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Orbital Docking System 3D model and Payload Bay


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Thanks Habu, very cool video.

Here is where I am currently. For the most part the modeling is done but for a few minor details. Now I just need to figure the best way for the parts break down and what options I will want to include. The docking ring itself will be a separate assembly, I just don't know the best way to make it where you can do any of the 3 positions. Perhaps include optional struts for different lengths. I'll have to work that out. It will have two of the truss storage boxes as separate parts but I may do a few others in the various styles they had throughout the program. Different missions carried them in different locations and some were totally different than what I show here. Also the lights will have to be separate parts but not sure the best to make assembly easy. Anyway, if you guys see anything else it could use or anything that needs changing let me know.

ODSAssembly_zps91702128.jpg

ODSAssembly2_zpse4ad2ed4.jpg

Thanks for looking,

Bill

Holy moly, Bill,

omgsign.gifI'm again and again surprised at what you are designing for such great models, you are for me THE 3D modeler of the year. 019.gif

Can't wait to see more. :woot.gif:

I have found this stunning shot in the NSF Forum (L2), which shows a detail from an incredible 300 megapixels image from the Atlantis exhibition. :wacko:

POtD5C.jpg

Source: nasaspaceflight.com (Naito)

Unfortunately, only half of the docking module is to see but in a fantastic resolution with great details. Maybe I can post the whole image, which is only 16 MB (24620x9736) n060.gif

BTW, in it there is also an interesting image cutout with a little surprise for Mike and his great job with the TPS tiles and blankets, which I will show in his thread. :thumbsup

:wave:

Edited by spaceman
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  • 10 months later...

Hi Bill. This is my first post here sir and was wondering if you have every finished the Orbital Docking System 3D model? I have started to work on my 1/72 Monogram space shuttle with fuel tank and boosters and thought along with all your other parts that I have purchased for her, figure this would be a nice addition for the cargo bay. Look forward to seeing more updates on your build along with the outstanding 3D models that you have done. Your build helps me, in building mine and a big thank you for it. Gary

Edited by garyshipwright
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Hi Gary! First off welcome to the forums and I'm very honored that your first post was this one. Also a huge thanks for the purchase of the other parts, if there is anything I can do to help you use them let me know.

As for the ODS, I haven't worked on it in a while for a couple of reasons. One thing is lack of much free time to work on it plus I really want to work out the best way to break it down so it's the least expensive way to print yet still retain some good detail. I will try to get back to it and get it done.

Btw, I really look forward to seeing how your build comes out using the parts, I'd love to see you post up a build thread. So again welcome to the forums, it's a great place with a lot of very helpful information and some great builders.

Bill

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Hi Bill and thank you sir. I have been hanging around here on and off for awhile, and figure it was time to say high, maybe ask for some help when it comes to building my shuttle.Seems that the site has some very good builders such as your self and very knowledgeable folks, that know the shuttle inside and out. As far as a build log I just may be up to that and have lots of question on doing one. Thanks again Bill and look forward in using the great parts of yours, in her build. Gary

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Hi guys, thanks to the friendly prodding by Gary, I think I am done with this. I will be ordering a test print of it to make sure everything fits and prints ok, but otherwise it's about ready to go. Sorry for the long delay, just life and all...you know.

I've mangaged to break it up into parts that can be printed in the cheaper White Strong Flexible material and the detailed parts to be printed in Frosted Ultra or Extreme Detail plastics. That will keep the price down to a hopefully reasonable cost. Here are some rough screen shots to show how the parts break down will be. There are other items that could be added, but it changes so much from mission to mission that in order to keep the price to a minimum, I only put the most common items. I can always add others as requested.

Here are the detail items to be printed in frosted detail plastic. Some of this is actually covered in fabric on the real thing, but it made more sense to keep all of this one structure.

fud%20assembly2_zps8nbnvdrl.jpg

Internal hatch detail and docking light fixtures.

internal%20hatch%20and%20docking%20light%20details_zpsdlhah81m.jpg

Then the main body and frame. It is pretty much totally covered in fabric on the real docking system so it can be printed in the rougher material. There are actually hand holds that could be added to this but they are too small for current print limitations so they will need to be added by the builder with scrap plastic or thin metal.

