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

[spaceman]

A short note to the arc lamps, to get a thinner tube one could use the actual metal tube as the return conductor so that one only has to thread one wire through the tube.

For this I first have to solder every negative pole of the LEDs to the brass tubes and then connect each brass tube by a soldered wire to the next.

That is certainly a greater effort than threading the wires. And threading the wires from 0.1 mm over this short length of about 20 mm should already be doable, I think.

Therefore first I will try to pull the wires through the tube, maybe it will work.

[spaceman]

Hello folks,

let's stay a little longer in lighting, because it's just so beautiful tricky. Since I still had to glue the centering tubes in the shortened lampshades,

which was doable again only under the microscope. And since the tubes have some clearance in the shielding sleeves, the superglue-gel (Pattex) proved when gluing but suitable as better than the liquid superglue (UHU) I had used before.

Thus, there are not only the "classical" lampshapes on the MLP, the almost entirely on the pad (FSS/RSS) are installed, but also some lamps without a pronounced screen, as can be seen in this picture. These are, inter alia, the two lamps above the LOX Valve Skid, below the right TSM.

Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

And also the hazard warning lights (beacons) have a similar shape with a glass cover,

Source: NASA

which is why I modified these lamps something. In addition I have used the same ferrules, but not expanded, but only reduced accordingly with the Dremel cutting disc.

These are the lampshades right in the picture, next to the tiny tubes that were now still glued,

what looks like when finished.

For the hazard warning lights I have now picked out a few more suitable transparent tube beads for the glass cover and trial strung, what ever does not look bad. The pods I can possibly cut something else and I'm still looking out for something shorter beads from my stuff, then the shape has come out quite well, I think.

And as a test I now have threaded a red LED (0401) with the thin copper wires (0.1 mm), and low and behold, the tiny LED fit even along through the bead through, what the solution is somewhat simplified.

And then I only had to connect the LED to my current bank, and the signal red lit up.

And for the two lamps under the blast shield I will also find a solution, but the Sunny White LEDs (0603) to be used there, unfortunately are slightly larger than the tiny red LEDs and therefore require a slightly different solution.

That's it again for today.

Edited April 1, 2014 by spaceman

[Mknorr]

That looks awesome Manfred!

[spaceman]

Thanks Manfred for your nice words, I'll try to bite me through this tricky lighting stuff.

[POTKC]

Hey Manfred!!! I've been watching this over on the PaperModelers Forum, just signed up at ARC and saw you here as well. Not sure if I said this in your thread at PMF, but this is a really spectacular and super-detailed build!!!

[spaceman]

Thanks POTKC for your nice words.

So you can meet again, I'm glad if you like it, what I'm building.

[POTKC]

Oooh, I like it very much!!! I wish I had the skill to do what you are doing...someday, maybe...

[spaceman]

Therefore keep cool!

Learning by doing - or trial and error!

Everyone starts at once ... It is not a master yet fallen from heaven! No pain, no gain!

All smart sayings, but everywhere a grain of truth!

[spaceman]

Hello folks, let's go on!

By looking for the hazard warning lights in age-old image collections from the 80s so I've got further researched and studied this time the lighting on the Access arms (OAA, OVA, HVA) of the Tower, but to do sometime soon in more detail.

Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

Today I want to show a quick update to the lamps whose mass production is now underway. These are again the normal lampshades for the lamps on the MLP Access Platforms left in the picture from the expanded ferrules (3 mm), as well as the unexpanded screens (2,4 mm) for the hazard warning lights, which are in the small dish. For this I had already found the matching glass beads, in which one just could fit the red LEDs (0401).

Then I still had looked for matching glass beads for the lamps 11, 12 and 17 with a slightly larger hole,

and found actually beads with a diameter of 2.2 mm in which the slightly larger Sunny White LEDs (0603) would fit longitudinally. Here one of these LEDs is even threaded in such a bead.

Here you can now see two variants, the top for a lamp with a expanded screen, and the bottom one with unexpanded screen, which actually both could be used, because these minimal differences can hardly be distinguished under the Blast Shields anyway.

