Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6

[John_W]

My answer was semi serious.

You have to decide which you can do best, build or paint.

If you paint first, are you confident you can assemble the parts with no adhesive spill or paint damage?

You are probably going to end up paint-build-paint, first coat to reach the hard to paint parts, second coat after assembly to even things up and finish. Your work is so precise that even a thin coating of paint could alter the fit.

I find  little deft weathering can cover a multitude of minor blemishes.

I also suspect that like all of us (and especialy with your eye for detail) the modeller in you always sees the mistakes that the outside viewer doesen't.

 

[roma847]

Thanks John for your helpful comment, 

 

exactly that's the problem.

 

The difficulty is the gluing of the supports with their thin sickle holders on the pipe line. This I can presumably only do with MEK and then the color could certainly disturb. That's why I will probably first glue the supports and then spray the whole skeleton. 

[RichO]

Good call Manfred.  Paint all as a unit.  Are you going to install the piping before installing the water bags?  You might have a problem working on the water bags with all the pipes in the way.  Just a thought.

[Mustermark]

I agree. Build then paint. The airbrush will fill the gaps as you rotate the structure...

[roma847]

17 hours ago, RichO said:

Good call Manfred.  Paint all as a unit.  Are you going to install the piping before installing the water bags?  You might have a problem working on the water bags with all the pipes in the way.  Just a thought.

 

Thanks Rich, 

 

the Water bags should be removable, so I'm going to build them as separate parts for the Primary SRB hole and for the Secondary SRB hole.

 

The adjustment of the bag parts I have to make with built-in ring line  because of the distances between the outlets, what should be doable already, if I am careful. 

 

[roma847]

13 hours ago, Mustermark said:

I agree. Build then paint. The airbrush will fill the gaps as you rotate the structure...

 

Thanks Mark,  I could agree with you. 

 

Here is a macro of the place conditions between the ring line and the pipe supports, whereby the distances between the sickle holders are about 1.5 mm, between which the clamping rings (0.5 mm) sit,

 

 

whereby one should not be deceived himself by the real proportions. 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,
 
in the meantime I had thought over, that it would certainly be difficult to remove the paint on these fragile sickle holders, especially since the contact points should be clean for a good adhesive bond. And that would mean that the fragile sickle holders would have to be sanded gently, which would presumably not happen without any breakages.

 

But I've already considered whether I should not paint the spaces between the sickle holders with a fine brush by hand ...  

 

I have not painted anything with Airbrush for a long time, which is why I'm simply unsure whether such horizontal surfaces below the ring line would get enough paint. Furthermore the paint application has to be well dosed, which is why several thin layers are advisable and too much paint at one go should be avoided.

 

Because I would bite myself somewhere else if I would spoil my painstakingly scratched details by an unclean varnishing ...  

[Caerbannog]

Brilliant work Manfred. Been a while since I last looked here and the launch pad looks really amazing. Good luck with your sickle holder painting.

René

[roma847]

Thanks René for your nice words,  

 

that's all I need and lots of patience. 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,
 
and because we have dealt with breakages, of which I had to complain already some at the ring line outlets, without damage the last action with the clamping rings unfortunately had not ended.  
 
On closer inspection, I have noticed unfortunately that the small nipples on the outer two 6'' outlets behind the TSMs after the felt 100.000 twists and turns when clamping the ring lines must have been broken, which I had not noticed so far. 
 
That is why, for a change, cosmetic operations were announced today, because something like that bothers me, even though it would hardly be noticed by somebody else's.
 
These OPs are, however, rather delicate, since the outlets are only thin round bars (Ø 1 mm), into which still thinner rods (0.3 mm) have been glued as nipples. That is why I have first carefully sanded off the remaining stumps and then still more cautiously drilled small holes with Ø 0,3 mm, but for which I first had to think on a clever clamping condition of the ring line for a stable support.
 
Seek and you shall find, and here the nipple rod is already glued again with a little overhang, which now only needs to be shortened accordingly, what but also does not so easily go out of cupped hands.
 

 
For the cutting off the supernatant then a different support had to be found and to be newly clamped again,
 

 
so that the rod also has a stable support and can not break off.
 

 
But that worked out well, 
 

 
as one can see here.
 

 
And the same OP then synonymous still at the other ring line, as before.
 

 

 

 
And so the damages have been remedied again.

