First Model
The first design for the first spacecraft to land the first man on the Moon
Exploring the intersection of spaceflight history, pop culture, and art.
Welcome to the inaugural email launch of Creating Space. I want to thank my charter subscribers for opening up your inboxes to what I hope will be interesting and entertaining words and images about spaceflight history, pop culture, and art. This post is about a subject near and dear to me – space contractor models. I show you the first model that started my collection. And, I share one of my 3D renderings of Grumman’s first Lunar Module design ... with a whimsical twist.
Model of the Month
This is the first 1960s era spacecraft desk model I ever bought. It was the beginning of what is now an extensive collection of spacecraft contractor models. The model depicts Grumman’s first proposed design for the Apollo lunar lander, then called the Lunar Excursion Module, or LEM for short.
The model was made by Lester Associates, Inc., known for their scale models and miniatures. They are perhaps most famous for the panoramic model of New York City which debuted at the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York.1 This model qualifies as both scale and miniature, standing only 1.8 inches (4.7 cm) tall atop its 3.9-inch (9.8 cm) diameter base.
Often referred to as contractor models, strictly speaking this may be better described as an executive desk model since Lester Associates was not an aerospace contractor.
Contractor Models
Contractor models, as they are commonly called, are a step up in quality compared to plastic model kits you may have built. They are generally made by professional manufacturers and consist of cast resin or wood and sometimes have metal parts.
Space contractor models derive their name from the fact that they were built in custom model shops of aerospace contractors who built spacecraft for NASA’s space missions, though many were subcontracted out to commercial model makers.
One of their primary uses was as vehicles for communication. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a three-dimensional model could speak volumes in helping to convey complex concepts.
Perhaps equally as important, models were often gifted to executives and government officials, deemed worthy by virtue of their political influence or their roles in determining how much money would go to which contractors. Sometimes they were given out to employees as tokens of appreciation.
Models of this type were often used by television news anchormen to demonstrate to their viewing audience how the spacecraft worked and to show how maneuvers were made.
I am drawn toward collecting contractor models because I feel they connect me to times and places in space history in ways few other collectibles can. Astronauts and other space industry figures would often pose for photographs with these models. When I come across a particularly rare model and see one of those photos, I like to think there is a slight chance that the model in my possession may be the very one in the picture. Maybe it was even handled by one of these notable people.
Some models provide peeks into the engineering that went into the real spacecraft they represent. I especially enjoy models that depict early design concepts. Comparing early concepts to later configurations shows how designs evolved over time and provides insight into some of the thinking that went into solving certain technical problems. My own aerospace engineering career was spent largely in conceptual and preliminary design, so that aspect of collecting contractor models is of particular interest to me.
For reasons likely originating from being exposed to images as a child, I hold a special attraction toward models that demonstrate the design evolution of the Apollo Lunar Module. Pictured here is a line-up of four iterations of Grumman’s Lunar Module design. One of my Holy Grails of model collecting is summed up in this photo.
So far, I have a small-scale version of the first one on the left (the model shown at the top of this post), the third one, and a classic white version of the fourth.
I bought the desk model heading up this post from an online auction shortly after getting my first computer in 1999. Since then, my collection has grown to over thirty models, including nine Apollo lunar modules and an assortment of other rockets and space vehicles. There are still several more on my wish list. I’ll tell you about some of those in future posts.
Space Art of the Month
Bubble Blast
A whimsical imagining of Grumman's 1962 Apollo Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) design concept, playfully converted into a bubble gum machine.
I affectionately call this early design configuration the "Bubble LEM" due to its bulbous helicopter-like cockpit and large curved windows. It naturally follows that it would make a great out-of-this-world bubble gum machine. So, I added a coin slot, crank, dispenser shoot, and a refill cap. And then I filled it with gumballs.
The seed for this whimsical piece came from my wife who often has a magical childlike way of looking at the world. She, as well as others, have encouraged me to create more artwork like Rocket Martini, where space themed items are juxtaposed in unexpected ways. This rendition of Grumman's 1962 LEM design concept as a bubble gum machine is the latest to follow that theme.
My space-inspired art portfolio can be found at pixel-planet-pictures.com. You can also follow me on Instagram (pixelplanetpics).
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All images and text copyright © Dave Ginsberg, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
It’s a Small World, Local History: Lester Associates, Inc., White Plains Public Library (https://whiteplainslibrary.org/2016/12/local-history-blog-lester-associates-inc/)