johnlove_mk_II

Building at a glacial pace. So here's my first foray in to vacuum forming. Here's the former. Built from a wooden "craft box" ... that's 391 holes by the by. A canvas frame with a .04" thick sheet stapled to it. I place this in the oven, on broil at 500° ... wait until it starts to sag. Like REALLY starts to sag. Flip the vacuum on, pull out the frame and slap it down on the former. Presto. Tank dome.

The paper is a masking tape type of material. I’m not completely sure of the process, but I think they cut the “embossed” lines and cut-throughs on the front, with the paper on the back … apply the paper on the embossed/cut side to hold everything together. Oh, and there’s no tabs, you just peel the part off the backing paper.

Tooling around on the NTRS server and I found a really cool report on building a 1/10 scale model of the Saturn V. This is the way you build a model. :woot.gif:/> Read it here. "This model was designed to duplicate, in miniature, as many of the full-scale structural elements as was economically and technically feasible." - quote from the report.

The Ponoko order arrived yesterday. Everything turned out pretty great. I'm really happy with the results. Here are the picts ... All cuts are crisp and very precise and there's a slight appearance of a melted edge. The “scored” lines have a slight “lip” to them, much like freshly scribed or cut piece of styrene. The actual thickness of the sheet is .7mm, not .5mm. Overall, I’m completely satisfied … I’m already getting another set of drawings ready for S-II thrust structure parts.

A little OT but it looks like someone over at Collect Space used my drawings to make a lampshade. Cool eh?! Command Module Lampshade

They only offer .5mm styrene as an option on their site, but it's worth inquiring to see if they can do thinner. From what I understand, they use a coversheet material to help mitigate the melting and shrinkage. My parts are in-route and should arrive Thursday, I can't wait to see how they turned out.

Found this example of laser cut plastic model building. Looks promising.

Ponoko provides three different sized illustrator templates for the stock sizes they use. The line color indicates cut depth. Pink is a the lightest cut and will only really be a mark on the surface. (I’ll use these as guides to apply stringers.) Green is like a scribed line … with blue being a through-cut. I’ve pulled in information from a ton of different sources, but I mainly just use my vast picture library. I’ve been fortunate to be able to visit both the Saturn Vs at Johnson and Kennnedy on more than one occasion. I have hundreds … maybe thousands of photos of both of them. That

Anyone ever use Ponoko? They're like Shapeways in that they print 3D stuff but they also provide 2D laser cutting and embossing. I'm going to give them a try and have them cut out this ... Just cutting out all this would take a few hours, not to mention scribing everything ... with a 50% off coupon code, it's only around 25 bucks. Awesome, eh?

I did ... I had the idea to try to sell them, but I never completed the drawings.

Here's a link to some of my research drawings for the Apollo command and service modules. I can't guarantee that they're 100% accurate ... but they might be a good starting point. My link

They are a little textured and there is a lot of the support wax in the crevices ... so a little prep will be necessary. I've been reading everything I can find on the subject, and there are a lot of opinions. I'm hoping that something like Mr. Surfacer will take out some of the graininess. But at any rate, I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. They’re way better than anything I could have cobbled together from scratch. Also, I just made a huge order from Plastruct to get the remainder of the raw materials I'll need to build the S-IC and S-II stages. Mainly some 5.5" ABS tubes

After a long wait from UPS I finally got my first set of J-2s from Shapeways ... needless to say I'm completely gobsmacked. Josh did a wonderful job and yes, these things are sooooo worth the money. The Dragon kit part and Meatball Rocketry's J-2. Here's one is slid into my incomplete S-IVB. They are going to look amazing.

No luck at the Hobby Lobby, and they usually have a ton of the AMT Round 2 stuff . Guess I'll be ordering it online. Hey Bill, the one with wheels would be really cool with that suit ... and if you could replicate the faded paint, that be really cool too.

Looks like this is as close as I'll get ... the AMT Round Two release of the 62'. I'll have to chop-the-top but it has the dual exhaust and slicks that the original had. I'm heading out to Hobby Lobby at lunch, hopefully they've got one in stock. This will be fun!

I might just build '63 Pontiac Catalina. How cool would that be?

The J-2s are now available on Shapeways. Josh did a wonderful job, I can't wait to get mine. Set of three Single

Started adding the “conduits” to the nozzle for the overboard drains. I went ahead and ordered the Apoxie sculpt … I can’t wait to get started with this stuff. Also found another TPS picture to share. The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney has a F-1 on display with part of the blanket installed … I think this might be the only example in existence. It’s not much, but it’s a angle I haven’t seen. It shows the helium and gaseous oxygen supply/return lines coming from the heat exchanger. Pretty neat stuff.

Did a little research last evening on Apoxie it looks like pretty good stuff. My biggest problem with Miliput is the workability … and I think some of the fault might lie in the user’s ham-fisted approach to sculpting.

Believe me, I had given it some thought … but being a complete CAD neophyte kind of nixed that Idea.

Here are a few picts of my F-1 master as it is now. I've improved the TPS "frame" from my first attempt and will now start filling it in with putty. Which putty? Well, good question ... I'm not certain yet. Any suggestions? Has anyone any experience with Magicscuplt? I have been messing around with Milliput, but I'm finding it a little too difficult to work with.

Now that the holidays are over I can start back in on this ... When I could work on the F-1 master I did, which wasn't very much at all. Been mainly researching pressure casting. With that being said, I may just deal with a few bubbles in the castings. <_< Also working on the drawings and templates for the S-IC heat shield as well as the support structure. Another very cool bit of news. Josh over at Meatball Rocketry has agreed to scale up his 1/200 J-2s to 1/72 scale! They're still a work in progress, but he said they should be available soon. (See preview below.)

Stripped it down and rebuilt the frame and I’m much more satisfied with how this one is turning out. Currently working on the servo actuator attachments and the gimbal area … and how to attach these to a thrust structure.

Hi Pete ... I used a dremel then sanded at it a bit. Here's where the first attempt stands. I'm not really satisfied with the shape of the upper areas ... they're a little off. I think I may just start over ... back to the drawing board.

Just announced. Dragon 1/72 Skylab LV kit Looks a bit ... off, eh?