Horizon Models 1:72 Scale Mercury/Atlas

Next up is the Mercury/Atlas kit from the Australian company Horizon Models. Horizon Models makes an assortment of high quality early "space race" rocket kits.  

One of the main challenges of this kit is getting those seams hidden. This is really tricky because it will be painted shades of silver. Every flaw will show, as evidenced all to well by my best effort.

You wouldn't think there's be a lot of parts but actually the kit is surprisingly complex. There are many extremely small pieces representing every possible detail. Also, you have to pay close attention to wear details go. The facing side of the rocket are quite different.

I thought I'd try something new and use AK's polishable metal paste in aluminum and steel. The lower part of the vehicle is one while the main body is the other. My paints didn't really show much difference, but this stuff was amazing. It's quite easy to use as well.

I did sections of the vehicle in slightly different shades. It's hard to see, but I think it adds to the realism.

The kit provides an array of parts and markings for any of the Mercury launches, manned and unmanned. I did the markings and details for the 5th Mercury mission during which Enos the chimp became the first primate to orbit the earth. Enos returned safely but tragically died a short time later from a completely unrelated health issue.

John Glenn orbited the earth on the following Mercury mission.  I suppose most people that build this kit do that mission. 

The decals, and there were a lot of them, were high quality and I didn't have much trouble with them. On rough surfaces they did tend to not lay down fully if I wasn't careful. I should have glossed the surface prior - one of several things I wish I'd done differently.

This was an interesting project. I thought it would be short, and it was certainly not as long as most, but there were surprising challenges and my result is definitely in the so-so category.

I think I'd like to make something else from the Horizon line up, and be better prepared. This was one of those projects were it is important to study the entire instructions before beginning, for example. There are a number of instances where something later really needs to be done before something earlier. Also, there were a couple of minor errors, and several things that were hard to determine about the specific variations.

Overall, it's OK. It looks better in the photos than in person. It's also a bit hard to display being so tall. Still, it's a surprisingly detailed representation of this unusual historic subject.