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

[spaceman]

The required clear height of the nozzle bows results from this close-up on the basis of the reference diameter of the nozzle tube (Ø 2.0 mm) to about 0.6 mm,

Source: NASA

which is why I now have clamped a corresponding brass rod with Ø 0,6 mm directly behind the nozzle rods.

And now the entire row could be bent, the Proxxon Gun in the right hand, and with Left the rods were carefully bent down with the balsa slat,

what has worked well straight away.

After the nozzle lengths were marked,

they were cut off on the steel ruler with the cutter chisel.

[spaceman]

And then it looks like this.

And from this result, I am now surprised, because this was not necessarily to be expected.

Now I can calmy turn to the nozzle openings, which can tolerate a little bit tuning.

Tomorrow I will test this nozzle pipe on the MLP.

[spaceman]

Hello together,

and here are two images of today's try-on on the MLP.

This is all still pretty shaky, but otherwise fits quite well.

[spaceman]

Hello everyone,

meanwhile it went on with the other nozzle tube under the LH2 TSM.

At first it was drilled again,

then the 0.5 mm rods for the nozzles were inserted and glued with MEK.

Then again followed my standard clamp procedure for the bending process with inlaid brass rod.

The bending was followed by the reduction of the supernatants, wherefore the already finished nozzle tube was very helpful for measurements and therefore was clamped next to it.

Then the supernatants were separated on the steel ruler.

And these are the two nozzle tubes, left for the LOX TSM and right the new for the LH2 TSM, except for the mirroring almost identical twins.

And so it went on the fly to the 6'' outlets which run behind the two TSM's from the ring line, then under the SRB Blast Shields

Source: NASA

and end on the back walls of the SRB chambers.

Source: NASA

[spaceman]

After the required dimensions were determined, then followed the bending of the rods (Ø 1,0 mm) around a corresponding template, which is by now become routine.

Now the appropriate length of the inclined portion only had to be found which one can measure unfortunately nowhere directly due to the oblique arrangement, not even from my little sketch of the true to scale side view.

So only remained Trial & Error with slightly oversize, what then looks so.

Although the bow is is indeed a little too wide and should become a bit narrower,

but from the arrangement it fits already quite good.

And the test fitting of the new nozzle tube right in the picture around the TSM dummy is also okay.

That's it for today, tomorrow is another day.

Edited August 24, 2016 by spaceman

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

today also the second 6'' outlet of the couple has been added, and the other two outlets for the right side I have also still bent. For the clamping rings I have wrapped lead wire Ø 0,3 mm around a 1 mm rod and then cut with a razor blade.

And even on these thin pipes there are the already known nipples, for which I will use Styrene rods with approx. Ø 0.2 mm.

Source: NASA

And here the pipes have been "welded" to the ring line and threaded under the Blast Shield.

This fits in so far as quite well into the picture,

now I have to fit in only the correct adapter pipe with the rejuvenation on 12'' (Ø 2.5 mm) at the end of the 24'' ring line (Ø 4,0 mm) and to cut the nozzle tube (Ø 2,0 mm) just behind the TSM corner, then the strand is finally complete.

Source: NASA

And how could it be otherwise, these rejuvenations stand on a short support, which is constructed similar to the two pillars under the 9'' transitions at the other end of the ring lines, and therefore they are also on the to-do list.

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

nothing is impossible, and therefore I want to show you still on the fly my announced attempt with the nipple on the prototype of the 6'' outlet (Ø 1 mm).

The tiny hole on the bend I have predrilled with my smallest drill with Ø 0.2 mm. And then I have been amazed, as I have found in my remeasuring of the 0.3 mm rods that they are a little undersized, approx. Ø 0.25 mm, and accordingly might fit well.

After the little rod was glued with MEK and shortened, the outlet with the tiny nipple looks like this.

And so also this detail on the thinnest outlet has been mastered, especially as the clamping rings are far less problematic.

But Stop! Do you notice anything?

