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#1780 by roma847 on 23 Feb, 2020 19:57
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Maybe I should better say: a little bit further ahead.
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#1781 by roma847 on 26 Feb, 2020 16:07
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Hello everybody,
and therefore: Nothing ventured, nothing gained! - Let's get on with it!
Before with drilling it could really come down to business, the vice onto the drill stand was carefully aligned so that the drill came to stand directly over the pre-drilled hole, whereupon this arrangement was then firmly fixed to the table top with a screw clamp.
Then, as with the test bores, the holes were drilled step by step, first carefully pre-drilled with Ø 1,3 mm, after which this bore was then drilled out with Ø 1,4 mm and Ø 1,5 mm to a depth approx. of 20 mm.
And as the following two images show, the orthogonality was surprisingly good in both directions.
Then the front part was inserted into the booster and with the bore put onto the Support rod in the Intertank, as well as put down with the two rear struts above the openings at the ET's rear,
whose feet had to slightly ground until they fit in the openings.
At the front end a Balsa board (2 mm) was inserted as a spacer,
since the already mentioned SRB Thrust Fitting has to be glued directly behind the support bar, which is unfortunately missing at the Newware front parts,
Source: NASA
which is why I have to scratch this part.
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#1782 by roma847 on 26 Feb, 2020 22:16
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Hello everybody,
the same drilling procedure I have now carried out with the right SRB front part, which has been similarly good and successful.
And so I have now been able to attach both SRBs provisionally at the ET, what fits together quite well and also looks good, in my opinion.
And since there was nothing to be seen of the MLP for a long time, I took it out of the closet and put this ET-SRB-Troika on it.
That should it be for today.
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#1783 by b0objunior on 28 Feb, 2020 07:08
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Freaking incredible!
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#1784 by dglow on 28 Feb, 2020 21:18
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Freaking incredible!
Agree
@roma847, this is magnificent work. Thank you for sharing it with us. -
#1785 by roma847 on 28 Feb, 2020 22:06
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Thanks my friends for looking in on me and for your nice compliments,
I am happy if you like my work.
Stay tuned.
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#1786 by EG on 29 Feb, 2020 17:40
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I knew the day was going to come when you had to mate the two separate assemblies together to make sure they fit.... (I for one had no doubts they would)
Spectacular! my friend, to say the least.....
My only hope, is that once done, and a suitable length of time on your display shelf that is be bequeathed to a museum somewhere....
The achievement, (if you finish it) is beyond anything I have seen anyone else do before, many come close, but I've seen no one get this fine....
It needs to be put somewhere where a lot of people can view it and enjoy your work... A modeling masterpiece.... -
#1787 by dglow on 29 Feb, 2020 17:52
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It needs to be put somewhere where a lot of people can view it and enjoy your work... A modeling masterpiece....
Maybe a nice, well-lit 360º photo shoot, then assembled and uploaded for all to admire? -
#1788 by roma847 on 29 Feb, 2020 22:48
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Thanks EG and dglow for your enthusiasm, which deeply impresses me.
So far I have been able to do everything as I imagined,
which lets me hope that I also can continue and complete it at this level.
And when everything will be finished someday, I will come up with a suitable presentation too, even if the way is still long ...
Therefore please don't let me down and stay tuned.
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#1789 by truckmen on 11 Mar, 2020 10:43
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I can't imagine just how many hours you've put into this project. This is way over the top in detail and you are sure to believe very many people are duly impressed with your work. I cannot put into words how incredible this is.
I am spending hours just reading the 90+ pages of detail you've been documenting.
I may please ask you how you are able to find the detailed photos with which tom build with such accuracy. I am seeing the NASA website but just don't see the images.
I would like to build the MLP and LUT in 1/100th scale for my future Saturn V era model and would like to obtain similar information to begin my attempt at a similar project like yours.
Thank you very much again for taking the time in sharing your project with us.
