Tamiya 1/100 Space Shuttle

[Hotdog]

Thanks guys for the input! I was wondering if I should breakout my artist's spray fixative, but I was worried about yellowing the plastic. I guess on the flat black engines I shouldn't be too worried.

I'll see if I can find some Tamiya Basic gray putty, that sounds nice

[DutyCat]

Just grind up your pastel powder with fine grit sandpaper (320 grit minimum) and if the surface finish is nice and flat, it will bind with it just fine without the need for a clearcoat. I've done that for years with no problems.

This is true also.

[K2Pete]

I read on Mike's shuttle thread that you haven't been able to find too many old pix of Discovery.

Here's the NASA site I use ... in case you haven't seen it yet.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm

On the RIGHT hand side, below the banner image, you'll see "Categories". Under "Space Shuttle" scroll down to Discovery.

Then on the LEFT side of that black panel, at the bottom you'll see "Sort By:". Click on "Oldest Files First" the the BLUE "GO+" button on the RIGHT side and then you'll get 6829 results, with some nice oldish photos.

If you've used this site before, then forget everything you've just read ...

[Hotdog]

I read on Mike's shuttle thread that you haven't been able to find too many old pix of Discovery.

Here's the NASA site I use ... in case you haven't seen it yet.

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm

On the RIGHT hand side, below the banner image, you'll see "Categories". Under "Space Shuttle" scroll down to Discovery.

Then on the LEFT side of that black panel, at the bottom you'll see "Sort By:". Click on "Oldest Files First" the the BLUE "GO+" button on the RIGHT side and then you'll get 6829 results, with some nice oldish photos.

If you've used this site before, then forget everything you've just read ...

Yeah, and only the first 60 images are from before 1997. Of these 60 images, very few offer much detail. Most are faraway shots. The clear images I need to get the detail you guys are going after just doesn't exist for the time period I am seeking to replicate, at least not online. At best, I may use more recent images of Discovery and perform a bit of "age restoration" to try and show a more youthful looking orbiter.

[Hotdog]

Well it's been awhile since I've worked on my orbiter. I guess I got a bit too bogged down with all the sanding and puttying and needed a break. I hope to get my butt out to the hobby store this weekend and see about finding some better putty before I go any further with it.

Meanwhile, I've done a little work on the decals. I keep finding more and more errors and omissions with the decals that came with the kit. Here are the custom decals I have created so far:

And if that window decal looks familiar, I got it from crowe-t :)

[crowe-t]

The new decals look great and I love that window decal! ;)

Edited July 19, 2012 by crowe-t

[spaceman]

Hi Hotdog,

nice work with the decals so far, I love it!!! But I wonder why you do not also have indicated the tiles of the window-frames, as one can see in this close up photo?

Source: NASA

This is surely a breeze for you as a master of decal design, isn't it? But perhaps you are planning to add these details later on ...

[Hotdog]

Good eye, Spaceman! I'll make sure I put those in there. I was needing to touch up on the bolts around the windows anyway since they're a bit oblong.

[crowe-t]

Hotdog,

I have the windows printed on decal paper and even at 1/72 scale the frames are quite narrow. The bolts around the frames do look round when printed since they're so tiny although I know the spacing isn't 100% accurate. At 1/144 scale the bolts appear as dots. As far as the individual tiles, there may not be enough space left without the frames looking too busy and the details getting lost. You should add some details on a small section and test print them, on decal paper if possible, to see if it even shows up when printed. I've found decal paper doesn't have the resolution of photo paper.

Mike.

Edited July 19, 2012 by crowe-t

[spaceflightengineer]

Great advice guys. I'm gonna glue the wings on first, give it another hit with the putty, and then break out the heavy grit sanding sticks and go to town on it!

I'm enjoying your build of the Tamiya orbiter- I still have mine with some minor assembly done, awaiting completion- it's been waiting since it was first issued

(at the time I was busy with the real thing...). One of your first posted pix showed tube glue. Is this what you primarily use for modeling and can I ask, why?

Continue the great work- I'm looking forward to the finished product (and hints- I'm always ready to "borrow" from fellow modelers...).

BP

[spaceflightengineer]

Hotdog,

I have the windows printed on decal paper and even at 1/72 scale the frames are quite narrow. The bolts around the frames do look round when printed since they're so tiny although I know the spacing isn't 100% accurate. At 1/144 scale the bolts appear as dots. As far as the individual tiles, there may not be enough space left without the frames looking too busy and the details getting lost. You should add some details on a small section and test print them, on decal paper if possible, to see if it even shows up when printed. I've found decal paper doesn't have the resolution of photo paper.

