- Mischa
- VAB
The ceiling of the VAB, 160m above you. Sometimes, even looking up can make you feel dizzy.
- Mischa
- VAB
Some things are hard to believe. For example the fact, that you have just entered the VAB. History happened right here, and still happens. The orange balloon in the back actually is the external fuel tank for the Endeavour, that has just arrived the day before.
- Mischa
- VAB
We all know it’s big. However it is hard to get a grip, how big it really is. It’s there at the horizon, and driving seems not bring you closer. Each stripe of the American flag has the width of a standard road lane.
- Mischa
- MicroArtwork
If you want to order the kit, please Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein! with your full name and shipping address. If you want a specific serial number please mention it; should it be still available, I'll be happy to assign it to you. I'm doing this on a private base with no 24/7 company behind, so please excuse me when I do not react instantly on your order.
You will get a confirmation together with a PayPal bill, and when I receive the payment confirmation from PayPal, I will pass on your details to the printing company Jentzsch, where the kits were produced and are stored for delivery. They will process your order within one working day. Your advantage is that they get far better rates for shipping than I would get.
The price for one kit is 130.00 EUR plus shipping costs. For shipping costs to your country please refer to the table below. Should your country not be mentioned, please ask. The list reflects the countries to where the kit has been shipped already.
Thank you for visiting my site !
Cyana
Crawler Transporter 1/96 paper model kit
Price: € 130.00
The weight of the kit is 1.5 kg. The shipping costs include insurance. Within Europe, the kit mostly is shipped through DPD parcel service. Overseas shipment is sent via Austrian postal service.
Please allow 8-14 days for overseas shipment and 3-5 days within Europe when sent through DPD. Should a kit not arrive within the estimated time, please contact me.
Shipping Costs
The only option to deliver is via UPS or FedEx; depending on your location the costs are between 80 - 100 EUR. I'm very sorry for this - so please comply with the pandemic measures in your country and help to get over these restrictions soon. Stay healthy!
The shipping costs are calculated for one (1) kit. If you order more than one kit, it will raise the costs usually around 30%.
The costs are not really consistent (why is shipping from Austria to Italy more expensive than to Israel?), however this is the list I received from the printing company.
| Australia | € 31.40 | |
| Austria | € 5.00 | |
| Brazil | € 27.70 | |
| Canada | € 23,90 | |
| Czech Republic | € 14.30 | |
| Denmark | € 15.70 | |
| Finland | € 17.50 | |
| France | € 18.50 | |
| Germany | € 9.50 | |
| Greece | € 17.50 | |
| Hong Kong | € 27.70 | |
| Israel | € 20.80 | |
| Italy | € 21.10 | |
| Japan | € 27.70 | |
| Lithuania | € 20.00 | |
| Mexico | € 27,70 | |
| Netherlands | € 10.80 | |
| New Zealand | € 31.40 | |
| Switzerland | € 18,80 | |
| United Kingdom | € 17.40 | |
| United States of America | € 23.90 |
What to do when a kit does not arrive?
When a kit is overdue, Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!. In most cases, the shipping is delayed due to the authorities at the customs. Especially shipping to USA can vary between one (fast) to four (quite slow) weeks, I even recall a case of six weeks - that was during X-mas season 2014, where new security measurements were installed in the US.
Once you inform me about the missing kit, the printing company launches a postal investigation, and will report back to me; I will forward all communications to you. Should your kit really been lost, we immediately send you a replacement. If you want, I'll refund you for your payment, and you repay when the kit arrives.
What to do when the kit arrives in a bad condition?
Should you be at the door, don't accept the delivery. If the kit was delivered during your absence, please document the damage with some photographs Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!.The printing company then will launch a claim at the insurance, and will send you a replacement.
What to do when I don't react on your email?
Please bear with me, as mentioned I'm a private person and not a 24/7 company. When I'm out on holidays, I do not always have the opportunity to check or to reply to emails. Due to my daytime job, there are days when I cannot even turn on my computer.
Sometimes, I replied to your email, but your provider considered my email address as spam and hence filtered it. In any case, please resend your email when my answer is overdue, and use my Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!.
- Mischa
- MicroArtwork
... no big company, not even a small one. I’m doing this totally on a private base, driven by enthusiasm and deep respect for the people and institutions involved in the moon landing program and space exploration.
When Neil Armstrong did his first steps on the moon, I was a little boy and sure to become an astronaut one day. Well, life had other plans for me, but the fascination remained.
Today, I’m working as radiologist in a nearby hospital in one of the biggest skiing areas in Austria. It’s a demanding job, specially during the winter season, so the time I can spend on this project is very limited.
Nevertheless, the Crawler Transporter model kit is available since August 2010, and the LUT is expected to follow 2019.
- Mischa
- MicroArtwork
Welcome
... to the world of Micro Artwork's high precision paper scale models.
Either you are a paper modeler looking for the challenge of your life, or you are a space enthusiast searching for extremely detailed scale models, or you just want to enjoy the pictures and stories about the moon landing hardware - you came to the right place!
If you are already happy owner of a 1/96 Crawler Transporter kit, welcome back ! Feel free to check out the support section, if you need some hints for assembling your Crawler or if you want to read the latest news and updates about the kit. If you are curious about the oncoming LUT, take a look to its progress.
The 1/96 Moon Landing Trilogy
aims to model the three major components of the moon landing hardware - the Crawler Transporter, the Launcher Umbilical Tower and the Saturn V with the Apollo spacecraft - mostly from paper at an intended accuracy of 1 inch / 2.5 cm.
