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Starting my 1/72 scale Shuttle/Booster kit


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Crikey! I feel like I've woken up from deep sleep in a cryogenic chamber and stepped out into some future time. Those printed parts --- wow! Not bad at all! I've used Bondo and regular Testors ones and they hold up pretty well to those putties. I haven't seen any dreadful reactions anyway - no melting or distortion.

Thanks Crackerjazz, I appreciate the compliment and the information on putties. Ideally there would be no use for fillers, but I know I'm not that perfect in design that there will no seams what-so-ever.

I realize the jury is still out on 3D printed parts from companies like Shapeways, and I understand the reluctance. That's one of the reasons I specifically chose the parts I have to print. These are all parts that the inherent texture from the cheaper printed White Strong Flexible material actually helps them look more authentic. All of these parts, at least their main bodies, have some sort of insulation covering on the real thing and have a grainy texture to them. I am going to modify the parts that should be smoother, for example the tie down bolts, to be made separate and printed in the high detail frosted material, which should be more than smooth enough once properly prepared. So while I agree using them to print a whole aircraft at this time might not be ideal, for these parts it's perfect, IMHO.

We shall see.

Bill

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  • 1 month later...

Well I finally got the intertank area in and I'm very happy with it. Now that it's come in I can proceed with the rest of the tank and SRB's. So without further adeu...

Making the (gulp) cut. This was a scary moment but once I commited to it, it's really not that hard. Just had to take it sloooowww.

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Dry fitting the intertank to the bottom section. It takes a little care to line it up, but again not too difficult

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With the upper tank on and the ice frost ramps glued on. I had to reapply some textured paint and I used a slighter finer grain paint this time, I think it will work a little better.

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And here is a closer shot of the ice frost ramps with some temporary lines running (I'll probably use stainless wire for the real ones) and the beginning of the main line down the side of the tank. I opted to just scratch make the O2 line pads out of styrene strips and I'll use wire for the clamps. The O2 line itself is just plastic tubing with some larger diameter tubing cut into small segments for the joints.

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I'll post some more hopefully soon now that I can go ahead and start working on this again.

Thanks for looking, comments, critiques and all welcome.

Bill

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Thanks Mike, I am looking forward to painting it as well. It took a lot of strength to pony up the nerve to cut the kit tank up but I think it's worth it now. I do think I need to increase the O.D. very slightly if I print another one or if anyone else wants one. I went with the O.D. of the kit's intertank area and looking closer at the real thing, that area of the tank is just a little bit proud of the top and bottom areas. On my build I may run a really thin strip of styrene to give that raised edge, not sure.

Also after looking at the pics I took, I think I need to re-adjust some of the IFR's, they aren't quite perfectly lined up and you can see a slight curve in the repress lines around the top area. I should have set up some kind of jig or something to ensure I lined them up perfect. Oh well, live and learn. I think the next step on the tank is to build the tank to shuttle interface. I am seriously considering strong magnets to mount the shuttle so it will make transport that much safer. Til then, thanks for looking.

Bill

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It takes a little gumption to cut up a perfectly good kit don't it? Atta boy Bill! :thumbsup:

Your 3D printed interstage looks very nice, and very accurate!! ............. and in the background ......... is that a completed Alan Bean?

Was the interstage at all out-of-round? Did it just 'plunk' down onto the kit styrene? How thick did you make the wall of the interstage?

And ... may I ask ... the cost of it? :whistle:

Good job Billy!

Petey

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...and in the background ......... is that a completed Alan Bean?

(in my best Obi Wan voice waving my hand) "This is not the Alan Bean your looking for".... "he can go on his way now" :woot.gif:/>/>

It IS Alan Bean...it IS not finished. I will get back to him. Kind of got back into this shuttle and other stuff so I don't want to waste the spark.

The interstage of the kit is actually slightly out of round. In fact the tank itself is. That's one good thing about my intertank being so thin, it flexes a little so I was able to tweak it in to place a little. This one is roughly 1/32" thick at the bottom of the stringer pattern and right around .050" at the thickest point with exception of the stiffing rings. On the one I printed for myself I didn't use all of the inner bracing since this stack is not ever going to be mounted on it's side, it will pretty much always be vertical. So the cost of this one is under $75.

I'm working on figuring out a compromise for the intertank for those that don't want to replace the whole thing. I may make just the thrust panels that can be glued into the kit's part. That way you don't have to cut all of the section away, just the panels. It's still a major structural change but a little easier on the nerves.

Edited by niart17
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The interstage of the kit is actually slightly out of round. In fact the tank itself is. That's one good thing about my intertank being so thin, it flexes a little so I was able to tweak it in to place a little. This one is roughly 1/32" thick at the bottom of the stringer pattern and right around .050" at the thickest point with exception of the stiffing rings. On the one I printed for myself I didn't use all of the inner bracing since this stack is not ever going to be mounted on it's side, it will pretty much always be vertical. So the cost of this one is under $75.

Those wall thicknesses are a lot thinner than I would've thought! Wow ...!

And I'm at a loss for how they price parts like this. I woulda thought it would've gone for at least 100 and if you had said 250, I wouldn't have been too surprised.

So when it's priced, is it by the gram of material? Even the size of the intertank is quite large and I'm surprised there isn't another charge for that.

So much to learn about 3D prints!