Mike.

Hmm- I assume by "bolts" you mean the circles that on the real craft are threaded slugs of tile material, threaded in and covering the fasteners for the window frames. A more accurate representation

versus dots would be some tiny diameter tubing pressed against the black paint (or perhaps decal) and twisted to give a scored circle effect (in white). A perfect white circle isn't what it should resemble, but a partial random effect.

...just my 2 centavos....

BTW- this may be off topic but Fair Sailing to Dr. Ride. She was a fine human, a true professional and actually a lot of fun. Thx.

BP

[Pinky coffeeboat]

Hi,

As spaceflightengineer says, it may be a little off topic or deserve it's own thread, but I was saddened to hear of her death. Can't believe she was 61, somehow I imagined her to be still in her early thirties - doesn't time fly.

RIP Dr.Sally Ride.

[Hotdog]

DAY 6: 5.5 hours (19.5 hours total)

After spending the last few weeks tinkering with the decals, it's time to get back to the kit build.

First I went to the hobby store and picked up some badly needed items. I grabbed a tube of the green putty you guys speak so highly of, as well as a handy pair of tweezers, some emery boards, and some styrene.

Most interesting was the sheet of tile styrene I found in the model railroad section. The scale of the tiles are slightly small for my 1/100 shuttle, but I thought I'd pick up a sheet and see if I could find a use for it. Here's a photo of the tiled styrene with an OMS pod for reference:

I printed out a small half-sheet of some of the decals I have so far on Bel Decal laser paper. I used both the clear and the white and did some testing on some spare plastic parts. Then I decided to dive right into finishing the cockpit.

It took 45 minutes just to apply the cockpit decals! I don't remember it taking this long when I built these orbiters as a kid. Maybe I was more careless then! The tweezers really came in handy when applying the decals. I had no problems with curling or ripping like I remember having in the past. I attribute this to the quality of the paper.

Alright, now let's glue the seats and the top of the dashboard into place.

Now we're ready for the astronauts!

I'm pretty happy with how the cockpit turned out!

[Hotdog]

Next I began the painstaking task of making the engine fuel lines out of wire. Before I started building this kit, I had planned on doing this first. I'm glad I didn't, because I probably would have gotten frustrated and lost interest in this whole thing! Cutting the pieces of wire down to the right length, bending and shaping them into the right shape and making them fit the curve of the engine bell is a slow and tedious process, especially at such a small scale. It took me 45 minutes to make the first piece, and then I messed it up when I clipped the ends too short trying to make it fit where it was supposed to go. So I had to start all over! Arrgh!

So after 90 minutes total, I had finished the first of the fuel lines. Each engine is going to get two of these. But no more for tonight! On to another part of the build.

I decided I would use the tiled styrene sheets to make the piece that goes under the OMS pods.

And there is what she looks like so far.

[crowe-t]

You've been busy! The cockpit looks fantastic!

It looks like you have quite a few hours ahead working on the SSME fuel lines.

Those pieces on the OMS pods look real nice.

Mike.

Edited August 5, 2012 by crowe-t

[Hotdog]

Thanks Mike. I'm hoping the process of making the SSME fuel lines gets faster as I get more used to doing the metal-working with the pliers. It's been a long time since I've done this kind of crafting. :blink:

I'm a little concerned about the depth of the "grout" between the tiles under the OMS pods. It's a bit too deep, too obvious looking. Perhaps I could add a bit of putty or do some other technique for making the texture a bit more subtle?

[crowe-t]

I agree, adding a small bit of putty will probably help the texture to look more in scale but so far you are off to a good start. You might also want to try sanding the texture down a bit to save time adding putty.

Mike.

Edited August 5, 2012 by crowe-t

[spaceman]

Hi Hotdog,

your cockpit with the astronauts looks great.

What kind of wire did you use for making the engine fuel lines?

[Hotdog]

I'm not real sure what kind of wire it is Spaceman. Its just a loose piece I picked up at the hardware store on my lunch break one day. They had a bunch of different gauges of wire and I picked the one that looked like it was to scale for my engines and continued about my shopping without paying any attention to what I was actually buying. I can tell you that at long lengths the wire is quite flimsy and bendable, but at the shorter lengths like what I was working with here, it is not near as flexible as it may look. It looks like it should bend as easily as an office staple, but in reality it bends more like a large paper clip.

