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Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6 (1:144)


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Thanks my friends for your great support, which is very helpful for my soul. lob3.gif

 

Perhaps it is also my tricky personal situation that makes me hesitate because I have been home alone for half a year because my wife unfortunately had to go to a nursing home and I have to be there for our poodle Gino (9). Last year he had two cruciate ligament tears in a row on his hind legs, the operations of which cost him rather strength, so that I sometimes have to carry him over the stairs in our house, depending on his shape of the day, so that he doesn't overexert himself. huh.gif

 

And if I then think about the 6 weeks with this "supple" shoulder splint, I will have to come up with something, because lifting him up on my arms and carrying it will not work ... 

For the 2 days hospital stay I can give him to a friend. I also don't know exactly what a rehabilitation would mean, but maybe it would be possible outpatient. hmmm.gif

 

A friend in another forum sent me a link to an interesting article, https://www.verywellhealth.com/surgery-not-needed-for-rotator-cuff-tears-2549780  

which reinforces me to get a second opinion yet in order to get more certainty for the right decision, which is really not easy ... smiley215.gif
 

In view of this, perhaps you may understand now that I am in a somewhat difficult situation currently, which made me lose a little bit of interest in modeling etc. ... 

 

But somehow it must and will continue ... up040577.gif

Edited by spaceman
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Thanks Aussie-Pete and Hello friends,

 

there is still justified hope that I might get around a surgery. top.gif

 

The physiotherapist said today that it could not be a complete tendon rupture, especially since I have no pain and no functional restriction in my shoulder and I can totally lift my arm to the top and let rotate it through 360°, just like the other.  up045518.gif

 

So I immediately registered with the Chief physician for Orthopedic surgery, Trauma surgery and Sports medicine in a larger clinic in Stuttgart, where I've got an appointment on August 6 to get a second opinion. speak_cool.gif

 

Then we'll see ... up040577.gif

Edited by spaceman
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Hello everybody,

 

after I have had enough time and have now formed my own opinion, I can now go on carefree and cheerfully, top.gif but next week I will get as planned a second opinion from the specialists at a clinic in Stuttgart. top2.gif

 

According to my diagnosis, I did not completely tear the Supraspinatus tendon, when I fell almost 4 weeks ago, as one has meant last, but rather probably "only" a local defect happened, as the radiologist meant after his MRI, which, however, might also already be based on a degenerative pre-damage, that went unnoticed. hmmm.gif

 

The initial pains, which has now almost completely subsided, was in my opinion a result of the rib bruise that I had contracted. In any case, I have no pain in the shoulder and no functional restrictions and can do the "windmill" with both arms as before. Thank God and my Guardian Angel!!! pray.gif

 

I've found a plausible explanation in the said Article, which I've read again in more detail. cool.gif

 

There it says, among other things: A rotator cuff tear that is the result of aging, called a degenerative tear of the rotator cuff, must be distinguished from a tear that is the result of a traumatic injury to the shoulder. There is some crossover, where the chronic weakening of the rotator cuff from aging degenerating leads to susceptibility to tearing from relatively minor trauma. Therefore, each individual likely has components of both degenerating and trauma that contribute to their shoulder problem, and your orthopedic surgeon can help determine why your tear occurred. smiley250.gif

 

Since I think that I don't have (no longer) a shoulder problem, I now wait relatively relaxed, what the 2nd orthopedist next week thinks about it. But an surgery would now rather mean like to shot with cannons at sparrows ... up046860.gif

 

In the light of recent events, I have now played a doctor myself s-krank-alterarzt.gif and have operated our little squirrel that had suffered a complete foot fracture in the garden some time ago. smiley_worship.gif

 

But since I am not a miracle healer, I got myself with the Revell UV Super Glue a miracle weapon that I wanted to try out already a long time ago. top.gif

 

N7AUOR.jpg

 

So I put the patient in the stable supine position,

 

M1fJoO.jpg

 

and then have applied the liquid adhesive to the break point. 