[Mknorr]

I've looked for something but don't know what I should have noticed 🤓

[spaceman]

Hello Manfred,

it's only a small detail, but nobody has noticed it. .

Only upon closer inspection of the image I have noticed two things in retrospect which require correction.

Firstly, one can clearly see that the orientation of the nipple (red) does not match with the intended installation position of the outlet on the 24'' ring line (green), what has to be initially escaped me out of overeagerness.

And on the other hand can be recognized from this photo that the bow is rounded rather like a crooked stick and has a larger opening angle than the previous. Accordingly, the rounding starts directly above the connection point on the ring line and not only after the vertical ascent like at my prototype.

Source: NASA

Since that is not so good visable in some photos due to the perspective distortion, I have twisted the following panorama image as long as until the best direct view of the two outlets has revealed, which is similar to the previous image.

Source: NASA

Therefore, new outlets were needed with greater rounding, on their highest points the nipples were inserted,

what looks much better now.

Here once more the comparison of the outlets, whereas the two new outlets (left) have their clamping rings already.

Edited September 3, 2016 by spaceman

[Don]

Boy at times its hard to tell pictures of the real thing from pictures of the model! This is some seriously outstanding modeling here ! Well done.

Cheers!

Don.

[spaceman]

Thanks Don for your nice compliments.

I try to do my best.

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

and now to the next step, the adaptation of the nozzle tube (Ø 2.0 mm) to the ring line (Ø 4,0 mm).

For this purpose, the tube was separated after the bend at the TSM corner because there the connecting piece to the ring line starts, which was bent from a rod (Ø 2.5 mm).

To align the course of the parts better before the final bonding, I have drilled the parts with Ø 0.5 mm and then inserted appropriate connection rods.

This allows plug together the strand, whereby the test-fitting on the MLP is facilitated and any necessary length corrections are possible.

And only when everything fits, the parts are then glued together.

Edited September 3, 2016 by spaceman

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

yep, and this solution has actually paid for itself well.

 

This plugged-together-strand I've tried on on the MLP, initially with the dummy TSM, because this is much simpler than with the unhandy real TSM. And lo and behold, a slight shortening of the intermediate piece (Ø 2,5 mm) was necessary actually,

 

 

so that the nozzle tube just so fits around the TSM corner and does not protrude too far.

 

 

But the acid test came then with the real TSM, and as I had feared, it was really quite closely at the corner,

 

 

as one can see here,

 

 

across the Firex line and below the ladder through, and left past on the angled nozzle.

 

 

Good that it was not tighter, but fortunately it has worked well.

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by spaceman

[Modeler7]

I haven't chimed in in awhile. This build is absolutely my favorite on the whole interweb thinggie. Very inspirational and informative. Just amazing model building from a first rate guy! You keep going Manfred. I kind of don't want to see the end!

[spaceman]

Thanks my friend for your pleasant compliments.

 

BTW, I can comfort you, the end is still far away and a lot of tricky things to do ...

 

Therefore stay tuned.

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by spaceman

[spaceman]

Hi everyone ,

 

after a little forced break it should now go further. 

 

At first there is still the supplement to the nozzle pipe on LH2 TSM, which now also waiting for the final assembly and mounting to the 24'' ring line, which will follow soon.

 

 

 

And so I would then also have crossed through the maze of SSWS pipes. 

 

After lately the pipe diameters became smaller from 24''-18''-16''-12''- 9'' down to 6 '', it now once again goes back to the thickest 36'' pipes (Ø 6,3 mm), through which both ring lines being supplied with water. The connecting pieces of the feed pipes in the corners of the SRB chambers I had mounted already during bending of the ring lines.

 

Source: NASA

 

And now it comes to the lower end of the tube with the connecting piece, for whose items I have again estimated their dimensions.

 

Source: Troy McClellan

 

For the construction of this connecting piece I have imagined that I could cut the 6.3 mm tube into short rings, which are subdivide by punched plastic discs (0.15 mm) and finally are glued together. 

