Revell 1/110 'Everything is Go' Atlas Booster with Mercury Capsule Kit Build Review

By Chuck Holte

Build Review

I started this kit as a nostalgic and historic modeling visit to the early days of the US space program and the incremental steps the courageous men and women of our fledgling space program were taking on the way to the Moon.  As one of the original cadre "Mercury 7" Astronauts,  John H. Glenn, Jr., piloted the first US manned orbital mission in the "Friendship 7" spacecraft, reaching orbital velocity of 17,500 miles per hour and a maximum altitude of 162 miles above the earth on 20 Feb 62.  He subsequently retired from the USMC and NASA and won a US Senate seat from the State of Ohio where he served for 24 years.  He was part of the STS-95 flight crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery in Oct-Nov 1998, 36 years after his first orbital flight.  He was 77 years old at that time.  Nickle on the Grass; fighter pilot extraordinaire John Glenn went West on 8 Dec 16 at the age of 95.  Rest in Peace Colonel, you had The Right Stuff.

Our reviewer colleague Cookie Sewell provided excellent model kit background in his earlier:  In Box Review, so I won't try to polish that apple.

This was a out-of-the-box build of a kit form the early days of plastic modeling.  It's an odd "box scale," and some of the components border on being toy-like.  I remember building it when it first came out, and even then I was in awe of the exploits it represented in the US space program.  For this build, I dutifully followed the assembly instructions, but tried to apply some of the lessons learned over the years.  For instance, I tried to neatly trim flash and attach points and test fit parts before committing the liquid cement to plastic.

I did not strictly follow the painting instructions, depending more on the color photos available on the internet.  For the Atlas booster, I used several shades of Alclad II, masked to show the alternating aluminum panels visible on photos.  I was originally going to finish and include all the trucks and additional equipment, but found myself getting too involved in making realistic models out of the simple vehicles provided.  It just wasn't worth my time, but they are there for those who want to test their Advanced Modeler Syndrome (AMS) vulnerabilities.  I used Model Master enamel for the grays and yellow and applied the decals with liberal amounts of Future Floor Wax, or whatever its called now.  Everything was then coated with Testor's Dullcote except the rocket, which I left shiny like a new silver dollar.

I enjoyed the build of Col John Glenn's steed and the many memories of the early space age that came with it.  The kit has been in and out of production several times and I still see them on e-bay and convention vendor's tables.  Recommended.