johnlove_mk_II

That’s great news Vincent. I’m about to order the ascent stage parts you made available last week. Can’t wait to get the mid-section, it looks great! Hi Mike - I haven’t really been paying too much attention, for obvious reasons, but I think I’m about $200 in so-far. It’s not cheap, but it's well worth it. Hi Gene - I’m building the Eagle, LM-5. I figured that’s a good model to have in 1/32nd scale. As far as coverings, I’m still working on that. I’m looking at mylar from party balloons … but I did have the thought of using wide kapton tape over aluminum tape. I’ve got some 1mil tape n

Finished drilling holes for the landing gear up-locks. So, no too much to report on the construction side ... but I did get my third shipment.

Thanks Pete, I scored the sheet with the cutter, then cut out the parts by hand. The sheet is 1mm thick so there's no way in heck that thing was going to make a clean cut without destroying the machine. :lol: It’s about 5 inches wide and about 2.5 inches tall. It’s pretty big … but not too big. So far it’s been a total joy to throw together, and the parts are top notch. For me it’s a total justification for spending the extra cash. I look at it like, it would take me 3+ hours to produce a part like this, and it’s only 20 bucks? SOLD, send it to me now!

Exactly Hot Dog! It IS a 3D printed kit. I hadn't thought of it that way Finished up the main part of the descent stage structure. Again, no problems what so ever, it went together with minimal fiddling. I also added the ALSEP, S-band cover and Helium octagonal bump. Currently just trying to tie-down a few details and I'll start affixing the outriggers and begin to cover this thing with film. Should have a third order arriving this evening … more Christmas for me.

Got the second order from Shapeways. This round includes the ladder, plume deflectors, and the landing pads. The ladder looks great … slightly warped, but that will straighten itself once it's mounted to the main strut. Landing pads. Should look awesome once I get them covered. Now, the plume deflectors … I was a little apprehensive when I was ordering them because of the support rods, they're really thin. Well, as it turns out, they're crazy thin. It's not a huge problem as the actual deflector part is spot -on beautiful, but If I can't get the printed rods to work I'll just bu

Thanks Hotdog, I've been reading everything I can find about finishing WSF. Luckily most of the surfaces will be covered in Kapton but the descent nozzle is WSF and will need some TLC.

Spent the evening re-drawing Vincent's descent stage patterns and running them through my Silhouette cutter. (They weren’t in vector.) Tonight I’ll start cutting the pile of scored plastic on my work bench and begin putting together my descent stage. I am a little hesitant about the weight of the model and the legs ability to hold up everything. Right now, at this stage, I’m optimistic that they will be ok. … the out-riggers, in FUD, seem pretty sturdy. Honestly the Educraft kit really kind of rekindled my interest in a building a 1/32 LM, I just couldn’t see cutting and gluing paper … I’

Began adding New Ware photo etched parts to the service module. Now, I can deal with adding PE with cyanoacrylate … the small stuff is easy, but when it comes to large, flat areas … holy cow, I really hate the stuff. I had read about Gator's Grip Glue and decided to give it a go. Wow, what a difference … I wish I had this stuff to begin with. Cleans up with water and holds everything thing down very well … and It doesn't tend to glue my fingers to everything. This stuff is great, order from Kenny here. (It literally appeared on my front door step instantly … or two days after I ordere

An early X-mas present for myself. So I decided to start buying the parts to build a 1/32 LM designed by Vincent Meens. The first wave of ordering I purchased decent stage heat shield, the outriggers, ALSEP, descent engine nozzle and the other various descent stage details. Next order will be the remainder descent stage parts … the main struts, pads , cross-bracing. After that, I'll just buy the ascent stuff as it becomes available. The strange and sorta serendipitous thing is Shapeways, where the parts are printed, is only 15 miles or so from Bethpage, NY where the original LMs were c

That's freaking manic! Great work.

Awesome.

Spent time this weekend working on the aft part of the service module.

Well the thrusters on the CM are tiny ... very tiny. I tried a few different times to drill a tiny hole - in a tiny disk … they were never centered, or they completely destroyed the disk. I tried to drill a hole in a sheet of styrene, then punch out the disk around it. I still couldn’t get them centered. I think I’m going to use decals, what do you guys think?

Thanks Pete. Bill’s right, Dragon actually did a reasonable job with the CM - it’s a pretty nice representation out of the box. The little part under the hatch is a bit out of the Newware upgrade, It represents some sort of attachment loop used during recovery. Tonight I’m adding thruster details and the other assorted vents and ports, then I’m turning attention to the service module.

Started detailing the Dragon CM with some scratch-built details and the Newware photo etch parts. Overall everything is looking pretty great. The plan is to paint it with chrome Alclad II rather than trying to add really tiny tape strips. The Command module hatch was actually a pretty tedious adventure. It took me three tries to get the outer frame part to fit somewhat correctly. My pattern was either to tall or short … the third try I made it way larger than I though it need to be, it fit almost perfectly … go figure. The hatch porthole wasn't so difficult. The Newware photo etch detai

Thanks Mike ... I'm actually ramping up work on this project so maybe the posts will come a little more often than once every two months.

That's pretty darn amazing. Great work!

Been ramping-up to start gluing hundreds of stringers … tedious beyond all understandable ideas of tedium. I had made several practice attempts and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get them to line up in a halfway decent way, the glue was going this way and that. Holding down a tiny strip of styrene and artfully sliding just enough liquid cement hold it down … and doing it a hundred times over? I need a jig. I thought for a while doing a few sketches and came up with a few workable ideas, but ultimately ended up with this … While building my 1/72 shuttle cockpit I devised a simple

Considering how difficult it would be to cast a the F-1 engine, especially the nozzles I've decided to go with the 1/72 LVM F-1s. From the reviews I've read an the pictures I seen they look a very nice replacement over the kit parts. My cursory plan of action will be to modify the LVM parts by removing and adding details to better represent the later F-1s. (It looks like the LVM parts were mastered with a mix of the known references, some of which were not the final design.) I'll likely fill in the holes representing the fasteners, and cover the outside with foil tape and then emboss the f

Thought maybe I'd start playing with this toy again ... Building things from scratch requires a lot of drawings, here's what I've been making patterns for as of late. The S-II thrust structure and heat shield

The really great thing is you don't have to pay to go into the "Barn" ... you can just drive up to the guard's gate and ask to got to the rocket garden. I spent like 4 hours in there. Here's a link to my picts ... CLICK HERE.

Thanks Bill ... yeah I see the little triangle part between the two lower SSMEs. The transition is pretty subtle. Perhaps sanding it a little flat and using one continuous triangular piece of “tiles” would lend the proper effect. Hi Manfred, I used my little CNC machine to scribe the tiles … so much easier and more accurate. Worked on the Flight deck a little this weekend, I think it’s about time for some paint and detailing.

Looking awesome.

A little update Took a break from the cockpit to start working on the aft SSME area of the orbiter. Tile patterns to be laminated when the bulkhead is in place.

I'd say fixed ... but either way would be cool. It's funny, I was pondering this very area just last night when I was reviewing tile pattern art for my tiles. Glad to see you're working on it.