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1/144 Shuttle Stack & MLP


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Mike's right, don't sweat the colour differences ... there's alot of shades and repairs and replacements done to the orbiters. :whistle:

But, be careful with the Hatch decal, it looks like yours is on crooked. The lower edge of it should be horizontal. :thumbsup:

And are the window decals your own?

With the other decal flaws you've found, you'll be surprised what a little, thin dab of paint will do to correct 'em. Nobody's gonna look THAT close to tell the difference. And it'll look right and that's all that matters.

Keep on keepin' on Bill ... this looks like it's coming along ... just ... fine!! :woo:

Pete

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Those slight yellow accents to the wings look NICE. I've considered trying that as a paint effect, but the decal method certainly looks nice and tempting.

Now, assuming the RSS Rollback for Atlantis doesn't get dampened by bad weather next week, I hope to have some good pictures of what the final shuttle stack looks like on the eve of its last flight (although the sunset conditions might cause too many shadows to really get a good idea of the exact color shades). :)

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Thanks guys, I am not going to sweat it too much as I mainly just want to get it finished and move on. As long as it's not horrible. For the nose tiles it is a combination of paint, sharpie (yeah I know not the best idea) and decals. The part that has the noticable tile pattern and weathering is decals. The rest is simply painted or drawn on. I'll try to weather and detal paint it all to tie in together.

The window are actually not decals or paint but that too is a thin black sharpie. I'm going to fabricate some window covers so I was able to not worry about keeping the windows themselves from being painted and that allowed me to concentrate on what might be seen behind the cover. The top windows are decals but again, they will have covers so it's just to mark a location.

The tops of the wings are decals from the upper leading edge all the way to the brighter white area with the small stencil markings (or fasteners?) The next part is painted the same as the main shuttle white and the inner wings, where the markings are, is painted in artist oils. I thought maybe I could achieve that blanketed texture by carefully using a brush. I did the same thing on the top of the payload bay doors. On the 1/72 scale build I hope to show the different textures much better but I think this will be ok.

And yeah Pete, the hatch decal is askew from how it should be. The problem is the somewhere with the black tile diagonal-ish line and the hatch. I don't know if I didn't put my break like at the proper angle or if the hatch decal is off but I had to choose between the tiles around the hatch lining up with the other tiles OR the bottom of the hatch being correct. I chose to go with the tiles being close to the same angles and hope that when it's in the vertical position it won't be as noticable. Of course now that you let EVERYBODY KNOW... :whistle::woot.gif: kidding, I'm actually glad you noticed because that lets me know to pay really close attention and pre-plan it on the big builds. Thanks.

Bill

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The tile decals on the sides of the nose are from photos of the real shuttle. I think those were from some landing photos. The hard things about using photos like that for decals is 1) getting a shot that is perpendicular to the surface enough to not be weird angles and 2) being close enough in the lighting between the various shots to blend in and look cohesive. I'm trying to get the look down so I can hopefully do better with the bigger builds. And besides that, it's fun trying new ideas out.

Edited by niart17
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Hi Guys.

Great work being shown here. I don't wish to hijack the thread, but I've got a few q's for you all......

I've just yesterday started the Revell Germany 1/144 full stack and MLP kit. Having been lucky enough to be standing on Cocoa beach when Endeavour blasted off on STS-134 (and have the T-shirt to prove it) I'm eager to get this one done as she was that day. I am planning to do as much as I can OOB, and concentrate on getting the markings/paint as close as I can rather than significant scratching/modifications. Most people who will see it won't even know there is more than one orbiter. However.....

Am I the only one having serious fit issues with that kit? The ET wasn't too bad after a light rub down of the mating surfaces, but the seam is still pronounced. It's like there is a ridge of plastic all around the outside of the mating edges and not just on the tank. The SRBs fit well, along their length, where they touch. There is a slight warp that will even out with clamping, but there is a significant gap on the skirts around the SRB nozzles, and I can't see a way around it. It's almost as if they are short-shot.

The fit on the orbiter is even worse. The main halves mating edges are not straight, especially along the underside. I've filed as much as I dare to remove the flash/moulding imperfections, but I don't know now how much of the gaps that remain are due to excessive plastic that still needs to be removed or where there is plastic actually missing. The wing fit has been improved by trimming and filing the mating surfaces, and also the mating area where the wings meet the fuse. However, there is still a horrendous seam along the bottom of the wing/fuse joint, again where the plastic seems to have a rounded, almost melted edge. The lower fuse halves have different thickness plastic, combined with a very small contact area. The thickness difference makes it impossible to use bracing strips, as no matter what I try I will have a significant step on the outside. Anyone found a way to have dealt with all this?

Would it be an improvement to remove the location pins from the orbiter and SRB skirts? Or would that make it worse?

