Another 1/32 Lunar Module

[johnlove_mk_II]

Oh good, I'm making a note of that ... I prefer to spray acrylic too.

Docking window looks fabu, making note of that as well.

[crackerjazz]

Thanks, John! Made the landing point designator today.

Some cleanup is in order. Also, there's a missing long horizontal hash mark near the bottom that would be difficult to add now. I saw some good reference pics once that I was trying to find earlier but couldn't. And they all turned up on google only after I'd completed the window subassembly. Someday I hope that a 1/32 silkscreen decal set for this kit with all the necessary white markings would come our way. For now this looks like an LPD to me -- I'm ok with it...I'm ok with it..I'm ok with it(done with slow deep breaths to convince myself better, heheh).

Edited September 20, 2015 by crackerjazz

[Hotdog]

Gorgeous work on those windows! Keep it up!

[crackerjazz]

Thanks for reading, Hotdog, and glad you liked them! : )

[crackerjazz]

[crackerjazz]

Vincent's coating patterns are heaven-sent.

I'm trying to replicate the wrinkles as best I could.

It can be difficult to control where the folds go, though. You adjust an area and the other side flattens down, etc.

But I guess the important thing is that it gives an idea of the micrometeoroid shielding material.

This area seems to be more flat when the ship is at rest than when in flight. Maybe because the shielding floats somewhat when it's up there as opposed to when it's on the ground and the moon's gravity pulls it down? Or maybe it's just the lighting -- I'm not sure.

Anyway, I'm building this in-flight and plan to dock it with CSM so I'll go for the more ballooning look.

Edited September 26, 2015 by crackerjazz

[crackerjazz]

[K2Pete]

Ho-lee Schmitt crackerjazz ... this is just fee-nom-in-all!

Love it ... Love it ... LOVE it!

[habu2]

This area seems to be more flat when the ship is at rest than when in flight. Maybe because the shielding floats somewhat when it's up there as opposed to when it's on the ground and the moon's gravity pulls it down? Or maybe it's just the lighting -- I'm not sure.

I'd say it's just the lighting. On the lunar surface the fwd facets are always in shadow.

[K2Pete]

Is the material you're using the same 'tissue' you've been using? It's looks sturdier somehow ... like thicker aluminum foil or sheet.

And don't sweat the wrinkles ... this looks so authentic, compared to just painting the plastic's surface.

When it's done, I sure hope you show this at model shows ( Ajax?? Hamilton?? ) and submit it to FSM or any, and EVERY, other model magazine. Other modellers NEED to see this model. Details like the double window panes will just elude them, but still ...

Pete

[crackerjazz]

Hi Habu2, yes it could just be the lighting. I'll try to find some more reference shots to see the wrinkle patterns better. Hi Pete -- yeah I need to stop worrying too much -- that has actually kept me from completing anything. But yes -- off to Ajax we go once this is done :) It's the same material. Only, I've scrubbed off the gold color using microfiber cloth and rubbing alcohol. The gold dye bleeds through the paint whenever I try to paint it, so this should do the trick. I didn't notice it before but you're right it does look kind of thicker without the color.

I'm trying to experiment using Apoxie Sculpt to kind of smoothen the areas first before I lay down the tissue foil. Just so the double-side tape with stick better. I just really need to put some along the edges where the tape would go.

I got some more parts yesterday!

These are fantastic, Vincent!

Crossover truss assemby. Beautiful piece of art.

You almost don't want to break them off the sprues.

[crackerjazz]

Oh Vincent -- got a question -- that line that spirals around the strut towards the landing pad end -- could it be just a printing artifact, or is it actually a cable?

Edited October 5, 2015 by crackerjazz

[habu2]

Hi Habu2, yes it could just be the lighting. I'll try to find some more reference shots to see the wrinkle patterns better.

Have you looked here? Scans of every Apollo film mag scanned at 1800 dpi:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/albums

Those 3D printed struts look fantastic!

[Lunokhod 2]

Hi Joseph,

Yes the spiral is a cable but it is only visible on Apollo 14 landing legs where the bottom part of the main strut was not covered with foil. I love your experiment with Apoxie Sculpt. I bought some recently but haven't tried it yet.

Vincent

[crackerjazz]

Wow!!! That is some collection! Bookmarked -- thanks, habu2! :) Hi Vincent -- awesome, thanks!

[spaceman]

Hi Joseph,

this Apoxie Sculpt seems to be a great stuff, did you even sanded this area, dry or wet, and with which grain size?

I'm trying to experiment using Apoxie Sculpt to kind of smoothen the areas first before I lay down the tissue foil. Just so the double-side tape with stick better. I just really need to put some along the edges where the tape would go.

I got some more parts yesterday!

These filigree Shapeways parts look outstandingly and have an amazing surface quality, :blink: which kind of material is it, Frosted Ultra Detail (FUD)?

What is the diameter of the thin struts?

[crackerjazz]

Hi Manfred, I was kind of lucky with that area -- I kneaded some Apoxie Sculpt to somewhere between doughy to a pasty consistency and applied it with a razor blade in one pass without any sanding. Where I'm not lucky and marks show I repeat the sweep, or even wet the edge of the razor blade and make another pass (which can be done over and over). My advice is to make it as smooth as you can instead of relying on sanding later. Working time is really long - 2+ hours. And you can regularly moisten it with water within that period to smoothen it or make it softer. If you do decide to sand it later -- give it a day and you can sand it like normal solid putty. Maybe I really should have just ordered a bottle of XTC-3D as Hotdog had recommended earlier but then I still had the apoxie laying around.

