Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6

[roma847]

Hello folks,

 

as hoped for, the gluing of the first three triangular supports went smoothly, as can be seen in the following pictures.

 

 

 

 

And then the three supports at the outlets on the inside of the ring line had their turn.

 

 

 

 

So far so good, now I need to repeat the same procedure only still on the other ring line behind the LH2-TSM.

[RichO]

Very Cool!!!

[Pete in Lincs]

Ice cold!

It almost looks organic.

[roma847]

Thanks Rich and Pete for your nice compliments,   which put me in the mood for an ice cold beer ... 

Cheers my friends! 

 

BTW, this SSWS pipe and support madness is now coming to an end, slowly but surely ... 

Thank goodness! 

[Mustermark]

Just catching up... I have been travelling. It looks just amazing in place in all its glory. Simply magnificent work. Can't wait to see it painted now!

[roma847]

Thanks Mark for coming back, I have missed you already. 

 

The time will come soon, promised! 

 

Free according to the Stones Oldie: I see a white SSWS and I want it painted gray ... 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

but before I go on with the gluing of the supports on the other ring line, I want to start (again) with the preparation of the Water Bags, which I had already begun a long time ago, until the reconstruction of the SRB exhaust holes up to 1:144 has stopped me.

 

Since I now intend the presentation of the MLP both with and without Water Bags, I first had to think about how best to solve this constructively.

 

These elongated foil water bags, which are suspended into the SRB shafts, are filled with water only to a height of 12" (approx. 30 cm), as can be seen here again. 

 

Source: NASA

 

With a width of the (most) bags of also 12'' and a length of 20' (6,10 m shaft width), the result is about 550 liters of water per bag, which corresponds exactly to the volume of my aquarium.

 

First, I want to start with the bags in the back of the chamber (Secondary SRB Hole), with the first part reaching from the shaft back wall to the 18'' outlets (Ø 46 cm) which contains 18 of these red bags. This will inevitably become a few less for my MLP because of the modification of the SRB holes ...  

 

As can be seen in this picture, the first water bag is hanging between the chamber back wall and the 36'' feed pipe (Ø 91 cm) and is therefore somewhat narrower than the other bags in front of the pipe. The next two bags are somewhat wider than the remaining ones and also shortened in front ot the feed pipe, which should be taken into account in the following design.  

 

Source: flickr.com (Andrew Sheer)

 

So I first took measurements and made a new template for the partition walls,  

 

 

and therefore get to work!

 

Since the distance between the back wall and the feed pipe is rather small, the first bag can be only 1,5 mm wide.  

 

 

For the gluing of the parts with MEK, I have carefully placed Teflon foil underneath.  

 

 

 

 

Since the bag has a bit jammed during insertion, the length had to be adjusted slightly.  

 

 

Therefore the question for insertion came up, so it is probably more favorable to insert the bags later from the bottom into the shaft with installed ring line, because the SRB Blast Shield slightly protrudes at the top edge and therefore would disturb.

 

 

And now to the small-scale production of the individual parts. For the "normal" bags I will use a square profile (2 mm x 2 mm) for the lower webs, and for the partition walls 0,2 mm Styrene Sheet by Evergreen. 

 

 

The next time, however, it will go on with the two wider bags next to the feed pipe (Ø 6,2 mm), for which I will use a rectangular profile (3 mm x 2 mm), after which the normal bags will then follow.  

[roma847]

Thanks guys for looking.  

 

Hello everybody,

 

here is the next step on the way to the Water Bags, which are going to be composed of several parts, but beautifully in sequence, just like during the later assembly.  

 

The first part is the slightly narrower bag (1.5 mm web width) behind the feed pipe, which is already finished and could already be seen in the last post.  

 

 

The next part extends up to the two 18'' outlets to which these individual parts belong, 

 

 

which must be carefully cut out so that the bag package becomes uniform. Below the scissors lie the wider webs (3 mm x 2 mm) and the shortened partition wall for the two bags next to the feed pipe,  

 

 

which were next glued. 

 

 

Then the longer partitions with the "normal" webs (2 mm x 2 mm) follow.

 

 

 

 

And so the first assembly test looks, which shows that the bags fit quite well and it can equally go on up to the 18'' outlets.  

 

 

Then the third part follows, starting with the bag between the two outlets and the following two "normal" bags, followed by the two short bags between the two rear MLP Support Posts, which unfortunately are covered by the guy in the bluey.  

 

Source: flickr.com (Jen Scheer)

 

I hope I can insert this connected third part from above, as well as the remaining three short bag parts on the side walls and the front shaft wall.  

 

Source: youtube.com (Michel Mephit)

 

So much for the moment.

 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

here are a few pictures of the continuation of the gluing of the Water Bags in the SRB shaft behind the LOX-TSM.

 

 

And so it went on.

 

 

I had to pay attention to the fact that the package could not move upwards, for which I clamped it between magnets and pressed the central webs gently down onto the pad each time and held it tight for a moment.  

 

 

In this way, I have glued ten bags behind the inlet pipe, 

 

 

which extend to the two 18'' outlets.  

 

 

 

Then it goes on with the third part, which begins with the wider bag between the outlets.

