Dear all, welcome to my building of Discovery XD-1 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Moebius Models N° 2001-8, scale 1:350

The unboxing is on this page.

As usual I cleaned all the parts in soapy water and then rinsed well. This for me it’s standard procedure and then i started to build the model that is divided in three sections, the main spherical module, the central rod and the atomic propulsion at the rear.

I started applying a grey primer on all the parts and coloring only something different (like the black inside of the screen port in the Spherical module.

Then I moved on the rear section, divided in the main body and three reactors.

Then the most difficult part, the central rod, a lot of tiny parts to assemble in the correct order with the central antennae block in the middle. The instructions are very detailed but if you do some mistake, don’t worry, nobody will realize. The only important thing is to be well aware of the alignment of the parts, otherwise the model can result messy (and trust me it’s really difficult to have everything in line).

It’s good to try the assembly before proceeding to be sure that the central section is well aligned with the two other sections. There is a steel rod to be placed in the middle for the connection and to ensure that everything is aligned but the rod is not so sturdy and the model will naturally bend.

A black painting for the central part in order to keep the darker and inner areas from the white painting did the job. The model is all painted in white, the original studio model was completely white and the deepness was added only by lights placed in the correct spot. However I used a bit of weathering and I added some different color on some of the panels. the model was really tiny so I used pastel pencils for some grey and yellow areas.

For the propulsors I painted the inside in black and added the blue color for the exausts.

At this point I finished the antennae, that are composed of plastic and very tiny metallic crosses to be bent with an appropriate plastic dish provided. It was a nightmare because they are really small and they don’t fit perfectly in the provided holes .

ANo lights for this model, because the central section is too narrow to allow any cable. However on a second thought I could have wired a couple of fiberoptics from the spherical module or form the propulsion module to move the light around, but what’s done it’s done. I painted with gloss transparent and then applied some weathering on all the Discovery. Considering that the model is very tiny, the lines are not so deep.

Then I arranged the base. Originally the base is composed of three stands to be placed under the command module, the antennae and the propulsion module, otherwise the model will bend in the middle. I arranged a long base covering almost all the model and glued the bases in place. This way everything is in position and there is no risk of random movements that could cause the model to fall.

And finally some pictures of the finished model.

After that I went with the weathering, using mineral oil and oil paint very diluted. These are the parts all separated.

Hope you enjoyed the build !