MY SCRATCHBUILT STUDIO SCALE FIREBALL

Here's a few old photos of my even older studio scale Fireball XL5 model which I made around thirty years ago shortly after the smaller one I made. These days there's lots of info been uncovered about studio scale models, but back then, before the internet made armchair experts of us all, I just had a few photos and some drawings ,

I scaled it using the Airfix kit parts used on the launch trolley so it's just under two feet long. The main body is a piece of  lathed turned meranti hardwood, with balsa shield fins. The rear thrusters, wing blisters and fairings  are sanded ramin hardwood. The tail fin and wings are plastic card of varying thickness. The canopy and secondary control room blister were  vac formed  using clear acrylic sheet.

Over the years its had a few knocks, mainly from when it went  on display, along with my scratch built Anastasia model for a travelling 1990 Dan Dare exhibition starting in my home town of Southport..

Here's  some photos showing the comparison between the two sizes of Fireball Junior. Both of these attach to their respective main bodies using a plastic rod. Not very sophisticated but it works.