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1/72 Saturn V ... a semi-scratch amalgamation


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oooo, this would a great way to make a nice Apollo SM wrap, an easy way to update my old Revell 1/48 kit from a Block 1 to Block 2!

(sorry for the thread hijack)

Edited by habu2
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Anyone ever use Ponoko? They're like Shapeways in that they print 3D stuff but they also provide 2D laser cutting and embossing. I'm going to give them a try and have them cut out this ...

ScreenShot2014-02-20at112141AM.png

Just cutting out all this would take a few hours, not to mention scribing everything ... with a 50% off coupon code, it's only around 25 bucks. Awesome, eh?

I wonder if I could use this site to produce my shuttle tile set? I haven't had any luck with laser engraving styrene, can they do that? And can they do it on thin .010" sheet? I guess I need to dive into their site and find out.

The engines look great by the way. Josh is a whiz at 3D rocketry!

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They only offer .5mm styrene as an option on their site, but it's worth inquiring to see if they can do thinner. From what I understand, they use a coversheet material to help mitigate the melting and shrinkage.

My parts are in-route and should arrive Thursday, I can't wait to see how they turned out.

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The Ponoko order arrived yesterday. Everything turned out pretty great. I'm really happy with the results. Here are the picts ...

DSC01235.jpg

DSC01241.jpg

DSC01242.jpg

DSC01245.jpg

All cuts are crisp and very precise and there's a slight appearance of a melted edge. The “scored” lines have a slight “lip” to them, much like freshly scribed or cut piece of styrene. The actual thickness of the sheet is .7mm, not .5mm.

Overall, I’m completely satisfied … I’m already getting another set of drawings ready for S-II thrust structure parts.

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Tooling around on the NTRS server and I found a really cool report on building a 1/10 scale model of the Saturn V. This is the way you build a model. :woot.gif:/>

Read it here.

"This model was designed to duplicate, in miniature, as many of the full-scale structural elements as was economically and technically feasible." - quote from the report.

Edited by johnlove_mk_II
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The Ponoko order arrived yesterday. Everything turned out pretty great. I'm really happy with the results. Here are the picts ...

DSC01235.jpg

DSC01241.jpg

DSC01242.jpg

DSC01245.jpg

All cuts are crisp and very precise and there's a slight appearance of a melted edge. The scored lines have a slight lip to them, much like freshly scribed or cut piece of styrene. The actual thickness of the sheet is .7mm, not .5mm.

Overall, Im completely satisfied … Im already getting another set of drawings ready for S-II thrust structure parts.

John, these came out awesome! Just curious, do they come on an adhesive sheet or are they just not cut all the way around and you cut the "sprue" tabs or...? My wheels are spinning now!!

Thanks for posting,

Bill

Edited by niart17
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The paper is a masking tape type of material. I’m not completely sure of the process, but I think they cut the “embossed” lines and cut-throughs on the front, with the paper on the back … apply the paper on the embossed/cut side to hold everything together. Oh, and there’s no tabs, you just peel the part off the backing paper.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Building at a glacial pace.

So here's my first foray in to vacuum forming.

vacu_1.jpg

Here's the former. Built from a wooden "craft box" ... that's 391 holes by the by.

vacu_2.jpg

A canvas frame with a .04" thick sheet stapled to it. I place this in the oven, on broil at 500° ... wait until it starts to sag. Like REALLY starts to sag. Flip the vacuum on, pull out the frame and slap it down on the former.

vacu_3.jpg

Presto. Tank dome.

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Built from a wooden "craft box" ... that's 391 holes by the by.

Is that one of those hinged-type boxes you find at craft stores? A vacuum-forming box is on my list of to-dos (someday).

If anyone's interested, George Gassaway has a nice article with tips on vacuum-forming, including a design for frames for holding the plastic: http://georgesrockets.com/GRP/Articles/vacuform.htm

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It is indeed. I removed all the hardware and after drilling a whole bunch of holes, glued the lid on with Elmer's wood-glue. I was concerned it may have been a little too deep and would effect the suction, but it worked like a charm.

Cool. I'll keep that in mind; it certainly would be easier than building my own, anyway. About what size box are you using, and about how thick is the top with the holes? Do you think you'll have problems with the wood top warping over time from heat/pressure?

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The box I used measures 9.5"x7" ... I mainly picked that size to accommodate the 5.25” domes I wanted to reproduce. The the top and bottom are made of a thin plywood, so fortunately the suction doesn’t seem to deform them too much.

I managed to pull three more large domes (one for S-IC and two for S-II) and one smaller (S-IVB) this weekend. I’m pretty pleased with the process so far, it’s another tool in the arsenal. Now if I could only get my photo-etch process rolling, that would be really great.

Edited by johnlove_mk_II
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Lovely job on the vac-forming. Did it work the first time for ya or were there a few trial-and-error attempts?

And I hafta ask ... what didja use for the dome 'master' to pull a 5.25" copy and even bigger ones for the S-1C and S-II?

Thanx

Pete

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There was a little bit of a curve, but it only took three attempts to get a viable part. The first attempt I used a styrene “beware of dog” sign and it was a a disaster for a couple of reasons. The plastic was too thin and the printing on the sign must be a different plastic (vinyl perhaps?). At any rate, it sort of crackled and shrank. It stunk up the whole house. The second attempt I used a proper clean sheet of .04” styrene sheet … I hadn’t thought to drill a hole for the center of the dome, so it came out looking a lot like a certain part of the female anatomy. (It was at this point that my girlfriend asked, ‘What ARE you doing!?”) The third attempt came out perfectly.

I’m actually using Plastruct domes for the masters. Those domes are kinda expensive for what they are, so I thought I’d save a little money, make what I needed and learn a new process.

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  • 1 month later...

Clicking on this link it shows just one F1 listed under the given price. Just to make sure, is that the listing for the whole cluster, or just one engine? Thnx,

Tracy

It appears that is the price for one. Typically what you see in the rendering is what is printed . I could be wrong but that's what it looks like to me.

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It’s been a while, eh? Had a few paying projects to get out of the way, but had a free weekend to get things rolling again.

S-IC Forward dome

I originally approached the weld lines by trying to scribe them. It just didn’t look correct to me, so I glued some .10 x .10 strip in its place. That too didn’t look correct, but I’m thinking it looks “more” correct than the latter. They are a little too proud of the tank surface, so I’ll try to sand them down a bit to make them less starkly apparent. I do like the look though, even if they're way out of scale.

DSC01272.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Slow progress continues.

Should be receiving another Ponoko order in the next few days. This time I’m having parts cut for the S-IC forward skirt innards. Mainly interlocking rings and supports that I’m too lazy to cut out, and parts to master the tie-downs.

ScreenShot2014-05-20at94937AM.png

I also dropped a penny on a Craft-style “die-cutter” … it’s a Silhouette Portrait.

This thread at RM web sealed the deal for me. Give it a read through, these train guys are doing some pretty cool stuff.

Lots to learn but this could get pretty cool, very fast.

Edited by johnlove_mk_II
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This is exactly what I need to produce my shuttle tile sets myself! Assuming it will engrave as well as cut. Only problem is, I need one that will handle a 14" wide sheet.

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