1:144 Endeavour Stack, Airfix

[JPaunicka]

This build actually precedes my Revell STS-41D model, which I also just posted in this forum.
This particular model was built during the late Spring/Summer of 2020.

 

HI there everyone.

I wanted to post this record of my first real build in order to not only document it for general safekeeping,  but also to share my experience with everyone else in this forum. This really is a hobby where everyone can get better by learning from one another.
I spent many hours just pouring over all the previous posts from the past several years.
Both the lessons learned and, primarily the inspiration gained, from such fantastic builds was absolutely invaluable! There are some remarkably talented and dedicated builders of whom I can only hope to aspire to even come close to equaling.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t call out Crow-T’s un-paralleled tome on his similar 1/144 build from a couple years ago. So many incorporated ideas came from following that journey. Thanks for documenting that build so thoroughly! I’d like to strive to see if I can’t do the same in future builds?
A lot of what shows up in this build was inspired by what I captured in that write-up

A little background – I’m an admitted and unabashed shuttle hugger.  Got inspired by chance circumstances in Jan ’93 with STS-54 mission coverage broadcast across our local cable access tv station and never looked back.
I somewhat knew there was a spark of interest in scale modeling all these years. Quite a few turns down the internet rabbit hole of looking at all the great builds out there. I finally got to the point in life/age where I had the patience to commit the time and care to a careful build. Throw in a once in century pandemic as the final spark to fully commit, and I was off.
I’d actually had this model for a several years, left untouched (see above about lingering interest).
I also figure, to I’m sure no one’s surprise on this forum, it’s helps to have an above average interest in the subject material to keep the prolonged interest, and drive to make sure all the details are just right.

This is my first committed, “non-stop” build. I warmed up by finishing a 1/200 Shuttle/SCA by Hasegawa that I had actually started about 5 years previously.

From a couple feet away, this model looks wonderful – even I’m taken aback by how well it came out.
However, it is not without it’s flaws – er, opportunities to learn / improve next time.
But in fariness, I set out to challenge myself a bit on this one knowing this was going to be “learning” model.
I’m still trying to figure out some of the finesse that so many on here have for little things like avoiding messy glue overrun, paint bleed, and getting those really fine scratch built parts to look/blend so cleanly into the model. Truly an artform.

Anyway, below are a handful of the photos I thought to capture as I went along. Not everything is photo documented, but I will try and point out what I did “outside the box”.
All told, this build took me about 5-6 months to complete, working, like most, a couple hours/week.
I even went so far as to purchase a vinyl cutter (Cameo 3) to aid with some attempts at creating detailed parts!

 

I’ll just documents by component, and not necessarily in chronological order.
This model didn’t set out to model any particular mission, as I wanted to leave myself open to being able to try a few techniques, if needed.

External tank:

I also have Revell kit on hot-standby. I actually started down that part by having to sand off the rings-on the LH2 tanks. That will be revisited in future build.
Hands down, the Airfix kit ET is FAR superior! I did supplement this build with the purchase of an intertank from Shapeways  - The early LWT version from Michael Key’s “Aerospace Place”. I considered some of the other known methods – prefabbed ribbed styrene, or actually laying out each intertank rib with strips of styrene– but the accuracy/detail of the  aftermarket version  was simply too hard to pass up.
The scratch-built mods included adding the GO2 brackets to the exterior of the LO2 tanks and the PAL ramps above/below the intertank. I believe I used c-channel trimmed to fit over the existing GO2line
It was quite the challenge to get the contour correct.

I sanded off the pre-existing pressurization lines on the LH2 Tank. As I was doing, I realized it was probably unnecessary as they did look fine. But the perfectionist in me wanted the raised lines.
I did goof some when affixing the lower PAL ramp to the LO2 tank – I should have added a separate piece of styrene to represent the cable try that is next the PAL ramp. I remedied this by simply painting a dark gray line on the part of the PAL ramp which blends into the cable tray below.
Also, not really shown all too well in any of the photos, but I added the manhole covers to the bottom of the LH2 tank using .010 styrene sheet and the closeout stripes that appear on the lower aft side of the tank.

As to the  ever elusive ET tank color: The majority of the tank is painted with straight Badger Southern Pacific Orange.
The lighter areas of the intertank are the following (all ModelMaster (RIP)):
- 4 parts Insignia yellow
- 2 parts international orange
- 1 part gloss white
- 1 part leather.
 