I was thinking about stripping twist-ties that come with plastic garbage bags and using those since they are so flexible. But they're almost TOO flexible, as they can get bent out of shape very easy.

At the rate I'm going, I'll be needing to go back to the hardware store and get some more wire. Maybe then I can take a closer look at what I'm buying and give you a better answer.

[composerman]

Your work is really good! Have you considered brass wire. I have used it in the past and it bends rather nice. Just a thought.

[Hotdog]

Your work is really good! Have you considered brass wire. I have used it in the past and it bends rather nice. Just a thought.

No I have not. Does it come in silver? I may pick some up to try next time.

[composerman]

Unfortunately no. You would need to paint them. I have also seen aluminum wire at the hobby shop here in town before. That might work. Keep up the amazing work!

[Hotdog]

DAY 7: 5 hours (24.5 hours total)

Back to working on the SSME fuel lines today. I seemed to move a little faster with my metal working today and did a pretty nice job on a set for the second engine in about 35 minutes. However, I got a bit careless on the third engine and had to start over twice when I cut the ends off too short again. I even managed to prick my finger while trying to shape it to curve of the engine bell. Oh well, as a wise student back in art school once said, "ya gotta suffer for your art, kid."

So here's how they turned out. I'm pretty pleased with the realistic look the wire adds to the engines:

So I'm halfway done with the fuel lines. So far, so good!

Next I took Mike's advice and sanded down the tile texture under the OMS pods. This made them a bit more subtle, just as I had wanted. Now it's not so noticable! And I didn't have to use any putty, just an emery board and some elbow grease (or in this case, should I say finger grease?)

After that, I decided to break out my new tube of green putty and see if it's as good as ya'll say it is. First I tested it out on some of the spare Spacelab payload parts. Although I'm not a big fan of the green color on my white orbiter, the oily consistancy is alot better than the flaky Testors putty I was using. The Testors stuff dried out so fast, you didn't have time to smooth it with your finger.

Since the green stuff comes in such a big tube, there's no such thing as just applying a little dab of the stuff. I figured I'd have to use the masking technique from here on out. Here I go touching up a few areas:

While I was at it, I went ahead and sanded off the rest of the payload bay door hinges. I'll be making my own hinges with strip styrene that should be more accurate than what was molded into the kit.

At this point, my orbiter is pretty dirty from all the sanding and masking tape stickum and will be getting a good Windex bath soon. It's getting close to time to start painting the fuselage! Any advice on cleaning and prep for painting? I'm kinda nervous about this part and I sure don't want to screw up this far along into the build.

[crowe-t]

The SSME's look nice and accurate!

Blue masking tape might be good to use since it comes off easier leaving none of the stickiness. Of course Tamiya masking tape is a great choice but a bit overkill(and expensive) for these procedures above.

I also like to use Squadron White putty. I mainly like that it matches the white plastic which helps when spraying on primer. It's about the same as the green putty but seems to sand a tiny bit easier, well maybe it's just me and only seems that way.

Windex should do the trick with the cleaning. I find that the actual Windex brand works better then the no-name brands.

Edited August 6, 2012 by crowe-t

[Hotdog]

DAY 8: 2 hours (26.5 hours total)

I've fooled around a little bit with my build this evening and here is what I've done. First, I glued the payload bay doors together with a couple of strips of styrene for reinforcement. I had to use two strips thanks to the rib detail on the inside of the doors. The styrene should reinforce the doors and make it a bit more sturdy once the doors are glued to the fuselage.

Next I decided to test-fit a paper printout of the forward looking windows. This is the modified 1/72 pattern that I got from crowe-t. I was a bit concerned when I scaled it down and layed it over the existing Tamiya window decal and noticed that it didn't quite line up the same way.

By the way, here's a tip: cut out the inside of the windows before you cut around the outside. This makes it a lot less likely that you will rip the paper, as I did with the first one you see here:

So here's how the paper test decal looked when taped around the windows.

Houston, we have a problem! Most obvious is the extra window space at the bottom of the corner windows, and the gaps in between each of the window corners. It's looking like I'm going to have to take the masking tape off the windows and mask them up to apply putty to these small areas. What do you guys think? Is there another solution that I'm not thinking of? The decal is pretty accurate to the real orbiters so I want to change that as little as possible (although I may add a small black hairline around the outside edges of the window frames just to make them a tad bit thicker since they appear a bit thin compared to my reference photos).