Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6

[roma847]

3 hours ago, RichO said:

Can anyone else smell the paint?  Water bags next?

 

Hello Rich,

 

you seem to be a clairvoyant ... 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

after a welcome pause and deflection by various winter sport world championships last week, I will now return to the base and have been busy in the meantime again with the Water Bags, which also belong to the SSWS.

 

Source: flickr.com (Jen Scheer)

 

I have already reported on the task of this sub-system a long time ago, where you can read once more again.

 

Whether these water bags were already red and yellow, or uniformly red in the early missions such as STS-6, I have unfortunately not yet been able to find out. On this older picture here, it looks as if they were uniformly red at the time. Perhaps someone of you knows the answer.  

 

Source: capcomespace.net

 

To warm up, I have looked around again and followed up some details, which I noticed during the analysis of the clamping rings again and again.

 

These are, on the one hand, these rings on the anterior four outlets of the two ring lines, which one can zoom within the panorama pic. 

 

Source: NASA

 

And then there are also several fastening hooks for the yellow water bags suspended around the SRBs,

 

,
Source: http://www.youtube.com

 

which can be seen on these pictures,

 

Source: flickr.com (Jen Scheer)

 

and are marked here.

 

Source: NASA

 

At first I have tried the rings and searched for a suitable insulating sleeve to cut off thin discs, just as I had made the transport rings on the covers of the Rainbirds between the H-beams. 

 

While I was able to use a Ø 0,7 mm sleeve at that time, these rings had to be even smaller with Ø 0.4 mm, so I wanted to try it with my smallest insulating sleeve (Ø 0,5 mm), what certainly would be still a little too big.  

 

 

And then I remembered PE Bolts and Nuts by ABER of different size, which I had bought earlier, which should be suitable, if a suitable diameter were thereby.

 

Source: ABER

 

These are bolts and nuts in increments of 1.5 mm - 1.25 mm - 1.0 mm - 0.8 mm - 0.6 mm up to 0.4 mm, , which however are so tiny that one can hardly see them in the last two rows.   And from these nuts I then have drilled out the first two (right) with my smallest drill with Ø 0.25 mm, 

 

 

and then cut out, which should become even better. 

 

 

And then I tried again with a smaller cutter.  

 

 

But how to fix this tiny ring onto the 18'' outlet, which is sitting on an insect needle (Ø 0.25 mm), which can not be held in place with the most pointed tweezers.

 

 

That took a bit longer and was pure stress, which is why I almost wanted to give up.

 

For this I have dabbed a tiny CA droplet to the bending and then tried to place the ring, which was sitting on the tip of the needle, so carefully, and at the same time pull out the needle, so that both do not glue together.   

 

After several failed attempts, it actually worked well, and the result looks pretty good as I find.  

 

But whether I should really do this effort, I do not know yet, if so, then I would have to come up with a better gluing handling.  

[RichO]

More microscopic details!  As long as the stringers for the water bags will fit through them, they should work fine.  Nice job with the Aber nuts.

[roma847]

Thanks Rich, 

 

yep, maybe a microscopic detail, but now, where it is glued, one can even recognize the ring with the naked eye. 

[Mustermark]

I'm interested to see where you go with the water bags... will you use 'realistic water' or something like we do on N gauge train layouts?

[roma847]

Hey Mark,

 

'realistic water', are you pulling my leg ... 

 

 

[cathasatail]

8 hours ago, roma847 said:

Hey Mark,

 

'realistic water', are you pulling my leg ... 

 

 

 

Given the attention to detail, I expect that you'll be using real water

 

Keep up the fine work! (Which kit are you thinking of using for the shuttle, when the time comes?)

 

Kind regards,

Sam

[roma847]

Thanks Sam, 

 

I understand the fun of you both jokers too. 

 

BTW, I will use the Airfix kit of the Shuttle stack. 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

in the meantime, I have a tough time of it with the rings, because I do not give up so quickly.  

 

Here are some more or less well done rings together with the needle (Ø 0.25 mm), which I can safely forget in order to hold the rings when gluing. 

 

 

On the macros, these midgets still look quite grippy, therefore here for the relativization a shot from normal sitting position. And therefore the handling is only possible with the headset-magnifying glass, of course.

 

 

And also the solution with the Pattafix tip on the toothpick is not the yellow of the egg, because sometimes tiny remnants of Pattafix stick to the ring, which can be removed only badly, without the ring thereby perhaps tear off again.

 

Therefore using a toothpick with a tip made of a masking tape is much more suitable for this purpose, with which the ring can be gently taken up, in order to be able to deposit it over the CA droplet on the outlet arc, where it should then glue.  

 

 

And this technique has then worked well with the following ring, as one can see here.

 

 

And so it went on with the two rings at the outlets on the inside of the ring line (right circles) behind the LOX-TSM,

 

Source: NASA

 

which can be seen here. 

 

 

And strengthened by this partial success, I now also want to equip the outlets on the ring line behind the LH2-TSM with these rings.

