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Lunar Module airframe


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Thanks Pete and Bill for redirecting me to this forum and making me feel so welcome. There is certainly some great work going on here.

Have just tried to upload some pics of my LM build but they don't seem to want to come across from iphoto. Click 'insert image" but nothing happens.....does ARC accept drag & drop pics ? Don't think I'm a luddite, been Apple Mac since '86. Probably just thick.........any suggestions ?

Best

JohnB

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Welcome back John. Yes, ARC stop accepting direct drag and drop photo posting long ago because of virus issues. Now you have to use a photo hosting site, like Photobucket or something and link to your pics that way. Not hard to do, just an extra step of loading them there first and then inserting the link here. If you need some more help with finding a site, there are several to choose from. Once you decide which site you want to use and if you can't figure out how to post, just let us know and someone can help I'm sure.

I look forward to seeing your work!

Bill

Edited by niart17
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Glad you made it here johnbuck!

Can I ask ... what do you mean by 3/8" scale? 3/8 = 1 foot?

And if you've got any questions, no matter how silly they may seem to you, about posting your pix, ask away. I always use the lowest resolution when I shoot my pix, but ARC may accept higher rez pix and downsize 'em to fit.

Pete

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Not quite working yet. I'm not familiar with the flickr procedures so probably won't help. But in Photobucket, once you get them loaded on their site there is an image code that you can copy and paste in to your thread. That allows the pics to show up in your thread as images and not just links. I don't know if Flickr has the same set up or not.

Bill

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Thanks Guys

Sorry Pete .....yes 3/8" to 1 foot, equivalent to 1/32 I think. Much easier as all the Grumman/NASA of this period is in imperial of course. Still get a buzz knowing that we went to the moon in feet and inches !! that's how old I am.........

Have opened a Flikr account and uploaded a trial pic via iphoto from my photostream but only the URL comes across so...........HELP !

Cheers

John

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here is an example of what the code looks like from Photobucket. It may be similar from flickr. Take away the astriks and that's what the actual code is. When I cut and paste from the photobucket site, in my post it has [img} before and after the "http://etc...."

blankettest1_zpsc68cf458.jpg****

Maybe that helps but probably doesn't. Sorry.

Bill

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100_6532.JPG

Morning folks

Apols at being such a pain. Still no success. The link comes across as above but that is it. My son in law is calling in this evening to see if he can help, meanwhile will press on.. Everyone of you clearly manage OK......told you I was thick or perhaps its just that I am Mac based but thanks........

Cheers

John

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You may wanna join Photobucket John. There was a poll taken a couple years ago here on ARC and Photobucket was the hands down favourite for posting pix here.

I'm a Mac user too from about '88 and that has nothing to do with it! :thumbsup:/>

I don't understand why Flickr can't post pix ... sorry I can't help ya. :crying2:/>

We'll keep the light on for ya ... !

Pete

... a couple of hours later ... I just started a thread over on the Tools 'n' Tips thread to ask how other Flickr users post their pix. Keep an eye on that John. Hopefully you'll get some good info ... and save you the trouble of opening a Photobucket account!

Edited by K2Pete
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Hi Folks

thaks to a clever son-in-law I think this should now work. I didn't realise that only the url comes until you post. I think. So let us see if this works

Pete and Bill thanks so much for your efforts...really is appreciated

Cheers

8561568119_2661638d66_c.jpg

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Ok it does.......great.......so my LM build :

am using 5 & 10 thou styrene sheet + styrene microstrip with the idea of producing a model which emphasises the airframe structure. I may fit it out later as I rather like the idea of showing a LRV stored in the descent stage. We shall see.......am great at starting projects but lousy at finishing them.

Incidentally Pete it was your cracking cut-a-way and Vincent Means beautiful model that prompted me to get my derriere in gear . There will be errors of course as the LM went through so many mods for each mission ( even after the design freeze by NASA ) so this will be a sort of composite but the principal structures seem to have large stayed the same. Can provide primary references I have used if anyone is interested. I do keep a digital record of my builds as it is very much stop and start with me on the different projects and it acts as useful reminder. So 3 more pics to start.......

Cheers

John

8560889111_2d9f4138cc_c.jpg

8560385388_d3aa4c80b3_c.jpg

8561573095_e5ff0fdd32_c.jpg

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Holey schmitt ... John, John, John ... that was well worth the wait! ... but one thing ... you gotta post some more pix! :pray:

This is terrific ... and will the finished build just be structure?

No foil?

No skin?

Any fuel tanks?

Descent stage as well?

This just blows me away ... what an amazing start! And how long have you been at this build? And how didja do those rivets?

Thanx for joining up and posting ... this is gonna be another visual treat! :worship:

Pete

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See and I thought you were going to post pictures of a model, not construction photos from NASA when they were building the real LEM. What?...those are of the model? YOWWZZA! :jaw-dropping: That's incredible! Such amazing attention to detail. I agree, you gotta post more shots of this thing!

Bill

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Hello again folks

Firstly many thanks for the very complimentary and positive responses. It is much appreciated and encouraging.

As requested have posted a few more pics which I hope you will find of interest.

Pete : with ref to your questions

The rivets...( mechanical fasteners in NASA speak – I think they mean pop rivets, looks like it from some photos but cannot be sure – any ideas ) 5 thou sheet ...a steel rule... a dressmakers's pin with the head snipped of and put in a pin vice and then just prick along the rule at the spacing required. Turn the sheet over and cut out the strip to width(s) required and cement on as an overlay. A cheat certainly, but it works and gives a good impression I think and is one of the reasons I chose 3/8" scale. At 1/2" scale you would have really to rivet or use one of the rivet strips commercially available, but then you would have far less control. At 1/4" scale this technique is not so effective I have found being perhaps a little too small.