 

 

The more difficult part of the exercise subsequently follows, when these tiny stiffening ribs and corners must be glued all-around, for which I already have an idea,  but what could become quite a tricky fumbling.

 

As far as for today.

 

[spaceman]

Hello together,

before the tiny stiffening ribs and corners get their turn, the subdivided construction of the connecting piece must first be put into practice what I first have tried, whereby I proceeded from top to bottom. 

 

This starts up on top with this conical ring (truncated cone), about which I've been thinking. 

 

One possibility would be to file off a circumferential 45° bevel to a 1 mm thick slice (Ø 8,0 mm), what is tedious and not easy if it should become perfectly round, as one can see.

 

 

Then one could also imagine a ring of triangular profile (60 °), as can be seen on the tweezers. That is not of Evergreen, but in an architecture shop I have found and was very happy.

 

But already at the hot bending of the Rings proved the profile to be quite stubbornly because it has aligned to the wood core, as it wanted,

 

 

 

and has also still twisted itself.

 

 

Thus, it could not so nice and smoothly be attached to the 36'' feed pipe (Ø 6,3 mm) as I would have liked. As can be seen, namely a gap emerged at the top, what I do not like and still has to be filled somehow.  But then one could also mould the bevel with Apoxie Sculpt.

 

 

So I wanted to try something else and have glued a slightly pre-bent triangular strips all around with CA.

 

 

 

Although this has worked a little better than before, but a smaller gap could not be avoided altogether.

 

 

 

But with the result I first times contented myself in order to test the further construction. But I definitively did not wanted to glue together the rings and discs in order to make even possibly corrections of segment heights. That's why I have  cut small 1 mm base plates of a sprue, which correspond to the inner diameter of the rings. 

 

These plates should serve as a base, on which then the rings are placed loosely without glue.

 

 

 

Then followed the stepwise construction of the connecting piece with the parts, whereby one has to pay attention on a central alignment of the slices and rings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the lower tubular segment of the connecting piece sits a double-profile ring, as can be seen in this picture.

 

Source: Troy McClellan

 

In order to scratch this ring simplified, I glued an Evergreen strip (0.4 mm x 0.5 mm) around the lower tubular segment.

 

 

 

Then I have put together all the segments, whereby the connecting piece slowly takes its shape.

 

 

 

However the lower ring appears a little too massive, maybe a strip 0.25 mm x 0.5 mm would look something more pleasing from what I could still try,  especially because the connecting piece still can be disassembled.

 

 

Now then are still missing the stiffening ribs and corners, which I will make next time.

 

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

as already indicated, the lower ring of the connecting piece I have still slimmed down a bit and by using a thinner strip of 0.25 mm x 0.5 mm.

 

 

 

And in a direct comparison of both rings the optic of the new ring (right) looks something more pleasing, I think so, 

 

 

 

but that is as always a matter of taste.

 

 

And now followed the upper eight stiffening ribs, for what I have cut short Styrene  strips (0.15 mm), which are a little longer in order to assemble and glue easier,

 

 

which I have again done with MEK.

 

 

But do not worry, I'm not on the wrong path, this should not become a turbine rotor.

 

 

And now only the protruding ends had to be carefully cut off with a razor blade from top to bottom,

 

 

which has pretty well worked.

 

However I fear, that the tiny stiffening triangles certainly shall become much more complicated and stressful. 

 

[spaceman]

Hello folks,

 

to be frightened is not an option,   and so I have got down to work, whereby the manufacture of the triangular stiffening ribs happened according to the same recipe for success.

 

First, I have cut 0.8 mm wide strips of 0.15 mm Styrene and separated from these then 3 mm long sections.

 

 

But now came the gluing, and I first tried with the normal Revell glue. But due to the minimal contact zones (0.8 mm x 1 mm) it is quite problematic to establish a sufficiently strong connection.  For the fixation of the strips it was initially sufficient, but if they would survive the reducing of the supernatants, I was not sure.

