SPACE MODELS BOOK

CREATING SPACE
Creating Space - The Cover
Published by C.G.Publishing the book appears in the
Apogee Books - Space Series range.
Some copies for sale are on my Amazon page

... a review has even appeared on youTube!

CREATING SPACE is the Story of the Space Age, told through the commercial model kits that were available at the time.
It uses the models to illustrate the way history twisted and turned to put us where we are today - and maybe how space travel will develop in the future.
It went through about four incarnations each somewhat different, before emerging as this book.
Each chapter is a read in its own right, and includes all those interesting snippets of info that were in danger of being lost in some of the original versions.

Of course any book can only ever be 'finished' from the date of publication. Additional material constantly appears.

So some of this, plus the odd correction, can be found on the UPDATE page.

Unfortunately the designer of two of space modelling's most famous kits - Revell's XSL-01 Rocket Ship - that features on the cover of Creating Space - and The Space Station, Ellwyn E. Angle, died in February 2003.

Click on the picture for more about Ellwyn's life and times

CREATING SPACE
formed the basis of a lecture I gave when invited to the NARCON 2002 convention
in Austin, Texas.

[Above] 'THE USUAL SUSPECTS'
Attendees, and the organiser, at NARCON 2002
(l-r) Richard Ng, Mat Irvine, Jack Hagerty, Jon C. Rogers and Steven Rogers.
Jack and Jon wrote the magnificent Spaceship Handbook, while Steve Rogers organised the whole event.

CREATING SPACE
was then launched (!) at the 2002 US IPMS Nationals,
Virginia Beach, Virginia.

IPMS 2002, Virginia Beach, VA

[Above] 'THE USUAL SUSPECTS, Part 2 '
Space modellers at the US IPMS Nationals 2002.
(l-r) Mat Irvine, Mike Idacavage, Glenn Johnson, Sven Kudson, Karl Dodenhoff, Mike Mackowski.
[A Mike Mackowski photograph, taken by Brian Nicklas]

One of the pages from the new edition

An example of the page layout - from Chapter 2.

THE CHAPTERS

1) Early Dreams : from Leonardo to Robert Goddard
2) Wartime Experiences : including the V-1 and V-2
3) Optimistic Times : the era of the classic 'futuristic' craft
4) Man in Space : from the early start of Vostok, Voshkod, Mercury and Gemini
5) The Missile Connection : how military missiles were turned to more peaceful purposes.
6) One Small Step : Project Apollo - and how the Soviets may also have gone about it...
7) Gone to Launch : the satellite launch vehicles - Jupiter C to Ariane 5
8) Messages from Orbit : the unmanned side of space exploration
9) Edge of Space : Lifting Bodies and the X-15
10) The Reusable Spaceship : the story of the Space Shuttle
11) Islands in the Sky : space stations - leading to the ISS
12) Beyond the Infinite : 'Roswell to 2001' - those unidentified things in the sky and beyond......
Appendix 1 : the 'original' listing - alphabetically by manufacturers, of (hopefully) all rocket, missile and spacecraft scale model kits
Appendix 2 : the rockets and craft types, alphabetically by their 'full size' name
Appendix 3 : useful references and addresses

CREATING SPACE
- features the stories behind hundreds of space model kits and how they fitted into the years of the Space Age. It will be full of colour illustrations of not only the built-up models themselves, but box-art; advertising sheets; catalogue pages and the full-size craft.

The emphasis is on scale models, so although plastic does predominate, other materials are not ignored, so you will find models built from vacuumed-formed; white metal; resin and even card. This means that scale model flying rockets are also included. The model manufacturers range from the established long-time mainstream companies to the small one-person specialist - invariably working out of the ubiquitous garage!

Mat at the 1999 International Model Show
[left] The book has a special introduction by the world-famous science fiction writer and visionary Sir ARTHUR C. CLARKE, who began his illustrious career by building and flying models rockets from the family farm in Somerset, England.

[right] Mat Irvine at the 1999 International Model Show with some of the more recent space models, including the Intermountain Railways kit of the International Space Station.

--- and just a taster of what the book includes

XSL-01 Eidai V-2

[left] Revell's XSL-01 - designed by Ellwyn E. Angle.
[right] Eidai's German V-2 Diorama,
(the kit that infamously first spelled it 'Garman' on the box.)

SciKits' HST and a mini Shuttle

Sci-Kits' card model of the Hubble Space Telescope, with a tiny Shuttle Orbiter issued by Revell AG, from a Furuta original.

Heller's not-quite-complete model of the ISS Revell Aerobee-Hi sounding rocket

[left] Heller's 1:125 scale kit of the International Space Station - but it omits the main spar and solar arrays.
[right] Revell's Aerobee-Hi sounding rocket.

three Ariane rockets Countdown Saturn 5 and launcher

[left] Three Ariane launchers -
[l-r] - Dragon/Revell 1:96; Heller 1:125; Anderson Models 1:144
[right] Countdown's 1:290 scale Saturn 5 with Crawler Transporter and Launch Gantry

Aurora astronaut and AMU
Aurora's Astronaut and A.M.U.

TWA Moonliner First and most recent UFO releases

Nick Argento CEO of Glenco Models

CREATING SPACE also includes details on the model companies themselves- such as Glencoe Models - started by Nick Argento [above]. Glencoe specialises in reissuing many older kits, such as the Strombecker TWA Moonliner [above left] and the Lindberg Flying Saucer [above right].
The Flying Saucer has the claim to fame that it was the first 'all plastic' kit of a space subject. It is also a contended for the longest running kit - from the first Lindberg issue in 1954, to the current reissue from Glencoe Models, it gives the kit a life-span approaching 50 years.

Spacecraft models - part of the 'Creative Space' display

Yet more models that appear in CREATING SPACE

Part of the CREATIVE SPACE display
set up by Mat Irvine for the London Science Museum in 1995, and from where the book took its slightly modified name.

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