[RichO]

Very small parts to break, small parts to fix.  Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop.  

[roma847]

How or when this happened, I don't know,  but this is unimportant, now the broken nipples are back again, and therefore I can sleep much better again ...  

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

in the last few days I have finally brought myself to start with the gluing of the Pipe Supports under the ring line behind the LOX-TSM, for which the already announced removal of the rear SRB Supports was necessary.

 

Since I can carry out the gluing of the supports only step by step, in order to be able to check their seat, I have to remove the ring line now and then, and because I did not want to risk anything, I have removed the disruptive rear SRB Supports.

 

For gluing of the pipe supports, the ring line was then introduced again and its exact seat fixed with the spacers. After that, I tried as a first variant the gluing with MEK and have initially positioned and aligned only three supports under the ring line, as well as dabbed the contact points of the sickle holders on the outer side carefully with a fine brush with MEK, which should be sufficient for a first hold.

 

 

And as one can see in this picture, that was actually already sufficient.  

 

 

Since in the bracket-holder I can reach now the remaining contact places of the sickle holders from all sides, I can now also glue them completely.    

And so it can then gradually go on with the next supports.  

[RichO]

Slowly but surely! This looks very good Manfred!

[roma847]

Thanks Rich, 

yep, during these last steps I have to be particularly cautious, so that everything will be successful and remains intact. 

[roma847]

Hi all together,

 

for the gluing of the next Pipe Supports I used again my approved bracket-holder in the mini vise, which is best suited for this.

 

With this I have much more freedom of movement for the assembly and can adjust the position of the ring line so that the already attached three Supports lay flat on the support block and I can push the next supports below the line by slightly raising and arbitrarily align.  

 

Then I also modified the gluing technique, whereby I carefully dab the normal Revell plastic glue onto the sickle holders with a acupuncture needle, then push the support under the raised ring line and then lower it. This allows for even smaller position corrections until the support sits in the right place. After that, the ring line is still weighted down, so that it can be fixed firmly on the spot. 

 

Then I can then take the mini vice with clamped ring line in the hand and stabilize the sickle holders also still from inside and outside with MEK, which should give them the final hold.

 

And this technique I have here exercised with the two Supports behind the corner bow, which also worked great.

 

 

 

And in the same way it went on down the straight line. 

 

 

 

 

 

And now they hang in rank and file and look  . 

 

 

Then came the three flatter supports sitting on the Blast Shield, which I have glued with inserted ring line.

 

 

 

And finally, I have glued the small support under the 16'' rejuvenation behind the LOX-TSM, which has only one sickle holder.  

 

 

So I want to let it go for today.  

[Madhatter]

this still continues to amaze me - so life like.

I'm sure you have answered this before, but I can't remember the answer if so, but what method do you use to bend and shape the pipes like that?

Ive tried using a candle before and all that does is deform it. Hot water never seems to be hot enough.

[roma847]

Thanks Madhatter for your nice words, 

 

all these tricks I have also tested already, but forget it ... 

 

All you need is a hot air gun, balsa wood, some clamps and a lot of pins. 

 

 

 

You can see my Balsa-Jig & Bending-Technique I presented last year, one of the best ideas I had so far.

[RichO]

One of the best ideas of all time Manfred!  I will be using this technique on my Diorama build.  The pipe line looks very good.

[BrotherMole]

I've been slowly catching up on your posts and I'm in awe - this is next level stuff. Well done sir.

[roma847]

Thanks Rich for your compliments and overwhelming words of praise. 

 

I am also fully satisfied, but I have tinkered long enough at this solution ... 

 

but otherwise one can get no reproducible results. 

[roma847]

17 minutes ago, BrotherMole said:

I've been slowly catching up on your posts and I'm in awe - this is next level stuff. Well done sir.

 

Thanks my friend for your interest, 

 

I'm glad if you like what I'm doing here. 

[Mustermark]

Next level, and a half! Looking very good, Manfred. I can smell the paint now...

[roma847]

Thanks Mark for looking around, 

 

you have to be patient still a little bit, but the color is blended already. 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

today I want only present a few pictures about the gluing of the six Pipe Supports on the inside of the ring line behind the LOX-TSM, which took place in the same way.  

 

 

 

 

 

And tomorrow it will go on with the gluing of the first six triangular supports (left) at the outlets of this ring line,

 

 

which hopefully will work similarly well.