Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6 (1:144)

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

as I have now discovered with horror, my NASA photos, which I've mostly linked to the Hi-Res. photos, are unfortunately no longer accessible, as the extremely helpful NASA Media archive is no longer updated and maintained by NASA, as one could read there until recently.


Source: NASA

The first part of the reference to flickr.com is correct indeed, but the search options there are quite spartan and a search for special content is like looking for a needle in a haystack, which one can forget.

The second part of the reference is simply Fake News because the site is no longer accessible.

This is all the more deplorable because I analyzed many details for my work and measured them for scratching this way, especially by zooming these photos. 

So don't be surprised if the high resolutions of these photos are no longer found and an error message appears.

And so now back to the Vertical Transportation Support Plates & Clevises on top of the Transporter, their scratch building turns out to be quite a tough nut to crack, since these multi-part brackets are in fact more difficult and are a lot more complicated than those support plates for the horizontal transport.


Source: NASA

Since the four Transportation Tie-down Lug Plates on the Aft Bulkhead of the canister 


Source: NASA (STS-132)

must fit into the screwed-on Hold-down Clevises on these transport plates,


Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)


Source: NASA (STS-135)

I have to think about the best way to build these mounts.

In this image one can see very nicely all the dismantled individual parts of these mounts. These are the Base plates with the screwed on Receiving blocks (red circles) for the dismantled Hold-down Clevises (red arrows), and stop holder (blue circles) for guiding the canister when setting it down onto the transporter.


Source: NASA (STS-132)

At first I thought of making the hold-down clevises individually and inserting them into the recesses of the receiving blocks, but what would probably be too much of a good thing.

It should be easier if I scratch the receiving blocks and hold-down clevises as a unit, which is worth trying. 

[zubenelgenubi]

This isn't a problem when you attach images to the post, as the site administration has asked members to do.

[roma847]

Well roared, lion but that's not the problem.

I've been linking my images the same way for 10 years ...

The reason for the failure of a search in the previous NASA archive is plain and simply that the previous website mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov is no longer available.



When a source has dried up, you can no longer feast on it, quite simply.

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

since the matter has not left me in peace, I have researched intensively again and now I know the innovations and connections around the former NASA media archive, which no longer exists as such.

There was a similar confusion years ago after a change in NASA photo archiving along the lines of: Now and then some quite a novelty ... when the old URLs (www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov) were no longer found, but what I managed to figure it out.

Instead, one now has to search the NASA Image and Video Library website, e.g. after the year abbreviation of the NASA photo number, if you know it.

The search on https://images.nasa.gov/ nach 2010-2664



resulted in the photo I know of the STS-132, here in the Medium resolution (856x1280), which I've linked with the Original resolution (2008x3000).



Even better, however, is the content search which I once tested for the Payload Canister Transporter that is of interest to me now, after which this gallery was displayed to me, which immediately offers an overview of the available photos, from which one can then select and directly access the photo of interest and download the desired resolution.

And in this overview, along with many other well-known photos, I noticed this red framed photo (KSC-08pd3303) of the STS-126, which was not in my collection so far, where one has a good direct view of the transporter and the support plates in this position, which is particularly important for measuring details, since oblique perspectives are distorted always.



And of course I used that immediately to be able to determine the dimensions of the larger of the two Support plates for the Vertical transport more precisely, what one can see here, since I've linked this image section again with the Original resolution.


Source: images.nasa.gov/

The image also clearly shows the effort I have to put in to determine the dimensions of such small details that I need for their scratch-building.

And so there are certainly more photos with interesting perspectives that will help me with the construction of these transport plates.

[roma847]

Hello my friends,

but that's only half the battle firstly since the depths or widths of the Support plates and Hold-down Clevises are still missing, which is why I still have to look for and find other detail photos, which is still a tedious work, but unfortunately not to be avoided if one takes it as seriously as I do.

And that's why I was glad that I came across this photo from the STS-126 on the new NASA website, which presents a pretty direct side view of the canister, without major perspective distortion, from which, in addition to the details, one can also determine the distance between the Support plates, which in turn is important for the installation of the plates on the transporter.