 

v6T6I8.jpg

 

After putting on and pressing the front paw, I then irradiated the seam with the UV pointer, which causes the adhesive to harden transparently.  up045518.gif

 

76VMHK.jpg

 

And that was already the miracle healing, 

 

RImkbY.jpg

 

and the squirrel wanted to go back to the garden quickly. eichhoernchen_13.gif 

 

And this gave me the idea einfall.gif that I could also use this UV glue for the Pad and MLP lighting to seal the LEDs in the lampshades, or that one could be able to shape glue drops over the LEDs, so to speak as "bulbs".speak_cool.gif

 

up037353.jpg

 

And then I've tried it out on my test lamps. cool.gif

 

Back then I had also experimented with tiny glass beads (right) to simulate the lamp body. To the left of it, the LED is only inserted flat into the lampshade and should have been glued yet.

 

mzsFSV.jpg

 

Both lamps are switched on here.

 

iCSi1P.jpg

 

In this position I've then dripped the glue onto,

 

ew9c71.jpg

 

and then hardened with the UV pointer,

 

M0Fprf.jpg

 

as well as tested. 

 

qRk3L1.jpg

 

UiSGsp.jpg

 

To shape a nice round drop, I will have to experiment a bit yet, but this solution should certainly be useful, also for the three special lamps 11, 12, 17 without a wide lampshade. 

up038889.jpg

 

But now I'll switch off all the lights and slowly move into the horizontal, and maybe dream of the squirrel ... schlaflos.gif

Edited by spaceman
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You're displaying a lot of happiness in this post! ... A Happy Squirrel ... a Happy Lamp and a Happy Manfred!

And I'm smiling while visualizing you performing 'windmills' in your backyard!

 

Thanx for this multi-level update!

Pete

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smiley251.gif Pete, yep, indeed!

After awakening from anesthesia, the squirrel first of all had to fortify itself in its feed house ... eichhoernchen_13.gif

 

  sTt8OH.jpg

 

Happy with this test result on the one hand, top.gif but on the other hand I sometimes have to think with horror of my inventories of those felt like 1.000 lamps at that time ... smiley_crazy.gif

 

up039500.jpg     up039496.jpg

 Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)                                                             Source: NASA

And my arm windmill is maybe something like this ... ventilator-0011.gif I hope you understand what I mean ...  00000016.gif namely that a surgery isn't always needed, hopefully, we will see ...  up040577.gif

 

Edited by spaceman
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Hi Mike, extra for you! top.gif

But the squirrel only wanted to come along after I've promised him some nuts, what a nifty fellow ... smiley250.gif

 

GjVXnO.jpg

 

No problem, because I'm animal-loving ... up040577.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello everybody,

 

first of all the good news of the last week's Health check that my gut feeling has not deceived me. I didn't want to go under the knife, and after getting a second opinion, no shoulder surgery is necessary either!!! yahoo.gif

 

The orthopedic surgeon I've consulted in the Stuttgart clinic first asked me about my concerns and how I was feeling. And after I've shown him my easygoing windmill-arm rotation, he said, to my surprise, short and sweet: Well then, Goodbye!!! Oops, sorry? smiley215.gif

 

Only then he has looked at the MRI-CD and showed me the defect (1 cm x 1 cm) on the Supraspinatus tendon that the radiologist had found and explain it to me on the model . Accordingly, the term Complete rupture of the first surgeon would be appropriate, but would only apply to this small area behind the enthesis. On the other hand, the tendon would be present all around, so it is more of a "hole" and not a torn tendon, which I initially thought. hmmm.gif

 

In short, he said that he would not operateon me, especially since I have no restrictions on freedom of movement or a loss of strength in my arm, which finally convinced and reassured me.  speak_cool.gif  

 

And so I was able to go back to my Pad construction site completely relaxed and again turn to the two lamp shapes with and without a shade/reflector on the MLP-Side 1,  top.gif 

 

KroTuS.jpg
Source: NASA

 

whereby it was again about the three circled lamps without a lampshade.  

