Eagle Book of Spacecraft Models (1960)

Eagle Book of Spacecraft Models is a book about how to construct your own model spaceships from balsa wood. Back in the dark ages, if something wasn't available as a plastic model they would publish plans that allowed you to cut it out of balsa wood and assemble it.


Malmstrom, Ray. Eagle Book of Spacecraft Models. London : Longacre Press Ltd. (64 p.) 27 cm. (1960)

The text minimally describes some of the plans for space exploration. The book is not about manned space flight as such, rather it contains 9 full size plans “to build tomorrow's balsa wood models today”. These were inspired by both fictional rockets and by the real manned rocket efforts.

Rather than show all the plans I wanted to highlight the images of some of the spacecraft and the boys who fly them.

The text does talk just a little about the on-going space efforts.

Mostly it is the plans and instructions that make up the majority of the book.

It is these scraps of non-fictional encouragement that I am excited to find. The "grand spaceflight progression" is here too in the form of "man's penetration of deep space can only follow his successful conquest of the moon and the nearer planets.."  The readers were made to feel that by building these rockets they were part of this continuing exploration.