Full Review with Geoff Coughlin and Les Venus
See the in-box video browse of the Airfix Saturn V, (2025 release) 1:144
Get this kit here now from Airfix
A note from Geoff C…
Just a quick note right up front to say a big thank you to Les V for helping out and stepping in to complete this project. All after I had to take 3 months off following major spinal surgery (which was a great success thankfully :)). Thanks Les and what a nice job you have done of the painting and finishing – as you’ll all see :)
How this one started…
Well, it just had to be done! Yet another of the BIG Airfix kit releases of the 1970s that I couldn’t afford and didn’t get for a present – LOL. And now, here it is again having been re-released in September 2025, along with the Artemis space rocket that’s a new-tool. The original Saturn V boxing was released in 1970 according to the date printed on some of the parts and does now have some flash here and there and the definition of some of the details is a bit soft to say the least, to be expected for a model released 55 years ago!
I just love the shape and incredible emotion that surrounds this iconic NASA project and remember the huge excitement as the crew of Apollo 11 walked in the Sea of Tranquility on the moon’s surface. The launch of the Saturn V rocket that took them to the moon in 1969 is still etched on my mind as our whole family crowded around our black and white TV set to witness the hope and aspirations that went with them on that incredible journey.
The current 2025 Airfix kit release has a close up video In-Box Browse and you can see that if you haven’t already done so by clicking on the hyperlink above.
Before we get started, here’s a quick recap of the background to NASA’s immense Saturn V rocket…
(Photo: The Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket launch vehicle lifts-off with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., at 9:32 a.m. EDT July 16, 1969, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex Pad 39A. NASA)
(Photo: This photo include Saturn V, rocket display in full scale. NASA)
The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had three stages, and was powered by liquid fuel. Flown from 1967 to 1973, it was used for nine crewed flights to the Moon and to launch Skylab, the first American space station.
(Photo: The S-IC first stage of the Apollo 8 Saturn V being erected in the Vertical Assembly Building on February 1, 1968. NASA)
(Photo: Cutaway diagram of the Saturn V S-IC first stage. NASA)
(Photo: The S-II stage of the Saturn V rocket is hoisted onto the A-2 test stand in 1967 at the Mississippi Test Facility, now the Stennis Space Center. This was the second stage of the 364-foot tall Moon rocket. The second stage was powered by five J-2. NASA)
(Photo: Workmen remove the Saturn IB S-IVB-206 from the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA)
As of 2025, the Saturn V remains the only launch vehicle to have carried humans beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). The Saturn V holds the record for the largest payload capacity to low Earth orbit, 140,000 kg (310,000 lb), which included unburned propellant needed to send the Apollo command and service module and Lunar Module to the Moon.
(Photo: A pioneer of America’s space program, Dr. von Braun stands by the five F-1 engines of the Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Designed and developed by Rocketdyne under the direction of the Marshall Space Flight Center, a cluster of five F-1 engines was mounted on the Saturn V S-IC (first) stage. The engines measured 19-feet tall by 12.5-feet at the nozzle exit and burned 15 tons of liquid oxygen and kerosene each second to produce 7,500,000 pounds of thrust. The S-IC stage is the first stage, or booster, of a 364-foot long rocket that ultimately took astronauts to the Moon. NASA)
(Photo: Saturn V main rockets at the base of the vehicle. Courtesy Alexf)
The largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; the lead contractors for construction of the rocket were Boeing, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft Company, and IBM. Fifteen flight-capable vehicles were built, not counting three used for ground testing. A total of thirteen missions were launched from Kennedy Space Center, nine of which carried 24 astronauts to the Moon from Apollo 8 to Apollo 17.
(Photo: Apollo 11 Hasselblad image from film magazine 40/S – EVA. The image of astronaut Neil Armstrong photographing astronaut Aldrin is clearly seen in the reflections on the helmet visor of astronaut Aldrin. Astronaut Armstrong, the Lunar Module Eagle, and the shadow cast by Aldrin are mirrored in the reflection. Astronaut Aldrin showing boots and suit discoloration caused by adhering lunar soil. NASA)