COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado USA — Late next Spring, Apogee Components will begin shipping two new scale kits, a 1/70th scale Saturn 1B and a 1/70th scale Saturn V. Apogee owner, Tim Van Milligan is showing the two new models at the National Model and Hobby show in Chicago beginning today.

While there are other scale models of these rockets, the first thing you'll notice about them is their huge size. The Saturn V is about 5-1/2 feet tall and 5.6 inches in diameter. The Saturn 1B is about as big as the Estes Saturn V.

Apogee spent over 2 months researching these rockets so that they could get it "right" and discovered a lot of gaps and inconsistencies in other scale data packs; so they basically started from scratch and created a CAD package of the real vehicles. To show the accuracy of the data, the kits will each come with a photo CD-ROM, so that you can make the comparison yourself.

Background Information
Apogee started this project last spring when a guy named Mike Dorffler quit working at Estes. You might recognize his name, as he was the guy that invented the Cineroc in 1969. Over the years at Estes, he created a long list of highly successful products, including: Astrocam, Optima, SWAT, the E2X concept, and most everything electronic that has come out of the company.

When he left Estes, Apogee hired him. Mike suggested doing some really nice - BIG - scale models as his first project, but what models? Apogee listened to modelers, and quickly realized that the Apollo models are the most sought after vehicles.

The Saturn rockets are probably the most popular rockets because they represented America at its space heyday. They were created at a time of tremendous optimism in the country and the space program. Everyone on the planet knew what these rockets were, and where they were going.

Unlike today's Space Shuttle, which was advertised as a "space truck," the Saturns were built with one specific mission in mind: to boldly go to the moon. Even today, everyone connects the Saturn V as the symbol of mankind's greatest technical achievement.

So they started with was the Saturn V. But then they thought that people would love a Saturn 1B to go with the bigger model.

Apogee settled on 1/70th scale to get them under the weight limitations of the FAA and the 1/70th size was big enough to get a lot of small detail to show up on the surface of the model.

For example, the models will have the correct number of stringers on each stage. One of the problems with a smaller size (like the 1/100th scale from Estes) is that the number of corrugations in the wraps has to be reduced.

This past week a small glitch occurred — about 10 huge boxes of tubes arrived unexpectedly at Apogee. In June, Apogee requested a quotation on the tubes needed to build the models and somehow, the supplier thought it was an order for the tubes.

Apogee didn't want to advertise that they were working on these kits until they were done and they also don't like to pre-sell products before they are done. But in this case, since they have to pay for the tubes and the tooling to make the molded parts on the rockets, they thought they'd start taking orders now!

So here's the deal on the prices:

Regular price of the Saturn V will be $185.
Regular price on the Saturn 1B will be $150.

If you place your order now and send in your check, here are the pre-production prices:

Saturn V: $150
Saturn 1B: $135

If you buy both, they'll throw in a Apogee Aspire kit free. This is the F10 powered model that can easily fly higher than 1 mile! 

How to Order?

Order Form (Click Here)