 

In the meantime I had adapted the splitting of the circuits a little bit more to the local conditions in order to be able to achieve the easiest possible relocation of the lamps. 

 

Nfr8Ys.jpg
Source: NASA

 

In my first attempts I had still experimented with tiny glass beads, which is rather tricky and should be much easier to implement with the help of the new UV adhesive, like my first attempts with the larger lampshades have already shown.  up045518.gif

 

For these three lamps without reflector I used the smaller ferrules (0,5x6), which have an inner diameter of 0,8 mm, through which the LEDs of the design SMD 0401/0402 can be threaded through, as one can see in this image with a LED Sunny White, with the LED standing upright and protruding relatively far out of the small shade. 

 

WMxYws.jpg

 

Here one can see the size difference between the LEDs of the types SMD 0401/0402 (left) and the SMD 0603 (right), whereby the last one is too bigfor the smaller ferrule, but is fitting the larger ferrule.  

 

heIQxe.jpg

 

Here one can see for comparison one of the larger ferrules (1,0x6) for the other lamps on the Side 1, the shade of which I have widened from a diameter of 2,4 mm to 2,8 mm. 

 

n5YrpR.jpg

 

Here the switched-on LED (0401) shines in its warm white color. 

 

5nkk7m.jpg

 

In the meantime I've got another UV adhesive. The whitish drop on the right is from the Revell Fix-Kit, and the other is an UV adhesive called BONDIC, which looks a little yellowish, but otherwise has similar properties.   

 

rJRPkP.jpg

 

At first I only tried without LEDs to create a glass body by building up the adhesive in layers, which is quite feasible with a little practice. One just doesn't have to drip too much glue on, because otherwise it will run too wide before one can irradiate it, causing it to harden, so layer by layer. huh.gif

 

One can also make clever use of the force of gravity by turning the sleeve immediately after the glue has been dripped on and allowing the drop to be shaped a little for itself, and only then irradiate it, which initially looked like this. 

 

cTOYrc.jpg

 

And with a little practice I managed to create this beautiful glass body. smiley250.gif

 

1lMrsN.jpg

 

Then I've repeated the same procedure with an upright standing LED Pure White (0401), so first a drop was dropped for fixing the LED, 

 

0Rn1PU.jpg

 

which was then cured with the UV Pen,

 

m7PJNq.jpg

 

here with a finished glass body.

 

w8SMu1.jpg

 

At7bru.jpg

 

With a little skill, the small LED can also be inserted flat into the sleeve, which makes the light emission more even. top.gif

 

YRrN2x.jpg

 

N2WzeU.jpg

 

SRXrwT.jpg

 

OuQtKe.jpg

 

So much for my feasibility experiments, which show that it's also possible to do without the tiny glass beads. up040577.gif

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Thanks Pete for your compliment. bow.gif

 

Hello everybody,

 

meanwhile I took a closer look at the lighting on the Side 1 of the MLP-2 and evaluated these three photos from different perspectives, whereby some lamps are unfortunately covert or not visible. smiley_worship.gif  

 

Thereby I noticed that there are not three, as previously assumed, but four lamps without reflector, which are circled on all images. speak_cool.gif 

 

The first two images are image details from my reference photos of the MLP-2 during STS-6 (1983), each from a slightly different perspective.

 

The newly discovered lamp without reflector is the yellow circled Lamp 7, which in the 1st photo can only be seen with difficulty as a point to the left of the vertical strut, and in the 2nd photo as a point to the right of the slant strut. cant-believe-my-eyes-smiley-emoticon.gif

 

wLct0p.jpg
Source: retrospaceimages.com - STS-6 High-Res. Image Library

 

HVTR0K.jpg
Source: retrospaceimages.com - STS-6 High-Res. Image Library

 

But on this photo of the MLP-2 during STS-28 (1989) one can clearly see at the same lamp arrangement that the yellow circled Lamp 7 has no reflector. top2.gif

 

87l9ll.jpg
Source: NASA

 

So I have to scratch four lamps with a glass body but without a reflector with the help of the UV Adhesive technique.  up040577.gif