 

 

Therefore I wanted to stabilize the contacts even from both sides with MEK. But that failed because the MEK dissolves the contact point too strong, whereby the strip has lost his footing and tipped over.

 

At the 2nd attempt I have therefore the strips initially fixed only with CA, but this is quite difficult because the correct location must be found immediately and the seat almost can not be corrected. But with a little practice and a quiet hand then I have succeeded.

 

 

And after that, the strips then could be stabilized with MEK yet again.

 

 

In this position I then first have cut off the supernatants perpendicular with the razor blade.

 

 

 

And then I have gently cut off the 45° bevels, which to my surprise was actually relatively easily doable. 

 

 

 

And now I'm actually quite confident that I will be able to scratch the remaining triangular ribs on both sides of the lower disc also. Upon closer examination one can see, that there are about twice as many ribs as on the middle disc, which are also unevenly distributed over the circumference. 

 

Source: Troy McClellan

 

And then there are as a further delicacy still three pairs of rectangular ribs (0.8 mm x 1 mm) with holes (Ø 0.2 mm), which are staggered to 120°, whereupon I cannot probably renounce, or maybe yet?

 

Let's see what we can do!

 

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

here it goes on with the tricky puzzle at this connecting piece.

 

Initially, I have made intensive image analysis once more in order to accurately understand how these 30 ribs are arranged on the circumference of the pipe end, especially since one can always see only certain partial areas on most photos. And after I had reasonably decrypted the arrangement from the optics, the laborious measuring and scaling were started in order to determine the required dimensions and clearances for the scratch building, I can tell you ...

 

The starting point for the determination the position of the triangular ribs on both sides of the 3rd ring was the 120° arrangement of these rectangular pairs of ribs (0.8 mm x 1 mm) with the holes (Ø 0.2 mm).

 

Source: Troy McClellan

 

And on closer inspection you can still see these two slots, one directly between the pair of ribs, and one close to it.

 

Source: Troy McClellan

 

But for now enough of preliminary observations. 

 

However, the flipside of these great close-ups of a friend from the ARC Forums is now the implementing of these details in real components because they shrink drastically after scaling, will be seen as equal.

 

Initially I wanted to take a similar approach in the production of rib pairs as in the previous triangles ribs, for which I have glued two 0.8 mm wide Styrene strips (0.15 mm) again with some supernatant with a respective spacer (0.4 mm).

 

 

 

Previously, I had tried to bore this tiny hole (Ø 0.2 mm), which after a few failed attempts still could be realized. 

 

 

But then I would have these tiny fins (0.8 mm x 1 mm) to be glued individually what myself appeared illusory considering my sharpest tweezers, because the rib would then have glued rather to my tweezers.  So I had to go without these holes for better or worse which could still be indicated with a fineliner after painting.

 

And thus, I then made the three rib pairs without the holes.

 

 

After that, I have marked the 120° positions and have sawed the small slots,

 

 

After that, I have marked the 120° positions and have sawed the small slots,  and above it then glued the first pair of ribs with CA.

 

 

But already during cutting off the supernatant with a razor blade both ribs are broken off.  Probably I have not waited long enough, perhaps the blade was canted, or the adhesive bond was still too weak.

 

Therefore, I have the following rib pairs after the CA-attachment precautionally still stabilized with MEK. 

 

 

 

And then I have cut off the supernatant of the first couple gently and was glad that everything went well,

 

 

and looked not bad.

 

 

And then followed the other two pairs,

 

 

which proves that it works indeed so, if somewhat difficult and stressful, what in this size range is truly but no wonder.

 

 

And so tomorrow the small triangle-ribs would be on my plan, with whom I fortunately already have some experience, but nevertheless it will probably become a very nice teeming crowd. 

 

[spaceman]

Hello together,

 

and back again to the tiny ribs, although it went on only a small step today, it should become rather stressful. 

 

Here are initially the small 3 mm long strips (0.15 mm x 0.8 mm) for the triangular  ribs, 24 of which are needed.

