Has anyone built the Noris 1/60 Vostok kit that Apogee sells? I bought one over a year ago,
finally started work on it during the past week. Despite the number of vacuformed parts that comes with the kit, it's been a chore to build.

Some of the plastic parts are very lacking in detail, and the booster engine cradle has to be
cut out by the builder (modeller). I also notice the fin/launch lug guide that wraps around
the body tubes are too small.

No sweat; I can make the needed details with card stock and/or balsa pieces, and the model
I'm building will be far more detailed than the kit.

More later.....

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Ok, some pictures. Model isn't really all that bad, but I'm going to have to do something
about the interstage strut between the 2nd/3rd stage. The kit comes with what amounts to
a stick-on decal that is applied over the clear tubing, but the "clear" part of the stick-on is
so bad that you really can't see the heat shield and the 3rd stage nozzle through the interstage strut. Will have to get rid of it and find something better here.

Still have quite a bit of work to do, especially the addition of extra detailing not included in
the kit. Will post more as the build progresses.

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Dave,

Looks good. The detail pieces for the booster cones and hold-downs look nice.

This is the first time I've seen pictures of the actual kit being built.

I had thought about buying one from Germany years ago but got talked out of it by someone who had one of the kits and noted the deficiencies you mention.

I think Tim's description of these kits on the Apogee website must set some kind of new standard for truth in advertising as he definitely doesn't sugar coat the kit drawbacks.

Thanks for posting the build.

Thanks, Gus. I really wanted to order the Noris Soyuz kit, but Apogee was out of them (at
the time) and Tim still had a few of the Vostoks left, so I got it instead. I've noticed since I
received my kit (early 2008) that since then, both the Noris Vostok & Soyuz kits have been
mysteriously "out-of-stock." Not sure if Noris is even still producing these kits or if Apogee
is staying away from them due to the deficiencies noted (and, they're really too pricey compared to similar, better detailed kits).

However, I've given the build of the Vostok a lot of thought prior to starting the project, and
have accumulated plenty of data so I can make the model far more detailed. I'm also going
to make the upper stage section interchangeable so I can include a Voskhod section as well
(hope to build both the three man Voskhod and the spacewalk version Voskhod). The upper
section body tube size is just a tad smaller than a BT-60, so I believe I have the materials
(or can get some) to go ahead with the Voskhod modifications.

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Dave,

The Noris Raketen site no longer displays the Soyuz or Vostok, although the R7 is still shown.

I find the Noris site very interesting in that they produce a lot of sport and scale models, so you would think the parts would be better. I find it ironic that these are German produced kits and one would expect a higher quality from German engineering.

Noris has produced some very unusual historical models for a long time, like the Bachem Nater, but if you look at the build photos on the website many are pretty poorly finished. You would think that even with a so-so kit a good builder would have produced something way more photo-friendly by now. The photos on the site suggest a certain lack of concern with the quality of the finished product which I think translates into the quality of the kit components as well.

Your experience with the Noris Vostok reminds me of my experience with a Paul Clark X15-A2. Very cool looking kit in the online photos but quality of the parts left something to be desired. You have to position lots of parts on the main body tube. A wrap is placed around the tube and the parts positions are then X-acto'ed out and the positions marked. The wrap wasn't even correctly sized (and that should have been a no-brainer), let alone some of the vacuform parts. You could produce a nice looking model from the kit but it took a TON of filler and sanding to cover all the gaps from the misaligned parts. It was easier than building completely from scratch, but not much.

Anyway, with regard to your Vostok, take comfort in the fact that my Roachwerks Soyuz still lays partially completed in a box. I put together all of the main components but stopped so I could work on detailing the boosters, etc. I would have done a much more basic build if I hadn't seen Chan's. But having seen that I'd feel guilty not doing justice to the kit by spending time on the details. Hopefully I'll get back to it soon.

Good luck with the rest of the build. I'll be following along.

Steve

Gus, we must have telepathic (joined) minds, as when I got notice a new message came in,
I happen to be viewing Noris website at the same time! The website link you have could be
the old one; the link I looked at shows some cool lineup of models, including the USSR's Buran and the 1/70 scale Saturn's 1-B & V (wonder if those are Apogee's, exported to Germany?!).

Their 1/60 Vostok (and Soyuz) is shown, and I copied the pic they have of the Vostok I'm
working on right now.

The Noris website I looked at is: http://www.noris-raketen.de/

Here's their picture of the completed Vostok; notice how "off" the finishing is.....

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Oh, I just checked the Noris link you provided, and it's the same I posted. You click Shop,
then Models, go to Space and Technology Models and look in there.

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Dave,

I didn't see there was a second page, so I missed the Soyuz and Vostok.

For anybody else wanting to look at the Noris site, go to Google first, search for "Noris Raketen", and then click the "translate this page" button that comes up with the first link. Google will automatically translate each page on the site you go to. Very cool.

Dave, despite the shortcomings of the kit, looks like you're doing a nice job with it.

The Dr. Zooch Soyuz kit lacks a fair amount of detail, but the parts fit well, price is right, and makes for a great sport scale model to which you can add as much or little detail work as you want. I've done quite a bit of beta testing for Zooch, the Soyuz included, and this is one that required more input than most. Not exactly what I would call an easy rocket to kit. The Noris model is a good example of that.

Since my Zooch kit was beta, one snag I ran into was little stabilizing flaps on the upper stage. The template was not included, so I ended up fabricating them myself just to keep the ball rolling. They ended up being too large and not as accurate as I'd like, but the templates included in production kits give a better estimation of that detail.

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The company is just 15 min away from where I live.

If anyone needs some infos or wants me to get a kit just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

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Leo

My rocket fleet and more @ Leo's Leisure Site and on YouTube - My latest project: ALTDuino