Then briefly to the planned reconstruction of the Current Bank, what already had indicated as a result of extensive brightness tests by reducing the power intensity of the LEDs in the direction of 0.5 mA. In addition I have now begun to replace the fixed resistors (47 Ω) by variable Mini Trimmers (1 kΩ), because the light effect should look even more realistic.

And here the first Mini trimmer has been soldered.

And to finish for today two tests with a Sunny White LED with minimum setting of the trimmer (> 6 mA), i.e. maximum brightness,

and here at maximum trimmer setting (0,5 mA) and reduced brightness.

And with these parameters, the final current bank for the whole Launch Pad is now designed that offers even better performance than the previous one, which I will present soon.

Next, the remaining fixed resistors to be replaced by the trimmer.

[spaceman]

And I've still done, finally does come the Easter Bunny.

And so the current bank now looks with the eight trimmers.

Because the place for soldering was pretty tight, I have omitted to insulating sleeving.

For my part I'm fully satisfied, all beginnings are difficult ... And the most important thing is that all circuits have passed the function test with flying colors.

So now the existing eight circuits, each with up to 12 LEDs in series let set with the same or different brightness and off separately. At the pad all the lights were finally not always switched on simultaneously and shined with the same brightness as one could see.

In this sense, all of you a Happy Easter!

[spaceman]

Hi there,

so after hopefully all Easter eggs were found of you, it will go on again.

Coming soon the prepared lampshades should be painted before the LEDs can be glued in. Unclear to me was previously only how to hold tiny creatures (3 mm). After some thought, I came up with the following solution that should work.

Since the lampshades are painted gray from the outside, they should stand upright, but also can not fly off when airbrush. Therefore, I have stung pins through a Balsa strip and placed ferrules on the tops, and then the shades were threaded, and ready is the Painting Support (PS).

Here 24 slots are first prepared and stocked, the PS may also be extended.

To avoid that light comes out upwards, I have the screens painted up black. If then the gray paint comes over it, which then should actually suffice, if not, still a splash of color comes on top after threading the LEDs.

Consequently, then the first series can go for painting.

Then I again experimented with the special lamps (11,12,17) and further tested two variants. In addition I wanted the Sunny White (0603) longitudinally thread in the larger glass tube, which just fits so.

And two of these couples I have now threaded each in an unexpanded screen (right) and into an expanded screen (center). On the left is then compared with a standard lamp (3 mm) with cross inlaid LED, as used for all other lamps on the pad.

Here with > 6 mA, which is very brightly, as expected,

here with 3 mA, somewhat more subdued,

and here with 0,5 mA, with relatively moderate light.

In the right variant you have the unimpeded light exit of the LED, which is literally blinding and not recommended.The middle variant seems to me quite reasonable and would differ so from the other lamps.

So far again for today.

[egt95]

:o/> Awesome job Manfred...:jaw-dropping:/> Keep up the great work!!!:thumbsup:/>

Mike

[spaceman]

Thanks Mike for your nice words.

For some time I'm researching a lot of photos of the RSS in order to better understand the structure and at the same time to analyze the lighting with all the lamps. And everything costs a lot of time. But step by step everything becomes clearer.

[crowe-t]

Beautiful job on the lights Manfred!

Mike.

[spaceman]

Thanks Mike for your nice words, it looks easier than it is.

I can not shake the stage fright, and therefore I again thought about the red flashing warning lights,

Source: NASA

for which I had procured the red LEDs (0401).

For these lampshades I want to use the unexpanded ferrules. For the glass body I had initially thought of a transparent bead. But since the hazard warning lights under the outer glass body have a red insert, a reddish bead would be better suited what I wanted to try and compare, let's go the whole hog.

Here you can see both versions at full brightness (> 6 mA), which makes color virtually no difference. Only the brightness with the transparent bead appears to be somewhat stronger, but this is insignificant.

And here are the test results at the moderate brightness (0.5 mA), where the effect appears in the image paler than in reality.

Here I have trial basis attached both beads in shades with a tiny superglue droplet, so that the warning light as such is already purely externally visible, which I like better.

Now I have threaded the LEDs in both lamps,

and tested the optical effect as described above:

> 6 mA:

0,5 mA:

How was almost expect to see the effects are similar. Therefore, I will probably decide to red glass beads.

