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#2360 by roma847 on 21 Mar, 2023 22:03
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Hello everybody,
let's go on with the production of the tiny Handrail brackets, which are held up the progress quite a bit, since you always have to let the glue dry before you can handle them any further.
In the meantime I have arranged the steel block the other way around when cutting off the end strip, as this way I can better control the cut with the razor blade.
The tricky separation of the U-profile can also be done in different ways, which is why I tried out a few things and switched to a larger sheet of steel as a base, which makes handling easier.
And so it goes on step by step, re-clamping everything again and fixing it differently, over and over again, just don't let up ...
Now it's also easier to score and cut off the tiny ones, and the U-profile is getting shorter and shorter ...
The half is done,
but a few brackets are also a little on the short side, 
and some still need to be adjusted in length, but which is doable. 
That's why I've prepared another U-profile,
which I can now use to tackle the second half of the brackets, so hopefully I'll end up with 18 usable parts for the 8 Handrails.
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#2361 by roma847 on 23 Mar, 2023 23:28
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Hello everybody,
and with it to the Final Cutdown.
This was the arrangement I chose for the second half of the brackets for cutting through the U-profiles (1 mm) that I had previously scratched and marked with a pencil,
here after careful cutting with a razor blade under sharp eagle eyes.
And that's my valuable yield of 20 mounts (2 reserve) with approximately the same size.
I had imagined the gluing of the mounts onto the handrails to be a little easier, but firstly it turns out differently, and secondly than you might think.
As you can see in this image, the mounts are open at the front, so I have to glue the handrails rotated 90°, unlike what I thought before. How good that I compared again.
Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (STS-9, Ares67)
The consequence of this, however, is that the gluing again requires a special fixation and I have to be hellishly careful that no holder flies away.
That's why I have to glue each holder individually and with great sensitivity by using MEK, whether I want to or not.
Although handling these tinies is indeed quite a fiddling,
with the necessary calm and concentration one can do it!
And so the handrail can then be glued to the Payload Canister.
That's why I always say: Nothing is impossible! One just shouldn't set any limits!
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#2362 by roma847 on 24 Mar, 2023 23:15
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Hello everybody,
today the Mounts were glued to the other three-legged handrail,
wherewith the row at the bottom of the canister is complete.
Then it was the turn of the two vertically arranged handrails above it, which have two mounts and were done more quickly.
And so the image slowly completes, whereby I also still hinted the Personnel door through which one can arrive the Canister Payload Bay.
Now only the mounts on the four upper railings are missing.
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#2363 by roma847 on 26 Mar, 2023 13:38
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Hello everybody,
and these Mounts were glued today.
At it the most difficult step was pushing the Handrail feet into the tiny mounts, which is why I "sharpened" them slightly. Then the gluing followed with MEK by carefully wetting the mounts with the finest red sable brush (10/0).
This also finished the third Handrail pair,
and could be placed on the template for fitting.
It was finally the turn of the last couple,
whereby the whole set is finally complete.
And in this arrangement, all Handrails could soon be glued to the canister, as well as the Personnel door.
So that nothing happens to them until then, I quickly brought them to safety in this little box.
That's it then again.
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#2364 by roma847 on 03 Apr, 2023 00:27
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Hello everybody,
and thanks my friends for your staying interest
because I have seen you have been spying on my build again.
Now that the Handrails are safely stowed away until they are glued, I once again looked at the various doors, hatches and instrumentation panels on the canister. Although these are only small optical details, they give the canister its own face and should not be missing. From these details I then printed out true-to-scale copies from original photos and glued them on.
First, there's this Personnel Door on the Forward Bulkhead of the canister,
Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (STS-9, Ares67)
which has to be tight and therefore quite robust, which is why I reinforced the thin paper a bit. The eight Handrails are then glued there too.
The two Ladders in the first image were only hung in the Horizontal Transportation Mode in the Processing Facility. Since they would have gotten in the way when the canister was hoisted up in the RSS Payload Bay, they were removed before transportation the upright canister to the launch pad.