MAIN%20BODY2_zpszqanerdt.jpg

Any comment or suggestions are always welcomed.

Bill

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Thanks guys. I noticed after I placed the order that the file I uploaded to Shapeways was missing a few minor items like the handle on the upper hatch. :doh:/> Oh well, it will be added back before I make them available. I hope to have these in a couple of weeks so they should be ready to go soon after.

On a related note, I've started working on some other payload bay items and thinking about doing the payload bay frames to which the builder would add the blanket material between the frames. That's the way the real thing is and it would be much cheaper and easier than trying to replicate the blankets in a print. The items I've laid out so far are the frames, the wire ways, the miscellaneous boxes lining the two wire ways, and a few of the different shaped load bearing plates with clamps. Other than obviously the KU band antennae and some of the details along the upper ledge are there any items you guys think should definitely be added? I don't think it would make sense to 3D print the Canadarm since it's easy to do with plastic tubing.The elbow joints and mounting box might be worth doing? I'll try to get some pics of my progress posted up soon. Any suggestions and/or reference materials would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill

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Here are a couple of shots of my progress. If I decide to actually print the bay frames, I'll likely make them into 2 halves. That way they can more easily be manipulated to fit either Monogram or Revell 1/72 scale shuttles. There isn't a huge width difference, but having the ability to spread the frames would make it work better I think. Any suggestions would be welcome.

payload%20bay%20assembly_zpstkz5loql.jpg

BRACKETS_zpszbkllaw9.jpg

Bill

Edited by niart17
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Hi Bill. This is great sir and I am so impressed with your drawings that it is a honer to install them on my shuttle. One thing that model shuttles have needed for a while is good outstanding and different payload bays even if they add a couple of dollers to the cost and could never figure out why there isn't more but you sir have done a outstanding job on doing this. Don't believe my shuttle is going to get done any time soon and will be adding this as soon as I can purchase them, no pressure sir none at all. :rolleyes: Thank you. Gary

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Hi Bill. Here's a photo of why I don't think I get done any time soon. Figure out that after the first couple of hundreds, probably be seeing them in my sleep. Thanks to EGT95 for giving me ideals and such as your self a push to do this. Biggest reason is the decals doesn't cover the back end like they should and wasn't happy with their dry fit. Gary DSC_0064_zpsa3zbbwt3.jpg

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Quick question regardingthis docking system...was it used for docking with everything in space? (Example; space station, hubble telescope, ect.) TIA

Mike

The actual docking system is a Russian design that was made to dock with the Mir. When the ISS was build it was decided to continue with their system since it was already in place. The airlock was moved into the payload bay and the docking ring was incorporated on to it. I don't know the exact history of when it was all put in place. As far as I know, the docking ring was only in place on Mir and ISS missions. Someone correct me if I'm wrong there. All other satellite retrieval and repair missions used various berthing equipment.

Bill

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And sure enough, I was apparently wrong about the docking ring only being on station missions. Here is a pic I found that clearly shows the docking ring on the airlock in the foreground and the Hubble is berthed (or being berthed) into it's holding mechanism towards the rear of the shuttle.

http://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/archive/sm3b/art/miss_crit/intro/hub_sh_ear_sm.jpg

I'm not sure what mission this picture is from but it was in the news feeds for Columbia's mission STS-109 in a posting before the launch so it's from an earlier mission. AMX paper models has some layout of many of the shuttle missions on it's site so it would be worth a look to find out if any specific equipment was carried for whatever mission you wish to model.

I'll have to create a version of the detail parts that doesn't include the docking ring and has just the upper hatch of the airlock so it can be used on missions that didn't carry the docking ring. I'll just need to do a little more research on what the differences externally are.

