Gemini GT 4 / Delta studios / 1:24

Status
Not open for further replies.

lancer525

Member
Oh... Gotcha. It's that mylar film like the balloons and trim and things are made of.

Why didn't I think of that?

I'm in the middle of a build of Scott's 1/4 scale Mercury, but when I finish it in a few months, I'm going to go back and do Delta's Mercury and Gemini in 1/12 and also Surfduke's and UDon's Apollo CSM/LM in 1/12 also. That gold film might come in handy!

Thanks Wedge!
 

dhanners

Active Member
The Delta 7 Studios models are top-of-the-line -- well-designed, easy to build and they lend themselves to super-detailing if you want to go that route.

Here are a couple of photos of my build-up of Gemini VII. It includes some added detail on the nose, as well as added 3D detail on the capsule and adapter and equipment sections. As for the rear, I did it out of foil and mylar. The "flying" strips of foil (in real life, they were mylar strips that were ripped when the Gemini separated from the second stage) were made by folding some gold foil over on a piece of double-sided tape. Then I cut the piece into thin strips, crinkled them a bit and superglued them to the model. They have held their shape and seem to "float" as the real things do in photos.

Among other things, I cut down the the height of the top and bottom thrusters on the adapter section, as the ones in the model seem to stand too high to me. I also scratchbuilt the rear thrusters, accurizing the simplified design found in the kit.
 

Attachments

  • gemini1.jpg
    gemini1.jpg
    71.5 KB · Views: 187
  • gemini2.jpg
    gemini2.jpg
    78.8 KB · Views: 186

Robot Exodus

New Member
Wow, that looks great dhanners! Maybe putting in clear windows and displaying the model with one of the hatches open would make it stand out even more.

I want to buy one of these Gemini models and build them; they look awesome and even come with a full interior. Well, I'll buy it after I finish all my other model projects and whatnot. :)

Does anyone know of a Mercury capsule with the same amount of detail (full interior, hatches, etc.)?
 

dhanners

Active Member
Thanks for the kind words. Delta 7 Studios offers a CD of the Project Mercury capsules, but I don't know if any of the models includes an interior. And the Project Gemini CD has a ton of great stuff on it. I hate to sound like a commercial for them, but they do offer some great models.

On their Project Gemini CD, they offer a version with a full cockpit and one open hatch. I combined that interior, used the "reverse print" function on my printer to make the second hatch, then combined it with the CD's "splashdown" version and built the model below. I also included a lot of scratchbuilt detail, including the flotation collar.
 

Attachments

  • gemrecovery2.jpg
    gemrecovery2.jpg
    59.7 KB · Views: 168
  • gemrecovery4.jpg
    gemrecovery4.jpg
    70.1 KB · Views: 168
  • gemrecovery5.jpg
    gemrecovery5.jpg
    61.2 KB · Views: 170

dhanners

Active Member
Don't get too excited. The "Project Apollo" page on the Delta 7 Studios' website has remained unchanged for for literally four or five years. I don't know what the hold-up is (and heaven knows I've never designed a model for public consumption) but that page has been "under development" for a very long time, sad to say.
 
M

Mechanic

On a positive note, Dan says he is still working on it and planning a release someday.
 

lancer525

Member
Nothing against Dan, for Delta Studios is a great model producer, but I'm planning on going with UDon's LM, and Surfduke's CSM, because they're out there already, and can be tweaked fairly easily. I'm planning on doing the CM interior from scratch, using the Apollo documents from NASA. They've got a really great image of the instrument panel, and it should be fairly straightforward to put it into the spacecraft.

I just have to get past this 1/4 Mercury that I'm doing.

:)
 
B

Bionic Modeler

Don't get too excited. The "Project Apollo" page on the Delta 7 Studios' website has remained unchanged for for literally four or five years. I don't know what the hold-up is (and heaven knows I've never designed a model for public consumption) but that page has been "under development" for a very long time, sad to say.

Yeah, I have talked to Dan several times about this and he just keeps saying he has been busy with other projects. It is too bad because I really like his designs. I would like to see more detail in the thrusters myself. Maybe offering two versions one detailed and one like it is. It wouldn't be too hard to just scratchbuild them and I think I will next time I do one.

By the way----Waaayyyyy back then (a couple of years or so) you offered to give me a design for the flotation gear. I believe you said "I hope you can wait awhile". I don't know if it is "a while yet" or not so I thought now might be a good time to ask. I'm sure it is here on an ancient thread somewhere. But I would still ike to have it. I remember something about you having scratch built it but that you could throw it together in a design that I could replicate. I would just like it in BW so I can use colered paper like you did.
 
i second that!!

is the flotation coller add on going to be made available to those of us that have the cds?

please please...

