The Corporal joins the ranks

I had been struggling with the paint scheme for my Corporal scale model. The markings that came with the ASP kit seemed rather simplistic - just a basic roll pattern - especially when compared to the online photos of the JPL or White Sands test versions. They also did not match the operational missile scheme, which was white US Army letters on an over all military green paint job. From where did the kit manufacturer get this pattern? Was it something simple they made up to keep the painting to a minimum? This does happen in "sport scale" kits, after all.

It turns out the answer was right in my back yard. I did a more exhaustive Internet search, and ran across photos of the Corporal missile in the rocket park at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center here in Huntsville. Guess what? The markings were an exact match to those in the kit! ASP did do their research, providing markings that matched an actual Corporal on display. With that, my choice was set. How could I not decorate this model to match the hometown boy? It would be an act of rocket blasphemy to do otherwise.

At left below is an image of the USSRC Corporal; my recently completed model is at right. It turned out pretty well, except that there are no antennas sticking out from the smaller conduits. I could reproduce those with pins or stiff wire, but that would be asking for perforated hands every time I picked the model up. A masochist I am not, so those got left out (they weren't in the kit anyway). It's good enough for sport scale.

Left: USSRC Corporal - Right: My finished ASP model

(click to enlarge)

This puppy takes to the air on a D12 motor next launch :)