After the canister was hoisted the workers of the Can Crew could enter onto the top of it via a fold-out Payload Canister Access Platform while wearing fall protections, as I've learned from James MacLaren and Richard Chamberlain.
Source: James MacLaren, The Construction of Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39-B (Page 52)
As one can see in this image and the next one, the canister is secured by "Umbilical cords" during the whole way from the Processing Facilities to the top of the RSS Payload Bay connected to the transporter. These are the two red hoses on the Port Side and this black cable bundle on the Starboard Side to ensure constant Clean room conditions inside the canister.
Source: NASA (STS-93)
And thus to the respective interfaces on the Side walls of the canister, on which various Instrumentation Panels are located, via which the canister is connected with the associated Modules inside the transporter that I already have described in my Reply #2135.
Source: NASA Conference Publication 2342 Part 2 (M. E. Donahue)
On the Starboard Side there are three I&CS Instrumentation Panels and a ECS Panel in front of them.
Source: NASA (STS-135)
The upper small panel is connected via five cables to the Instrumentation and Communication System (I&CS Module) at the rear end of the transporter, whereby the Climate and Clean room conditions inside the canister are constantly checked and monitored.
I'm not quite sure whether I'll attach these cables (Ø 0,1 mm) later.
In addition, I have to think about when I will attach which prepared fragile Assemblies (Door actuator, Screw jacks, etc.), since this will make handling the canister more and more complicated.
Here the four panels are already glued.
Further back on this side there is still this Access Hatch to the room below the payload bay to the Supply and Return Ducts, which via the red hoses are constantly connected with the transporter's Environmental Control System (ECS Module), which can be seen in the following photo.
And so to the Port Side. At the forward end is a Personnel Door, which also leads to the room below the payload bay and the ECS duct attachments there, as well as the Pneumatic Interface Panel for the lower door seals.
The front white Connection nozzle is connected to the ECS Supply Duct and the lower one to the ECS Return Duct. The red hoses are connected to it, which are connected to the ECS Module of the transporter and can be extended accordingly for the canister standing upright.
Source: NASA (STS-135)
The door and the Interface panel are already glued, but the connection nozzles are still missing and will follow soon.
For the red hoses (Ø 2,2 mm) I have already found a suitable cable with a corresponding diameter.
So it won't be boring.
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#2365 by roma847 on 04 Apr, 2023 08:54
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Hello everybody to early hour,
today is a memorable day in the history of manned US Spaceflight, because on April 4th, 1983 Space shuttle Challenger took off with its crew on its maiden flight STS-6,
Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)
L-R: Donald Peterson †, Paul Weitz †, Story Musgrave, Karol Bobko
Source: wikipedia.org
to which I have dedicated my long-term project, with which I'm going already into the 12th year. 
Source: nasa.org
And as luck will it, on the day of the 40th Anniversary, in the 50th year after the last "Apollo" Mission NASA named the four astronauts for the "Artemis 2" Mission, scheduled to fly around the moon again late next year.
Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Jeremy Hansen
Source: Josh Valcarcel/nasa/dpa
If that's not a reason to be happy.
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#2366 by roma847 on 08 Apr, 2023 12:39
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Hello everybody,
and thus to the ECS Supply and ECS Return Ducts of the canister, which are connected via the red hoses to the Environmental Control System (ECS Module) of the transporter.
It's starting with the two white Connecting nozzles firmly connected to the canister with the Tube bows welded from five segments, whose dimensions I've determined from this photo.
Source: NASA (STS-130)
There one can see that the connecting nozzles sit on thin Base plates (0,13 mm) and that the tube bows are attached to nozzles with Clamping rings, which is why I also will build this assembly from four parts, which will later be connected with the red hoses.
For scratch building the Tube bows (Ø 2,5 mm) I was able to go back to my tried and tested Balsa Bending Technique (BBT) by using a Hot air pistol.