:mrgreen:
 

dhanners

Active Member
By the way----Waaayyyyy back then (a couple of years or so) you offered to give me a design for the flotation gear. I believe you said "I hope you can wait awhile". I don't know if it is "a while yet" or not so I thought now might be a good time to ask. I'm sure it is here on an ancient thread somewhere. But I would still ike to have it. I remember something about you having scratch built it but that you could throw it together in a design that I could replicate. I would just like it in BW so I can use colered paper like you did.

If I offered that, I don't know why I did. I scracthbuilt the flotation collar by trial-and-error and there was no computer designing involved. The only thing I did on the computer was I used Word to replicate the small writing that is on the forward section of the collar, then I printed it out onto yellow paper. Then I just started cutting out pieces that looked like they'd be the right size and shape of the flotation collar. The above-water shape of the collar isn't too difficult; just some half-cylinders cut to the right angles.

Sorry for any confusion, but I'm really not a designer.
 

jgderuvo

Member
Maybe going into more detail on the trial and error process and what you ended up with dimensions wise will help those who can model it. ;) A tutorial perhaps?
 

mvink

New Member
If you can give me tube diameter, individual section lengths and sizes of the rectangular parts, I can design the files for you.

Mike
 

dhanners

Active Member
Alas, I don't have any of the measurements and since I sold the model a few months ago, I don't have it handy to measure. I "eyeballed" everything, going from photos of the flotation collar I could find in various books in my collection and on various websites.

The collar is basically a "U" made up of seven sections. There's one section along the rear that abuts the heat shield, and then the two handed "arms" that conform to the sides of the capsule. Each of those arms is made up of three sections. There are some cylinders on the rear piece (as best I could tell from photos; I couldn't find a lot of detailed photos of the rear of the collar) and there's a colored stripe down each arm of the "U" -- red on the port and green on the starboard.

Sorry I couldn't be more specific. I'm going from memory here....
 
B

Bionic Modeler

Mike, I remembered there was someone else who stepped up with this offer. It was you, now that I think back. We were assisting Surfduke with his Apollo design. You were doing the instructions and I was helping with a Beta build along with the picture of the entry door.

Yes, I would welcome the design of this flotation collar. Dhanner posted some instructions hopefully that will help.
 

Mercsim

New Member
With dhanners permission, I could post a few photos with a ruler next to his Gemini Model. I was fortunate enough to be the one to buy it! Its one of the few models in my collection that I didn't build but I am very proud to own it!

lancer525, that mercury thing could take a while. How is it coming?

Scott
 

dhanners

Active Member
With dhanners permission, I could post a few photos with a ruler next to his Gemini Model. I was fortunate enough to be the one to buy it! Its one of the few models in my collection that I didn't build but I am very proud to own it!

lancer525, that mercury thing could take a while. How is it coming?

Scott

Yes! Feel free to measure the heck out of the thing. I'm glad you're able to do it. (And, frankly, I'd forgotten who I'd sold the thing to, 'cause it was a long time ago....)

I'm glad you're coming to the rescue, Scott....
 
B

Bionic Modeler

Whew, this has been straining my memory... Anyway as usual you guys step up to a challenge. I think this will be a wonderful option to Dan's Gemini. I love how Dhanner's turned out and I can't wait to build one myself. I have built countless (20 or so) models from Dan's (Delta 7) collection of designs but this is the one I really want.

So Thank you guys for your efforts to bring this to those of us who are design challenged.
 

lancer525

Member
lancer525, that mercury thing could take a while. How is it coming?
Scott

Well, Scott... It's moving at the Speed of Government.

After a false-start, entailing the discovery that I had constructed some parts of it incorrectly, and having an exceptionally warped framework, I decided to scrap the first bit, and start again. Unfortunately, as the instructions aren't really all that clear, as to which part goes where, and in what orientation (would have helped prevent me from putting some pieces backwards) I'm having to do a lot of guesswork. In some instances, the parts sheets don't correspond to the pictures of the parts sheets in the instructions, which causes some further issues.

Also, I am having the damnedest time figuring out how to glue one edge of a piece of cardstock to the edge of another piece of cardstock, without having gaps. Think of the shape of an L and imagine how difficult it is to make that L out of nearly one-dimensional stuff. I tried about 8 different times to build the first part like this, a ring with a flange, and by golly I couldn't get it to work without cutting the edge with some small tabs on it, to give it a surface to glue to. I apparently don't know what I'm doing! LOL

And on top of all that, I ran out of the paper I had bought to do the first part of the build, so I'm now waiting for another purchase to be delivered.

I do NOT intend to give up. I'll be hanged if I am going to let some paper defeat me!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top