Orion

Martin with the finished 3 ft long ORION.

The Orion's basic shape cut out of Jelutong wood on a bandsaw. Note the central Perspex (Plexiglass) vane that runs right through the centre of the model. This was traced through from my drawing and gave me the exact side profile of the model and also the cetral spine that devides the engine exhausts.

I carved the fuselarge shape using photos from the film archive I have. I had some of my photos blown up to as near the size I wanted my model as was possible -at just over 3ft long. It was interesting to note that I found that there were still a number of inacuracies in the drawings in "The Making of 2001" book by Piers Bizony and re-drawn by Simon Atkinson. I am in no way trying to sound like a "know-all" but I am lucky enough to have a number of photos of ORION that I have never seen published, particularly the front on shot seen in the background of photo 6 showing the wings being made. The windows in this photo are different from those seen on other photos of the original. Why, I don't know.

A composite shot showing the rear engine cowling. I was going to mould this but ended up carving it in lime wood. As can be seen, I cut the cowling crossways at the point where the jet nozzles fit is. This enabled me to get both sides exactly the same, and gave me an accurate vertical face on to which I eventually fitted the jet nozzles. One thing that I had noticed which was wrong on both the "AURORA" and "AIRFIX" kit is that the bottom and central spine on the engine cowling is made as a curve. This is wrong. The central spine and floor of the cowl are virtually flat and join in the centre atright angles. There are also 9 fine strakes running along each side & bottom of the cowls.

This photo shows the inside of the engine cowling with the fine strips added. These butt up to the central vane to form a right angle, not a curve as is depicted on both the "Aurora" and "Airfix" kits. In the later reprints of Piers Bizony's book there is a photo reprinted in colour showing the Orion in its classic pose as it rises from the Earth. In these colour photos the strips can clearly be seen whereas on the B/W shots they are not visible. This photo also shows the window sections made up in white Plastikard on clear Perspex (Plexiglass) & painted black on the inside. For the kit-spotters amoung you the little round exhaust ports at the back of the windows are the engine exhausts from the "Airfix" Superfortress kit!

I made the wings from 2 layers of 2mm Perspex, sandwiching one piece of 3.5mm Perspex between the upper & lower halves of the wing. This allowed me a slot along the leading edge of the wing into which I had to fit 9 tiny female moulds of the intakes each of which is a different size becoming smaller the nearer the wingtip the intakes get. The wing "fences" (These are the proper names for the vertical vanes that cut across the trailing edge of the wing) are yet to be added. I cut slots for these and made them from 20 thou Plastikard

The model parts fitted together. However at this point, as can be seen, I have cut right through the model just behind the wings to enable me to carve the little recesses that are just forward of the intakes that will later be added. It was easier to do this then stick the model back together than try to do them any other way. It also ensured all eleven of them were exactly in alignment. This photo also shows the outlet slot on the upper surface of the wings which I detailed
with 20 thou Plastikard . The recesses for the windows have yet to be cut in.

The model has now been sprayed in multiple layers of "High-Build" primer, rubbed down with Wet & Dry paper between each coat and then sprayed with fine grey & white finishing primer. I'm now adding detail to the model using a minimum of kit parts, like the original. I used dichloromethane clear liquid cement to attach the plastic parts to the paint finished model as it melts the plastic which then welds to the paint. I used many thicknesses of plastic sheet and masking tape to lift certain sections of the model and add the fine ribbed sections where the "PAN AM" logo will go.

Here the model is virtually finished. The wing "fences" mentioned earlier can now be seen on the traling edges of the wing. Also I have now added the two "probes" to the rear of the model. I had earlier set in two brass tubes 1/8th inch internal diameter so that I could just slide the finely turned brass probes into the holes. These are tapered and need to be strongly fitted as they can get easily knocked; now it's easy to impale yourself on them!

Now fully detailed and sprayed in grey fine primer ORION is ready for its final paint. Note the finely raised panels and other fine detailing. There are 2 small intakes behind the window areas and on top of the cockpit area. Here you can clearly see these cut in. I did these intakes the same way I did the smaller front intakes above the cockpit area: I made a tiny Perspex female mould of the hole shape and after coating it with release agent (Vaseline!) I pressed this into a pre-cut hole filled with Isopon car filler. When this was set I just had to smooth the model back down to a fine surface leaving a neat intake shape. Indeed the same technique was used on the nose intake. The top large intake can also now be seen in place. Both this & the underside one were carved from solid Perspex with the strips added in fine plastikard.

The model again in finished white but this time from a rear 3/4 view. All the intakes are visible here including the "Airfix Superfortress" bomb halves I used for the small underside rear-facing jets. The larger cowlings on the side of the main exhausts were made specially out of wood then moulded and cast in resin. I used a very creamy white for the final colour as this, I am told, is what was originaly used. I later masked up the rear exhaust ports & sprayed them a satin black.

The ORION in its final white finish. Initially it was sprayed a gloss cream like white, but once the weathering was done the whole model was given a coat of matt lacquer to match the original.
In this elongated wide angle photo the cockpit can clearly be seen raised up. In fact on all models I have seen of ORION nobody seems to notice that in fact the fuselage is raised up at this point. I made the cockpit by inlaying a lump of bark blue Perspex into the wooden carving. At its final coat of paint I masked the cockpit up to match the photos used in the film. It'd also interesting to note that in the front view photo seen in the background of my photo number 6, the cockpit has been cut out differently. Clearly they experimented with the cockpit shape.

The finished model with all its shaded panelling. I used graphite pencil to shade the model and cut the panel lines in with a scalpel. I also used an airbrush to copy the heavy exhaust weathering of the original model which, by the way, hides the underneath mounting pole hole. The original was also mounted through the nose for shots where Orion is seen rotating to match the speed of the approach to the Spacestation. I managed to get the panel lining and weathering pretty close to the original and got a friend to reproduce the PAN-AM logo as a waterslide transfer. We also established where the transfers came from on the original model and were able to obtain these.

The finished model viewed from behind -probably one of its nicest points of view!. The fine ribs cut into the rear probes can be clearly seen as can the fine detailing. The PAM AM logo was printed on photomount fine card which I cut out and stuck on. All the other transfers, apart from the aforementioned wording PAM-AM, were from the Monogram P38 Lightning. For final effect I mounted the model on a steel pole fitted into a mahogany base.