K2Pete

... believe it or not Bill ... on a quiet night, I can hear it whimpering from here!

Thanx Mick! Ret, years ago I went to the Evergreen Scale Model site and when you see the wide variety of extruded styrene they have for scale modelling, you'll be amazed! I get mine from Wheels and Wings on the Danforth in T.O. All the hobby shops in this area have closed down so I order my stuff from these guys and they're quick. And I wish I could keep the 'fire in the belly' consistently, but it ebbs and flows ... I hope it flows better in the Winter months!

I had missed your post from July wherein you stated that you were gonna attach all the sections ... aw-w-w shucks. However, I do understand your position ... but all the detail, all that effort in researching and building ( from scratch ) all those details need to be shown. But that's just my own prejudice showing. I used to work as a Technical Illustrator and LOVE Exploded views and Cutaways. So to see the inner workings of an aircraft, the structure, the 'crampiness' of it, fuels my enjoyment from this hobby. If you're just gonna show the exterior, then a plastic kit will suffice. No effort, no research, nothing out of the ordinary ... it's done in a month. That said, I shall still watch, with interest, your progress on this build Fozzy ... I'm certain you'll take this to, not just the next level, but 2 or 3 steps beyond that! I'll be here in a couple months! Pete Hang on a minute ... I just looked at your pix again and only now realized you were leaving the top panels off so the viewer can see all that lovely detail inside ... okay ... I'm happy again! Nicely Done Fozzy! Phe-e-ew-w-w!

Almost done ... just the 4 little disks on top of the dish horns And this little subassembly is done. The dishes didn't form very well ... maybe I should have annealed 'em to be a little more flexible?? My use of PE is pretty limited and this PE is fairly thick and it didn't conform very well to my curved surface ... oh well, you can only tell from certain angles ... My styrene 1/2 round came in and it looks like I ordered the wrong size. 1.5 mm instead of 1.0 mm ... so I may run in to a delay should I choose to order another package of 1/2 round ... There's just 10 days left in this GB and Real Life is rearing it's ugly head, so I hope to complete this by then, but ... we shall see. Pete

Wow and ... WOW ... your ability to observe the detail and then ... THEN to be able to replicate it in such a tiny scale is ... just ... plain ... remarkable! And it's not just the general detail but the complicated routing and complex details of, for instance, this cable tray. I don't even want to think of how you're going to replicate the RSS ... my goodness! You're doing a superb job Manfred! ... Carry on! Pete

The last bit of construction is the Hi Gain antenna ... I wish New Ware had supplied this complex part, it woulda saved me from building it ... off and on, it took all day yesterday. I used Mike Mackowski's Apollo CSM reference and Vincent Meens 3D model from his website for reference, plus 6 or 7 photos. The parts at the bottom of this image are just styrene rod, tube and strip ... ... cutting bits for the Horn, which will be sanded and carved. ... this'll be carved into a bevelled square shape ... ... my 'jig' for assembly ... ... and I'll hafta form the dishes on a curved surface and do the final assembly. I'm awaiting some Styrene rod from my hobby shop and will do the large Radiators and then tweak the CSM and paint it ... I hope! Thanx for taking a peek! Pete

Let's hope ARC complies and let's see if I can post anything ... Attaching the itsy bitsy bits of PE on the RCS thruster housings I finally attached the hull of the CM to the Heat Shield. I had to do some minor puttying and sanding ... the tape is just to hold the two parts together Attaching the tiny PE bits. I asked on the Tips and Tricks forum and one of the guys suggested, to temporarily place these bits right where they needed to be, prior to CA gluing, use Future. I did and it worked very nicely. ... with the Docking probe and collar and PE handholds from New Ware. I still need to build the large Radiators and the High Gain antenna, then it's paint and decals ... I hope! But it's gettin' there! Till next post Pete

That was IT!! Thanx guys! When I started modelling about 12 years ago, I pored over all the modelling sites looking for tips and tricks ... one of 'em was that Future can adhere delicate parts or clear parts. The bond isn't super strong, but it's strong enough. And as I read cag_200's suggestion ... it dawned on me that I had indeed used this technique many years ago and simply ... forgot it! Thanx alot for your suggestions gents! Pete

Thanx viper730 ... 'twas an interesting read. My first thought is "it may be too thick." I mean, even CA, applied with a small applicator, leaves a droplet that is too big. Now, I'm not looking at replacing the glue, CA works fine, I'm just wondering how to place it, remember these parts, disks, are about 1 mm in diameter and I just want to hold 'em, precisely in place, while I apply the CA. Hm-m-m-m ... Future eh? ... now THAT sounds like a good idea! ... Many Thanx cag_200! I'll hafta try this out and I hope the CA displaces the Klear ( Future ) Thanx guys!

Thanx guys ... but no joy yet. A-10 Loader, that's exactly my technique. But when my wire loop gets clogged, I hold it over a lighter and burn off the dried up stuff. The CA I use bonds instantly which is why I need to place it ex-act-ly. If you look at my image, those little circles at the top of the fret, will be cut off and THOSE need to be applied. A sharp point won't be fine enough. Like I said these are ti-i-iny-y-y parts and they have to go on pre-cise-ly. So my question is ... how do I hold those itty bitty bits onto my surface prior to gluing? I'm just looking for a real temporary solution so I can adjust the position of the PE and then instantly adhere it. The Gel, which I have, will just ooze out of the part ... that's not acceptable. Man ... I hate tiny PE parts! Thanx gents!

Can you suggest a manner in which I can precisely place tiny PE items on the model. I've tried ... 1. a droplet of water, or just moisten the PE, to keep it in place until I CA it ... nope, it moved 2. I tried a droplet of paint to keep the PE in one place till I CA it ... that sort of worked. But the PE item was just off level by an RCH. 3. these tiny PE pieces are too small to use tape Any suggestions gents? Here's an image of the PE and where I wanna place 'em ... on a curves surface

Thanx Mick! The CA, Cyanoacrylate or Cyanoacrylic (?) is just Superglue. And I get mine at the Dollarstore, 4 little tubes for $1.25. But I've found that the PE needs to be cleaned. For quite some time my PE would fall off at the slightest touch, then I started giving them a Vinegar bath and, they stick real nice now. That may be all you need! Pete

Let's see if this works ... ....... ... nope ... so I'll split this post in half ... Continuing with the Service Module ... I was about to glue the Heat Shield to the aft end and felt a couple divots ... so I filled and sanded them one more time ... ... then glued it down. It's all starting to come together! I placed the New Ware Resin and PE onto the Service Module to adjust the spacing between radiators ... ... then CA'd them all down ... Now I need to build the Large Radiators but I need to order some 1/2 round ... meantime, I'll attach some PE to the CM. Thanx for looking in ! Pete

For some reason this is not allowing me to post any images ... maybe ARC ain't working correctly ... bear with me ... Pete

Continuing with the Service Module ... I was about to glue the Heat Shield to the aft end and felt a couple divots ... so I filled and sanded them one more time ... ... then glued it down. It's all starting to come together! I placed the New Ware Resin and PE onto the Service Module to adjust the spacing between radiators ... ... then CA'd them all down ... But as this update set was designed for the Dragon kit, this Resin piece was quite thick, so in order for it to get attached, I had to do a little surgery on the SM. ... it needed to be embedded into the plastic so-o-o ... ... and ... installed. The part is lovely and you can see how thin the Resin is too. Now I need to build the Large Radiators but I need to order some 1/2 round ... meantime, I'll attach some PE to the CM. Thanx for looking in ! Pete