Space shuttle Atlantis / 1:72 / P. Bestr / Betexa

[Murlock77]

Hello,

in this thread I would like to present you the progress of the build of space shuttle Atlantis. This model was created by Czech author P. Bestr and published by Betexa. The scale is 1:72, it contains about 200 hundred parts and it should by kind off diffilcult.

Atlantis is the fourth NASA's space shuttle and it's first start was in 1985.


There were five missions at the beginning, which were secret military missions. Since 1995 the space shuttle has completed five flights to Russian space station Mir. After that, Atlantis went through reconstruction. Almost 200 modifications were made and the space shutlle was ready to take another flights. All of them were flights to ISS. The only exeption was a misson STS-125, which was a flight to Hubble's telescope and the goal was to repair the telescope. In 2011, its operation was terminated.


The first thing to do building this model was to stick some of the parts with a cardboard. After that, I cut out the cabin and made its windows using the food foil.


After that, I have decided to not to follow the instructions and started to build the cockpit to have the all the cabin ready.



For now its all the work I did, see you after making some progress.

[ReynoldsSlumber]

It's already looking like a nice model!
For the window material, is that clear plastic wrap? I recently used tracing paper (vellum) to make a bubble canopy. It would not be appropriate for your application though, because tracing paper would not allow anyone to see the cabin detail clearly from the outside.

[Murlock77]

Originally Posted by ReynoldsSlumber

It's already looking like a nice model!
For the window material, is that clear plastic wrap? I recently used tracing paper (vellum) to make a bubble canopy. It would not be appropriate for your application though, because tracing paper would not allow anyone to see the cabin detail clearly from the outside.

Yes, it is clear plastic wrap. Its was a good option for me, because its elastic and it will not cause any problems during shaping the cabin. Its my first clear windows to be honest, so im curious about the result

[Murlock77]

Hello again,

here is some progress I did last evening. So small parts of landing gear in the front of the shuttle. At the beginning I wasnt really sure how to put this together, but at the end it was just fine.



Landing wheels are gonna be next.