Modeling
911 emergency calls does not happen to often, but last fall that is
just what happen. I am an member
of IPMS Space Coast in Melbourne Florida and one of our members came to the
membership with an request. The Director of the Cape Canaveral Air Force
Space and Missile Museum at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida asked if the club could help in
restoring several of the Museum's display missiles and rockets. How can
you say no to that. So several members of our club were more than
happy to help out. Each of us was able to chose the display to restore.
These were vintage 30 year old plus
plastic Revell, Lindberg and other model kits that were in need of repair.
Click on
images below to see larger images
I
chose the 1/48 scale Lindberg "Snark".
Overall
the kit was in good condition. A few missing and broken parts and the
finish and decals were not so good after
30 years. I was lucky in that the museum gave me a whole unbuilt kit
to use to mend the original kit. To
start with I gave the model a good bath and cleaning. Next I was able to
remove most of the major parts for
repair and painting. After cleaning I could not save the finish of
the Snark, I had to strip it down to the bare plastic.
I
fixed a few seams with super glue and putty and wet sanded the whole kit
down losing all of the raised detail. I
had to replace the wing drop tanks and the two solid-rocket boosters, with
the ones from the spare kit. Also
some small parts were replaced from the launcher. I repainted the Snark
with Model Master Acrylic Guard Red with the boosters in White with future
as a gloss coat. The Launcher was in good shape and a good cleaning was
needed. I repainted the launcher
Chrome Yellow. After 30 years the kit vinyl tires were still good and I
sanded the tread area for a better look.
The
decal of the spare kit were very bad and most could not be used. So I used decals
from my spares box, I used White decal
stripes on the wings and fuselage. The SAC badge came from an 1/48 B-58.
Several light coats of semi-gloss clear to
seal everything together. No weathering was done.
The
kit Engineering was very good for a 30 year old kit. The detail was nice.
I
wish that more of the old rocket kits
were still around.
So after two
months of hard work reviving this 911 call, it's now back in the Display Case at
the Museum. Other missiles restored for the Museum were the Mace, Bomarc,
Matador and Navaho.
In April
of this year, the club members were given a special tour of the Museum. The Museum
is Launch Complex 26 and LC 5 & 6 the concrete block house is where the
Museum Display is. The site is were the US launched it's first Satellite
Explorer 1 in 1958.
Also
the Launch site is were Nasa Launched the Mercury Redstone Rocket with Alan
Shepard and Gus Grissom. the Museum is on the
Nasa Tour but not many go there. Our group was able to get inside the
Museum Restoration Hanger that is off limits to the Public. In the Hanger we saw
a full size restored Bomarc and Snark.
The
Snark was tested at the Cape in the 1950's. The Snark was the first
Intercontinental Surface-to-Surface Cruise
Missile for the US Air Force. It went in to service with the 556 Strategic
Missile Squadron in 1957. And the 702nd
Strategic Missile Wing in 1958. The Snark was only in service for a few years.
It was Nuclear tipped.
I
enjoyed these project and the history of the Museum. I have been lucky to have
seen most of the Manned Space Launches over the
pass 40 years now.
God speed,
you have cleared the tower.
John
Click on
image below to see larger image
|