Next to the tube bows lie the Base plates (0,13 mm x 1,5 mm x 4,0 mm), on which the Connecting nozzles sit, as well as the Ring plates (0,15 mm x Ø 3,0 mm), which are glued between the nozzles and tube bows.
The tube bows now need to be shortened to their final lengths, which are different as you can see in this image.
Source: NASA (STS-104)
But first I have to measure them again exactly, which will follow next.
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#2367 by roma847 on 11 Apr, 2023 16:09
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Hello everybody,
and thus to the shortening of the Tube turns for the two ECS Ducts, whose dimensions are summarized here again.
Source: NASA (STS-104)
In view of the small dimensions of the arches, it quickly becomes clear that after cutting the bent round rods (Ø 2,5 mm) to the different lengths, not much of them will remain, what becomes clear after the cutting marks been attached.
A firm fixation is required for cutting through the rod, which is why I clamped it in the Mini vise (Proxxon). Then the marking was carefully scored with the Mini saw (cmkkits.com) and the first cut (0,13 mm) was made, which was successful the first time. 
After the fringe was gently deburred,
the second cut followed,
after which only this unwieldy little worm remained. 
And while I was still smoothening this midget a bit, the bewitched mishap happened again that the damned thing slipped out of my fingers,
and flew away into the space between the container and the sideboard. 
Luckily I found it among the plates stored there and after a breather I was able to continue.
But below the tube turns there are still these strangely shaped Connecting nozzles (ECS Ducts), which I racked my brains about making for a long time.
Source: NASA (STS-132)
As one can see in the zoom, these ECS ducts have a narrow rectangular foot (1 mm x 3 mm) that rests on a base plate (0,13 mm x 1,5 mm x 4 mm), which widens in a funnel shape toward the tube turn to its diameter (2,5 mm). And in this change in shape from 3 mm (rectangle length) to 2.5 mm (diameter) is the difficulty for scratching the part.
In order not to have to file this part out of a round rod (Ø 3 mm) from solid, I tried to crush a round rod (Ø 2,5 mm) at the end with a flat pliers onto the rectangular cross-section (1 mm x 3 mm), which did not result in a satisfactory shape in the end.
But the flat crushing went much better with a round nose pliers, which was no less tricky because of that. But the result and the shape finally convinced me,
here shortly before cutting off the tiny Duct nozzle.
These are the four separate parts,
of which the duct nozzle was now glued to the ring disc (0,15 mm x Ø 3 mm) and aligned.
Then the tube turn was glued to the other side of the annular disc.
Finally, the trio was glued to the base plate, finally completing this elaborate detail.
And finally the test fitting of the red hose between the ECS Return Duct and the ECS Module of the transporter,
and here the test fitting of the ECS Return Duct on the Payload Canister.
And now the same procedure again for the ECS Supply Duct, wherefore however the tube turn on the connection duct has to be glued rotated by 90°.
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#2368 by mike robel on 12 Apr, 2023 00:54
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You are a crazy man, Manfred! Keep it up!!!!! Wonderful skills on display for all to observe and (maybe) learn. When there is a will there's a way.
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#2369 by EG on 12 Apr, 2023 02:19
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You are a crazy man, Manfred! Keep it up!!!!! Wonderful skills on display for all to observe and (maybe) learn. When there is a will there's a way.
Amen! Such an inspiration as well....
It's difficult to comment on the skills displayed here, all the complimentary words have been said over and over....
A master at his work is all I can say.... I'll be following this build til it is done.... -
#2370 by roma847 on 12 Apr, 2023 12:43
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You are a crazy man, Manfred! Keep it up!!!!! Wonderful skills on display for all to observe and (maybe) learn. When there is a will there's a way.
Yep, Mike, I can understand you, maybe my attention for scratch building such crazy details is overkill!
But this passion acts like a drug that I just can't get rid of,
especially since I keep discovering new and interesting details of this ingenious technique, day by day.