Source: NASA (STS-126)

In addition to this larger of the two support and hold-down plates measured in the last post, I also measured the smaller support plate in the same photo.


Source: NASA (STS-126)

However, the difficulty in researching suitable photos for determining the dimensions of the plates for Vertical transportation is that there are far fewer photos with the canister standing upright, and that at such photos the important details of the support plates are mostly hidden by the red ECS hoses.

But in this photo I was able to at least analyze more closely the arrangement of the larger plate near the Payload Bay Door and of the Clevis, in which one can also determine the sizes of the lateral Stoppers that are only mounted in this vertical arrangement.


Source: NASA (STS-122)

And then I finally found this photo from the STS-114, on which one can finally see the lateral arrangement of the support parts at least a little bit.


Source: NASA (STS-114)

And that's enough of the stressful eye torture for today.

Later I want to turn to the Vertical Transportation Tie-down Lug Plates on the Aft Bulkhead of the canister and try to make a first prototype scratch.


Source: NASA (STS-132)

With approx. 0,5 mm x 2,5 mm x 2,5 mm they should become relatively small and have to fit into the gap of the Hold-down Clevises.

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

then let's go to the prototype of the small Vertical Transportation Tie-down Lug Plates.  

If you look closely, you can see on this photo from the STS-130 that the Hold-down plates consist of three parts (have a look at the zoom on the right edge of the photo), a middle part with a narrow lower extension and two slightly smaller welded-on side parts to stabilize the opening without this extension.


Source: NASA (STS-130)

While I used Styrene (0,2 mm) for the side parts, the middle part seemed a little narrower to me at first, so I used Styrene (0,13 mm ). However, in the zoom of this shot it looks as if the three parts are of equal thickness, which is why I will then use Styrene (0,2 mm) uniformly.

Since it is difficult to cut out this narrow strip without perhaps cutting it off, I first made the two side parts and drilled the holes with Ø 0,5 mm.





Then I glued a side part to the center strip, have drilled through it too,





and then glued the other side part to its back.



Then I cut out the curve of the middle stripe and rounded it off and only then carefully separated the remaining stripe up to the lower extension, which I actually managed to do, even though it's only 0,5 mm wide.



In this configuration, the thickness of the Hold-down plate is approx. 0,5 mm.



And at this point of the canister, this first of four plates will later be glued.



For scratch-building the Support plates, I first marked the exact positions of the Hold-down plates on the floor plan of the transporter,



whereby I first realized how small all will be,



if you imagine that for the Support plates with the Hold-down clevises only approx. 1,5 mm space is available under the canister.


But I'm going to take it easy now and first look at the resulting sizes of the individual parts, then we'll see. 

Therefore keep cool, scaremongering shall not be considered!

[roma847]

Hello everybody,
as a well-known old saying goes ... Don't put the cart before the horse! A realization that has now cost me some time, what could have been avoided with more concentration.

As has already been emphasized several times, when determining dimensions from photos, it is particularly important to have reliable reference dimensions, to which all measurements are then related and have to be converted in my scale (1:160). 

However, when I compared the determined dimensions of the floor plates of both transportation plates with my floor plan of the transporter and the outline of the payload canister, I noticed that the proportions can't be right, especially since the floor panels were obviously a few millimeters too large, which made me suspicious, especially since the distance between the two Vertical Transportation Tie-down Lug Plates


Source: NASA (STS-132)

according to NASA's drawing is only 15,5 mm (1:160).



At some point an error must have crept in, but whom I quickly tracked it down.

A partial result of my first measurements was based, among other things, on this photo with the determined dimensions of the parts of the larger transport plate, whose length of the floor plate therefore should be 10,5 mm (red).


Source: NASA (STS-126)

In retrospect, in this image I recognized my mistake in using the side wall height (7,5 mm) determined before the construction of the transporter as a reference measurement, which I then used for a while without thinking,  for determination of lengths in other photos, which were falsified as a result.  

I had noticed this source of error a longer time ago and then paid attention to it, but unfortunately not this time. In addition, the use of photos from different perspectives can result in further inaccuracies.