I think I'll glue the wings to the fuse halves before joining the fuse. This will allow me to get max pressure to the upper wing joint without fear of damage to the fuse joint, good or bad idea?

TIA,

Roy

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Hey Roy,

You're not hijaking at all so don't sweat it, that's the whole purpose of having these threads. As far as my build, I'd have to say I didn't have the fit issues you're having. It may be that my molding of it was from around the 1989ish time period so the molds were probably still in better condition. I don't know if I would add the wings before glueing the fuse together. I think what I would do, and what I did on mine, is to align the wings to insure the belly seam is smooth and then fill the upper wing/fuse seam. In my opinion it's easier that way but ymmv.

Good luck and try to post some pics of your build. You can't have too many threads about shuttle builds! :thumbsup:

Bill

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Thanks,

got the ET and SRBs together, filled, sanded, primed, filled and sanded ready for primer/undercoat.

Orbiter main parts are together, filled and sanded. Trying to figure out how to get the payload bay doors on. Fit is ok at the top (edges are actually straight) and the positioning of the doors themselves are in line with the rest of the orbiter. But I have an almost 1mm gap along the bottom of the door on one side and 3/4 to 1/2 mm gap on the other. While the orbiter side of the joint is a straight line, the corresponding door side is not. A wavy line that would not look out of place on a gull grey/white E-2 or F-14. I can't just shim it as it isn't straight, and if I just use buckets of filler I'll lose any impression of a hinge joint.

Any ideas?

p.s. BTW, has anyone had any success printing the underside of the orbiter from that paper model site on to decal paper for the tile pattern?

Edited by roym
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But I have an almost 1mm gap along the bottom of the door on one side and 3/4 to 1/2 mm gap on the other. While the orbiter side of the joint is a straight line, the corresponding door side is not. A wavy line that would not look out of place on a gull grey/white E-2 or F-14. I can't just shim it as it isn't straight, and if I just use buckets of filler I'll lose any impression of a hinge joint.

Any ideas?

You can fill it and re-scribe the seam.

I have these Micro Saws(below) and find they are good for scribing putty.

http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=TC2009

http://www.squadron.com/NoStock.asp?item=TC2010

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But I have an almost 1mm gap along the bottom of the door on one side and 3/4 to 1/2 mm gap on the other. While the orbiter side of the joint is a straight line, the corresponding door side is not.

In addition to crowe-t's suggestion, I would add a piece of sheet plastic inside the bay sticking up just above the door joint. That should give the door something to push aginst and not extend into the bay (which I think is what you're saying your problem is) and it will give a much stronger joint.

Bill

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In addition to crowe-t's suggestion, I would add a piece of sheet plastic inside the bay sticking up just above the door joint. That should give the door something to push aginst and not extend into the bay (which I think is what you're saying your problem is) and it will give a much stronger joint.

Bill

I did just what Bill suggested above on my Revell shuttle. I added sheet plastic all the way around the primeter of the inside of the door joints. I also glued a piece inside the main seam where the 2 doors meet at the center. This makes it all solid.

My kit is an older one from 1981 and the doors lined up OK with just slight gaps. Adding the extra plastic on the inside should help the newer releases of this kit.

IMG_3108.jpg

IMG_3107.jpg

IMG_3122.jpg

Edited by crowe-t
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Thanks,

I'll post some pics when I can.

an anyone confirm that the outside of the SRB nozzles (the rocket nozzle itself, not the SRB skirts) are painted gloss white? (Revell parts 8). Inside I presume a weathered black?)

Still on the SRBs, I know the inside of the skirt should have that foam tan colour, but does this extend to the nozzle housings (part no 7) or are they white or another colour? RoG say metallic steel for both.

Cheers,

Roy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wanted to post another update on this build. I'm trying really hard to not let this one get abandoned so I try to pick it up every so often when I get to a holding pattern on the 1/72 stack. Here are a few shots where I've temporarily mounted the shuttle on the stack so I could verify the height once I had the SRB mounting bases added. As you can see, I still have some building and decaling to do on the shuttle and alot of touch-up painting and weathering. And of course the MLP has a long way to go too, but it's still going...sluggish but going.

The first shot shows the overall stack. I think I have the height just about right. I'm going to build some of the lines that go from othe tail service mast to the shuttle and that will help support the stack and make it a bit more sturdy...and look cool too I hope

stackonpad3.jpg

This next shot makes me cringe. I see now that my stripes on the SRB's are totally off and pretty sloppy. I didn't think it would be too obvious they weren't ON the seams, but it really shows up...SOOOO, I'll probably yank them and redo the paint job on the SRB's. Not that big a deal but a little upsetting.

stackonpad4.jpg

And the last shot I like cause it shows the size and how awesome it must have been to be able to get this close to a stack...I was close, but not THIS close.

stackonpad2.jpg

Anyway, thanks for checking it out. C,C and S welcome.