So the stressful testing with different lamp types and brightness settings should have an end but now.

In the next days I will now make an inventory of the lamps on the RSS so that the design for the final current bank can be rendered more precisely. The lighting of the FSS was relatively clear and will probably mean 8 lamps per floor, what ever gives approx. 100 lamps. Added to this are the lamps on the Access Arms that I need to check again.

Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

While the tower is relatively clear, the RSS still gives me quite a headache, but that will be somehow estimated in a first approximation. Here, I will first try get along with images of the STS-6 . After my previous knowledge not only the former lamp shapes appeared significantly different than in the later missions, the number of lamps at the time was significantly greater than at the end of the program.

That's it for today, see you soon.

[Youngtiger1]

Wow, look at those tiny light lamps. Manfred, you are a talented modeler, but what amazes me the most is your patience in this hobby. You are still going strong and every new update is incredible. If I was in your shoes...I would have burned out and given up on this project.

You rock on!!

Mike

[spaceman]

Thanks Mike for your kind words, which give me encouragement to keep pushing on.

A worried guy in another forum asked me if I have enough Tylinol for this project, because of headaches galore.

I am also fully aware that a major project like this represents an immense challenge and how much trouble will it cost.

But meanwhile I have coped quite a bit and have already performed some emergency surgeries successfully, so easily shaken me nothing more, not even the lighting.

The headaches also pass away. My guiding theme is identical with a great song by Bruce Springsteen: Tougher then the rest - in the calm lies the power.

Therefore I also need no drugs, the only drug that I can not do without is Real space modeling ...

Edited April 29, 2014 by spaceman

[spaceman]

Hello folks,

the time has come, as already announced, I've begun in the last few days with getting things straight concerning the RSS lamps and started a gradual inventory. However, this turns out to be quite stressful and one hand is almost like looking for needles in a haystack. And on the other hand, the image analysis provides such a lot of lamps, so I slowly but surely get an uncanny feeling, when I think of the laying of the LEDs ...

First, I have long brooded over how I could best do, where I realized more and more, that this can not be done in a breath, but that it only gradually progressing and lots of patience needed.

For such an analysis one needs high-resolution photos and if possible from all sides and from different perspectives. Of these, although I have collected gradually a lot, but the detail photos are only half the battle. For now begin the grueling hard work of screening and comparing the more or less easily recognizable lamps, in which one can become dizzy.

More difficult is the fact that there are not particularly many usable shots of the STS-6. Therefore, I am also avoided to the other missions from before the STS-6 and have been looking back up to STS-1, of which there are some good shots.

And by and by then sharpens the view and you can see the arrangement of the lamps then better. In order to start with a count, I've then initially colored circled the lamps but deliberately not numbered, because the numbers are still can change, the more one's eyes bend and lamps recognizes that previously were not clearly visible. And when evaluating different pictures and views have to be extremely careful that one does not count lamps twice. Anyway, this is not just a balm for the eyes.

I don't want to put you on the rack but longer, and just show you the first overview shots, then the tricky undertaking is certainly clearer.

This is the front of the RSS, and alone on this view I have found about 50 lamps, the transition from FSS to RSS are not even considered.

Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

Well, start has been made, even though it was only a small taste first.

Edited May 7, 2014 by spaceman

[spaceman]

Hello together,

these are the lamp locations on the back of the RSS at STS-6.

BTW, as you can see here, there was at first initially only the small PCR Anteroom, as it were, the vestibule to enter the highly sensitive Payload changeout room (PCR), which was later extended to the right thick pipe. But I must orient myself to the former images.

Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

And these are also at least 20 or 21 lamps when the green circled lamp top right is counted together, but it's a part of my separate counting of the stairwell on the side that I've counted separately for clarity, what you can see on this picture.

Source: NASA

Incidentally, this is a photo montage of two sub-images, which I have greatly enlarged me for marking and counting of the lamps (1x click), otherwise you would have been alone with the holding apart too much difficulty.

All lamps are hard to see in this overview without magnification, so I'm counting of course also of images with different perspectives, where you can see the details better. But you get in the detection of these tiny details already on visual limits to what you must consider.

