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Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6


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Hey folks,

 

yeah, yeah, yeah, still these boring gutters, I can not change it, sorry. rolleyes.gif

 

In the case of the dull gluing of the gutters, a smooth seating and an exact fixing of the position is very important, so that nothing can shift. smiley_worship.gif

 

kv9UfH.jpg

 

Then the seam was gently painted with Gator's Grip and let it to dry. 

 

Cruumz.jpg

 

jf1CkX.jpg

 

And as one can see, the gluing also holds this time.  speak_cool.gif

 

W7nbUt.jpg

 

Tomorrow I will carefully smooth the seam. top.gif

 

LXIbAi.jpg

 

And so once again back to the Gutter 1 on the Side 2, where the two parts also had to be glued bluntly. 

 

Here, at first, the fitting test of the two parts, 

 

affjQE.jpg

 

which I made this time even more securely aligned and stabilized before gluing.  

 

r3TW8o.jpg

 

And this gluing was also successful, up045518.gif

 

tDnLqB.jpg

 

OVZ1No.jpg

 

and can be smoothed tomorrow.  up040577.gif

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Hello everybody,

 

and thus to the last round with these tiresome gutters. cool.gif

 

Here was only still missing the Gutter 2 on the Side 4, the beginning of which is shown here.

 

cDjtiZ.jpg
Source: apollosaturn.com (John Duncan)

 

The gutter begins directly on the girder between the Bay 10 and 11 and then runs without interruption to the end of the Bay 18, whereby the last part behind the downspout becomes again lower towards the outside.

 

NHtwvp.jpg
Source: apollosaturn.com (John Duncan)

 

And these are the two parts of the gutter.

 

mU3oaV.jpg

 

At first, the gutter bottom was glued with CA, again using Teflon foil as gluing protection. top.gif

 

EZlO9V.jpg

 

89C40V.jpg

 

fUgK90.jpg

 

And then it went on with the supports, 

 

7UwrV8.jpg

 

And then it went on with the supports, which were clamped for exact fixing again between Cutter Blades. up045518.gif

 

xgUf38.jpg

 

bgcMcL.jpg

 

Then I have left the gutter alone, 

 

OShVe3.jpg

 

and thereafter examined the seat of the supports, which was okay. speak_cool.gif

 

miVHVn.jpg

 

This was followed by the last dull gluing of the two gutter parts with Gator's Grip, smiley_worship.gif

 

hVicYz.jpg

 

which again has worked great. top2.gif

 

DzbRRw.jpg

 

aneNHg.jpg

 

Hence all five gutters with a total of 34 supports have finally been scratched,  hurrah.gif above for the Side 2, and below for the Side 4

 

4mLs4X.jpg

 

and now I feel truly relieved. up040577.gif

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Hello everybody,

 

after the wearisome Gutter chapter has been finished except for the paintwork, I want to take a relaxing look ahead and bring the highlight of the lighting of the MLP back into the game, which will soon be back on my agenda. gut.gif

 

During my first inventory (2014) I had found these 21 lamps on the Side 1

 

up036462.jpg
Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

 

which I had to correct in hindsight, since the Lamp 5 during the STS-6 (1983) did still not exist, like one can see in this picture of the STS-28 (1989), but rather much later, whereby the number of lamps is reducing to 20. huh.gif

 

ctVAy3.jpg
Source: NASA

 

Since the wiring design of the Super-Current bank was construed on max. eight LEDs per circuit, my original lighting plan included these three circuits with a total of 20 lamps. cool.gif

 

iuSwTm.jpg

 

During the preparation of the later installation of the circuits on the model, it is important from a practical point of view to think about how the thin leads and the return conductors of the individual circuits should be laid preferably. Withal it is necessary to consider how to pass with leads and lamps through the narrow spaces under the canopies between the pipelines and struts and past the tiny fittings and also to glue them, whiat should not be so easy. smiley_worship.gif

 

In my first lighting trials, the matter was easier, because I had then only provisionally laid the individual LED wires under the canopies, which now inevitably needs to be done differently in the final solution.  top.gif

 

up037353.jpg

 

That is why I have changed the division of the circuits, which now looks like this. Thus there will be a circuit (red) with eight LEDs connected in series, and two circuits with six lamps each.  up045518.gif

 

SFSL7U.jpg
Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

 

Therefore I imagine the installation so that the three leads are led through the front right Pedestal, preferably detachable via mini-connectors, denknf8.gif in order to be able later to let drive the Crawler with the MLP a short piece on the Pad diorama. speak_cool.gif  

 

In contrast to my original plan, it will be more favorable to lead the first circuit (red) along the wall to the right Access Platform and then under the LH2 Access Platform. As with the other two circuits, the return wires then run via a Ground (GND) bus below the left Access Platform and the front left pedestal.

