1/32 EVA Models Lunar Rover

by Pete Malaguti

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This is the EVA Models Lunar Rover.  It's my first all Resin kit.  Chris Chulamanis, who passed away just after New Year's 2008, did an outstanding job on this kit.  No air bubbles, easy-to-understand, well illustrated, instructions and very well thought out.

I scratchbuilt the aft equipment pallet to depict Apollo 17.  The diorama depicts the astronauts' visit to the Taurus - Littrow site, Station 6, in December 1972.  The Apollo 17 landing site, named for the Taurus mountains and Littrow crater, is located in a mountainous region on the southeastern rim of the Mare Serenitatis basin.

I initially used the figures from the kit, one standing, one seated, but decided, after watching the Spacecraft Film on Apollo 17, to have the Gene Cernan figure walking from the LRV to the 'Jack' Schmitt figure.  I contacted Chris at EVA and he obliged me by sending me another standing figure.  I then modified each figure by repositioning arms and legs and shaving material from the visor area of the helmets to more accurately represent them.  You may notice I've also added straps and hoses, to the astronaut figures as well as tongs and a hammer to the Cernan figure ( red stripes).

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I then scratchbuilt the Equipment pallet, to show the version of the LRV, used on Apollo 17, using styrene, some aluminum sheet ( from a commercial printer ), some styrene rods and 1/16" aluminum tube.

The LRV has seat belts, a map holder, a tool attached to the mast and a few other customized items on it.

The LRV and astronaut figures were then sprayed with a couple shades of grey to represent lunar dust, which went everywhere.

The 'lunar' base is masonite (...I also used foam rubber to create the slope and the big boulders...) with crack filler (spackle) spread over it.  You may also see the scratch built Gnomon by the Schmitt figure.   One of its uses was to get accurate colours when printing the photos.

The website, Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, was my prime photographic reference tool. Just about every photo taken on an Apollo lunar mission is on that site.

This is a very good kit.  Well cast resin, photo etch parts and excellent instructions made this a fun build.

Thanx for looking and ... thanx Steve, once again, for maintaining such a great site!

Pete

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Photos and text © by Pete Malaguti