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

• #880 by Ronpur50 on 09 Feb, 2016 02:13
• Knitting needle....what a find!
• #881 by roma847 on 09 Feb, 2016 07:16
• Yeah, long I've been looking for something similar, and he who seeks finds. You have to keep your eyes always open only, sometimes it pays ...
  
  
  
• #882 by llanitedave on 11 Feb, 2016 19:10
• I like those little jigs you build for cutting, it gives me ideas for my own projects!
• #883 by roma847 on 12 Feb, 2016 06:20
• Why not, with clever ideas one can facilitate his work already.
  
  
• #884 by roma847 on 12 Feb, 2016 09:09
• Hello everybody,
  that was a surprise when I've realized that I had sawed the opening at the bottom of the beveling instead of at the top, what nobody has noticed so far.
  
  And that was also the reason for further pretests.
  
  Here again first with the mini circular saw, but without having sawed the beveling previously.
  
  
  
  But thereby the markings can also quickly be exceeded,
  
  
  
  or else be cut as here in another test into the side wall. 
  
  
  
  In any case one must still rework the opening,
  
  
  
  whereby this also can become wider and higher than desirable.
  
  
  
  The height can be adapted by making the cut for the beveling a little bit  further below. But all in all I'm still not completely satisfied with the results of the saw method, especially as I have also noticed that probably the spindle or the clamping sleeve of my Dremel has a slight blow which is transmitted to the saw blade.
  
  That's why I tried yet another method, where far fewer swarfs arise, and therefore seems to me much more sympathetic.
  
  For that I have used this cutter blade with straight blade, which can be applied as a wood chisel. For that I have pushed the tube to a suitable drill shank and then carefully gouged out the opening, what has worked very well.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And as you can see, the edges are immediately much more accurate and cleaner than with the saw method and require almost no post-processing.
  
  
  
  And the beveling can also be subsequently attached smoothly.
  
  
  
  And that's why I will now apply this simpler and more accurate method.
  
  
• #885 by roma847 on 15 Feb, 2016 13:10
• Hi everybody,
  
  after the pre-tests for cutting out the opening under the cover today follows the next step, and those are the flange rings with the screws.
  
  Since the six Rainbirds have different forms, this should be shown in an overview.
  
  
  Source: NASA
  
  While Rainbirds B1, B2 and A1 are mounted directly on the MLP Deck, the other three B3, B4 and A-2 are standing in small recesses on the Blast Deck, as can be seen here.
  
  
  Source: flickr.com (Andrew Scheer)
  
  While all Rainbirds have two flange rings, screwed together with each other at the top, these three Birds in the Blast deck have only one flange ring at the bottom, which is directly screwed on the ground in the recesses. The three B1, B2 and A-1 standing on the MLP deck however, have two flange rings at the bottom.
  
  
  Source: NASA
  And so finally get to work.
  
  First I have cut the pipe with the opening to the final length.
  
  
  
  
  
  And now to the screws on the double flange rings of the two Rainbirds B-1 and B-2, with their screws (Ø 0.5 mm) I had recently begun already.
  
  Here two strips 0.25 x 1.0 mm are placed on the bolt row, with which the "cartridge belts" are later glued around the tube. In order that this tricky structure can not stick at the cutting mat when glued with MEK, everything is precautionally put at a metal sheet. Then followed the gluing of the strips, firstly from the top,
  
  
  
  and after removal of the templates even from below. And hard to believe, but even the structure has initially glued slightly on the metal sheet and had to be carefully detached with a chisel.
  
  
  
  Then I have separated the bolt row in the middle between the strips,
  
  
  
  and after that the screws have been reduced on both sides up to 1 mm.
  
  
  
  To do this as evenly as possible, I have applied a 1 mm wide strip and separated the protruding ends with a chisel, which has so far completely worked well.
  
  
  
  
  
  And those are the two 3 mm high cartridge belts, each seen from the inside.
  
