CEV to be made commercially available

Invid Fan wrote:

I picked one up when the first station segments were sent up. It's a
bitch to put together, with unlabled parts and somewhat unclear
directions. Or my model skills had just failed me



I'd been building models for around 35 years before I built mine, and it
kept me very busy, let me tell you.
The detail on that main mechanical arm is really something, isn't it?
http://www.imrcmodels.com/iss/images/iss46.jpg
http://www.imrcmodels.com/iss/images/iss45.jpg
(it's all articulated...and fragile)
On the upside, it looks downright spectacular when finished.
This particular upgrade from Realspace Models would add a very nice
touch, but might be fragile:
http://www.realspacemodels.com/html/iss_photoetch.html
Wasn't that some of the oddest plastic you ever ran into? It's very high
quality and tough, but it's not normal model kit plastic.
I think it's what they make model trains out of. The whole kit gives the
feeling of something designed for NASA publicity purposes. When I talked
to the company over the phone, they mentioned grade schools assembling
these as class projects to improve teamwork skills on the part of
students (by the time this truly extraordinary woman was done talking,
it sounded like the model would single-handedly eliminate poverty and
crime in inner cities. "Buy This Kit....Save The World!")
I get a sneaking suspicion that these kits were being sent to inner city
schools free of charge as part of a NASA/aerospace industry publicity
ploy. Let's hope the kids weren't driven to despair by the kit's complexity.

Pat

In article , Pat Flannery
wrote:

Invid Fan wrote:

I picked one up when the first station segments were sent up. It's a
bitch to put together, with unlabled parts and somewhat unclear
directions. Or my model skills had just failed me



I'd been building models for around 35 years before I built mine, and it
kept me very busy, let me tell you.

I found I had glued something in the wrong place, with no way to
recover. The partly completed mess is still in a box in the closet

On the upside, it looks downright spectacular when finished.

Oh, yes. Anyone want to sell a finished one cheaply?

This particular upgrade from Realspace Models would add a very nice
touch, but might be fragile:
http://www.realspacemodels.com/html/iss_photoetch.html
Wasn't that some of the oddest plastic you ever ran into? It's very high
quality and tough, but it's not normal model kit plastic.
I think it's what they make model trains out of.

Well, when the model company has "Railway" as part of it's name on the
box...

The whole kit gives the
feeling of something designed for NASA publicity purposes.

It definitly was something not meant for the general public. Almost
like they had the molds, and decided to see if they could make some
extra cash by tossing the pieces in a box and overcharging for them.

--
Chris Mack "Refugee, total ****. That's how I've always seen us.
'Invid Fan' Not a help, you'll admit, to agreement between us."
-'Deal/No Deal', CHESS

Invid Fan wrote:

I'd been building models for around 35 years before I built mine, and it
kept me very busy, let me tell you.



I found I had glued something in the wrong place, with no way to
recover. The partly completed mess is still in a box in the closet



Do what I did: Saw it apart and put it in the right place. I ended up
doing that after I stuck the wrong end on one of the cylindrical modules
while fiddling around to see how things fit together. That was the only
model I ever used a rubber mallet to assemble parts of- some of those
rectangular pegs were a very tight fit, and got hammered into the holes
in the modules!
I thought the plastic might crack, but that stuff is really tough.



On the upside, it looks downright spectacular when finished.



Oh, yes. Anyone want to sell a finished one cheaply?



The model has so many fragile things sticking off of it that it would be
almost impossible to pack in a way that would let it survive even if
partially disassembled.



This particular upgrade from Realspace Models would add a very nice
touch, but might be fragile:
http://www.realspacemodels.com/html/iss_photoetch.html
Wasn't that some of the oddest plastic you ever ran into? It's very high
quality and tough, but it's not normal model kit plastic.
I think it's what they make model trains out of.



Well, when the model company has "Railway" as part of it's name on the
box...



Yeah, that's just what I thought- this was a very odd choice of a
product for them, and there's a story of some sort behind this that I
don't know.



The whole kit gives the
feeling of something designed for NASA publicity purposes.



It definitly was something not meant for the general public. Almost
like they had the molds, and decided to see if they could make some
extra cash by tossing the pieces in a box and overcharging for them.