 

The installation of the second circuit (yellow) will presumably be the most difficult act because the place under the Blast Shield over the valves of the LH2 Valve Skid is very tight, as one can easily see here. eek.gif

 

ku44gq.jpg

 

ecxL96.jpg

 

But we'll work it out somehow ... top.gif

 

The installation of the third circuit (light blue) hopefully will be a bit easier, because there is more space above the LOX Valve Skid and under the left Blast shield.

 

As far as with this little trip to the illumination of the clouded minds.up040577.gif

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The photos above of your build are very impressive Manfred!  I have almost forgotten about you adding the lighting.  I'm sure this will be a challenging part of your build.  ' can't wait to see this progress.  Good luck!

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Thanks Rich, 

I fully agree with you, the lighting of the whole Launch Pad will become a huge challenge, of which I myself still have a heathy respect, erschrocken3.gif

but it will be worth it, I hope so, if it then would look similar like this here ...  gut.gif

 

a1A4D5.jpg

 

Just wait and see! up040577.gif

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every time I check on this WIP it leaves me with a migraine of frustration - it's simply too brilliant

 

We were all 5 years younger when you started this....will we all be another 5 years older when you finish?

 

simply amazing work

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Thanks for your nice words, Gimme Shelter, :worthy:

 

maybe you'll be right with your guess, denknf8.gif the answer my friend ... top.gif

 

I would find it great, when my Launch Pad on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the maiden flight of the Challenger in the year 2023 could be inaugurated, in order to name a non-binding house number ... up040577.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello friends,

 

after my gallstone calmed down again analintruder.gif and can stay on parole for the time being, where he is, I can finally turn the LED switch back again to clarify a few last details with the MLP lamps and try out. gut.gif

 

First of all, I want to introduce my Super Current Bank, which a friend of mine had designed and built in an ingenious way for illumination of my Launch Pad Diorama. up045518.gif

 

KfwlX5.jpg

 

Here again briefly to the profile of this "Marvel Box", whose performance capability we deliberately generously constructed, which provides the following Constant current circuits:

 

- 46 current circuits (adjustable from 0.6 ... 5.6 mA) for the normal lighting of the FSS/RSS, as well as of the MLP and the Crawler,

 

- 6 current circuits (adjustable from 0.6 ... 5.6 mA) for warning lights (switchable to flashing),

 

- 6 current cuits (fixed at 12 mA) for flood light poles on the pad,

 

- 2 current circuits (fixed at 220 mA) for the overall lighting of the diorama

 

In each of the two circuits (220 mA), 2 LEDs can be connected in series. In each of the other circuits, however, up to 8 LEDs can be connected in series. That gives the impressive number of total 464 LEDs (368 + 48 + 48), yikes.gif which I will not exhaust corresponding to my previous planning. i5684_no2.gif 

 

Before I react to the red LED (0401) for the Warning lights connected to the Current bank in the picture above, I have scrutinized once again the relevant lamp shapes for my pad model, initially adopted by the Apollo LUTs at the beginning of the Shuttle program and later replaced by more modern lamps.

 

At that time there were lamps both with reflector (Type A) and without reflector (Type E), and this type also with red globe (Type F), as it was used for the warning lights. 

 

NaGS02.jpg    uzWHRG.jpg   vjMTj9.jpg
Source: NASA

 

In the Tower (FSS) and on the RSS the lamps with reflector were mostly installed,

up037300.jpg
Source: NASA

 

G73AKX.jpg
Source: NASA

 

for which I have used expanded ferrules (1 mm²) with inserted beads for fixing the LED wires. cool.gif 

 

up037280.jpg

 

With the exception of lamps 2 and 3 (yellow) and lamp 2 (light blue), all lamps on the Side 1 are type A and have a reflector,  

 

SFSL7U.jpg
Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

 

what one can see a little more clearly in this picture section. 

 

BJz6tl.jpg
Source: retrospaceimages.com (STS-6)

 

As a reference measurement for the dimensioning of both lamp shapes served me the width of the webs on my MLP walls of 1.5 mm. 

 

Yz2YtK.jpg
Source: NASA

 

And so back to the first image with the red LED for the warning lights, which works perfectly with the Current bank, only it does not blink quite as fast as this one. up040439.gif

 

KWrtTO.jpg

 

Since these lamps without a reflector are slightly smaller, I have used slightly smaller ferrules (0.5 mm²), which need not be widened as much as the sleeves for the lamps with reflector (left in the picture). 