  
  
  To see how the whole thing now looks before gluing the belts around the tube, here they are placed on the tube above the sketch,
  
  
  
  and here for more clarity without the sketch. And on closer inspection, I mean that the screws somehow seem to be a little bit too long, or what do you think?
  
  
  
  And therefore I have placed my first cartridge belt pattern for comparison beside it, in which the protruding screw length is slightly less than 1 mm,  what would please me better by its proportions. 
  
  
  
  But about it I will have to think once more ...
  
  
• #886 by roma847 on 17 Feb, 2016 06:50
• Hey folks,
  
  meantime I have the 2nd screw-belt also sanded down to 2.5 mm height. 
  
  The final belts should ultimately look like this, as I have tried it in this test with the narrower strips 0.25 mm x 0.75 mm,
  
  
  
  everything back as before.
  
  
  
  This time I shortened the overhangs to 0.75 mm and applied the same Evergreen Strip for cutting off.
  
  
  
  
  
  Cropped from both sides that looks like this, where the screws now about 2.4 mm high and no longer needs to be reworked. And by shortening with the chisel this belt now looks much better than the top two sanded.
  
  
  
  And now I have glued the lower belt, I have pinned him at the beginning with MEK and then gradually wanted to glue around the tube. But at the next adhesive point the strip is broken when I touched with the MEK paintbrush, and I had two parts.    And immediately the memory came back when this mishap happened for the first time at the clamping rings of the Pipe Supports. 
  
  
  
  For this gluing really must be used CA because MEK it is deadly! So I glued the rest with CA, and then trial basis round the tube and has fit quite well.
  
  
  
  Only cut the rest strip and glue the end.
  
  
  
  That's it so far and looks quite acceptable. 
  
  
  
  Now is still missing the outer strip, and then comes the upper screw-belt. 
  
  
• #887 by roma847 on 17 Feb, 2016 22:19
• Hello everybody,
  
  and here is the next update.
  
  Today the lower screws-belt got its outer strips (0.1 mm x 0.8 mm), now only the spaces between the screws must be filled with wood glue.
  
  
  
  And next the upper screws-belt is glued, but this time I have used CA.  After gluing the starting point it went stepwise around.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  And in the end everything went on well, as might be expected.
  
  
  
  And here the bird is ready for the outer strips,
  
  
  
  and now it's done already.
  
  
  Now I have the cover placed provisionally, and so the bird is now slowly fledge and  and looks pretty cool already.
  
  
  
  And here is finally a comparison of the birds, left the 1:144 and in the mid 1:160 bird of David Maier's Paper Kit. And I mean that the new bird has become a very good compromise to my MLP and has a more realistic shape.
  
  
  
  Tomorrow will follow the profiles beside and rear of the opening and on the cover, whereupon I'm curious already. 
  
  
  Source: NASA
  
  
• #888 by Ronpur50 on 17 Feb, 2016 23:40
• Those birds are going to be awesome!
• #889 by roma847 on 18 Feb, 2016 22:35
• Thanks Ron,
  I am very glad that my screws have become so cool and rather close to the real thing.
  
  
• #890 by roma847 on 19 Feb, 2016 06:54
• Hello there,
  
  here are Evergreen's standard profiles that one would need now, from left to right:
  H-profile, angle profile and T-profile, each 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm and with web thickness of 0.3 mm and thus look relatively massive.
  
  
  
  That becomes still more clearly on the cover (0.25 mm),
  
  
  
  and looks at the Rainbird already nearly brutal. 
  
  
  
  
  
  So I will try to scratch these profiles of 0.1 mm or 0.15 mm styrene, with probably look better.
  
  
• #891 by Davp99 on 20 Feb, 2016 18:39
• Alright now you're cooking.. I am Still Amazed how LifeLike you make everything Look..
• #892 by roma847 on 21 Feb, 2016 21:56
• Thanks Dave for your kind words, I try my best, as much as possible.
  