Revell of Germany model company made a model of the offshore North
Cormorant Oil Platform and a Krupp bucket-wheel excavator:
http://www.internethobbies.com/inter...e1offshoi.html
http://www.toys-n-cars.com/images/images2/bwe1.jpg
.....and I always suspected that there was some connection between the
companies that made those things and those two models- that they were
used as publicity items in some way, as these wouldn't be obvious
choices for big-selling models.
And then there's this:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...11/ai_n9462724
For those who want to build a model of a Finnish nuclear reactor with
3,175 parts.
And since it is a card model, you get to cut all those 3,175 parts out.
So after buying around 100 X-Acto #11 knife blades... :-)

Pat

Pat Flannery ) wrote:


: Invid Fan wrote:

: I picked one up when the first station segments were sent up. It's a
: bitch to put together, with unlabled parts and somewhat unclear
: directions. Or my model skills had just failed me
:
:

: I'd been building models for around 35 years before I built mine, and it
: kept me very busy, let me tell you.
: The detail on that main mechanical arm is really something, isn't it?
: http://www.imrcmodels.com/iss/images/iss46.jpg
: http://www.imrcmodels.com/iss/images/iss45.jpg
: (it's all articulated...and fragile)
: On the upside, it looks downright spectacular when finished.
: This particular upgrade from Realspace Models would add a very nice
: touch, but might be fragile:
: http://www.realspacemodels.com/html/iss_photoetch.html
: Wasn't that some of the oddest plastic you ever ran into? It's very high
: quality and tough, but it's not normal model kit plastic.
: I think it's what they make model trains out of. The whole kit gives the
: feeling of something designed for NASA publicity purposes. When I talked
: to the company over the phone, they mentioned grade schools assembling
: these as class projects to improve teamwork skills on the part of
: students (by the time this truly extraordinary woman was done talking,
: it sounded like the model would single-handedly eliminate poverty and
: crime in inner cities. "Buy This Kit....Save The World!")
: I get a sneaking suspicion that these kits were being sent to inner city
: schools free of charge as part of a NASA/aerospace industry publicity
: ploy. Let's hope the kids weren't driven to despair by the kit's complexity.

"Yes your honor, it was a model project back in grade school that made
quit school and use and sell drugs."

: Pat

Eric Chomko wrote:

"Yes your honor, it was a model project back in grade school that made
quit school and use and sell drugs."



There's a South Park episode lurking in there somewhere.
(Cut to image of Kenny impaled on a solar array.) :-D

Pat

jonathan wrote:

"


Ever see this spectacular kit of the space station?
I've been tempted to order one.

http://www.imrcmodels.com/iss/issphoto01.htm



I've got one.
It comes in a fairly small (and very heavy) box.
I had no idea just how big the ISS was until I built that model- it
dwarfs my Mir, Skylab, and Salyut models in the same scale.
The model is made out of a tough plastic that doesn't seem to be
styrene, which means that if you are going to glue stuff together,
superglue is a better choice than model cement.
It's prepainted and decaled, but some of the parts are not the color
they are on the actual station (the docking nodes are silver, not white
as the kit has them). It's easy to damage the decals during assembly.
Most of it is designed to be snapped together, and theoretically you
can assemble it in any configuration that the ISS goes through during
its assembly process, and then change it to reflect the current
configuration as ISS assembly continues.
If you get one, follow the directions _very_ carefully, and don't start
sticking things together to see how they fit- they fit very well- so
well, that some will never come apart again once stuck together!
Also make sure you use the correct rectangular pins in the correct
places- they are not all the same size.
A more reasonable priced alternative is the Revell Of Germany ISS kit:
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/real/jc_iss.htm
http://www.ehobbies.com/mo-rvl-04841.html
It's in the same scale, and the truss assemblies are cut-away, unlike
the Intermountain Railway one (painting the cutouts black on the IMR
main truss is a royal pain in the rear).
If you do get the IMR one, you can get extra detailing parts for it
he http://www.realspacemodels.com/html/isspg.htm
....I imagine that these could also be used on the Revell one.
About the only real problem with assembling the IMR one is where to put
the parts you've finished as you move along- the thing's shape is so odd
and complex that it's hard to find places to put the subassemblies.
I made my own stand to save money.