Down at the Orbiter attach area, the struts and attach fittings were painted the appropriate a similar orange, dark gray, or green chromate.
I really wanted to go after it a bit more to perhaps attempt some of the darker orange around the intertank, but I was so pleased with how this first attempt turned out, I didn’t want to risk accidently ruining it, and risk tarnishing the whole experience, putting future build attempts at risk. I found enough pictures of generally overall light tanks at the pad, that I was comfortable justifying this look. 
So I opted to leave well-enough alone…this time.
Or as I’ve heard Adam Savage note (from Mythbuster’s fame): Perfection is the persistent enemy of good-enough.

SRBs:

These are the components I’m most bothered by how they turned out.
Detail-wise, these had the most modifications done to them. However, as a result of the bold attempts, they show the most issues with final craftsmanship.

Similar to the ET, several bands were added to cable trays running down the length of ea. Booster. Instead of C-channel. These we done using styrene strips (I don’t recall the dimension used) cut to length.
So tedious! And so very difficult to get good, clean, seemless adhesion to the rest of the model. The ends either show rough cuts, or there is glue/melted styrene bleed.
Still not sure what I will need to do differently next time.

Up at the top – at the final booster segement and frustum area – I went bold here.
Using my styrene cutter, again using .010” thick styrene I cut out the banding that is present on the upper segment. I’ve no doubt it’s technically out of scale. But it was the best means I could come up to represent the feature. It generally came really well. Again, up close the flaws are apparent – some lines mildly askew, or some glue bleed. But the addition makes up for the flaws in my eye.
I did a similar proecdue on the booster frustrums - cutting out the banding/rivet line that is present on some of the earlier boosters. The booster separation motors were also touched up/adjusted.

 

 

Orbiter:

Tried my hand, with mostly positive results, at using custom paint masks. The vinyl cutter really helps, albeit, there is a lot of front end work to get the masks to scale correctly. Defintilely a trade off there in gauging wehter to invest the front end work now for future repeatability, or just cut losses and go with the typical one off Tamiya tape masking. First real big time painting a model, so there was a lot of trial and error, esp. dealing with paint bleed. So lots of going back to touch up areas as the build progressed. Wing Leading edges (RCC and black tiling) are all painted – I wanted to challenge myself first time out and try and avoid using decals at the outset, knowing decals can only make future builds potentially that much less stressful.
I did however use the LakeCounty Spaceport decals for the upper wing to get some added blanket pattern details. I wound up muting these down some with some light layers of white paint.

Also fabricated the drag chute compartment to get an idea what that process was like. Not too terribly taxing. Now that I have a 3d printer, I may venture into seeing what it may be like to come up with a single custom piece for this in future builds.

The main windows are custom framed, using a templete that I found out a previous post on this forum. Much happier with have a more physical prensence at the windows, even knowing they unrealistically stand off from the airframe just a bit. In my mind, the shape of these windows make or break the quality of an orbiter model. In the end, I know there are decals which can save the day if a more physical method just isn’t going to work out.
This forum is rife with posts on both the unrealistic shape and struggles numerous people have gone through to correct them over the years. You can tell when people/manufacturers use drawings of the inner crew compartment (more angled) vs. the final exterior frames.

Aftermarket parts included NewWare Plbd latches, Aft umbilical plates, and SSMEs. I used the medical tape method to apply SSME thermals closeout seals.

What decals I did use where a combination of kit supplied along with a subset of from LakeCounty Spaceport , mainly along OMS Pod. Since this is a full stack model, I didn’t bother with any belly tile decals this round.

 

The SSMEs are painted with a burnt metal interior, aluminum between the #9 hat band and end fuel manifold, and a titanium across the rest of the nozzle exterior.

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by JPaunicka

[K2Pete]

Nice job!

You're approaching these builds with the right attitude ... try out a new technique that's new to you. Spending time on these is easy and the results, as you say, are wonderful to see! Up close, none of my models are perfect, but from 2 feet away, they're award winners!  ;- D

 

When I was a kid, I built a model in a Saturday afternoon ... 40 years later when I got back into this hobby, the same kit took me almost 200 hours, but I enjoyed every ... single second! And I still look at it as impressed as ever! WOW, I built that! It's still a terrific feeling!

 

Enjoy yourself, make a mistake?, rework it. Any error can be sanded down, built back up and painted, and no-one will know the difference.

And keep having FUN!

Thanx!

Pete