  
• #893 by roma847 on 23 Feb, 2016 21:54
• Hello friends,
  and today I have tried it once with thinner Styrene (about 0.15 mm). 
  
  Since the production of the vertical angle and T-profiles should be a bit easier, I started with the trickier H-profiles on the cover and cut first 1 mm and 1.5 mm wide strips. This looks easier than it is when the strips should get the same width.
  
  
  
  The gluing of the web (1 mm) on the lower strips (1.5 mm) is a bit laborious because one must fix it centrally as well as vertically, wherefore I have used small magnets. Only then one can glue by cautiously brushing both sides with MEK.   
  
  
  
  
  
  Much more difficult, however, is the gluing of the top stripe, because one must  reach into the 1 mm gap with the fine brush with MEK. But that's me yet succeeded, as one can see.
  
  
  
  And here one can see the comparison of the two variants, left the previous Evergreen H-beam and on the right the scratch version that looks a bit finer,   
  
  
  
  although the contours in the white-on-white shots come out not so good. 
  
  
  
  
  
  And although this procedure was pretty tricky, I might also try another variant with 0.1 mm Styrene, what should be in fact the correct scale.
  
  
• #894 by roma847 on 24 Feb, 2016 15:24
• Here on the fast one a short update with the comparison of the two T-beams for the back side, which have the same width (1.5 mm) as the H-profiles, left a standard T-beam, and right scratch variant 0.1 mm Styrene.
  
  
  
  And the thinner angle beam should be similar uncomplicated. Only the H-beam is a bit trickier, which is why I still have to puzzle out a somewhat simpler assembly technique. 
  We will see ...
  
  
• #895 by roma847 on 27 Feb, 2016 07:14
• Hello everyone,
  
  today I have now tried to put theory into practice and to bring the thinner H-profiles on the hood. 
  
  And accordingly to the US standards I have adapted the dimensions of the H-profiles to those of W10-beams and have cut for the webs (5'') Styrene strips of 0.1 mm x 1.0 mm and for the upper and lower flanges (0,9'') 0.15 x 1.5 mm.
  
  
  
  As spacers for the bottom two strips I have placed an evergreen-H-profile with 2 mm width on the cover, and alongside glued the strips (each with something supernatant) right and left with MEK, first outside, and after removal of the spacer inside,
  
  
  
  After trimming of the supernatants now followed the assembly of the profiles from the prepared strips.
  
  
  
  As written previously, I first glued the slanted webs on the upper flanges, which were fixed between two steel rulers and then painted from both sides with MEK. 
  
  
  
  
  
  The line-shaped adhesive sites at the 0.1 mm webs are inevitably minimal and have only a limited stability, which is to be considered during the further assembly.
  
  
  
  And now comes the most difficult part of the assembly, this "T-profile" must be placed centrally as well as vertically above the lower strips, and then glued, wherefore this I have used this jig.
  
  The left stopper is a cutter blade, and beside the T-beam, which was carefully fixed with tape under the front edge of the ruler.
  
  In this position, I could now glue the front part with MEK, and then after  alignment the rear part. 
  
  
  
  
  But because the attachment to the tape strips was quite stressful, I wanted to try to simplify this action with a kind of double-sided adhesive tape strip, at which I have attached the profile.
  
  
  
  The alignment of the ruler at the stopper and the gluing of the web went well so far, but then came the flop, because the upper strip began to peel away when the ruler was lifted. 
  
  Thats's why I have quitted this method and fixed the profile only with tape strips and glued the web in this position,
  
  
  
  what also has worked.
  
  
  
  And in a similar way, I then glued also the other profile.
  
  
  
  And here for comparison right the cover with the two evergreen H-profiles (1.5 x 1.5 mm) and to the left the Scratch variant that looks still finer in reality than it comes out here in the image.
  
  
  
  And also by the somewhat lower height (1.3 mm) of the new W-profiles the Rainbird with this modified hood looks a bit nicer, I imagine at least.
  