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:
jonathan wrote:
Ever see this spectacular kit of the space station?
I've been tempted to order one.

http://www.imrcmodels.com/iss/issphoto01.htm



I've got one.
It comes in a fairly small (and very heavy) box.
I had no idea just how big the ISS was until I built that model- it
dwarfs my Mir, Skylab, and Salyut models in the same scale.
The model is made out of a tough plastic that doesn't seem to be
styrene, which means that if you are going to glue stuff together,
superglue is a better choice than model cement.

Could be Delrin or "engineering plastic", which show up in model
railroad kits for parts that would be too delicate in styrene.

Intermountain seems to have a decent reputation in model railroading,
fitting in to the "Lexus" price range compared to Athearn's "Toyota"
price range, but not up to the "Daimler" price range of some craftsmen
kits (I know, I shifted countries in that analogy).

Maybe the boss is a space freak, too, eh?

/dps

snidely wrote:

Could be Delrin or "engineering plastic", which show up in model
railroad kits for parts that would be too delicate in styrene.


Now that you mention it, it did somewhat resemble Plastruct engineering
model plastic.

Intermountain seems to have a decent reputation in model railroading,
fitting in to the "Lexus" price range compared to Athearn's "Toyota"
price range, but not up to the "Daimler" price range of some craftsmen
kits (I know, I shifted countries in that analogy).

Maybe the boss is a space freak, too, eh?



I found the story of where it came from:
http://www.imrcmodels.com/iss/issinfo.htm

"THE MODEL
A project of the scope and character (of the International Space
Station) requires that models be available as educational tools for all
aspects of the planning, development, and utilization of the prototype.
With this in mind and responding to the growing demand, Johnson
Engineering of Houston, Texas and InterMountain Railway Company of
Longmont, Colorado have cooperated in the development of a 1:144 scale
model of ISS. The dimensions of the completed model are 30x22x20". It is
injection molded in styrene plastic, and will be mass produced in
several versions to meet the varying needs for such a model."

They say it's styrene, I don't know if they changed the plastic, or if
it's some sort of super styrene.

Pat

jonathan wrote:

"Scott Lowther" wrote in message
news

Breaking news...

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/cgi-b...ic.php?t=31504




Ever see this spectacular kit of the space station?
I've been tempted to order one.

http://www.imrcmodels.com/iss/issphoto01.htm


It's nice, but the accuracy fo the space station model is in some
serious doubt. There's no toroidal artificial-g section. And without
that, it's not a space station. It's just an overgrown space capsule
with a really ineffective re-entry protection system.


--
"The only thing that galls me about someone burning the American flag is how unoriginal it is. I mean if you're going to pull the Freedom-of-speech card, don't be a hack, come up with something interesting. Fashion Old Glory into a wisecracking puppet and blister the system with a scathing ventriloquism act, or better yet, drape the flag over your head and desecrate it with a large caliber bullet hole." Dennis Miller

jonathan wrote:
"Scott Lowther" wrote in message
news
Breaking news...

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/cgi-b...ic.php?t=31504


Ever see this spectacular kit of the space station?
I've been tempted to order one.

http://www.imrcmodels.com/iss/issphoto01.htm





--
"The only thing that galls me about someone burning the American flag is how
unoriginal it is. I mean if you're going to pull the Freedom-of-speech card, don't be
a hack, come up with something interesting. Fashion Old Glory into a wisecracking
puppet and blister the system with a scathing ventriloquism act, or better yet, drape
the flag over your head and desecrate it with a large caliber bullet hole." Dennis
Miller


Jonathan? In as much as you are posting about nothing more interesting
than a plastic model...an observation about your sig....interesting
that you are impressed by the rant of a grubby chickenhawk. If Miss
Miller wishes to define minimal standards of American patriotism she
ought to don a flack vest, grab an M-16, drive an unarmored HumVee
around Baghdad, shouting, "I support the invasion of Iraq, whatda wanna
do about it, Camel Jockey?" It's soooo easy to be a rock'em, sock'em,
"kill'em all, let god sort'em out" patriot when the most dangerous act
in your life is pouring a cup of coffee, rather than visiting your
friendly Marine Corps recruiter armed with a thousand dollar bribe and
a phoney birth certificate, begging to enlist.