Here is such a picture from one of the last missions, where you can specifically recognize the lamps in the external stairwell clearly, especially at high resolution (2x click).

Source: NASA

So, the "red" lamps are already included in the count of the front, now the 12 "green" and the 6 "yellow" lamps in the two stairwells can be added. As a result from these three views now have 91 lamps (53+20+12+6) on the RSS, but without the lamps on the transitions of the FSS to RSS, which have not yet been counted.

To this end, here are a looking ahead to another nice picture of the STS-1, on which one can recognize these lamps well at high resolution.

Source: NASA

And in this way I live more laborious as the squirrel and layaway from lamp to lamp ...

In this sense, the count continues - The lighting show must go on!

Edited May 8, 2014 by spaceman

[POTKC]

Wow. This is amazing. When this is finished, you could steal the whole launch complex, put the model in it's place, and no one would notice the difference!!!

Edited May 10, 2014 by POTKC

[spaceman]

Thanks POTKC for your nice words, that is a funny comparison ...

Hi there,

in the meantime I looked more closely at the Access Arms at the Tower in order to count the local lamps. In addition I have here a suitable visual attunement from the preparatory phase to the STS-6.

Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

These are the Orbiter Access Arm (OAA) with the White Room,

the Oxygen Vent Arm (OVA) with the Beanie Cap,

and the Gaseous Hydrogen Vent Arm (HVA), also called Intertank Access Arm (IAA).

For image analysis, I have partly fall back on old pictures from the early years of the shuttle program, which comes in part from the work-up phase of the Pad 39B. These are scans from the photo album of a friend who worked there and has experienced a lot.

And so directly to the OAA, which can be seen on this old picture before mounting on the pad 39B. Okay, the quality is not great, but these images are a significant historical fundus, which I do not want to miss, as these images are really real-time documents from the early years to the Shuttle STS-6 around. And much more important than image quality is, that one can exactly recognize the 9 lamps anyway.

Source: NasaSpaceflight.com (J. MacLaren)

Here is a photo of the STS-6, on which the former lamps are beautiful to see.

Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

As I said, the lamps saw later completely different, just more modern, and were not mounted in gait center but on the side (left). BTW, there were at that time much more lights than in later years.

And so now to the OVA, in this picture still without Beanie Cap, I have viewed from several perspectives before the count of the lamps.

Source: NasaSpaceflight.com (J. MacLaren)

This arm has six standard lamps (1-6) and two smaller spotlights (7/8), so a total of 8 lamps.

Source: NasaSpaceflight.com (J. MacLaren)

Missing only the HVA, that is a real steel frame monster solely due to its size, which you can see in this picture, but from a later mission.

The frame structure consists essentially of three parts:

The huge multistory Front building is firmly connected with the Tower, but had only the top three floors during STS-6, the lower small 4th floor was retrofitted later.

Source: NASA

The actual Swing arm allows mating of the External tank (ET) umbilicals as well as contingency access to the ET intertank compartment, which rotated 210° to its extended position at the ET and was connected with this. The Elephant’s Trunk called umbilical vent line provides continuous venting of the external tank during and after loading of the volatile liquid hydrogen. The vent line is disconnected from the ET at first motion of the stack and retracts vertically downward to a stored position.

And for the lamps count it now goes back to STS-6. And the following image at first one can see these 13 lamps which are directly mounted on the outside of the Front building.

Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

But that's not all, because in this picture of the STS-1 with connected Swing arm and Trunk (white) one can immediately recognize in front of the ET a lamp pole with 4 lamps, I hope so.

Source: NASA

This results ultimately a total number of 34 lamps for the three Access arms, but this number is not exhaustive.

And so I want it to stop there for now and wish you a nice Sunday.

Edited May 15, 2014 by spaceman

[Berkut]

Insanity is strong in this one. :D (In a good way!)

[spaceman]

Thanks Berkut for your nice words, I understand what you mean ...

[Berkut]

Seriously tho, i have been following this thread for a while and it is always very interesting to see how much research you do, and how much of those details are reflected in the model.

[spaceman]

Thank you again Berkut,

the space modeling is the one thing, I learn every day new and interesting things about this brilliant Shuttle Technology that inspires me again and again, this is the other, not less interesting thing.