 

hI5fok.jpg

 

The difficulty with these lamps without reflector is to find a suitable glass bead for the glass body, for which I have tried different bead sizes. top.gif 

 

Here is e.g. a cylindrical shape,

 

0GByvp.jpg

 

and here a roundish bead, which should fit better in size.

 

TgT4cN.jpg

 

The sticking point here is that the LED also has to fit into the bead, which is why only the smallest types 0401/0402 with dimensions 1.0 mm x 0.5 mm x 0.5 mm (LxWxH) are suitable for this. 

 

mIbOE9.jpg

 

0sFca9.jpg

 

USgM5q.jpg

 

vCCimq.jpg

 

Then I still found this smaller bead, which fits even better with this lamp shape without reflector.  speak_cool.gif

 

g1QiWe.jpg

 

ZySjPj.jpg

 

1nGeR7.jpg

 

And with that I want to content myself for today.  up040577.gif

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Thanks Rich, bow.gif

 

I can still remember very well how I have rubbed my eagle eyes at that time three years ago, cant-believe-my-eyes-smiley-emoticon.gif when I did a lot of extensive analysis during my Lighting Chapter, as one can see here  for the RSS ... gut.gif

 

rjii.jpg
Source: NASA
 

Here is another amazing impression of the Pad at night, showing Challenger's countdown for mission STS-41B (1984). top.gif

 

KSC-84PC-0080.jpg
Source: NASA
But until then there is still a long and challanging way to go ... up040577.gif

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Hi Pete, and thanks for looking in on me, bow.gif

 

glad that you're back and enjoy the lighting, which will soon become reality, initially on the MLP. gut.gif

 

The Current bank is waiting for its baptism of fire. up040577.gif

 

 

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Hello everyone,

 

today I have first expanded a handful of the larger ferrules (1 mm²) with a center punch from 2.3 mm to 2.8 mm diameter, for which the cordless screwdriver only needs to run a few revolutions, otherwise one is fast at Ø 3 mm or more. rolleyes.gif

 

LsituE.jpg

 

Then I experimented a bit further and tried to expand also the slightly smaller ferrules (0.5 mm²) to Ø 2.8 mm.  huh.gif

 

At this sleeve, the smaller diameter of the tube with 1.4 mm is still slightly smaller than that of the larger ferrule with 1.8 mm, which would fit much better to the socket diameter of my lampshades. top.gif

 

The only question was whether the sleeve would endure the expansion, or whether the lampshade would crack. analintruder.gif

 

On my first attempt, I was probably a bit too impetuous,  up040472.gif which can be clearly seen on the cracked lampshade on the right in the picture. To the left are the expanded 1 mm² ferrules, which did not mind this expanding. speak_cool.gif

 

uuaxcK.jpg

 

Therefore, I proceeded much more cautiously on the second attempt and checked the lampshade diameter from time to time with the caliper gauge. cool.gif

 

Everything went pretty well up to Ø 2.5 mm, as you can see here,

 

rP2GsM.jpg

 

but at Ø 2.8 mm the first mini-cracks appeared on the edge of the lampshade,  rolleyes.gif which is why I will rather use the larger ferrules. 

 

vIuD9M.jpg

 

5sRcqb.jpg

 

And here's already a look ahead to the mainly installed lamp shape on the RSS, here on Pad 39B during the preparation of the Challenger on her last, unfortunately fateful mission STS-51L (1986). cry.gif

 

SIjsqX.jpg
Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (James MacLaren)

 

And here are my first attempts compared to a simple lamp from the Revell Kit (right). smiley_worship.gif

 

QTeL9E.jpg

 

Probably for these lamps thin brass tubes will later be used into which the LED wires then will be threaded respectively soldered. up040577.gif

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Hello everybody,

 

on closer inspection, however, the lamp Made by Revell is too rustic for me, which I can not make friends with, i5684_no2.gif especially as the tube seems also too thick to me. rolleyes.gif

 

And since the lamps are getting a bit more filigree anyway, I have taken measurement at the RSS-lamp once more.

 

And behold, my sense of proportion has not deceived me again,cant-believe-my-eyes-smiley-emoticon.gif because the tube should have a diameter of 0.4 mm,

 

Yh1Rqd.jpg
Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (James MacLaren)

 

while the Revell tube with 1 mm is twice as thick, which can be seen in the following photo.  analintruder.gif 

 

This is for comparison a brass tube with Ø 0.5 mm, which would match the lamp size well, compared with the overlying lampshade, which is a little smaller with Ø 2.8 mm than my first samples with about Ø 3 mm (left).