Ralph M Bohm -
#1790 by roma847 on 12 Mar, 2020 14:54
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Thanks Ralph for your nice compliments. 😊
How many hours... 🤔
Such Long-term projets like this cannot be measured in horus or days, but only in years .......... 😎
Regarding my Photo collections, this is a special chapter and the result of a constant search/research and intensive study of various sources, first of all the huge NASA archives.
Unfortunately, NASA did change the URLs of their old data bases, which is why lots of photos cannot be found no more, or only with large effort. 😥
But in addition to good detailed photos technical drawings are even more important for scratch-building of details, but also still more difficult to find ...
I wish you much success for your projects, heads up and hang in!👍
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#1791 by EG on 12 Mar, 2020 16:44
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........
I would like to build the MLP and LUT in 1/100th scale for my future Saturn V era model and would like to obtain similar information to begin my attempt at a similar project like yours.
........
Ralph M Bohm
Ralph, there are places where you can get good info on the Apollo era L-UT, I would suggest...
https://groups.io/g/LUTGroup as the best place to start....
Yes the work being done in this build thread is some of the most dazzling and amazing detail modeling ever done by a human.... Words are insufficient to describe it.....
Out of this world skills on display here...
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#1792 by mike robel on 13 Mar, 2020 23:45
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Just superb work all the way around.
Einfach hervorragende Arbeit! -
#1793 by roma847 on 18 Mar, 2020 06:49
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Thanks EG and Mike for faithful following my work to this day and honoring it with such nice compliments, which spurs me on and on, to continue this journey.
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#1794 by roma847 on 21 Mar, 2020 20:06
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Hello friends,
now that my new PC is running, it can finally continue on the Stack-construction site, whereby it specifically concerns the front connection points between the ET and the SRBs, these are the so-called ET/SRB Forward Attach Fittings, one of which was already shown in this picture, whereby the cladding over this green segment is missing. 
Source: NASA
Apparently, this is not just a cladding, because as one can see in this photo of the STS-6 Stack in the final state before the launch of the Challenger, there are two white boxes stacked over one another. Since this image shows the front of the stack facing the orbiter, the question immediately arises as to how this connection assembly may have looked on the back.
Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (woods170)
To find out, I had to do a bit more research and have found this photo of the ET-121 after its separation from the Discovery (STS-114), that was the so-called Return To Flight Mission after the Columbia disaster (STS-107).
On that one can see on the underside, although a little small, the part of the fitting that belongs to the ET. The rest of the part is therefore on the previously blown away Booster.
Source: NASA
The following photo montage shows how the two assemblies of the attachment fit together.
Helpful for my understanding were these drawings of the Attach Fitting, on which the parts belonging to the ET are colored green and those of the SRB are blue, which are connected by the Separation Bolt.
Source: System Definition Handbook SLWT, Vol. I (Lockheed Martin)
Final clarity about the arrangement of the fitting on the front I then got through these two photos,
here in opened state without cladding (RSS Fairing) 
Source: NASA
and here with the gray cladding,
Source: spaceflight.nasa.gov
which I then compared directly in this photo montage.
Unfortunately, I did not have these photos available during the failure of my PC, which is why I've initially only orientated myself by the first photo at the beginning of the post that I had on my smartphone, but what unfortunately has led into the wrong direction when I began scratching the arrangement, but what I still want to present to you.
When scratching this fitting, I had to consider the support rod for the SRBs and drill a respective boring.
For the two-part basic body of the fitting I've used a Rectangular profile (2 mm x 2,5 mm), which I rounded off at the front end to simulate the Bolt Catcher and drilled out for the holding rod with Ø 1,5 mm, as one can see in this image.
On this image one can see the assembly of a Bolt Catcher, which catches the front part of the bolt that was blasted off when the booster was separated,
Source: NASA
whose honeycomb-like inner structure can be seen here in detail.
Source: NASA
The individual parts of the ribbed back part I cut from an Evergreen Strip (0,25 mm x 2,0 mm),
and then glued step by step with MEK onto the basic body laying on a Teflon foil.
