niart17 Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Not horrible at all. I think it looks great! In some ways it sucks that Dragon skipped out on a lot of the details. But in retrospect, it did make it an affordable LARGE scale kit that can be tinkered with to make a great replica. I guess that's what counts in the long run. A super accurate highly detailed kit at this scale would be outrageously priced. Keep up the great work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K2Pete Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Gee whiz ... you're awfully hard on yourself. The bulkhead, to my eye is either a dome or hemisphere ... is there a noticeable difference? Uh-h-h ... no. And I agree whole-heartedly with Bill ... Dragon really cut too-o-o many corners ... I won't even look at one of their Apollo kits. You're doing a terrific job on this ... don't get too caught up in the weeds. Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnlove_mk_II Posted March 4, 2019 Author Share Posted March 4, 2019 Thanks guys. I'm trying not to be too critical, especially with these, but ... you know. 😉 Didn't get to work very much this weekend, but I did start on the skirt interiors. Had to remove some vertical "guide" plastic doodads and then lay in the structural rings and vertical "stiffeners". Still need to add the little diagonal struts that attach to the interface ring and center ring. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Jack King...the "voice of Apollo" approves this build!! Cheers...Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnlove_mk_II Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 The last month was busy for me with birthday parties and work trivialities … but we’re back at it, nose to the ‘stone. Been struggling with the laser-cut interface ring parts. The first set had a little fitment issue so I had another set cut. This time I added a doubler to help stiffen them but unfortunately these too were slightly off and out-of-round. I’m guessing the styrene does shrink a little more than I was expecting. I went ahead and cut the parts with the Silhouette and they came out far more accurately. So yeah ... some progress. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K2Pete Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 John, the image from your March 4th posting isn't showing up ... just FYI. And this is looking great! I will assume this'll be displayed horizontally with the stages separated ... and the details, these precise details, you're adding are gonna make this look spek-tak-yoo-lar! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ralf Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 Great work so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnlove_mk_II Posted April 20, 2019 Author Share Posted April 20, 2019 Finished the second skirt interior and cobbled together the ODOP antennas. I'll attach them after I complete adding the extra stringers to the interstage and the S-II aft skirt. (I'll want to sand them all so they're uniform.) Now there are two. ODOP, telemetry and range safety antennas. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnlove_mk_II Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 S-IC forward skirt details - continued Finished modeling the equipment boxes and LOX vent line parts. I was planning to print one set of these at Shapeways and then cast all the ones I would need in resin. I was thinking that it might be more cost effective but it turns out it’s only going to be $17 bucks to print them all. So yeah - I'm just going to print them all and be done with it. Hope to see them in the next week or so. S-II - Getting started and thrust structure ideas As I've mentioned previously the S-II will be a rather piecemeal affair. I will be using the kit's aft skirt and tank parts and will utilize a section of a donor skirt from a third kit for the forward skirts. T’ll be adding the extra stringers to the aft skirt and will also add the smaller “intercostal” stringers to the forward skirt. The forward skirt stringer count will be off, but it should look reasonable, and will mate up with the S-II/S-IVB interstage which also has the wrong amount. I'm hoping these will go together quickly and So for the last few weeks I've been pondering how to tackle the S-II thrust structure. I think that I've come up with a solution that will be relatively easy, though somewhat tedious, and should not cost a fortune to execute ... twice over. Still working out some details, but I'm getting close to finalizing the design. (Ponoko will certainly be getting more business ... I am NOT cutting these things out by hand.) Here a start of some of the patterns that will be used. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 Awesome progress. As always great 3D modeling and really nice precise patterns for cutting. You might consider selling an update set for this model. What you've done so far is remarkable! Keep it up! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnlove_mk_II Posted May 28, 2019 Author Share Posted May 28, 2019 A bit of a bear, these things. It's taken a little while to get to this point but I'm pretty close to finalizing and sending the parts off to Ponoko for cutting. It won't be an exact representation, but it should be robust and will hopefully look the part. Still need to sort the equipment boxes and other trust structure details ... but hey, it IS progress. Also the S-IC forward skirt details arrived this weekend from Shapeways. I think they turned out pretty well. I have a few little details to work through, then I will start the final assembly of the S-ICs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K2Pete Posted May 30, 2019 Share Posted May 30, 2019 I'm loving the detail you're adding! And these Shapeways parts look outstanding! Keep up the terrific work! It's looking GREAT! Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mp44tom Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 Hi This is an incredible job!! I love the things you’ve done so far.... and have been a great help in my own dragon saturn build i am wondering, did you ever continue the model ? Do you have any updates ? I would love to see more ! Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnlove_mk_II Posted September 19, 2019 Author Share Posted September 19, 2019 Thanks mp44tom. I had to put the project aside for a while but I'm actually looking to start back up soon ... and I'll probably move this back over to the "Real Space" section when I do. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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