Some areas of the aft section I did have to sand as I was experimenting on sloppy application and had to a use a coarse and medium grit squadron sanding stick. This is the result of the aft section. The only areas I hadn't done are the thruster housings and the pressure plate area which will be hidden when the plate is glued on. Oh well -- everything will be hidden anyway -- but still, I think it will make a huge difference for the thin double-sided tape. Not that it doesn't stick but a smoother surface means greater contact area and less likelihood of lifting.

As for the struts -- yes, they're all FUD. The long struts on the outriggers have a 3mm diameter. Where they taper down the ends are about 1.5mm. Diameter of the main struts is 4.93mm. The small parts of the ascent stage are remarkable, though. I never thought they could print such designs at that size. The wire loop of the VHF antenna is .6mm. I also had them printed in FUD. I didn't check if they're available in the newer material -- but I'm trying to save :)

Edited October 8, 2015 by crackerjazz

[spaceman]

Hi Joseph,

thank you for your detailed presentation of working with Apoxie Sculpt, your results are absolutely convincing.

What I've seen in some tutorials looks like child's play, so I'm going to try this wonder drug also.

It looks as if Shapeways has further improved their technology, the quality of very thin parts is really fantastic.

[crackerjazz]

Thanks, Spaceman!

I got carried away with smoothing out all the facets completely with apoxie sculpt and sanding down. I had to remove all the panels (edit: panel = tissue foil) I've already completed, even the docking window area. It was painful to see them go but my foolishness was unstoppable.

I sanded the parts further with finer-grit sanding sticks and buffed them to a nice shine, which doesn't show in the pics too well. But they're pretty smooth now. I think I'm ready to start over with the coatings :)/>/> (ducking from the flying broken beer bottles)

Edited October 11, 2015 by crackerjazz

[Youngtiger1]

Bro, may I ask why you removed your epoxy work? I thought it looked great and from what I understand the surface from all 3D printing needs some amount of fine sanding/buffing. Just curious about you sanding it all of again. TIA

Edited October 11, 2015 by Youngtiger1

[crackerjazz]

Oh, sorry for being unclear in that post. I didn't remove the epoxy work -- I meant the model is now devoid of any tissue foil. The apoxie sculpt is just great. In fact all the facets are now smooth, thanks to the product. I applied it using a double-edge razor and sometimes you can make it smooth in one go. Most other times you'll have application marks and hills and valleys and some sanding is required to level it all down -- thus the pic above.

In regards to sanding printed parts -- so far I've had luck only with FUD. As for WSF(white strong flexible)-- which the main parts are printed out of --- sandpaper seems to just glide over it. It's really grainy though -- perfect for applying apoxie sculpt as it provides good bite. I've learned some good lessons from this build -- the most valuable one being that I should really just follow Hotdog's advice and try a bottle of XTC-3D.

[Hotdog]

Yeah with the XTC-3D, you just brush on a very thin coat, let dry, and you're done. No sanding necessary. :D

The Apoxie Sculpt looks like it sands like a dream though, and I will be ordering some!

[crackerjazz]

Hi Hotdog - yeah, especially after a day or two when it's completely dry -- it sands beautifully.

Habu2 is right about the lighting and how it makes the wrinkles smoothen out.

So much to glean from by adjusting the brightness.

I've also been studying the black panels (which I mistakenly referred to as inconel earlier) and how they crumple differently from the beige ones.

Behaves almost like paper, it seems -- the way it crumples.

Anyway, I'm starting over with the coatings, and I'll start with the black panels instead. Recently I picked up a pre-assembled cabinet from a furniture store. When I took it home and opened the box it was the paper separator that drew my attention and not the cabinet. It was very thin paper and the crumpling pattern seems to match the black areas of a scale LM very nicely. It doesn't seem to be wax paper (which I don't think paint would stick to) but it seems to have a coating that makes it stronger and not porous. And it has a slight sheen to it. I think it would paint nicely. My wife must have caught on to what I was doing when I folded the paper neatly and stowed it away safely in my supplies box.

I applied it the same way I did with the tissue foil. I crumpled it more where it should and stuck it with double-sided tape just along the edges. It looks pretty good to me - what do you guys think? I'll be using it for just the black (or should I say dark gray) panels as they have that particular look.

[niart17]

That looks awesome. Perfect match to the texture and crumpling effect. Can't wait to see this thing come together. I never knew how amazingly different the various surfaces were on an LEM. It's a very interesting study on thermodynamics and engineering.

Bill

[crackerjazz]

Thanks, Bill! I've been experimenting with the colors and I found a winner in Testors Navy Agressor Gray Enamel deepened with black. I thin it with mineral spirits. It sprays nicely and doesn't dry as quickly as it would using thinner so I find it levels really smooth. I also tried sculpting some areas with putty and painting it but it doesn't have the billowy, fragile, look of the black shielding (although it's most probably because my sculpting sucks) so I scrapped that method and I'll stick with this route instead. I'm pretty happy with the effect. I've yet to see if the mrs will detect the smell - I found it tolerable and it's a small model so I'm really not spraying a lot.

Edited November 2, 2015 by crackerjazz