 

 

Here 9 ribs sit above the ring, each between the rectangular ribs pairs of,

 

Source: Troy McClellan

 

and below there are even a few more, namely 15 pieces. But that was again an undertaking, which has very stressed me.

 

Firstly, the snippets are difficult to keep in the tweezers, then the front ends were carefully dipped in CA and glued, whereby one but immediately has to meet the marked spot. On the other hand some strips also were glued on the tweezers, so it was all in all again a nerve-wracking game of patience.

 

The previous intermediate result certainly looks like this, and conveys already a foretaste of what then awaits me on the underside.

 

 

 

The supernatants will be cut off tomorrow, and then follow the 15 ribs on the underside of the ring, which certainly should be even more stressful because the already small distances should move together still closer. 

 

But somehow it will work out, I hope. 

 

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

today now follows the last act of the Ribs Festival at the lower ring of the coupling socket.

 

First, the upper nine supernatants were cut off, first vertically again, to create more free movement for the 45° cuts,

 

 

and then were made very carefully the oblique sections.

 

 

Then the still missing three slots were sawed.

 

 

And only now I have glued the lower tube segment with the narrow ring definitively with MEK.

 

 

Then it went onto the underside of the ring, on which now 15 triangular ribs must be placed. And since in this narrow space it is hardly possible in order to measure tiny distances, the space was divided much more of the optics ago.

 

Therefore, I have initially glued in each case the three ribs in the interspaces below the rectangular ribs pairs,

 

 

 

and then in each case the two ribs, which are located below the ribs pairs.

 

 

 

These ribs were then cut off again initially vertically,

 

 

and finally chamfered at a 45° angle, which was truly no bed of roses.

 

 

And here, finally, is still the view of the mounting position.

 

 

And when one considers that about 60 parts were scratch-built at this pipe, then that is really hardly to believe. 

But so it is now almost done, because now only the small support is missing, with which the coupling socket of the pipe is fastened to the inner wall of the SRB chamber,

 

which can be seen in this picture. 

Source: NASA

 

Fortunately, there are only two of these feed pipes, so I have the whole procedure only to exercise once again, thank God.

 

[FlyAndFight]

Unbelievable work and attention to detail, Manfred. 

It's always inspiring to see the progress of this project.

Thanks for sharing.

[spaceman]

Thanks for your nice compliment. 

 

If also slow, but step by step, it goes forward. 

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

and thus back to the coupling socket at the other 36'' inlet pipe.   

This time, however, I did not use a triangular profile for the conical ring (truncated cone) but wanted to try it with the winding-off of the truncated cone, for which I wanted to use a thin PE sheet (0.15 mm). In doing so, I had hoped that the PE ring would let align closer to the pipe than the bulky 1 mm triangular profile.    

 

But for that one needs the winding-off of this part, whose construction however I had to look for initially.   

 

And after I had found a corresponding guidance, I tried out the design on paper on a 1: 1 scale. The truncated cone is 1 mm high and the diameters are 6.3 mm and 8.0 mm respectively (see red contour).  

 

 

 

Afterwards, I've repeated it on the thin PE-sheet and tried to cut the winding-off with the circular cutter, but because of the small size did not go so easily from the hand.  

 

 

And that was the proud part, the edges of which I then had to smooth something. 

 

 

After sticking of the first ring segmenst it was then possible to start with the gradual sticking of the winding-off above the ring, 

 

 

whereby the beginning was important, which had to be fixed tightly. 

 

 

And then it went with normal Revell glue in small steps round about.

 

 

 

 

And here is the result, whereby I find that one can already see the difference, because the new ring has leaned up closer to the pipe, and the cone is slightly more flat than the other.

 

 

After this, the ribs followed in the usual way, first the eight wider strips between the upper rings, 

 

 

 

and then the narrower strips for the underlying triangular ribs,

 

 

here after the final circumcision.

 

 

That's it for today, because now it becomes again a little more stressful.