There will be no thermal blankets so as to expose as much of the engineering as possible, but I will put in all the fuel tanks on one side only , so all the bracketing will be visible on the other...that's the plan anyways. Will also build & install both engines and build the descent stage, again sectioned. Engines strictly not airframe I reckon but difficult to resist. IMHO the engineering structure is just so beautiful. The pics on the web which show the LM bare, as it were. just look more 'spaceshippy' and remind me of Chesley Bonestell's wonderful illustrations I used to drool over in the 50's. ( Now there is yet another project perhaps ...it's an idea )

If there are any questions,suggestions,further info you think might be useful, please don't hesitate .

Cheers

John

Science is about what is. Engineering is about what could be. ( Neil Armstrong )

8571251263_8a1f1e25fc_c.jpg tunnel lining

8572352786_c5bfe2f79c_c.jpg ready to cut out the centre, hatching at left shows a mistake - not quite parallel

8569543840_3bd54b7998_c.jpg fwd midsection bulkhead cemented to main frame. It was then cut back to the mainframe walls to achieve a decent fit.

8568410385_234155106b_c.jpg from the other side.....this time I remembered to cut out all the rings for the longerons of the crew section. Same diameter.

8568402623_8a16d15922_c.jpg method of making the midsection longerons. They aint just plain curves ! 2 straight edges at differing angles and then the curve which makes them a bit fiddly.

8569504366_a8f43bd334_c.jpg midsection wall with longerons going in with the 5 thou rivet overlays. Latter went down first to ensure the longerons were vertical.

8568393223_6290d0a49b_c.jpg midsection aft bulkhead with most of the main beams in.

8569474024_0ccb7ddc07_c.jpg tunnel assembly coming along and cemented to upper MS deck. Masking tape 'vices' on a chunk of plate glass keeps everything nice and flat ( of which I am clearly a great fan but it can leave a residue which has to cleaned of with meths/scrapping ).

8569517906_53c5e4bd6b_c.jpg overhead hatch with the various latches almost complete and ready to insert.

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This is simply remarkable John!

This is the kind of modeling I love to watch come together ... it's not about slapping 2 fuselage halves together ... it's about showing how something is actually built so that the viewer can get something else out of looking at it, instead of just noting the quality of the paint or decal application. Even when I look at a model of a jet plane, let alone the real thing, I don't just wanna see the visual beauty of it, I want to see how they've tucked all the Avionics, electronix, weaponry and structure into that airframe ... in effect, I want to know what's behind the curtain ... and your build, as of right now, is really satisfying to view! :thumbsup:

How many hours have you already spent on this?

And where ... oh where ... did you find all that structure detail? Was all this on the S/CAT site? I remember going there when I was building my LMs but do NOT recall seeing the detail you're installing here.

Methinks you've done some building before ...

Thanx

Pete

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8568410385_234155106b_c.jpg

Really great job, I am impressed buy this new LM. I do not want to be a prophet of doom but I am wandering whether the pressurized cabin of this mid-section is not too narrow. I have corrected my blueprint to give you the measurements at 1/32 in cm.

image110.jpg

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Thanks for you kind words again Pete. Good to know someone out there is on the same page as me re structures.......imagine a 747 in the Science Museum in London with it skin removed.......now that would be a display. Thanks also Lunokhod2 ....this would have frit me to death a time ago but...........

I started this build last October. I abandoned a 1/2" build some years ago because at this scale you really need the Grumman engineering drawings as virtually everything should go in and as there were some 20000 + at the rate of 400 per week between 1965 & 1966 alone ( ref Moon Lander by Thomas J Kelly - a great read and I highly recommend it )............. There will have to be quite a lot of guesswork on this build but sticking to sound engineering principles, hopefully at 3/8" the model will look OK.

The S/CAT site was ( v.sadly past tense it seems ) excellent. But working from photos is difficult because of dimension distortions through perspective etc. I could not get things to match up, but then I found this last summer

http://heroicrelics.org/info/lm/lm-structural.html

problem solved at a stroke.......wonderful........ LT4 ended up as Snoopy.

Re the drawings from Vincent Meens' wonderful model. Perhaps he did not find the NASA appendix A configuration description ( will give the web site when I find it amongst my mounds of stuff ...apols ) Quote : " The midsection is formed by two segments of a cylinder.........The cylindrical segments have a radius of 92.0 inches. " Which is of course also the diameter of the crew section and makes perfect structural sense. But these things nag at me ...the dimensioned drawings above do not give this radius and seem to look similar to, not only Vincent's drawing but some of the Grumman manufacturing pics but......I work with a planospheric magnifying glass so shoving a ref photo from 'Building Moonships by Joshua Stoff ' under it and viewing slightly to one side..........viola.........camera distortion .... so it 92" radius it is. Works on my model too. I aint going to argue with NASA.......... So beware dimensioning from photos. Will try for a pic later do demonstrate.

Building Pete......well ...yeh....started on paper Micromodels in the late forties. Spaceships....Jetex and balsa wood and tissue paper. There was a Worlds Collide rocket Jetex kit on ebay recently and it went for nearly £400 ............remember the kit coming out ...21/6 ? and I was on 6d a week pocket money. Ah happy days........ Have a look.

Cheers

John

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WHEN-WORLDS-COLLIDE-JETEX-KIT-ZYRA-SPACESHIP-ROCKET-WILMOT-MANSOUR-1951-/310583132918?nma=true&si=UWYkiPZXE%252B5QPZ6YzOo2UiQEkEQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

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Apologies folks,

http://heroicrelics.org/info/lm/lm-structural.html

I did't give you the guy who has built this extraordinary web site. His name is Mike Jetzer and all credit to you Sir if you should ever read this. Thank you so much. There really is some great stuff here and not just space and plenty of useful links.

JB

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