Gluing the tiny triangles was a pretty tricky task due to the minimal spacing,
but has worked well thanks to my angelic patience and steady hand.
This was followed by the side attachment of the boxes on the front, which I could only reconstruct on the basis of my smartphone picture,
what then looked like that.
For modeling the arrangement on the back I've used this photo of the ET-45 (STS-47), although one can only guess it.
Source: georgesrockets.com (George Gassaway)
But I think that it can only be a simple cover, if one looks at this zoom shot,
which is why I've chosen this simple form.
And so the finished fitting sits on the SRB,
and that's how the whole thing looked with the attached SRB onto the ET, actually not bad, right?
But now I'm a bit smarter and know that the two boxes on the front are not sitting next to each other but have to sit one above the other, which is why I still have to change it once again, but be that as it may!
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#1795 by truckmen on 23 Mar, 2020 14:41
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Thank you for the reply,
In the meantime, I can do searches on your sources that you list at the bottom of your photos.
Hey if you can, perhaps make a list of your sources; I am sure it would be quite a task by itself. -
#1796 by roma847 on 23 Mar, 2020 15:18
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Thanks truckman,
that sounds like a premature April fool's joke.
My Launch Pad project database of documents and photos alone has 40 GB ...
BTW, I think that I already share more than enough sources, so save - search - save - search ... till the end of the day, which has 24 hours, and if that's not enough, you also have to take the night ...
No pain, no gain!
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#1797 by roma847 on 04 Apr, 2020 23:32
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Hello everybody,
today is an important historical date for my project, which I would like to honor with a brief review.
37 years ago today, on 4 April 1983 took off from the Launch Pad 39A the Space shuttle Challenger for her maiden flight, the STS-6 Mission, to whom I have dedicated my long-term project.
Source: NASA
And now back, here comes the next update. In the meantime I have modified the ET/SRB Forward Attach Fittings a little bit, so that the two boxes with the cabling are now arranged one below the other as in the original, as was already shown here.
Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (woods170)
Admittedly, this is only a small part of the entire Shuttle stack and can hardly be seen in the end, but if I am not completely convinced by the details, then I get to the bottom of the matter once more, something this time took longer because I've researched some sources more exactly again.
And this is how the new part looks with the boxes arranged one below the other,
and here again in direct comparison with the previous variant (left).
Since the new prototype initially seemed a bit too big to me, I've reduced it a bit in a second variant (below),
what one can see here.
But after a detailed re-measurement based on the original photos, I still decided on the first, slightly larger version and made a copy of it for the other fitting.
In the meantime I have also found a photo of the back of the fitting (left), which at first glance hardly differs from the front side (right) where the two boxes with the ET/SRB RSS cross-wiring were mounted.
Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com
On the back there are no additional attachments like on the front, but only the receptacle for screwing the Ground Handling Fitting for the transport of the ET,
Source: System Definition Handbook SLWT, Vol. I (Lockheed Martin)
which was probably covered with a cladding, which one can guess more on this picture than can see clearly,
Source: georgesrockets.com (George Gassaway)
what I simulated by these tiny parts.
And so these attachments sit opposite each other when installed on the SRBs.
And this is how they look in the glued state, here is the view of the front of the ET, which is facing the orbiter,
and here's a look at the back.
And with that I wish everyone a nice Sunday, and above all, stay healthy.
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#1798 by llanitedave on 07 Apr, 2020 05:25
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Not only do I marvel at the creativity and artistry in your work, Manfred, but I'm actually learning a huge amount about the concepts of precision assembly, which you ingeniously utilize in working with tiny parts and tight fittings.
My own projects are not nearly so fine and small, but I still think about your approach, and I feel like it's made my own designs better.
Thank you!
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#1799 by roma847 on 07 Apr, 2020 21:33
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Thanks Dave for your nice words and your interest. Keep calm and stay tuned, skill comes swith practice ...
BTW, sometimes I curse these tiny parts, especially when they have jumped out of my tweezers,
sometimes for Goodbye forever ...
But it's my own fault.
Stay healthy friends!