Thanx alot BIll

Pete

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Hello Bill,

congratulations on your amazing progress with the 3D printed parts. :thumbsup:

The surgery with the intertank was a full success. That all looks very cool and impressive and remains exciting, I'll stay tuned. :coolio:

:wave:

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Those wall thicknesses are a lot thinner than I would've thought! Wow ...!

And I'm at a loss for how they price parts like this. I woulda thought it would've gone for at least 100 and if you had said 250, I wouldn't have been too surprised.

So when it's priced, is it by the gram of material? Even the size of the intertank is quite large and I'm surprised there isn't another charge for that.

So much to learn about 3D prints!

Thanx alot BIll

Pete

Thanks Pete, Yes this first print may be a tad too thin but it's still remarkably strong. In a way, thin like this is better to allow it to flex to fit the tank better.

The way Shapeways prices it's prints is by the cubic cetimeters plus a set rate per for processing and cleaning the model based on what material you print it in. So with a little thought you can make rather large parts cheaper by hallowing them out and thinning in certain areas. They don't charge for size just volume. I'd imagine most printing services are similar with the way they price, just maybe a little more expensive (or a LOT more depending on where you go) Once this parts is maybe thickened a little ad depending on if the buyer would want inside bracing or not the cost will go up slightly but still should be under $100.

I'm still learning a lot myself. I hope more companies like Shapeways turn up and start driving competition and advancing the tech. The potential is there for great things...just needs that little push.

Thanks,

Bill

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  • 6 months later...

It's the night of the LIVING THREAD! Believe it or not, I've revived this and I actually got a little work done on this build after quite a break from it. I got the intertank installed and a first coat of paint. I'm using the same Citadel color "Vomit Brown" as my 1/144 build. I like it for a fresher tank and since this is going to be in roll-out configuration I think it works. I need to put another coat maybe tomorrow. This sucker sure does take a LOT of paint!

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One of the frost ramps at the bottom has to be cut for just one line.

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Critiques comments and suggestions...yup.

Bill

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Nice job on the tank Bill. I'll keep my eyeball on this for the next one that I will build. Were you able to scale down the intertank parts for the 1/144 stack?

Mike

Hey Mike, Thanks. It's one of those builds (like so many of mine) that I do a little and then stop for a while and come back to it. It may take longer than the actual design and construction of the real shuttles, but it may get finished one day. :woot.gif:

I haven't been able to do much working on any of the 1/144 scale parts. I don't have unlimited access to the program so have to work it in whenever I can. And there are a lot of irons on the coal now. I will try to make some headway on them soon.

Bill

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  • 1 month later...

Small update. I know I should be working on the GB stuff, but when I get inspired to work on something I have to go with it otherwise I may never finish this thing. Soooo..I painted a little more of the ET and started work on the main line as well as one of the repress lines. I'll need to add the connector fittings along the repress line once I glue it in. Also you can see there is a little clean up I need to do around a few of the ice frost ramps. Sorry for the poor quality images, my wife has the good camera with her for a while.

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Thanks for checking it out.

Bill

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Starting to look the part I think. Still have a lot of detail painting to do on the ET but it's getting there.I found some strip plastic that is just about right for the cable tray I just need to repaint it and add the connector strips that hold in on to the frost ramps. The repress line that just stops is going to have a smaller diameter connect to it and will continue on the the upper part of the tank.

I've included a really poor flash photo showing the area I want to tackle next, the umbilical connections to the lines on the tanks. This area might be a little tricky getting it all lined up but that's part of the fun right? (the gap in the tile decals will be filled in with a spare) Also here is a shot of one of the SSME's in initial stages of paint. Will put a coat of future and start the weathering on these soon. As always comments, critiques and suggestions welcome.

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Thanks,

Bill

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Looking great! That ET is going to be fantastic when it's done! Is that my belly decal? I can't remember if I sent it to you or not. Why is there a gap around the umbilical panels?

I have decals to detail the umbilical panel area if you want the artwork for them. You would need to print them on white decal paper.

The SSME looks awesome! Can't wait to see them installed.

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Thanks everyone, I appreciate the compliments. Hotdog, I can't remember if those are some you sent me or if they were from someone else. I received a couple of different versions from different people, one of which was just manipulated scaled up version of the prints I made for 1/144 shuttles. These are from the files named "bottom front.tif and bottom left half.tif that were in a really large zip folder. I lost the e-mail that was sent with the link to a share page. If they are yours, they look great and thanks again! :woot.gif:

As for the umbilicals, I think in the interest of making a stronger bond I am going to make the shuttle well and the ET connection plates in one piece that can be inserted in to the recesses I have. That way the ridge of the shuttle belly will help hold a lot of the weight. I appreciate the offer though. Not sure if you're talking about the gap down the centerline of the shuttle belly decal or something else. There's no gap around the umbilicals, just a sloppy cutting job on the decal edges. Maybe that's what you're seeing?

Thanks again everyone.

Bill

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Starting to get to the part that makes it look like a stack. I glued some plastic tubing inside the SRB attach rings to aid in alignment. Then I've inserted a metal rod through some holes drilled in the bottom of the ET. This slides through the tubing in the attach rings making a pretty strong connection once I glue it all together. I couldn't resist temporarily stacking it all up to see how it's going to look. Still can't get over the size of this thing when it's together. As you can see I still have a lot of detail and paint work to do, but it's getting there. My new goal deadline is the Calmex model contest in January. I hope I can make it but as you all can tell, I'm not a really fast builder.

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Thanks for checking it out. Comments, critiques and suggestions always welcome.

Bill

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