Using the almost exact side view and measurement of the plate in the following photo resulted in a value of 8,5 mm for the length of the floor plate, although I also added the side wall height (7,5 mm) had used.


Source: NASA (STS-122)

Late, but not too late, I came to my senses and then made the only right decision for determining the lengths by using the center-to-center distance of the Tie-down Lug Plates as a reference dimension (15,5 mm), according to which the length of the larger floor plate is 7,0 mm, with the help of which the other length dimensions were determined.



With these dimensions I then tried to draw the arrangement of the parts on this floor plate on a 1:160 scale, which I have already described in the following image.

On it one can nicely see all the individual parts of the larger transportation support plate. This is the floor plate (blue) with the Clevis brackets (red) screwed on to accommodate the disassembled Hold-down clevis (brown), the PLC support plate (green) behind it, as well as the two stop holders (yellow) for guiding the canister when setting down onto the transporter.


Source: NASA (STS-132)

Since I was not able for free-style drawing with a ruler even with a Fineliner (0,05 mm) due to the small size of the individual parts, I gave it up.



Instead, I came up with the idea and tried it in MS Word. To do this, I used the Insert shapes mode to arrange small rectangles of the appropriate size with the finest line thickness as contours of the parts and gaps on the floor plate, which was a bit tedious, but after some practice it worked very well and gave an exact picture of both plates.



I then printed them out, although one can be shocked when one can see how small everything will become.



Since the arrangement of the plate parts on the other side has to be laterally reversed, I also printed it out on transparent paper (right) and therefore only have to turn it over.



And this is what the two larger Transportation support plates look like.
 


So at least the arrangement of the individual parts on the floor plate is clear, but now I also need the heights of the parts in order to be able to scratch them.

And I will now determine those again using the height of the side wall (7,5 mm) as a reference, whereby I have to be careful, because they were sometimes incorrectly determined from reference lengths in various photos.
And with a table full of dimensioned photos, one can start to skid and lose track.



Therefore a cool head as well as highest concentration are required!

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

I was just still talking about highest concentration!

It's hard to believe, but true, although I've looked at these photos felt 1000 times, and know that the two stop holders are beveled,




Source: NASA (STS-114)

I've just noticed that I haven't drawn these bevels yet, which of course I made up for immediately.



But at the latest when scratching, I would definitely have stumbled over it.

[roma847]

Hello again,

when drawing the tiny heights of the individual parts on the transportation plate, it's getting straight down to the nitty-gritty, as feared.

When measuring the details on the photos, everything still looks quite manageable and large, although I have already seen that the dimensions after converting to 1:160 sometimes shrink into the tenths of a millimeter.
But at it I still haven't even thought about drawing these mini parts yet ...

For example, a photo now looks like this after multiple corrections of the conversions if I previously have determined certain dimensions using incorrect reference dimensions (lengths/heights).


Source: NASA (STS-122)

In the last post I had already started drawing the heights on the floor plate (0,25 mm). But as soon as I drew in the holders for the hold-down clevis, which are only 0,8 mm high, I realized what I've let myself in.

In order to be able to see differences in the heights at all, I drew the front view of the plate at the highest magnification in MS Word (500%), and to keep things clear, I tried to color-code the different sub-areas accordingly to their dimensions, which is probably hardly recognizable here in the picture, but is probably not that interesting for you either.

The most difficult place was the opening between the two holders, in which the hold-down clevis later has to fit, whereby only a gap of 0,8 mm (light blue) for the two fork plates is available.



And between these two plates there must still also be enough space for the small Tie-down Lug plate, which can be seen here again, initially in the original, with an impressive size of at least approx. 0,5 m,


Source: NASA (STS-114)

as well as here with approx. 3,5 mm in scale 1:160.



While the thickness of my prototype is approx. 0,5 mm, the finished plate has to be even narrower with 0,4 mm. And since it consists of three discs, only my thinnest Evergreen Styrene Sheet (0,13 mm) can be used, unless I save myself this effort and leave it with one thicker part, since one can hardly see the plate in the Hold-down Clevis anyway later.

