A flashback from 1958 comes the US Moon Ship. Released since then as the “Mars Probe Landing Module” and “Star Probe Space Shuttle”, this is a vintage Lindberg kit of a Dr. Werner von Braun inspired conceptual spacecraft. Rather than the sleek aerodynamic spacecraft designs of the time this ship foreshadowed the practical design of the NASA moon landers to come.
- Scale: 1/96
- Skill Level: 2 (ages 10 and up)
- Includes in-scale figures
- Molded in White and clear red parts
- Authentic decals
- 41 parts – simple assembly
- Made in the USA
- Kit #: HL602
- MSRP: $19.99 USD
- Street Price: $17.95
I can finally call this kit done and being Friday, I wouldn’t like to leave the office without sharing it with all of you. This is the U.S. Moon Ship from Lindberg Models now distributed by Round2 Models. Considering how old the tooling for this model kit is, it still prints very well lines and rivets. It is free of flash but the mould line is notable which is natural for a kit this old. The assembly is quite straight forward with a very pictorial 15 steps instructions sheet.
You will need heavy clamping to align the two halves. Cementing will be better if done by sections.
The U.S. Moon Ship is molded in white and Flat White spray paint from the mega store was used. I was very surprised with the quality of the decals sheet. I laid the decals over puddles of Walthers Solvaset without a coat of clear gloss. As you can see on the pictures, there is absolutely no silvering on them. The round decals will need to be placed with decal solvent and once the solvent is dry, some cuts should be made with a fresh #11 exacto blade. That’s because you’re placing a round decal over a round surface.
The moon terrain was made with DAS Molding Clay sold at the craft store. Originally the clay is Terracota color but a heavy coat of cheap spray gray primer too care of that. A few blast marks were added using Tamiya XF-83 Medium Sea Gray. An LED is inside the model but once finished I noticed that it wasn’t bright enough and the cables was pushed inside and not used.
Kit courtesy of my wallet and purchased at my local hobby shop
Hub Hobby.
