Before the Decade Is Out ...

In just over six years, we will have reached the 50th anniversary of a spacecraft landing on the Moon, carrying humans from Earth.  On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to visit another world in our Solar system.  The achievement is all the more remarkable in that, sadly, 50 years later, we haven't been back.  The political climate of 2013 is not likely to allow for any serious or significant commitment to return either.

That does not mean that we cannot commemorate or celebrate this culminating event of human civilization in our own ways.  We each do what we can to keep the memory and the dream alive.  I intend to continually remind my son of what was accomplished all those years ago, and that today we have even better technology to return.  But we do not go.

So in an effort to keep the ideals and dreams of the Apollo era alive in my household, I will be embarking on a project to commemorate the vehicles and inventions that took men to the moon.  I have six model kits of rockets and equipment used by the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs and I intend to complete the construction of all six by the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing, July 20, 2019.

This may seem like a very long time to complete just six models.  However, some of these kits are quite large and detailed.  I have a 1/96th scale kit of the complete Saturn V rocket that, when complete, will be over 3 feet tall.  I also have additional super-detailing pieces for this kit to make it as accurate as possible to the real Saturn V that launched Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins to the moon.  I have a 1/12th scale kit of the Mercury capsule and escape tower.  This kit will be over 2 feet in height when completed.  I have a kit of 5 of the key spacecraft and rockets that sent U.S. astronauts into orbit and to the moon, all of a constant 1/200th scale which illustrates the relative sizes of these vehicles.  These will be placed on a custom base with descriptive labels.

In all these builds, I will attempt to apply the most accurate information and detail to each one, to get as close to the actual vehicles as possible.  Sometimes I will use aftermarket parts, as in the Saturn V above; other times, I may need to scratch build the details.  All in all, this will require a great deal of time to accomplish.  Additionally, I will be documenting the progress of the project and each build in some detail, here on this blog.