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#2371 by roma847 on 12 Apr, 2023 13:11
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You are a crazy man, Manfred! Keep it up!!!!! Wonderful skills on display for all to observe and (maybe) learn. When there is a will there's a way.
Amen! Such an inspiration as well....
It's difficult to comment on the skills displayed here, all the complimentary words have been said over and over....
A master at his work is all I can say.... I'll be following this build til it is done....
Thanks Elmer for your compliments too.
Why should I keep all this to myself when you, my true friends, can find new inspiration from it for your own projects too. I'm no different, even if it's a bit one-sided now and then.
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#2372 by roma847 on 18 Apr, 2023 21:31
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Hello everybody,
and after the same knitting pattern briefly to the announced ECS Supply Duct, for which the Pipe bend on the Connection nozzle has to be glued rotated by 90°, wherefore the parts on the right are already prepared. To the left is the finished ECS Return Duct.
After the Connection nozzle was glued onto the Ring plate,
came the decisive step, in which this time the pipe bend had to be glued lengthwise with the foot of the connection nozzle onto the ring plate,
which was then glued lengthwise onto the base plate.
So both ECS Ducts are now completed.
While this was the test fitting of the ECS Return Duct to the Payload Canister shown in the last post,
here now the test fitting of the ECS Supply Duct on the canister, which is laying below.
With this I can later show the canister standing upright on the transporter on the Diorama in front of the RSS, as can be seen on this image in Transportation Mode.
Source: NASA (STS-125)
But both ECS Ducts are put on the side for the time being and later glued onto the canister.
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#2373 by roma847 on 19 Apr, 2023 15:04
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Hello everybody,
here is still a small addendum to a detail on the Port Side, where below the Personnel Door is still located this Access Platform Mounting Bracket, which I have added.
Source: NASA (STS-125)
The Bracket (0,13 mm x 7 mm) stands on tiny Base plates (0,13 mm x 0,5 mm x 1,5 mm),
whose gluing together was quite tricky.
Here is the test fitting on the canister together with the two ECS Ducts.
And then there are still these Horizontal Transportation Tie-down Lug Plates, whose rungs lead to the Ladders laying above them.
Source: NASA (STS-135)
The hold-downs are indeed tiny, but I wanted to at least try it.
The markings on the canister I should have covered better.
And these are the individual parts, all made of Evergreen Sheet Styrene (0,13 mm). The two lateral discs (Ø 1,2 mm) at the hold-downs received a centered drilling (Ø 0,5 mm) and were then glued one after the other onto both sides of the hold-down strip, which was also drilled through in between.
For the passing Rung I will use a Nickel silver rod (Ø 0,2 mm x 3,5 mm), which is slightly angled at the ends.
For the gluing of the cover strip the hold-down was fixed again.
When bending the rungs, I was helped by the fact that my try square had exactly the required thickness (3 mm), with a corresponding overhang at the ends being important again,
so that the angled ends can be trimmed to final length.
Then came the trickiest thing, threading the rungs into the small hole (Ø 0,25 mm), aligning them in the middle and gluing them. And that's not easy because the rung has a little too much clearance in the hole. 
In the end I did manage to dab some UHU-Super-CA onto the splice, which doesn't set immediately, which means that minor corrections are still possible.
And this is again the obligatory test fitting of the hold-down on the canister.
For the next three hold-downs, I will use my finest drill (Ø 0,2 mm) in the hope that the rungs will then have a little less clearance and therefore a tighter seat.
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#2374 by George B on 20 Apr, 2023 21:55
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Hi Manfred,
The other day I stumbled across a technique for making flexible hoses and thought of your build. It's perhaps a technique you are familiar with, if not it might be worth trying. I think I'll be using it for the ECS ducting on my LUT build.
http://www.italianhorses.net/Tutorials/FlexHose/flexhose.htm -
#2375 by roma847 on 21 Apr, 2023 12:56
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Thanks George for sharing this interesting link.
