Apollo 17 Command and Service Modules, paper model, 1:12 Scale

 Some photos of my Apollo 17 paper model that I never got around to posting:

Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon.

The mission broke several records for crewed spaceflight, including the longest crewed lunar landing mission (12 days, 14 hours), greatest distance from a spacecraft during an extravehicular activity of any type (7.6 kilometers or 4.7 miles), longest total duration of lunar-surface extravehicular activities (22 hours, 4 minutes), largest lunar-sample return (approximately 115 kg or 254 lb), longest time in lunar orbit (6 days, 4 hours), and greatest number of lunar orbits (75). (Source: Wikipedia)

The Apollo Command Module (CM) kit, designed Ken L West, has over 2,400 parts on 127 PDF pages. The 37 pages of assembly diagrams and text are very thorough. The kit includes a full interior and is designed to be separated into several sections for display. I built the kit over six or seven months, and I found it challenging for several reasons:  the amount of detail, the close tolerances between subassemblies, and simply the size of the beast. The hatch, alone, is a complex and beautifully detailed model. Overall, kit was certainly worth the considerable effort it required. I lit the interior with four micro-LEDs powered by a 9-volt battery hidden in the SM.

Above: The CM as built by Billy Leliveld, showing the open display option'

Below: My build of the main hatch

To build the Service Module (SM), I started with a digital paper model in 1:48 scale and scaled up the parts to 1:12 scale. That provided a good "blueprint" even though I had to redraw much of it due to pixilation. Scott Sullivan's illustrated book, Virtual Apollo was an invaluable resource. I chose the SM from Apollo 17 because of its interesting open instrument bay, which I built partly from scratch.

At the annual Winnebago Area Modelers Classic contest and swap meet in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, my Apollo CM/SM took "Best in Show" for most votes from all attendees.

Israeli Kfir C.2 Paper Model in 1:33 Scale

 I reduced Yoav Hosmi's Kfir kit from 1:30 to 1:33 (A4-size to Letter-size) and built it without any other changes. I vacuformed the canopy from my own mold. The model's length is about 16 inches, wingspan about 10 inches. This is an outstanding kit, and it was a pleasure to build. The Kfir and several other of Yoav's Israeli jets are available for download from www.papermodelers.com.

DKM Bismarck 1/200-Scale Paper Model

I built this paper model over ten months in 2013-14. I do not know why I have not posted it here before this but better late than never. The kit is from GPM (Poland). I built the superstructures first, figuring that if I finished them, I would be compelled to build the hull. The aft superstructure came first, and I can see the effect of my learning curve as I went from stern to bow. 

I have taken the model to several IPMS meets. At the 2023 Midwestern Model Ships and Boats Contest at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in May, my Bismarck received a Gold Award. 

So far, this is the only capital ship model I have built, though I have paper kits for DKM Graf Spee (GPM), HMS Prince of Wales (GPM), HMS Rodney (Gomix/FlyModel), and IJN Yamato (Halinski). I have started the escort carrier USS Gambier Bay (Halinski) and have GPM's kit for the USS Yorktown, complete with the Doolittle Raiders' B-25s, all in 1/200 scale. That is several years' worth of model building!

The model is on permanent (I think) display at the Ripon Public Library. The library staff tells me it is very popular with visitors and patrons. I built the case.

Below, that is my Bismarck on the cover of the Autumn 2022 issue of NRJ. Inside is my article on "Some tips and techniques for paper model ships."