Well...it's been a long time since I last posted on this site, and even longer since I worked much on this project; it's hard to believe I started it more than 10 years ago (which means yes, I'm resurrecting a 10 year old topic!). I did finish a Saturn V and start on some Russian/Soviet rockets not too long after my last update here, but then I put them all into a box and didn't touch them for a while.
However, recent events got me thinking about some old hobbies, and the SpaceX DM-2 launch a month ago also got me excited about this series again, so I decided to continue working on it along with a few other unfinished paper models. After the latest additions, I think I'm now up to date with every (vertically-launched) rocket that has ever taken humans to space, all in 1:480 scale.
Here's a list of all the sources for the models:
Mercury/Redstone - Delta 7 Studios, original 1:96
Mercury/Atlas - Precision Paper, original 1:96
Gemini/Titan - Precision Paper, original 1:96
Apollo/Saturn IB - Mike B (WeeVikes) & George B, 1:480
Apollo/Saturn V - Mike B & George B, 1:480
Space Shuttle - AXM, original 1:144
Crew Dragon/Falcon 9 - AXM, original 1:100
Soyuz - Erik te Groen, original 1:150
Voskhod - modified from ETG's Soyuz
Vostok - modified from ETG's Soyuz
Shenzhou/Long March 2F - U-DON'S FACTORY, original 1:96
I made my own modifications to a lot of these models in the interest of simplifying them, making them more consistent with each other, or improving their accuracy (where I noticed something that bothered me), so many of them don't perfectly represent the original models as designed. In addition, it's pretty apparent some of them were designed with higher levels of detail compared to others, and admittedly the amount of care that I put into building each one also varied, but I think it doesn't actually matter that much in the end and the result is still a pretty cool collection. I like to think of it as a 3D version of one of those "Rockets of the World" posters.
I still haven't figured out a good way to mount these for a display, but my latest idea is to use some kind of transparent glue to attach clear acrylic (plexiglass) bases to the bottoms. I'm hoping that would make them stable enough to stand vertically while still allowing them to be picked up and examined. I also hope it will preserve a decent view of all the rocket nozzles, which I think are neat to compare as there are so many different arrangements. Planning to test that soon to see how well it works.
Meanwhile, I'm also thinking about trying to do some matching air-launched spaceplanes (X-15, SpaceShipOne, and SpaceShipTwo) along with their motherships (NB-52, White Knight One, and White Knight Two). Any existing models of these that I've been able to find all look way too big and too detailed for me to scale down successfully, so I suspect if I do it at all, I'm going to have to design my own tiny models.
Kevin