To the left of the brackets one can see the two Stop holders. For the sake of clarity, I have not drawn the PLC Support Plate behind the Clevis brackets.

And here is an impression of the height profile of the parts in front of the transportation plate behind.



Since in the first image one can hardly see the interesting details of the entire bracket because of all the dimensions and conversions, here is another image without this irritating nick-nack.


Source: NASA (STS-122)

With that I might just at least make a first attempt and start building this transportation plate.  

[mike robel]

YIKES!


 

[roma847]

Yep, Ron,

I thought the same when I saw how small the plate's parts had to be. 
Nevertheless, I will try and I have good hopes that I can make it. Where there's a will there's a way!

[Bob Shaw]

At some point simply printing (old-fashioned) on 200GSM photo paper might be an effective solution.

[roma847]

Thanks Bob for your nice tip,

but I need the plates in 3D, but unfortunately I don't have a 3D printer.

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

before I start building the larger Transportation plate, I first drew the smaller plate, which is a bit simpler in construction, but is only about half the size.

Easier therefore, because the two brackets of the Hold-down Clevis have the same width, as can be seen in this image.


Source: NASA (STS-126)

However, the widths (1,8 mm) determined in this picture are not correct and are too big because I used the Height of the Transporter side panel (7,5 mm) as a reference measure, what I described in a previous post.

To avoid this error, I'm using since then the Sidewall height (7,5 mm) solely for determining heights, while all lengths/widths are based on the Center-to-center spacing of the Tie-down Lug Plates (15,5 mm) from the NASA drawing, as one can see in the following image.


Source: NASA (STS-135)

And the resulting width (1,2 mm) for both Clevis holders I used for drawing the ground plan of the small plate.

But for that I also needed the dimensions perpendicular to it, i.e. the depths. Determining them was much more difficult because you sometimes have to resort to oblique perspectives and/or previously determined "secured" dimensions as a reference.

The following photos should serve as an example for this, without my wanting to go into more detail about the somewhat more complicated measuring and conversions, for which a certain amount of practice in perspective vision and trained spatial imagination is required, in order to correctly recognize and understand the structure and shape as well as hidden corners and edges of the parts.


Source: NASA (STS-124)


Source: NASA


Source: NASA

Enough of the preface, finally I was able to draw the smaller transportation plate, which is only half as big, but still can be clearly represented in MS Word (500%).





And this is what the plates look like on the transporter.



But already from a greater distance one can hardly still see any details,



which is why I have to put on my headset glasses.



And so now to the scratch building of the larger plate, for which I've first cut the floor plates (7 mm x 6 mm) from Evergreen Styrene (0,3 mm), on which I now only have to accommodate all puzzle pieces.



Next, I will look for suitable Evergreen profiles so that I especially don't have to file both tricky brackets out of the whole.

[EG]

Jeese Brother, I thought I had good Photogrammetry skills...

Yours make me look like an amature...

Beautiful work...

[roma847]

Thanks Elmer for your nice compliment,

but no understatement, please, don't make yourself smaller than you are.

But you're right, Photogrammetry is the correct technical term for my frantic attempts to generate the parts for scratch bulding.
In default of a soul the devil puts up with a fly.

Glad you reminded me.

[roma847]

Hello friends,

the night before last I prepared the first two floor plates (6 mm x 7 mm) that were on the table in front of me.



Then I was still looking at some printed photos and working for a while on the computer. And when I wanted to continue with the two plates, there was only one plate left!

I thought that can't be true and started searching, first on the desk, then on the floor, under the table, around a chair, but the plate was gone. I could have flown off the handle, but I was so fed up that I only still wanted to bed because it was late again ...

Yesterday afternoon I already wanted to cut a new plate. When I came back again into my study, I thought, that can't be true. There this damn Styrene plate did lay in front of the room door, about 3 m away from my desk.



For size comparison here with my EUR cent.


 
But I had walked past that several times before, while the plate wasn't lying there. Strange ...

There are things between heaven and earth that don't exist, or maybe do too ...

