SPACE SHUTTLE KIT COMPARISON CHART

This table compares the various features of the original (circa 1985) three kits of the Shuttle stack that are available in 1/144th scale. Since then, several have been re-issued by other kit companies. For example, the recent offering from Minicraft is actually the old Entex kit.

FEATURE REVELL AIRFIX ENTEX
ORBITER
  SURFACE DETAIL Fine raised lines. Excellent Very little, too heavy and crude. Correctable Decent raised lines. Excellent
  SCRIBING ACCURACY No entry hatch, but nice wings. Good Wing leading edges are sloppy. Correctable Only kit with detail on the nose. Best
  GENERAL SHAPE AND FIT Poor parts fit; especially in wings. Too many pieces. Bad Looks good; single piece used under wings. Best Fit looks good, but nose shape is all wrong. Bad
  CABIN INTERIOR AND WINDOW No interior; individual window panes not outlined. Correctable No interior. Nice scribing on window, hatch window included. Good Interior included. Window tinted blue and scribed for panes. Good
  MAIN ENGINES Very crudely done. Not Acceptable Fine raised detail. Excellent. Best Good raised detail. Excellent
  PAYLOAD BAY DOORS Hinged, but a poor fit. Bad No hinges, otherwise good detail. Correctable Hinged; incorrect shape. Not acceptable
  RADIATORS Included as a working set of doors, but looks clumsy as a result. Correctable Molded into the inside of the bay doors as a single piece. Good None provided. Not acceptable
  LANDING GEAR AND WHEEL WELLS Crisply molded struts, but wells are too shallow and lack detail. Good, correctable Nice struts but they are too small. Only kit with detail in wells or inside the doors. Very good. Gear struts have incorrect shape, generally poorly done. Bad
  FORWARD REACTION CONTROL SYSTEM Decals only for the top; crude gouges in the sides. Needs much work Poorly done, too deep. Correctable Good crisp indentations, using a separate piece. Best
  AFT PROPULSION SYSTEM PODS Pod is too boxy; engine is the wrong shape and too thick. Bad Good shape and good engines, but no scribing. Good Fair shape, good engines. Best
  PAYLOADS Good Spacelab, molded as a separate piece. Pallets are wrong. Best. Nice Spacelab, but molded as part of the cargo bay. Dumb. Poor Navstar satellite, nicely done, but small. Good
  BAY DETAIL AND LINER Bay liner is the wrong shape and should not have beams showing. Bad Minimal detail, but they do have a smooth liner. Good Smooth bay liner, and they put detail on the end bulkhead. It looks nice but it is not accurate. Best
  RMS ARM Molded separately and can be articulated. Best Nicely done as one piece. Good Molded as a single piece with the bay liner, but not too bad. Good
EXTERNAL TANK The only kit with corrugations, but the circumferential bands are bogus. Bad No intertank corrugations. Poor feed lines; good cradle (for Orbiter attachment). Good scribing. Best No corrugations, but very fine detailing and feed lines. But the Orbiter cradle is poorly done, and they don't carry the fuel feed lines up into the Orbiter. Correctable
SOLID ROCKET BOOSTERS Few details, but good, crisp, molding. Good Good crisp lines as well as the most accurate. Best Well-detailed, using separate parts to good result, but it lacks any support structure to the ET. Bad
DISPLAY BASE A crude attempt at a mobile launch pad. Best "In-flight' type support arm. Okay, if you like the idea Launch pad type base, not as fancy as Revell's. Good
DECALS ESA decals for Spacelab, also some for the SRBs. Best Minimal selection with typical Airfix yellowing. Bad Nice selection of NASA emblems with several variations possible. Good
INSTRUCTIONS All pictorial, poor paint chart. Poor Clear drawings, good color key. Good Well done, with painting tips at each step as well as a color key. Good

 

Comments:

1. The Minicraft re-issue of the Entex kit has the SRBs and the ET parts molded in brown. The decals include markings for all orbiters and some SRB Loaded labels, but the RealSpace decal sheet is better in this area.


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This page created March 19, 2000