Bill

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Bill, This looks awesome!!! That side view really shows how big the MLP is compared to the stack.

I like the little guy looking up at the shuttle, nice touch. :thumbsup:

Edited by crowe-t
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Crowe-t; thanks for the SRB pics, just what I needed!

Bill, your stack is awesome. Don't think mine will look as good somehow. Question for all, are those black stripes supposed to be on the raised ridges of the SRBs, or just under them?

Some pics as promised....

The underfuse seams. I did glue the wings to the fuse halves first, then glued the fuse halves together. This kept the gaps at the bottom.

Shuttle144001.jpg

Shuttle144002.jpg

I did also manage to get a strip of plastic to cover the inside of the bottom fuse seam, and also put in the payload bay piece for added strength before I glued on the payload bay doors.

Shuttle144003.jpg

Shuttle144004.jpg

Edited by roym
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The ET and SRBs. I did get the skirts together with some imaginative clamping, and lots of filler.

Shuttle144005.jpg

Shuttle144006.jpg

Shuttle144007.jpg

Shuttle144008.jpg

And the payload bay doors. Here is where the bad moulding I spoke about earlier was the most noticeable.

Shuttle144009.jpg

Shuttle144010.jpg

Shuttle144012.jpg

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So I took file in hand, took a deep breath and filed away as much as I dared to get a straight line on order to fit a 1mm shim cut from a sheet of plastic card. Some cursing and filling later, here's the result.

Shuttle144013.jpg

Shuttle144014.jpg

Shuttle144015.jpg

Almost ready for primer.

Shuttle144017.jpg

More later.. hopefully!

Edited by roym
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Yup Roym, you busted me. The stripes are supposed to be on the ridges. So my SRB's have been jettisoned and the recovery crew is hauling them in as we speak so they can be repainted and corrected (with a few more details added while I'm at it.) The build is getting to be more and more fluid as I've painted and re-painted, decaled and re-decaled, glued stuff on, yanked stuff off to fix...It's a journey no doubt.

And Roym, about those door seams...Youch! I don't think I've seen one with that bad a warpage problem. You did great fixing it, and great in general on the whole orbiter.

Another thing I'm going to fix on my build is the drogue chut... :bandhead2: I planned it and planned it, and somehow my subcontractor must of missed the memo and painted this thing before it was incorporated. Oh well, more schedule and budget set-backs. Must be a government contract. :whistle:

Thanks,

Bill

Edited by niart17
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  • 3 months later...

Bill.

About the "red water sausages" or water barriers.

If you do a launch ready MLP other than on STS-1 you should ad them. If you do a rollout you won't need them as they are mounted on the pad. I have no idea if they would be removed before a rollback or not.

The sausages and pipes where added to the MLP and the long pipes with a lot of nozzels at the edge of the flametrench, that can be seen on this pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Columba.sts-1.launch_pad_arival.triddle.jpg where shortened and the pipes that are on the SRB flamedeflectors where added.

Why did they change it after STS-1?

Because there was an unexpected ignition overpressure, that among other things deflected the bodyflap beyond the safetylimits. According to some sources John Young has said that if they knew about this, they would have ejected.

A description.

http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/launch/red_water_sausages.html

Awesome build. I look forward to following it.

DanTDBV

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  • 5 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Bill,

It's been over a year but I'm still here and still making glacial progress on this one.

Hope you don't mind me adding a few more pics of mine. If so I'll start another thread..

Ok, no updates for a while but I was going somewhere with it. I thought I might have it finished in time for the nats but I decided I didn't want to rush it. So here's some more recent pics...

kits020.jpg

got the Mobile Launch Platform painted and last bits together. This is really only an approximation of what a real MLP looks like. However, it is fine for my purposes as a display base and looks slightly more interesting than a plastic or wooden square.

kits017.jpg

made an attempt at weathering which wasn't entirely successful...

kits018.jpg

The two angled stands are positioned as per the instructions, but don't exist on the real thing. However, as I was planning to bring this to the Irish Nationals last year and have it entered as OOB, they were fitted as intended.

Checking the rules for the categories, there is no differentation between OOB or superdetailed in the Space/SF category. So they will be coming off and replaced with a scratchbuilt pair of service towers.

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I've finished painting the ET and SRBS. Clipped together here, I reckon I now own shares in Tamiya for all the masking tape I've used. I'm happy with the result though.

kits013.jpg

I still need to add a few patches of yellow to the top, just noticed...:-$ This particular tank was damaged during Hurricane Katrina but repaired for flight status and used on STS-134, hence all the patchwork.

kits014.jpg

And the other side...

kits015.jpg

The photo flash tends to washout the various whites used on the SRBs.

Here's the real deal from STS-134

108-Photocredit-NASA-KimShiflett.jpg

(Photo credit; NASA)

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