Bill

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Niart17:

I believe the picture of the ODS/HST is from STS-103. The external airlock maiden voyage was on Discovery/STS-82 (second HST servicing mission) as shown in this pic of payload bay doors being closed for launch:

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-82/images/high/KSC-97EC-0264.jpg

STS-103 flew the external airlock with ODS ring installed as evident in this Closeout pic as the payload bay doors were closed for launch

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-103/images/high/KSC-99PP-1364.jpg

Look at the size of the solar arrays on HST in your pic. Columbia was never fitted with the external airlock, and STS-109 was when the smaller solar panels were installed on HST, so that rules out both Columbia/STS-109 and Atlantis/STS-125 servicing missions. Endeavour/STS-61 (first servicing mission) took place Deceember 1993, a little over 3 years before the first flight of the external airlock, so that rules Endeavour out. Knowing all that info led me to my answer being STS-103.

On a side note, Discovery flew with just the external airlock (no docking ring) on missions STS-82 and 85 and 95. The docking ring was installed for the final Mir docking /STS-91 mission. The only mission Endeavour ever flew without the docking ring installed on the external airlock was the STS-99 SRTM as evident in this photo of the payload being lowered into the payload bay prior to that mission:

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-99/images/high/KSC-99PP-1053.jpg

Hope this answers your question.

-Andy -

Edited by Discoveryov103
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Thanks Andy! Any idea why they opted to have the docking ring installed? Seems like extra weight for something not being used. Or was it not something that was easily installed and un-installed regularly?

Bill

Edited by niart17
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Speaking of docking ring and airlock. The Shapeways parts finally came in. I think having the details printed in Extreme detail instead of Ultra added a little time to the order. Overall I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I think a few tweaks are in order but nothing that I'd need to re-order before making them available. I think I'll beef up the angled bracing that runs from the bottom to the frame. It will bulk out once foil is added but it may be a little too fragile handling. Also I think I need to make the upper hatch separate from the docking ring structure, just to aide in painting. As it is it will be pretty tight trying to get in with a brush and do any detail painting. Here are a couple of pics before any clean-up or painting is done. I hope to have it wrapped and painted soon and I'll post some better pics. These are really crappy ones taken with my phone for now. This is only showing one storage box and the docking lights aren't attached to the frame yet. The lights are really tiny parts and they sent me extra for some reason. :thumbsup:/>

IMAG0201_zpskiauk3ae.jpg

Hard to see any detail, but the slots and struts etc...on the ring came out pretty crisp.

IMAG0198_zpsy9x1ioxp.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Bill

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Very nice!!! Do post more shots, please! I get a kick out of looking at 3D printed model parts. And that feeling, especially, of opening a Shapeways box is priceless - a mixture of joy....apprehension... even paranoia, heheh. I wish they would offer free test prints in the future, though, if that's at all possible. Sometimes it's difficult to see what to improve on -- what areas to make thicker or thinner -- until you see the actual printed part.

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Ok, I got some paint on this just to see how well it will take paint. Keep in mind my painting skills suck but it does at least give some idea of how it will look once painted. I've also been playing with ideas for the fabric covering. One thought was to print a white sheet of decal paper covered with a small dot pattern and then put that on thin aluminum foil. I may still try that but after looking at just a simple paper print out of the dot pattern it may actually work just as well. When I first primed it I went a little too heavy on the upper ring part so I had to strip off that paint and go over it again. So it's not as nice a finish I'd like but it is what it is. There still is some detail painting that needs to be done and some of the smaller parts to be attached. The pic with the paper covering is simply placed there not glued or anything to check for scale etc...

f02395c1-baa1-495a-aa6d-ec44c0ed31b8_zps8trvd0zv.jpg

70572e79-4a96-48e2-ad35-8fdda2448c9e_zpsr8ds80kr.jpg

fcf1b3da-c7d0-4502-85f6-858ad2add698_zps9ef0b7lk.jpg

1c16f2a0-2170-4531-b6e2-734066a7761e_zpsud6u2v2u.jpg

I should have all the tweaks done soon and will put it available on Shapeways if anyone is interested.

Thanks,

Bill

Edited by niart17
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Looks good! The dots would need to be a bit fainter, but it could work.

What about paper towels? Assuming a brand could be found with a similar enough pattern, would it be too thick, or too strong of a relief to be in scale at 1/72? Just a random thought I had. I always thought the payload bay had kind of a paper towel texture.

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