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello everybody,

 

with this update I want to briefly inform you about the current status. top.gif 

 

In the meantime I have thought of a solution for laying the first four lamps in the red circle on the MLP-Side 1, whereby the LED wires are laid in such a way that they cannot be seen afterwards. speak_cool.gif

 

In an intensive exchange of ideas with my German Raumcon friend McPhönix, who built the ingenious Mega power bank for the complete pad lighting for me, we agreed upon a solution, in which the cabling between the power bank and the MLP takes place via the front Pedestal at the right-hand corner of the MLP. top2.gif 

 

Who would like to find out more about the structure of this power bank can look into his thread Lighting of models, unfortunately only in German. cool.gif

 

After repeated detailed examination of the previous splitting of the three LED circles on the MLP-Side 1 I came across a tricky problem considering the sometimes very cramped spaces under the roofs of the MLP, related to the Lamps 5-7 in the yellow circle,   smiley_worship.gif

 

wLct0p.jpg
Source: retrospaceimages.com - STS-6 High-Res. Image Library

 

which I have marked with the yellow arrow in this image. smiley_crazy.gif

 

d5noWb.jpg

 

The following two images once again show the cramped conditions circled on site.

 

i1nhse.jpg

 

mNKTLU.jpg

 

After the laying the first four lamps (1-4) of the yellow line, I would then have to climb up with the last three lamps (5-7) from the ceiling above the lower Access Platform along the stairs there up to the upper Access Platform above the LH2Valve Skid followed by pulling the strand with the three lamps through a real eye of a needle between the support struts of the LH2Transport Line, which would be almost impossible. In addition, the LED wire would then hang freely in the space in front of the tubes on the MLP wall. yikes.gif

 

To find a way out of this dilemma, I changed the division of the LED circles once again, which can be seen in the following images. Therefore I've extended the red circle by a lamp,

 

rYpwqT.jpg
Source: capcomespace.net

 

which now ends with the Lamp 8 at this needle eye and is led on the rear wall to the return conductor (GND). Thus the yellow LED circle only has still four lamps (1-4). 

 

The remaining two lamps (6/7) of the originally yellow circle now form the beginning of the light blue circle (1/2),

 

3B4Ik7.jpg
Source: capcomespace.net

 

which now includes eight lamps.

 

kbgaOe.jpg
Source: capcomespace.net

 

With this redistribution, the laying of the LED circles should now be a bit easier, I hope so.  up040577.gif 

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I need to say this...

I have followed you the last few years, and your effort and stabillity,

and not to mention; "sense of quality" is simply amazing.

What a journey up to now!!

I look forward to your lightshow, as many others i believe 😊

Jesper

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Thanks Jesper for your nice compliments, bow.gif

 

that mightily spurs me on to persevere and grit the teeth ... s-boese-wand02.gif

 

The lighting will become a major challenge yet. up040577.gif

Edited by spaceman
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Manfred,

If someone was gonna be selected to take-on a project such as this, it had to

be you and only you. Through "thick & thin" you've bent, but have never broken.

The one thing that separates the darkness from bad to good, is the Light. May

your Light always shine brightly, and continue with much success!

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Thanks my friend for looking in on me again. bow.gif

 

Your praise obliges me to continue and not to give up, although the road has been also a path of trial and tribulation so far, :hmmm: if only I think of the brutal operations on my MLP and other crazy things. smiley_crazy.gif

 

But there were also lots of success and fun, which only made me tougher and spurred me on, because only when one has a goal one can find a way. up040577.gif

 

 

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Hello friends, 

 

let's go on. top.gif

 

And therewith back to the first LED circle (1-8, red), of which the first four lamps are somehow attached to the MLP wall, the question is only how? smiley215.gif 

 

F79cvT.jpg

 

On this already shown part from a photo montage from the Side 1 of the MLP-2 I had conjectured inlet pipes for the lamp cords at the fastening points of the lamps, laying in the middle of the wall's frames. hmmm.gif

 

7vUlll.jpg
Source: capcomespace.net

 

That's why in a first version I used a Styrene rod (Ø 0,7 mm) to hold the lampshades, which I've glued with UV adhesive onto the lampshade.  speak_cool.gif

 

JqaOWy.jpg

 

btplKW.jpg

 

To facilitate tests for the assembly and cabling of the first four LED lamps on the MLP wall, I made a true-to-scale copy of Side 1 from David Maier's paper kit as a template and then glued four vertical struts from the used styrene profiles,  up045518.gif as well as temporarily placed a lampshade, which should not lie against the wall directly.