Since in another forum the notorious carpet monster has already been alluded to, there must be a tile monster in my room ...
Anyway, the main point is that this thing is back and I can get on with it.

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

I haven't gotten very far, however, because there are actually hardly any suitable profiles from which I could scratch-build the brackets of the Clevis holders.

Here you can at least see the beginning with the strips from which I could assemble the right bracket.



An Evergreen strip (0,4 mm x 0,8 mm) fits for the lower part. On it I can stick a strip (0,4 mm x 1,2 mm), for which I've sanded an E-Strip (0,4 mm x 1,5 mm) a bit narrower, wherewith at least would finish this bracket.

Since I also need the same brackets for the smaller transportation plates, which all have to be 2,6 mm long, I have prepared sufficient lengths right away.

The top strip was made the same way and is designated for the base plate of the Hold-down Clevis (0,4mm x 1,3 x 2,6mm) which must fit into the opening (1,4 mm) between the brackets. 

The left bracket, on the other hand, still gives me a headache. For that I could use a E-Strip (1 mm x 2 mm), but I would have to file it flat to 0,8 mm and file out a corner (0,3 mm x 0,4 mm).

Or I find a E-Strip (0,8 mm x 2 mm), onto which I then could stick a narrower filed strip (0,8 mm x 1,8 mm), but what I still have to check first. 

So much for a start, it's rather a tricky business.

[roma847]

Hello friends,

before we continue with these miniatures, a nice story to relax.

​A friend on the ARC Forums pointed out to me that every time he listens to "Countdown" by Rush, this project comes to mind.
 
And after watching the awesome video, it would go well with my introduction. While intended as a homage to Columbia's legendary maiden flight (April 12, 1981), in that sense it would also fit as a Tribute to Challenger's Maiden Flight - STS-6 (April 4, 1983).



I didn't know that the band were guests of NASA for the launch at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and saw it from Red Sector A.

I was even more surprised when I saw my long slim friend Scott "Shuttleman" Phillips jumping for joy in the video shortly after takeoff.



Great memories forever!

​

[roma847]

Hello again,

even with these tropical temperatures there's no reason for sitting back and take things easy,  although my desire is limited. 



Nevertheless, it has to go on somehow, otherwise I'll slowly lose the common thread myself. - But where there's a will, there's a way!

To better follow the further processes, here is the drawing of the larger Transportation Plate with the Clevis brackets again.



First I glued the two prepared strips (0,4 mm height) together for the right part of the Clevis bracket which, as expected, had the required height of 0,8 mm.





But already for cutting to the required length (2.6 mm), a defined stop was required, for what I first made several test cuts with a dummy strip, to be sure and not bungle the angle profile.



But despite the greatest care, it was not possible to cut off sections of the same length with the chisel cutter due to the difference in height, which is why I switched to a different solution.

For this I prepared a new strip (0,4 mm x 1,2 mm), and from the narrow strip (0,4 mm x 0,8 mm) I've also cut off 2,6 mm long pieces at the ruler stop, which I then glued individually to the wider strip and then have only cut off behind the narrow strip, which resulted in evenly long angles.



With these angles I then immediately tested the width of the holders of the smaller Transportation plate,



for what the strip (0,4 mm x 1,3 mm) for the base plate of the Hold-down Clevis was inserted, which can be seen here in the view from below.



And in fact I came up with the intended width of the brackets of 2,9 mm, what was difficult to photograph, but is just about recognizable, at least I hope so. For better orientation I have put down the drawing of the small transport plate to it.



This is the same arrangement of the brackets, only seen from above.



And in the resulting gap (0,8 mm) the Hold-down Clevis has to fit, which consists of two plates, as can be seen in this photo,


Source: NASA (STS-122)

between which the Tie-down Lug Plate still has to fit, which in turn consists of three discs,


Source: NASA (STS-114)

which illustrates the whole difficulty of further scratch building.

And when working with these mini-particles, I usually can't do without my headset glasses, which my helpful assistant always keeps ready.  



But I have to go through, since the mouse bites from no thread.