking very nice.

Nigel

[JamesPerrin]

The box art doesn't seem to give a good impression of what the model actually looks like. It appears to have some nice detail esp with the PE and your mods. What is this craft "from" TV, film book or just someone idea of an interplanetary ship?

Maybe too late but I think the truss could do with some pipes running down inside it else the engine appears to be completely isolated, but maybe, as it's nuclear, that's the idea.

[jargonking]

The design was a proposal for a post-Apollo vehicle to travel beyond the Moon. Here's some background from the Citizen in Space site....

"As the Apollo program wound down in the late 60′s, NASA began to think about how it could reuse some of the technology and systems that had been developed for Apollo. This recycling effort was called the Apollo Applications Program. Apollo Applications led to Skylab, America’s first space station, but it was intended for the program to be more than just a one-shot. Skylab was to be followed by Skylab II , which would be more reusable and incorporate the first use of artificial gravity. NASA hoped the Skylabs would lead to a 12-man space station and then a 50-man space base. There were also concepts for a lunar Skylab in polar orbit about the Moon. One by one, all of these concepts were dropped as NASA was forced to divert funding to its priority program – the development of the Space Shuttle.
One of the more interesting concepts from this period did not come from NASA but from a model company called MPC. It may seem unusual for a realistic space-vehicle concept to come from a toy company, but it’s not too surprising given that the Pilgrim Observer was designed by the late G. Harry Stine. An aerospace engineer who learned his trade under Dr. Wernher von Braun launching V-2 rockets at White Sands, Harry Stine was one of the early advocates of commercial space and author of several books on space exploration and space development, including The Third Industrial Revolution. Although the Pilgrim Observer was not based directly on NASA concepts, Stine did incorporate much of the technology which he knew to be current at the time.
The Pilgrim Observer was a reusable, nuclear-powered deep-space craft incorporating artificial gravity. For propulsion, it used the NERVA nuclear rocket engine which had already been tested-fired on the ground. The design included an Apollo taxi vehicle, with a shortened service module, and multiple telescopes and antennas for studying science targets. The Pilgrim Observer was not designed to land on a planet, but given sufficient propellant, it could carry out missions anywhere in the inner solar system. (The propellant tanks that come with the kit seem a bit small for the missions contemplated.) One possible mission was a Mars rendezvous with a Venus flyby en route. An asteroid rendezvous was another possible mission. Stine was already aware that the asteroids might be rich source of resources, and a plastic asteroid was included with the kit. The craft was sized for a crew of 12."

[jargonking]

By the way James, I agree on the lack of pipes in the truss however I felt it detracted from the finesse of the etched part and I'm building this as a sort of desktop model anyway, like the contactors would use to sell the concept to Congress.

[IvanV22]

Looking great, and thanks for the background info!!!!! Very interesting reading, have never heard of this before!

[Dirkpitt289]

Man that PE makes a world of difference in this kit.

[jargonking]

More progress with the lighting...this time the Hydroponic module....I decided to go with a green glow, partly to contrast with the rest of the ship and partly to give an impression of vegetation inside....yes. I know that they would grow the plants under 'daylight' conditions but remember this is designed to be a contractors desktop display so green it is....

I did something I rarely do these days in that I fabricated a couple of rudimentary circuit boards out of stripboard....



These were mounted back-to-back and held together with miniature cable ties....



The backs of the boards were lined with PVC tape to prevent shorts and the two separated by a thin section of card...



A test on the bench....



And in the dark....



The assembly was mounted in the module using 5-minute epoxy....



A test with the module taped up....



And again in the dark....



More coming up....

[Clashcityrocker]

Very impressive. I'm sure the customer will be happy with it.

Nigel

[Eric Mc]

A work of genius - and a fantastic back story the the real concept as well.