 

HhQwBB.jpg

 

And as one can see, the 0.1 mm thin LED wires let also thread into the tube, so everything is okay. up045518.gif

 

All we can hope is that one can bend the tube cleanly around the rounding without a kink, but we'll manage that too, I guess. up040577.gif

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Good Luck Manfred!  Bending tubes can get a little ugly sometimes, but running the wires through the tube is a great idea.  More ideas filed away.  Thanks.

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Thanks Rich for your good wishes. :worthy:

 

Hello everybody,

 

Oh well - I can fully agree with you, pipe bending is actually already a tricky thing and can also become a complete flop. smiley_worship.gif

 

But what's the name of it? gruebel.gif  Well begun is half done!  up045518.gif

 

And therefore I made my first bending test with a 0.5 mm brass tube, which looks quite useful already, right? denknf8.gif

 

SU3SEr.jpg

 

Which in turn confirms my credo: Nothing is impossible!!! top.gif

 

BTW, maybe the pulling in of the two 0,1 mm wires is even favorable for the bending of the brass tube, since its diameter is 0.3 mm, which both wires almost fill. up040577.gif

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Hello friends,

 

here is another update to the marked three lamps without shade on the Side 1, as well as for the hazard warning lights with this shape here. gut.gif

 

up059840.jpg
Source: NASA

 

In my search for even better matching ferrules for this lamp shape, I've actually found something, and indeed at Voelkner, who offers the smallest available size 0.1 - 0.3 mm². And although that are equal to 100 pcs, which I guaranteed will not need, so I grabbed it, and today the package arrived, so of course I had to try it.  speak_cool.gif

 

These sleeves have a shade diameter of 1.5 mm, which corresponds exactly to the width of the MLP girders, and would therefore be even better suited than the previously tested 0.5 mm² sleeves with Ø 1.9 mm (shade). cool.gif

 

An LED 0402 can also be threaded into the sleeve, as you can see on this picture. To the left are the 0.5 mm² and the 1 mm² sleeves.  

 

gUCVJN.jpg

 

And if the back part of the shade is slightly widened, then the shade looks like this (right) and its shape would therefore fit even better.

 

6vJjOV.jpg

 

But since there probably are no matching transparent or red glass beads for this size, which should have a diameter of approx. 1.3 mm, one would have to apply the glass body above the LED with transparent epoxy resin. But wether that would work, I do not know ... denknf8.gif

Let's try and see. up040577.gif

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Hello everybody,

 

once more back to the Tube bending. The wires I have threaded before, especially since that would be one of the two options in the later installation.  cool.gif But since I for myself was unsure how far I had threaded the wires, I have checked it out.

 

iLdWMi.jpg

 

And as one can see here, the wires actually went beyond the arch,  

 

1ylxuX.jpg

 

so they might have been a bit of a bending aid.  up040577.gif

 

But there is also this second option here, which had brought a friend at the Raumcon forum into play at that time.speak_cool.gif

 

SjluE0.jpg

 

In this case, only one wire (anode) needs to be threaded into the tube, the other wire (cathode) could be separated and then soldered at both ends with the brass tube and thus use it as a return conductor (GND). 

 

When using brass pipes, of course, there is the risk of sharp edges, which is why you have to debur the separation points at the tube ends carefully or round off, schlaumeier.gif so that the protective varnish of the LED wires stays intact and there is no short circuit is caused.  eek.gif

 

That I have tried with my thinnest drills, first with a drill Ø 0.3 mm, which did not fit into the opening, but hopefully has served for deburring,

 

pOeLHW.jpg

 

and then with a drill Ø 0.25 mm for cleaning. 

 

nqNJOi.jpg

 

Then I have cut my first bent tube to length, also deburred the ends, and then tried to thread in both 0.1mm wires one at a time to test whether or not the bow can be run through. denknf8.gif

 

That was the expected tricky affair, and threading alone was not for the faint of eyes.  cant-believe-my-eyes-smiley-emoticon.gif

 

In the process, I first have slided the one wire from the long side into the opening and carefully felt my way to the bending so as not to unnecessarily bend the wire out of shape, which worked out well. And after a short standstill it went around the arch and out at the other end. top.gif

 

The second wire then made some more problems and only progressed a few millimeters, then I had to grasp again. But as one can see, it finally came to the fore again at the other end. top2.gif

 

IKYpxU.jpg

 

Whether the threading would be easier from the short side, I do not know what one could try.  hmmm.gif

 

In any case, the soldering on the tube could be avoided this way. huh.gif

 

That's it for now, maybe there are still useful tips from this round.  up040577.gif

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I like the idea of running the wires through the tube.  I don't know if you have tried soldering anything that small before, but it is a pain to work that small.

 

You will come up with a great solution tho, you always do!

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