The Bear Has Landed

 

 

 

After the First Lunar Landing by Alexei Leonov in July of 1969, the proven LM3 module has become the work horse of Soviet Lunar Exploration. Unlike NASA's LM module with continual improvement on design and efficiency, The Kremlin has continued to scout the lunar surface with this aged lander while exploring efforts to create a heavy lift extraction vehicle to return valuable raw materials from the Moon.    

LM3 module in Storage in Kazakhstan Launch Facility, awaiting component check, pre-launch, 1975.  

Unpacking desperately needed Medical supplies for Zvezda 3 Mining Colony. Once unloaded Titanium ore will make the return journey back to the orbital command module in the emptied Crew compartment. 

Gang-way of the LM vehicle

External Control Panel used for Automated Orbital return sequence. 

Builder's Note: This Kit like most of the ones from this site was an afternoon Project. A lot less time than I spend on the 5 man teams for the game Lunar. there is a lot of flash and sprue clean-up. The model is fairly sturdy sans the support struts which after priming become brittle. They support almost no weight so I just glued them back. I highly recommend pinning the Landing gear to the chassis. 

I painted this craft Gunmetal silver to look like the museum pieces from the museum displays on line, in spite of knowing the craft would have been covered in white paint to keep the internal temperatures manageable by its crew. It just looked more "Soviet" in this color. All Decals were cannibalized from old 1/48 Soviet aircraft models and Rub-on transfer lettering.