SPACE IN MINIATURE

Everyone was always complaining about the Mir space station being too old. It was designed to last six years in space. It's replacement was to have been the Mir2. The design for Mir2 however went through many repeated revisions dictated by politics and budget cuts. (We now know the Mir2 as the Russian part of space station Alpha.) However the last concept for Mir2 as its own station was in 1993.

I have built a 1/144th scale 1993 concept Mir2 using two Space Station Mir kits from Revell and a lot of stem wire. (The truss has 562 individual parts.) Solar panels and radiators were from sheet styrene. Truss ends and the small gold sheet-covered octagonal modules above and below the truss are tobasco bottle tops. Two cosmonauts working on the truss are from the Revell Germany ISS kit and the phased array dish antennas at the end of the port truss are slurpy drinks cup tops. Many thanks to Nick Salamunia for taking these photos.

Source: Mark Wade Enclyclopedia Astronautica

Image: From the other side

Image: Looking down from above