The Saturn 1B was the test launch vehicle for the Apollo project that culminated in the manned landing on the moon in July 1969.

It was used to test the Command Module and Lunar Module components in earth orbit.

The Saturn 1B was developed to give the Apollo Program a proven vehicle for the first stages of the project.

It was a cluster of Redstone military rockets with sufficient power to launch the Command Module and Lunar Module into earth orbit where they could be tested and the rendevous manoeuvres necessary for a moon landing could be tried out.

The first 1B launch occurred on 22 February 1966 and the final launch for the Apollo program was the first manned Command Module test flight on 11 October 1968.

Saturn 1Bs were also used for the Spacelab project and the final flight occurred on the Apollo-Soyuz flight in July 1975.

In all the Saturn 1B made ten flights.
This model represents the Saturn 1B that launched Apollo 7 on 11 October 1968

Airfix 1/1442 kit completed by Leigh Edmonds in 1987.