This is a clever technique that lends itself to such things. But when scratching such and similar details, it is always a question of scale and ultimately of effort.
However, as could be seen in my last post, the ECS Supply & Return Hoses on the Payload Canister are constructed differently and are nearly smooth, with several hose segments connected to one another by connection rings.
Nevertheless, this inspires me again, of course, and I can certainly imagine further use cases.
In principle, this would also have been a solution for the Screw Jack Bellows in the extended state before opening the canister doors, a mode however which I do not intend to show with my Payload canister.
Source: NASA (STS-125)
However, the hoses then should have a diameter of only 1,5 mm in my scale (1:160), which would hardly be possible with this technique.
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#2376 by roma847 on 28 Apr, 2023 23:08
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Hello everybody,
and finally to the remaining three hold-downs, which I've put off for as long as possible because of the stressful fiddling.
First I've bent all Rungs (Ø 0,2 mm) and didn't even notice that I already had one too many, but better than one too few.
After the lateral discs were glued and drilled out, the marking of the midpoints for the rung drilling followed, for which I used a pin. But even this simple matter is not trivial and didn't want to work right away, because it's about tenths of a millimeter and one needs a steady hand and sharp eagle eyes under the Headset magnifying glass.
For the Rung drilling this time I used my finest drill bit (Ø 0,2 mm), but I had to be extremely careful not to break away the fragile midget. 
For gluing the cover strips, the hold-downs were again fixed between steel rulers as before.
But that was all harmless compared to the next step, threading the rungs into these tiny holes,
whereby fixing the hold-downs in the tweezers alone was a stressful affair, especially since the rungs kept turning sideways when being threaded into their tweezers, which almost made me despair. 
Only after carefully deburring the angled end did I succeed in threading the rungs in at least as far as behind the kink, but that was only half the battle, since they had to be aligned centered before gluing, which is why I've again used a fixation between steel rulers.
For this the rungs had to be carefully balanced and in this position, as for the prototype, dabbed with mini-droplets UHU-Super-CA from both sides using an acupuncture needles, what surprisingly has worked. 
The rungs were then be briefly aligned in the tweezers.
And so at least two hold-downs were already completed,
and after a lot of sweaty work, a total of five hold-down devices were done, and so did I myself.
Next I will deal with the laying of the Pipes (blue arrows) between the Pneumatic Door Drive and the Screw Jacks as well as with the Pneumatic Lines (red arrow),
Source: NASA (STS-135)
which allows my badly strained eagle eyes to recover a little.
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#2377 by mike robel on 29 Apr, 2023 01:50
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What Can I say? Super nice work.
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#2378 by roma847 on 29 Apr, 2023 23:37
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Thanks Mike,
I'm just trying to do my best.
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#2379 by roma847 on 02 May, 2023 23:03
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Hello everybody,
and thus a look at the next details, which are first the two white Pipes of the Output shafts on both sides of the Bevel Gearbox, as well as the two Pneumatic lines, whose dimensions I have determined in this image. 
Source: NASA (STS-135)
After that, the pipes have a diameter of Ø 0,3 mm, and the pneumatic lines are still a little thinner with Ø 0,2 mm.
For this I will use the thinnest available Styrene rods (Ø 0,3 mm) and Nickel Silver rods (Ø 0,2 mm).
But before I lay those pipes and lines, I'll first deal with the four Ladders on the canister sides,
for which I will use PE Ladders (ABER) that I have already presented earlier.
And their dimensions I've determined once again more precisely in this image.
Source: NASA (STS-125)
For the feet that are attached to the outside of the ladder bars, I'll use brass strips (0,2 mm x 1,0 mm x 1,5 mm).
And as one can easily see from the dimensions, it will be quite a fiddly thing again to attach these six strips, which are only 1,5 mm long, to the ladder bars without bending the filigree and fragile ladder.
Conceivable is a gluing with UHU-Super-CA, which I'll try out.
So let's wait and see.