 

0gBG0s.jpg

 

7Cy6Wt.jpg

 

Here the lamp with the holding rod is plugged into the wall, which would make this a useful attachment variant. cool.gif

 

f9brQe.jpg

 

In the meantime I've remembered the great Launch Pad 39A Reference Photos by Troy McClellan, on which one can see at maximum resolution (3x click) that those are not tubes but Angle profiles to which the lamps were attached during the early STS missions, which were later replaced by other lamps like these ones here. top.gif

 

ZS1Ywo.jpg
Source: Troy McClellan

 

On this image section I've measured some details and found that the angles, scaled to 1:160, are only 0,4 mm x 0,4 mm "large" and protrude slightly beyond the wall struts towards the front, i.e. they should be approx. 2 mm long, thereby the lampshades (Ø 2,8 mm) would be slightly in front of the wall. 

 

up073274.jpg

 

But such small angle profiles there are not available neither made of styrene nor brass, whereby the smallest brass angles are 1 mm x 1 mm, which would be a bit too big. rolleyes.gif

 

So I was thinking about how and from what one could scratch such small angles. smiley215.gif

 

But more on that tomorrow, have a nice day. up040577.gif

Edited by spaceman
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Hello everybody,

 

and back to the small angles. First I've tried to convert the smallest Evergreen-H profile (1,5 mm x 1,5 mm) into an angle. smiley215.gif

 

q5eN6y.jpg

 

which after several cuts was 0,7 mm x 0,7 mm, but with legs 0,2/0,3 mm instead of 0,1 mm. huh.gif

 

B8OyAF.jpg

 

Then I remembered the Gutters on the MLP upper deck, for which I used Aluminum sheet (0,1 mm). So it was worth a try to make a possible small angle out of it, although the thought of it may seem rather crazy ... smiley_crazy.gif

 

As a bending aid, I had thought of steel rulers (approx. 0,5 mm), which should enable a similarly small leg length.

No sooner thought than done! top.gif

 

ROSpZ8.jpg

 

Since it is almost impossible to immediately bend a 0,5 mm narrow strip at right angles, I've started with a lot of overhang and then clamped the piece of sheet metal onto a sheet of steel, 

 

ZG24gJ.jpg

 

and have bent this strip vertically upwards. 

 

Tk8LVC.jpg

 

Then I've clamped the angled sheet metal upright between two steel rulers, 

 

8UNBhy.jpg

 

and have bent the strip up and down several times until it broke off. Then I've smoothed the breakline a bit,

 

LOcnZ7.jpg

 

wherewith one leg was already done. cool.gif 

 

1skorE.jpg

 

Then I've wedged the bent leg between the rulers, 

 

hasm6j.jpg

 

and have broken off the remaining strip in the same way.

 

2hiGe5.jpg

 

Thereby the angle was finished, was about 0,7mm x 0,7mm and looked quite passable.  speak_cool.gif

 

30fKFE.jpg

 

KUFOrO.jpg

 

And this is how the angle at the lampshade would look. 

 

cDkMHe.jpg

 

Now I'm curious what you're thinking about it?up040577.gif

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This is where 3D printers would come in handy... 😁

On the other hand, that would shift the craftsmanship from inventing ways to make the part with your hands and (improvised) tools to drawing it in a 3D drawing app and 'just' print it.

 

As always, Manfred, it is Olympic Level Skills. Every time, I'm amazed at the level of detail you put in the model and the skills you have to create the pieces you need. Amazing!

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