 

As an encore I still have this interesting video, in which the ingenious principle of the SSWS is very impressively illustrated and explained, which one or another may already know. 

 

Noise Reduction Technology in Space Shuttle's Lift off Using WATER MIST

 

Enjoy this cool video.

[RichO]

 

looking very cool now!!  It will be nice to see some color. Nice video.

[roma847]

Thanks Rich for stopping by,  

 

as I have said, the time will come, as soon as the second ring line will be complete. 

 

Keep cool. 

[roma847]

Hello guys,

 

before I go on with the next Water Bags, I have made a test arrangement with the Shuttle stack on the MLP to look at the space conditions in the front part of the shaft (Primary SRB Hole), in which then the shorter bags have to be mounted around the SRB.

 

The lineup of the stack was, of course, again a shaky affair, which had to be carried out with the utmost caution in order to avoid fatal crashes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And after this overall impression I put the stack aside and have only placed the support posts upright, in order to get a better view for the further consideration.  

 

 

 

And so that the support posts cannot always slip away, I have made a small template of the SRB Aft Skirt.

 

 

 

And after this detailed view, I then scratched the next two bags, the wider front bag of which is sitting between the two 18'' outlets.

 

 

And these two fit well so far already to the previous bags, wherewith the Secondary SRB Hole would be covered up.  

 

 

So far again for today.

[Mustermark]

Wow. With the shuttle stack in place it looks amazing.

[RichO]

Beautiful work Manfred!!

[roma847]

Thanks Mark and Rich for your nice compliments,

and stay tuned my friends. . 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

and with the clear-sightedness template, the perspective is naturally even better.  

 

 

So then let's go on with the two short middle Water bags in the front shaft section right in front of the SRB, as can be seen in this picture from the STS-2.

 

Source: NASA

 

And here we go with these two bags in "handbag format", which are made quickly.

 

 

 

And they fit well into the gap between the SRB Supports,

 

 

and thus also between the MLP Support Posts. 

 

 

 

The same two bags sit directly in front of the front shaft wall and have their turn now.

 

 

And so slowly the Primary SRB Hole fills up.

 

 

Tomorrow the two side Water Bags will be added.

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

today I will scratch the side Water Bags, for which the parts have been prepared.  

 

 

The gluing on the PTFE foil was unproblematic again.  

 

 

The outer bag had to be slightly shorter, so that it fits between the two 12'' outlets. 

 

 

After the first side bags were ready, I realized that I had cut two sheets too little.   But that was quickly done, 

 

 

and here both bags are ready, 

 

 

which could then be tried in the shaft.

 

 

And as one can see, they fit well between the MLP Support Posts. 

 

 

 

 

 

The left SRB shaft is fully equipped now and so I can turn to the right shaft tomorrow, in order to glue the Pipe Supports under the ring line.

[RichO]

Looks mighty fine in the photos!!  Now double the fineness with the other side.  Good Job!

[roma847]

Thanks Rich for your nice compliment. 

 

BTW, on the other hand these water bags will cover up so much from the total sight with all the pipes and outlets ... 

 

That's why I'll only equip one SRB shaft with water bags, which should be removable, then one can see both at the same time. 

[RichO]

Nice idea!  It would be a shame to cover everything up.

[Mustermark]

I was thinking that... all that work on the big pipe outlet! Hidden! Good idea.

I am still curious how you will represent the water...

[roma847]

Thanks Rich and Mark,

 

yeah, this will become the best solution. 

 

BTW, real water in the Water Bags, that would be the highlight, but that would be too much of a good thing ... 

 

But at least I will try to blur the red color of the water a little bit by washing, in the hope that it will differ from the red of the bags.  

 

And if I then paint the surfaces with clear lacquer, then they should stand out against the matte red of the partitions nearly realistically.

[xffw45343tg]

Hi Manfred. I think this is what was being referred to in one of the earlier posts when someone suggested "Scale water" or something similar. It sounded to me that this is one of those products used for example in model railway dioramas for making rivers, lakes, sea and so on - rather than someone joking about you having a 1:144 scale tap in your kitchen.

 

This type of modelling product might give the sort of finish you are thinking of with clear lacquer?

 

Kirk

[Richard E]

35 minutes ago, roma847 said:

Thanks Rich and Mark,

 

yeah, this will become the best solution. 

 

BTW, real water in the Water Bags, that would be the highlight, but that would be too much of a good thing ... 

 

But at least I will try to blur the red color of the water a little bit by washing, in the hope that it will differ from the red of the bags.  

 

And if I then paint the surfaces with clear lacquer, then they should stand out against the matte red of the partitions nearly realistically.

 

Although you would probably create real water by combining 1/144 scale hydrogen and oxygen atoms the resin water effects used by model railway or diorama builders might give you a more realistic water effect.  This link might help: Woodland Scenics

[roma847]

Thanks Kirk and Richard for your nice comments, 

 

but bear in mind, that the water depth in the bags is only 30 cm (12''), which means that the red of the bags also shimmers from the subsurface, making the water almost red appears, as one can see well on these pictures. 

 

Source: flickr.com (Andrew Sheer)

 

Source: capcomespace.net

 

That's what I mean.