  
  
  And tomorrow then will follow the rear T-profiles and the lateral angle profiles.
  
  
• #896 by roma847 on 01 Mar, 2016 06:44
• Hello everybody,
  
  today now to the profiles under the hood, which one due to their "size" barely can handle, which is why this already needs the most pointed tweezers and again a lot of patience.
  
  Here, first the production the angular profiles 1 x 1 mm, for this I have glued a strip 0.15 x 0.9 mm to a strip 0.1 x 1.0 mm, because of the small dimensions all again with MEK. And no matter how you do it, with or without spacers,
  
  
  
  one definitely needs a stable support or stopper.
  
  First I have made double the length of two angles, but this is not necessarily recommendable, because the angle section should still be cut to the final length, but this is not so readily when the laboriously glued angle should remain intact.
  
  
  
  So one must cut both sides separately with the chisel, because the delicate angle could break due to the minimal adhesive point otherwise,
  
  
  
  but this can be avoided.
  
  
  
  Here again the comparison of different angle profiles. The two lower angles are scratched, above it a brass profile 1 x 1 mm, wherein the thickness is 0.35 mm, and above it the smallest, also 0.35 mm thick Evergreen Profile 1.5 x 1.5 mm.
  
  
  
  And now to the gluing of the two mini-angles under the hood, which was relatively tricky because of the necessary accurate and secure positioning, because I again wanted to glue with MEK of the small web widths. For this the parts must somehow be fixed, which is rather complicated.
  
  First of all the Rainbird needs a secure hold on a rod. Thereafter, the length of the angle had to be adapted to the space between the hood and screw circle.
  
  
  
  
  
  Here you can see the mounting device with the angle in the cross tweezers, and for aligning and gluing I had to put on my headset magnifier.
  
  
  
  
  That was all in all again a tricky business, but it has finally worked,
  
  
  
  and with the result, I can be more than satisfied, I think.
  
  
  
  Now only missing the two rear T-profiles, but they can probably attached something easier, because space is more accessible than under the hood. But without tweezers, etc., it also will not work ... 
  See you later and thanks for watching.
  
  
• #897 by Ronpur50 on 01 Mar, 2016 13:40
• Awesome Bird!
• #898 by roma847 on 01 Mar, 2016 21:47
• Thanks Ron, I like it too.
  
  So I have imagined the Birds.
  
  
• #899 by roma847 on 04 Mar, 2016 22:22
• Hello everybody,
  
  With the assembly of the T-profiles it wanted initially not work so well, because their positioning was pretty stressful already during the fitting between the H-profile and the screws ring, let alone only when gluing. 
  
  That's why I first times tried the fit with an Evergreen H-beam, especially because the belt protruded outwards even something over the screws circle,
  
  
  
  which is why I initially left something supernatant in order to remeasure everything again.
  
  
  
  
  
  Since the subsequent experiments with the scratched T-beams were not very successful, I simply have rearranged the mounting and built the profile directly at the tube and firstly have glued the webs. 
  
  
  
  
  
  Subsequently I glued the flanges on the webs that have been fixed with tape and then had been aligned.
  
  
  
  And so the mounting went really better.
  
  
  
  And so would the Rainbird B-1 actually finished,
  
  
  
  and looks pretty nice,
  
  
  
  especially when one compares it with the paper bird from Maier's Paper kit.
  
  
  
  However, a tiny detail is lacking, because all Rainbirds have these two transport-rings on the hood between the H-beams that I wanted to try at least once.
  
  
  Source: NASA
  
  The diameter should be about 0.7 mm, for which I have cut off these tiny rings from my thinnest insulating tube.  Okay, I hear almost your outcry ...
  
  
  And these crumbs actually still could be glued under the magnifier.
  
  
  
  So, it is now well enough of this crazy stuff. Here is a picture of the little bird on the MLP, which was so long not to see.
  
  
  
  And so already times a nice weekend.