 

Well, and then I've experimented with the hooks for the lateral Water Bags.

 

Source: NASA

 

To do this, I have initially put simple plugs of lead wire (Ø 0,3 mm) in pre-drilled holes on a dummy.

 

 

And these are two hooks, to the left of my thinnest rods (Ø 0,3 mm) and right of brass wire (Ø 0,3 mm),

 

 

 

which are still too high with 1 mm and have to shrink to half. 

 

Since I'm not enthusiastic about the result, I have to outbrake myself now and will cancel these hook tests.   In addition, the fragile outlets could break off during pre-drilling, what I would not risk at all.  

 

With these details, I am moving in the border area of what is doable with reasonable effort, because they are so tiny that one can hardly recognize them, which is why the effort is not worthwhile.

[Mustermark]

it's interesting to see your threshold has been reached. I agree that this is a fair limit to stop when the effort outweighs the imperseptible detail, especially with the risk to damaging the great work on the pipes.

[John_W]

On ‎03‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 11:26 PM, Mustermark said:

I'm interested to see where you go with the water bags... will you use 'realistic water' or something like we do on N gauge train layouts?

He will get Hydrogen and Oxygen and scratchbuild it.

[roma847]

4 hours ago, Mustermark said:

it's interesting to see your threshold has been reached. I agree that this is a fair limit to stop when the effort outweighs the imperseptible detail, especially with the risk to damaging the great work on the pipes.

 

Thanks Mark for your understanding. 

 

There are two options, One learns by experience and/or Adversity is the school of wisdom.

 

And since I've already broken off an outlet two times,  I have to say, that is more than enough and therefore, slow down and keep  is the better option. 

 

BTW, there are a lot of other details that are more important than this crazy stuff. 

[roma847]

1 hour ago, John_W said:

He will get Hydrogen and Oxygen and scratchbuild it.

 

Hey John,

 

sorry, these are Water Bags and no gas bottles ... 

[SteveR]

That's insane detail @roma847... amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this!

[roma847]

Welcome and thanks Steve,

stay tuned, the show must go on ... 

[RichO]

Time to break out the microscope Manfred, our eyes just are not what they used to be.

[roma847]

Yes Rich, these tiny details are a pain for our tired eyes, for mine even more than for yours,   and so it's time that I finally can finish this chapter. 

[roma847]

Hello friends of the rings,

 

although this fiddling is getting slowly but surely on my nerves too, I must still pull through the four rings at the outlets of the other ring line, earlier I give no rest.

 

 

But that was once again a hard patience test, especially since the handling while gluing these tiny rings even with my cool tape tweezers was really stressful, because it didn't release the rings occasionally at the crucial moment.

 

But then the two rings on the outside of the ring line were finally done.  

 

 

But even taking photographs of this bulky pipe skeleton is not a simple matter, and it is also quite time-consuming, if one wants to represent the details sharp, because it depends on a favorable perspective as well as the light conditions.

 

 

And since for good macros one has to approach as close as possible, one must be careful, in order not to bump with the Digicam somewhere and even to damage.

 

 

 

And so to the outlets on the inside of the ring line,

 

 

here something more from the proximity. 

 

 

Now, both ring lines are finally finished and could be painted.

 

 

Of the rings one can hardly see anything from this perspective, but they are completed, wherewith this chapter is finally finished.

 

 

So far for today.

[Richard E]

18 minutes ago, roma847 said:

Hello friends of the rings,

 

although this fiddling is getting slowly but surely on my nerves too, I must still pull through the four rings at the outlets of the other ring line, earlier I give no rest.

 

Amazing work - from Britmodeller's very own Lord of the Rings

[Mustermark]

Considering the size of the one cent, the detail is exquisite. I can smell the paint now, RichO!

[RichO]

Congratulations Manfred!!  A big step forward...you should have a beer !  Let the paint dept work.

[roma847]

12 hours ago, Richard E said:

 

Amazing work - from Britmodeller's very own Lord of the Rings

 

Thanks Richard,

 

if you mean ...  probably more Lord of the Eye Rings ... 

[roma847]

Thanks Mark and Rich for your congratulations,   and Cheers my friends! 

A few small things I have to add, but in the paint department the boys are already ready for battle and only have still to test their new spray gun.  

I'm only wondering what is better, whether I airbrush the ring lines and the pipe supports individually and then glue all together, or whether I first should glue all the supports to the pipes and airbrush everything together ... 

[John_W]

You ask us mere mortals for advice? We are not worthy.

If you trust your assembly skills, paint first.

 

[roma847]

2 hours ago, John_W said:

You ask us mere mortals for advice? We are not worthy.

If you trust your assembly skills, paint first.

 

 

Hey John,

 

please no understatement,    The question is meant seriously.

 

I'm not sure if the airbrush beam will get into the tight spaces between the ring line with all clamping rings and all the pipe supports and will spray all corners completely, when I at first glue all the supports onto the ring line and then spray all together. 

 

 

That's here the question.