Is this even possible ? The short answer is - of course not, when we talk about the complete hardware including all its internals. Besides the sheer amount of structures it would be nearly impossible to collect and study all necessary drawings and references.
This is how ...
the biggest adventure of mankind started:
The Saturn V with the Launcher Umbilical Tower atop the Crawler Transporter on its way to the launch pad.
Picture courtesy of NASA
From Hardware to Paperware
However, you’re invited to look for yourself how close the Crawler Transporter model, the first finished part of the Moon Landing Trilogy, comes to this ambitious aim.
In the Pictures Gallery you find pictures from the finished model as well as from the construction process. If you want to learn more about the model kit, look here or click on the picture in the navigation bar at the top of the page. But take care - you eventually might find yourself ordering a kit ;)!
The first part of the project, the Crawler Transporter, is now available after a development time of ten years.
Looking at the Moon
The picture to the right stems from an image taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) in 2010.
It’s the landing site of Apollo 11 at the West crater about 500m away to the right (North and South are upside down in the image). The small crater 50m to the right is ‘Little West’.
The image to the right clearly depicts the descent stage (about 12 feet in diameter), that was left behind as well as the astronauts' tracks and the various equipment they deployed.
Thank you for visiting my site !
Cyana
The descent stage of ‘Eagle’ together with the foot steps and various equipment at the landing site of Apollo 11
Picture courtesy of NASA
- Cyana
- MicroArtwork
The Crawler Transporter 1/96 Model
More than 11,000 parts, ranging from 0.4 mm to 40 cm and a building time of one year and above - this model is not for the faint-hearted, and more a Once In Your Life thing.
However, in the end you are rewarded with a museum quality 1/96 replica of the Crawler Transporter, as it looked like during the moon landing missions.
Based on the original NASA drawings and hundreds of pictures, this kit gives you a reliable reference of the historic Crawler Transporter, and hence has also scientific and educational implications.
The Design
Organizing the access to +11,000 parts brings its own set of difficulties. To ensure that the construction does not turn out into a hide & seek puzzle, the parts are grouped into construction units.
The comprehensive building instructions consist of 48 full color pages, and each step comes with a parts list together with a sheet reference, so that all needed parts can be easily identified and found on the kit’s sheets.
Working marks, cutting economy and gluing strips are additional features, that were specially designed for the Crawler Transporter kit for better results and building comfort.
Most of the sheets are printed on both sides, and all paper ware comes with the required thickness, so no cumbersome laminating is required. The kit contains all necessary parts and materials to build the Crawler Transporter model.
Required Skills
If you have never built a paper model before, you might want to try some easier examples first to learn how to deal with paper, glue, and to get used to the needed tools.
Most commercial paper models are assigned to a skill level defined by the vendor, typically ranging between 1 (easy) to 5 (very difficult).
Although in these terms the model would range into the high five’s, it is up to you to select your wanted level of detail. In principle, you can reduce the model to a core of around 3,000 parts, and you still have a great looking model. Optional parts are indicated in the building instructions thus giving you the chance to select our own skill level.
Scalable Skill Level:
You can adjust the level of detail to your own taste and skills. To the left you see a fully featured surface of the truck’s bearing housing, to the right no surface details are added.
The Production
A model kit, that demands endless time, skills and patience from the builder, should come up with a level of quality, that rectifies the efforts.
Besides the two transparent foils all sheets are offset printed. Furthermore, for the dominating gray tone a separate 5th spot color was used instead of the standard 4C offset print. You can compare the result at the picture to the right.
Finding the right paper was a chapter on its own. It had to fulfill the demands of the modeler and the offset print as well in four different weights and highest quality standards to ensure your Crawler Transporter model looks great even in twenty years from now. We accomplished the task after hundreds of preprints and hours of testing.
The kit was produced at Druckerei Jentzsch & Co. in Vienna, Austria, and the kits are stored there for delivery.
Spot color 5C print
For the dominating gray tone a separate color is used, thus resulting into a homogenous tone of the colored area.
Standard 4C print
Same color as printed in the manual. The tone is mixed from the basic CMYK set and hence has a grained appearance.
Limited Edition
Yes, the kit is limited to 499 pieces worldwide, and each kit carries its individual serial number on the front cover. Ten years of hard work went into this kit, and the limitation reflects the aspiration, that this is not just another card model kit, but also a piece of art and dedicated to the unbelievable efforts, that were made to bring a man to the moon and back home safe.
Kit 001/499 was gifted to the NASA and will be built for the visitors complex at KSC. I had the great honor and pleasure to meet Perry Becker, Ray Trapp and my dear friend Ed Griffith, who is Mechanical Lead of Crawler Transporter #2 and source of great technical advise during the last months before the kit was published. More about my visit at KSC can be found here.
Availability
Yes, there are still kits available. If you got to have one, please look here.
- Mischa
- MicroArtwork
Since 2010, after finishing the Crawler kit, I’m working on a 1/96 paper model kit of LUT 1. LUT 1 was the launch platform of the Apollo 11 mission, and the model will represent the stage as it looked at the day of the launch.
- Mischa
- MicroArtwork
Contact
Mischa Klement
Hauptstr. 44/21
5600 St. Johann / Pg.
Austria
cyana[at]microartwork.com
+43 699 14 30 30 14
Copyright 2001-2019 Mischa Klement
All rights reserved
