johnlove_mk_II

Building the prototype F1 motor has begun in earnest. Started with the Apogee parts … removed the turbo pumps, the top part of the thrust chamber and the “T” part of the turbine exhaust manifold. This left a hole that I’m going to fill by fitting the “Y” shaped Dragon part. This will be a closer representation of the production F1s. Here’s a couple of shots with everything mocked together. I think it’s looking pretty ok so far. I’m working now to get an accurate shape for the upper “turbo pump and inlet” area, covered with the TPS, to build the armature. These pics I’ve found on th

Thanks ... the top pict you posted I've seen on John Duncan's web site. (Unfortunately, the link to the picts seems to be dead at the moment.) Here's another screen capture I found of a Saturn V on pad from below.

Thanks Bill … I actually imported a .dwg file from Illustrator to AutoCAD ’13 for the J2 bell. I’m still pretty new to it all, so it's still a little bewildering … and AutoCAD isn’t exactly user friendly. I hope to get to a point where I can get a test print soon. Since I’m focusing on the F1s now I thought I’d share what little information I’ve got on the thermal shields. Maybe you guys have some other picts that I haven’t seen?

Been really busy with work, so this is the first update in a while. Been having some fits and starts with making my photo etch parts so I’ve set that process on the back burner for now. (Muriatic acid is some crazy stuff.) Started working on the F1s … the plan is to marry some of the Dragon parts to the Apogee bells, and scratch building a armature for the general shape of the thermal blankets around the turbo-pumps. After I have that, I’ll “sculpt” the rest with some super-fine Milliput then replicate the blankets with Refectix tape with embossed fastener locations. Once that is all that

FYI, if you want to take a look at the Aerofax book on the X-1, it's on scribd.com ... I read through it the other day.

These do look pretty nice, and $66 is a steal. If I wasn't already taking a crack at making my own, I'd surely be getting a set.

My first 3D cad model, the foundation for my 3D printed J2s. (I tell ya, learning CAD after twenty years of using illustrator is maddening.)

This is about as far I got with my Revell Saturn V before I started in on my current 1/72 Saturn V. I was getting super-mega frustrated with the LM ascent stage ... the tooling was so old, I was considering rebuilding the whole thing ... then came along the Dragon Apollo 10 kit. Since I was already, mostly, committed to scratch building most of the stack I decided to just restart and build it at 1/72 scale. I'll likely go back to it some day, just not anytime soon.

I forget the exact size difference I calculated between the 1/70th and 1/72nd parts ... but it only came down to a less than 2mm variance. (Maybe something like 1.78mm.) My plan is to use the top part of the Dragon F1s, with the plumbing and such, and marry it to the Apogee engine bell. Then build the armature for the thermal blankets and cover them with Reflectix foil tape, then embossing the finer details with various sized hypodermic needles. Yeah, I've been salivating over Michael's 1:1 RCS parts ... it's all very cool stuff.

I went and bought the full Dragon kit ... I know, sort of a cop-out. There was a bit of a reasoning behind the decision. One, and this might be completely obvious, but there are some really useful parts included ... some things that wold really save me some time. Two, a second Apollo Spacecraft (LES, BPC, CSM, SLA), for a potential future Saturn IB, would cost almost $50. Why not spend a little more and get more plastic, right? And three, and this is the important one, I was really super curious. Contained within this box is approximately 9 pounds of plastic. (Frankly, it was a little a

LEM progress. Removing the front hatch, and leaving enough material for the new ware photo-etch. The photo-etch hatch fits perfectly. (Great job Thomas.) :woot.gif:/> I'm also marking the forward windows to enlarge. WIndows cut-out and enlarged ... as you can see, Dragon made them a little too small and tilted inward. Inserted a styrene backing for the photo-etch. (When I actually glue these in, I'll cut out the openings and insert some blue tinted film.

The SLA surface map is done. In can be found at my drop box here. Remarkably most of the raised surface lines on Dragon SLA line-up. Starting on all the 1st and 2nd stage "wraps" ... they're a bear. Forward umbilical, S-IC stage Intertank umbilical, S-IC stage. Aft umbilicals, S-IC (Hey, umbilical number three is selected!?)

Got my decals from Steve yesterday. As expected they're awesome. The set comes with three sheets and three placement booklets. It's a pretty comprehensive set ... there are markings I didn't even know existed.

They're back in stock ... that didn't take long. Just ordered a set.

Thanks Matt, guess I grabbed the wrong link. Yes, I was a little bummed that they're currently out of stock, but I'm still very excited that Rick and Cult TV Man decided to make them available at 1/72 scale. Rick's work has always been top-notch ... they're going to look great.

So I was away for a week and was "logged out" of the forms. Tried to log back in, but alas had for gotten my password. Attempted to reset the password, multiple times and heard nothing. So I just re-registered ... don't know if I broke any rules or not. I've a few progress pict to upload later on, but I will say that I've been busy building etching equipment and completing the "structural" design of all the stages ... and trying not to just go out and buy the full Sat V Dragon kit. :blink:/> PLUS! I found this ... 1/72 Space Model System Saturn V Decals! See details here. It's a