spaceman Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 (edited) You won't believe it, but this is my first space project, consisting of several models. On the other hand, this Space Shuttle Launch Complex is famously also the most complex real space model there is and was therefore designed as a long-term project, and that takes time, which is not so important to me. Edited February 22, 2020 by spaceman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Underdog Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 6 hours ago, spaceman said: You won't believe it, but this is my first space project, consisting of several models. You're correct, hard to believe because your skills are "off the charts!" I had read a previous post of yours stating, you wanting to keep this model in your Model Museum. So I thought you might have others in your collection. Well, you choosing the most complicated model to build means... "You went BIG, instead of just staying home." Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 Thanks once more for your nice words, but BIG models have always been my passion. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 Hello everybody, and thus to my test bores in order to test whether the minimum depth of approx. 5 - 10 mm could be achieved by hand with an appropriate caution and care. Since my Dremel is already nearly 10 years old, I wanted to test it once again in the associated drill stand, although I had doubts whether the lowest speed of 10.000 rpm already would be overkill and too risky. That's why I started by doing some manual tests true to the motto Better safe than sorry!. For this I have clamped a Resin strip in my Mini vice and started turning the Dremel-chuck with a drill Ø 1,3 mm in the Dremel-stand with the left hand , while at the same time I've soulfully forced down the lifting rod with my right hand, which was not so easy. While the orthogonality of the bore in longitudinal direction was acceptable, it left something to be desired in the transverse direction, which is why I was not completely convinced of this hand-drilling variant. Therefore, in a second series of tests with the Dremel in the drill stand I have drilled at the lowest speed (10.000 rpm) in a Chipboard with Ø 1,3 mm, what went smoothly. Then I've drilled with Ø 1,4 mm and then took a look at the orthogonality of the bore in the longitudinal and transverse directions, which looked surprisingly good at least over the minimum length. Then I've drilled with the diameter of the SRB support rod (Ø 1,5 mm) and tested again in both directions, whereby the orthogonality was still unchanged good. And the support rod also fit well into the bore, which was about 15 mm deep, which should be sufficient for the stable fixation of the boosters in my opinion, whereby I still could then drill a bit deeper with a Mini hand drill. So I could now venture on the bore of the two SRB Forward Skirts from the Newware Kit, whereby in addition to a stable support in a corresponding holder, especially the skirts have to be precisely aligned so that their bores are in line with the support rod. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) Hello everybody, so far so good. Next, I've determined the position of the base point for the bore of the Support rod, which was not so easy, because it could not be marked in the narrow space, which is why I had to improvise a little bit with masking tapes. The next problem was the necessary level support of the part as a prerequisite for an exact drilling, which was also not easy due to the disruptive Systems Tunnel at the bottom, which is why an exact clamping in the vice was rather difficult. That's why I clamped a brass angle for orientation in the Z-direction, and aligned the center line on the back of the part as good as possible parallelly. For the alignment in the X-direction I oriented myself on the upper edge of the vice. For better orientation here one can see the Orbiter vehicle coordinate system. Source: Marshall Space Flight Center, Space Transportation System HEAR No. TX-116 And in this position I will try now drilling the hole, again step by step, carefully pre-drilling with Ø 1,3 mm, and then drilling out with Ø 1,4 mm and Ø 1,5 mm. Hopefully I can do this successfully, so please keep your fingers crossed! Edited February 23, 2020 by spaceman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Underdog Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Manfred, Don't forget... "Measure Twice and Drill Once." LOL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) That's right! But there is also a more precise method to mark the bore point on the SRB Forward Skirt. To do this, I colored the front face of the holding rod with ink and then placed it on the ET's Intertank, which allows a contact line to be marked. The more precise point for the bore results at the intersection of this line with the longitudinal engraving on the skirt. That's why I applied this method also still at the right SRB skirt with the tapes, the result of which can be seen here. The more precise point is therefore a little bit further ahead. Edited February 23, 2020 by spaceman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blakeh1 Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Amazing attention to detail! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 Thanks my friend! Hello everybody, and therefore: Nothing ventured, nothing gained! - Let's get on with it! Before with drilling it could really come down to business, the vice onto the drill stand was carefully aligned so that the drill came to stand directly over the pre-drilled hole, whereupon this arrangement was then firmly fixed to the table top with a screw clamp. Then, as with the test bores, the holes were drilled step by step, first carefully pre-drilled with Ø 1,3 mm, after which this bore was then drilled out with Ø 1,4 mm and Ø 1,5 mm to a depth approx. of 20 mm. And as the following two images show, the orthogonality was surprisingly good in both directions. Then the front part was inserted into the booster and with the bore put onto the Support rod in the Intertank, as well as put down with the two rear struts above the openings at the ET's rear, whose feet had to slightly ground until they fit in the openings. At the front end a Balsa board (2 mm) was inserted as a spacer, since the already mentioned SRB Thrust Fitting has to be glued directly behind the support bar, which is unfortunately missing at the Newware front parts, Source: NASA which is why I have to scratch this part. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 Hello everybody, the same drilling procedure I have now carried out with the right SRB front part, which has been similarly good and successful. And so I have now been able to attach both SRBs provisionally at the ET, what fits together quite well and also looks good, in my opinion. And since there was nothing to be seen of the MLP for a long time, I took it out of the closet and put this ET-SRB-Troika on it. That should it be for today. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crowe-t Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 (edited) Manfred, It looks great on the MLP! Using the support rod to connect the SRB's is the best way to do it. I did this on my STS-133 stack and it's rock solid. Now you need to get the SSWS all painted. Mike. Edited February 27, 2020 by crowe-t Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brett M Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Incredible detail and craftsmanship.....this is amazing to follow. Thanks for sharing the updates! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 9 hours ago, crowe-t said: Manfred, It looks great on the MLP! Using the support rod to connect the SRB's is the best way to do it. I did this on my STS-133 stack and it's rock solid. Now you need to get the SSWS all painted. Mike. Thanks Mike, this solution with the Support rod that I've learned by watching from your stack, is really good and provides the necessary stability, especially since the SRBs with Newware's Resin front parts are quite heavy. BTW, I fully agree with you, but now the SSWS should finally be painted and the lights switched on ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 7 hours ago, Brett M said: Incredible detail and craftsmanship.....this is amazing to follow. Thanks for sharing the updates! Thanks Brett for your nice compliments, and stay tuned! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikephilippens Posted February 29, 2020 Share Posted February 29, 2020 Incredible! It is starting to come together now. But you're going to have to take it all apart again to treat the ET with the flour for the structure? I'm looking forward to the report on that, since I'd like to use the same method. It looks super realistic. For the rest I'm not going to apply the same level of detail on my Shuttle Stack, but I'm sure following this and try to learn a lot and borrow some of the things I see you do. Hopefully I can achieve a decent level of realism with the skills and means I have to make a respectable tribute to the STS 51L mission (using the things I learn here and elsewhere). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 (edited) Thanks Mike for your nice comment. BTW, nothing is glued onto the ET yet and can be easily removed before the flour coating. I just have to mark and mask all contact surfaces for the add-on parts beforehand. Have you started your STS-51-L project yet? Edited March 1, 2020 by spaceman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikephilippens Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 10 hours ago, spaceman said: Have you started your STS-51-L project yet? Not yet. The last boxes are removed from my office/hobbyroom, so I can start soon(ish). Still some things to do first, but the time is coming. I might just jump the gun and start priming some of the parts, just so I can say I started... 😆 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
my favs are F`s Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 it already looks a little bit too too realistic. 🙂 Awesome, man; outstanding! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
as205 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Absolutely awesome build! Your attention to detail is amazing. I love following this build. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Underdog Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 On 2/29/2020 at 7:22 PM, spaceman said: BTW, nothing is glued onto the ET yet and can be easily removed before the flour coating. I just have to mark and mask all contact surfaces for the add-on parts beforehand. I'm sure we'll see how the Flour-coating technique is applied to the ET. But, can you give us a brief explanation of how its done. Sometimes, one would think this thread could not get any better and then we get another posting and a brilliant surprise! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 I did post a lot of images of my Flour Technique approx. 1 year ago, therefore you have to go back to p. 84. 👍 There I've also tested using different masking tapes for simulating the wavelike SOFI Pattern. Unfortunately I can only post from my Smartphone, because my PC ist striking since yesterday ... 😡 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Underdog Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 3 hours ago, spaceman said: I did post a lot of images of my Flour Technique approx. 1 year ago, therefore you have to go back to p. 84. 👍 There I've also tested using different masking tapes for simulating the wavelike SOFI Pattern. Manfred, Thanks for the response and feedback. I've been reading and studying this magnificent thread and construction project, I hadn't gotten to Page-84 yet. What you've been able to do with this build is almost incomprehensible, if it were not for the detailed photos, data, explanations, illustrations and step-by-step procedures just to name a few. The amount of research involved on your part, then translating all that knowledge and understanding into the scratch-building process is not only mind-boggling but fabulous! Sometimes its more than the mind can comprehend... but I'm convinced that the right person (you) are in-control and "driving the bus!" I'm a huge fan and will continue to follow this build, until the countdown for STS-6 has begun prior to lift-off. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 Thanks for your nice compliments. 👍 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Underdog Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Manfred, Hope all is well with you. We haven't seen any work on your exceptional model in a few weeks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 Hello guys, unfortunately I was out of action for a while because my PC gave up the ghost, but my son has built me a new one so that it can go on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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