Author Topic: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor  (Read 4762 times)

Offline KiwiZac

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1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« on: January 02, 2017, 11:23:09 AM »
Hi all,
While saving photos for future builds I came across a curious and exciting concept: Saint, or Satellite Interceptors - essentially real-world space fighters. Turns out that one time someone planned one based on the Gemini:


So I took that idea and ran with it. Here's my "Blue" Gemini (USAF) with one of the astronauts attending to the negation missiles during an EVA.






Dragon Gemini kit with some cutting and scratching.
Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2017, 03:49:29 PM »
 :)
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2017, 01:03:08 AM »
Nice! The astronaut really looks weightless.

Offline The Big Gimper

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2017, 01:32:24 AM »
Out-of-this-world build Zac!!

Now who is your mole inside the USAF Space Command Division?

Work in progress ::

I am giving up listing them. They all end up on the shelf of procrastination anyways.

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Offline Dr. YoKai

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2017, 08:32:19 PM »
Way cool! I like the 'low-viz' paint scheme, too ;)

Offline tankmodeler

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2017, 11:35:48 PM »
I've also been reading the "Blue Gemini" series of novels (good reads, too!) and have been thinking of doing a Blue Gemini Saint based on the Monogram 1/48 kit.

Please don't take the following as critiques of your model. I am a spacecraft mechanical engineer by trade and I put forward the following comments mostly for anyone, myself included, thinking of making a Blue Gemini interceptor that is more rigourous in the engineering and science aspects.

- The rear adaptors (your weapons/sensor bay) would have to remain white for thermal reasons (no matter how cool the shadow grey is, and it is! :-) ). Also the longitudinal grooves in the adapter are an error by the model company (Dragon?) who have misinterpreted the black tape lines seen on the early Geminis as grooves. They were simple tape. A look at the photos from the missions will show they aren't terribly straight or even in many cases.
- The two retro thrust bottles would probably need to remain within the adapter. You can see on the initial image there is a cylindrical retro pack inside the adapter.
- If not mated to Transtage orbital manoeuvering stage, the adapter would also have to house the orbital manoeuvering motors exhausting out the back of the gold Kapton thermal blanket with the propellant tanks protected within the blanket. The standard Gemini already has 4 somewhat larger thrusters that the actual craft used to perform it's docking manoeuvers at the time.
- The telescoping mass sensor would have to telescope out of a housing of some sort of a substantial length and diameter (in the image it telescopes out of the length of the manoeuvering stage.
- Not shown in the illustration is some sort of radiator system to cool all the electronics carried onboard. Gemini routed coolant around the interior of the rear adapter dumping heat out into the skin of the adapter (which is partly why there are black stripes on the early Geminis, to balance the thermal management). The open adapter walls prevents that and so you'd probably have an accordion-like flat panel radiator at right angles to the open equipment bay.

I love this model. It's got me fired up to go build my own "Saint"!

Well done.

Paul

Offline Camthalion

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2017, 05:31:33 AM »
Very Nice

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2017, 06:50:30 AM »
Quite well done, Old Bean!

Old Man

Offline Story

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2017, 05:07:44 AM »
I'm glad I clicked on this thread. Two thumbs up, KiwiZac

I love this model. It's got me fired up to go build my own "Saint"!

You must. I'd love to see what you'd do with a large (1/6th) scale template.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6117/6879488132_fcb350cded_b.jpg

Offline Frank3k

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #9 on: June 16, 2017, 01:03:52 PM »
You must. I'd love to see what you'd do with a large (1/6th) scale template.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6117/6879488132_fcb350cded_b.jpg

As a child, after relentless Birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah and Flag Day requests, I was finally gifted a GI Joe capsule and astronaut. Hooked the guy up and tossed the capsule into the pool, where it quickly Gus Grissom'd to the bottom (of the shallow end, luckily). After everything dried out (it took days) I limited the capsule to dry landings.

Offline tankmodeler

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Re: 1/72 Blue Gemini satellite interceptor
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2017, 04:48:03 AM »
I'm glad I clicked on this thread. Two thumbs up, KiwiZac

I love this model. It's got me fired up to go build my own "Saint"!

You must. I'd love to see what you'd do with a large (1/6th) scale template.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6117/6879488132_fcb350cded_b.jpg
The old GI Joe capsule is a Mercury, not a Gemini (I used to have one with I was 10, in 69.) and, dear ghod, I'm not scratchbuilding a 1/6 anything!  :D

But I have a couple 1/48 Monogram Gemini's hanging about. They'd certainly be worth the time and effort. I can easily knock up a new adapter section with the appropriate access and weapons doors.

What I'd really like is a nice 1/48 transtage to park at the back of the SAINT as a primary propulsion module.

Paul