Space In Miniature - Reference Books for Space Model Builders

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Skylab Mini-SIM Released as Download Only Book

When I was a college student I had a job as a co-op engineering student at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. I was there for three semesters during the mid-70s including the period of the Skylab missions. When I started my career in aerospace it was at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis where a good portion of Skylab was built. This enabled me to to gather up a lot of photos and technical data, and I have finally compiled it into a small SIM publication, SIM TR-1 - Skylab. It's only 22 pages which seemed too small for a full-up SIM book. So I decided to try a new concept.

Up-front printing costs are expensive and shipping paper publications requires storing them somewhere and making runs to the post office. Although modelers need a paper template to do scratch building or as a reference, electronic publications are going to be a a big part of the future. I also have a lot of material that would be good candidates for short books, and I might be able to do more if I did not have to manage the cost of printing a bunch of different titles. This also allows the use of color illustrations and the ability to issue revisions if needed. From that thought process is born the SIM Technical Report series.

These will be shorter publications available by download only in pdf format. You place an order with me in the usual way and I send you an email link to the download site. The other unique aspect is that the final price is set by the customer. The recommended minimum price for this Skylab book is $6.00. (Note that Paypal takes about 50 cents of that.) Once you download it and if you think it is worth more, you can simply make another Paypal payment via my order page. I trust that the space modeling community - my customers - are savvy enough to set a fair price on their own.

For more info and to order SIM TR-1 - Skylab, go to this link or use the main order page.

IPMS/USA National Conventions

We had another fun IPMS/USA Nats, this year in Omaha. There were not as many space modelers as some of our regulars were unable to attend. But the show ran very smoothly and there was the usual wonderful assortment of space and sci fi models to look at. The statistics on entries per category may be found at this link.

Space Modelers Go to Space

Some of you may know that my brother-in-law is astronaut John Phillips. John was a member of a recent Shuttle flight,
STS-119, launched March 15, 2009. He operated the robot arm that installed the final solar array section.

John is allowed take small items on his mission for family members. I gave him a Space Modelers pin (like the one at the left side of this page), which he took with him on Discovery. I recently got it back with a certificate of authenticity from NASA, and you can see it here. Note that this is the logo used for the Yahoo discussion group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/space-modeler

So now the group has truly made it to orbit. You can order a pin from this website using the main order form and there are more details at this link.

SIM 7: Apollo Lunar Module

The newest book in the SIM series is SIM #7 - Apollo Lunar Module. I think you are really going to like this book. It has color patterns for all the flown LMs, a comprehensive kit review section, plus a write-up on my build of the 1/48 scale Monogram kit. This is a model that I started over 25 years ago but quit when I got to the point of needing to replace all of the detailed parts (antennas, ALSEP, MESA, etc.). I finished that effort in January of 2007 and you can see the results here.

To order, just go to the order form and fill out your mailing info after making your selections. If you are using Paypal, just use the form to calculate postage and the total due, then click the Paypal icon on the form. If your are a dealer or retailer interested in quantity buys please send me an e-mail for a quote.

As with SIM #6 - Apollo CSM, I am posting some supplemental information on this website. The Apollo reference section provides some complementary data in support of the two Apollo books. This includes a reference table of (CSM and LM) Apollo hardware configurations and links to color versions of all the photos used in both the CSM and LM books. There is a photo page here with color versions of all the photos used in the book.

Model Gallery

Photos of my recent builds can be found in the Model Gallery section of this site. You will also find the photo blog of my 1/144 Mir build. That has been on hold while I built the ISS and then finished the 1/48 Apollo LM for the SIM #7 book. Go to this link for the Mir build. The most recent space model I did was the Boeing X-37B from Fantastic Plastic. My next space project will either be to finish the Mir or possibly a Soyuz landing diorama.

Space Books for Sale

I am in the process of thinning my collection of space-related books. I am getting rid of anything that is not directly modeling related. I have a lot of stuff on space history, and I once thought I'd write something on a space enthusiast's view of all of the exploration programs that never got off the drawing board. But that'll never happen. And I need room on my shelves. See this page for details.

About SIM

I am an engineer in the aerospace industry, and my hobby interests are centered around building scale models of real spacecraft. This quickly gets into the history of space, as there are few space kits out there and much research is required to come up with the plans and data needed to scratchbuild accurate spacecraft models. This activity led me to publish the results of some of my research in the form of 40-page monographs (magazines or booklets, I guess) on how to build accurate models of real spacecraft. I also have this internet site to augment those paper publications.

The book series is called Space in Miniature (SIM). Click here for more info or use the links at left.

This web site was established in the summer of 1999 to solicit inputs on the Mercury volume. I used this web site to post preliminary findings and to get feedback from other researchers. This has worked out great, and I appreciate hearing from so many of you. To order books, check out the order form.

You can also keep up with me on Facebook.

Thanks for your interest,

Mike Mackowski

Credit Cards Accepted via PayPal

You can purchase books using your credit card via my PayPal account. While I prefer checks (PayPal gets 92 cents for every copy of SIM #6 I sell using their service) this should make ordering simpler for you, particularly international customers.