# Huston, this is mission specialist Ryan Stone… do you copy?



## electric indigo (Dec 21, 2011)

*Houston, this is mission specialist Ryan Stone… do you copy?*

After experiencing the best SF movie in recent years (IMHO), I felt inspired to hunt down an affordable offer of Hasegawa's 1/200 Space Shuttle & Hubble Space Telescope kit to build the hapless STS Explorer from "Gravity"



The combo kit was released in 2010, and while the HST parts are quite nice, the Shuttle is from the 2003 release, and it's not one of the better Hasegawa models. Details are very basic, there's flash abound, and the fit is so-so. On the plus side, it makes you appreciate their contemporary offers even more.

I want to update some details, but the small scale will hopefully prevent me from getting lost.

What's more important are some modifications to depict the vessel that is shown in the movie.

The Explorer is largely based on the Atlantis from STS-125, but there are some differences in the configuration of the cargo bay modules. Fortunately, a lot of the Explorer's screen time is viewable in the "Detached" trailer in HD.

 

Most notable is the second rack behind the airlock, which moves the other modules (SLIC and ORUC - you gotta love NASA's acronyms) to the aft. This requires some surgery on the kit's payload bay.

There's also a modification on the Hubble. Dr. Stone's add-on equipment is mounted towards the end of the telescope, possibly an artistic decision to get more height and distance to the shuttle.



This is my first work on a "real space" subject, so please bear with me.


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## electric indigo (Dec 21, 2011)

Given the size of the cockpit windows, I felt the need to build a basic interior. I also opened the observation windows on the rear panel.


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## BWolfe (Sep 24, 2013)

Should be an interesting build. I have the old Skillcraft 1:72 HST that I never built along with an unfinished Revell 1:72 shuttle that I may do something similar with.
I have seen the movie a couple of times now. Put it on and watched it with a friend over the weekend who is really into space exploration and I had forewarned about some of the more improbable stuff in the movie. His opinion of it matched mine, a good popcorn flick but you have to forget the realities of spacceflight when viewing it.


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## SJF (Dec 3, 1999)

Loved the movie, as well. I'm glad to see somebody here is doing something from it. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses. 

Sean


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

I wanted to see this in 3D in the theaters SO bad, but was in the middle of my move so I wasn't able to.


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## electric indigo (Dec 21, 2011)

Completed the cockpit today.





The hull halves are glued together right now.


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

Looking good :thumbsup:


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## electric indigo (Dec 21, 2011)

harristotle said:


> I wanted to see this in 3D in the theaters SO bad, but was in the middle of my move so I wasn't able to.


The movie is getting a re-release, so you should definitely try to catch it in the theater this time.

-

After some complicated clamping & supergluing



I got this



Polyester putty to the rescue...

I also chiseled around at the Hubble:


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## electric indigo (Dec 21, 2011)

Self-motivating quick snap-together



and putty surgery:


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## GSaum (May 26, 2005)

Nice looking build! I recently dug up my shuttle launch tower I purchased in the early 90s, and have been tempted to find a copy of the shuttle to build and display with it. Your build has me tempted to start the search!

As for the movie, I too very much enjoyed it. Granted, being a huge follower of the space program, I had to really suspend disbelief, starting with the first shot of George Clooney zipping around the shuttle with his jet pack. Still, it was very much an enjoyable, if not 'out-of-this-world' experience. However, I have to say that I will be skipping purchasing this for home viewing. I saw it in IMAX 3D, the format it was made for. I simply won't enjoy it as much on my 60" 2-D plasma. It won't be the same experience at all, so I'm going to pass that up. This movie was made for the big screen.


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## electric indigo (Dec 21, 2011)

"Gravity" blows you away in 3D, but it still has the best feature-length CG imagery SF cinema delivered to the big screen yet, magnificent, painting-like space panoramas and a brilliant soundtrack in 2D, so I have good faith that the BD will impress me as well.

The (Revell?) launch tower is an impressive display piece, but the 1/144 shuttle is rather bland, unfortunately. I think the Hase 1/200 shuttle has the best detail/scale ratio.


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