Real Space Models 1/72 Gemini & Agena

KIT #: ?
PRICE: $25.00
DECALS: Generic options
REVIEWER: Richard F
NOTES: Resin kit with two metal parts

HISTORY

Gemini was a very successful space program in the mid-1960s. It took the US a long way ahead of the early, basic achievements of Mercury, and really set NASA up for the Apollo moon program. It demonstrated basically all the techniques needed for the moon landing short or orbiting the moon and actually landing. It proved that astronauts could:
. survive in space for a fortnight, more than enough time to get there and back
. survive and work outside the craft, in their space suits
. rendezvous with another craft in a different orbit
. find, with instruments and visually, another spacecraft and dock with it
There were ten crewed Gemini missions, and four of them docked with the Agena target vehicle. Two missions then used the Agena to boost them into a higher orbit. Sixteen astronauts filled the 20 seats on Gemini, four of them twice (Young, Lovell, Stafford and Conrad). Two were killed in the Apollo 1 fire (Gus Grissom and Ed White) and one never flew again. The remaining 13 all flew on Apollo. Six of those walked on the Moon, five orbited it without landing, and two flew missions in earth orbit.
THE KIT

This is a very simple kit. You get a Gemini spacecraft, moulded in two pieces. The crew compartment has a good rendition of the characteristic surface texture (I saw the real thing at the Smithsonian on my business trip to DC when I got this kit). 
The other parts are a single piece for the Agena, and another piece for the docking shroud. There is a metal rod for the characteristic antenna on Agena, and a little metal piece to go on the end of it. You need to make your own windy cable on that mast. 
Decals are very basic and the smaller American flags aren't as crisp as maybe they could be. There is also a sheet of gold foil which you use on the rear of the spacecraft.
The resin itself seems to be nicely moulded and although I have not examined it in extreme detail, it appears free of any significant blemishes. 
You will need to make your own display stand.
CONCLUSIONS
A simple kit which could easily be your first resin kit. 
The Dragon 1/72 injection moulded Gemini that came out a couple of years ago (reviewed here on MM) is probably a better choice, but as far as I know this is the only kit that gives you the Agena docking target.
REFERENCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Gemini

Richard F

March 2017

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