Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6

[James G]

Great work Manfred - it will be mind-blowing when it's finally done!

[roma847]

Thanks James for your compliment,

until then it's a long and rocky road, but I'm going to struggle through til the end - No pain, no gain.

Edited April 9, 2015 by roma847

[POTKC]

Happy Easter, and WOW LOOK AT THAT AMAZING SCRATCHBUILDING!!!

[roma847]

Thanks POTKC for your nice words.

Hello everybody,

I really wanted to make any long break, but after I'd rather spread out over Easter something, it will now go back rested.

And then there was the next surprise. By bending and adjusting the pipe for the Fire Suppression System above the Blast Shield of the TSM I have already noticed that the place was pretty tight there, what bothered me a little. And comparing this pipe with the running line above the TSM door then I noticed the different diameters, which should be the same.

And the final measurement actually found that I had once used for thicker TSM-line 1.2 mm rods, but on the other hand for the fire protection pipe Ø 1.4 mm. This had also the consequence that the tight curves on the Blast Shield were a little too large, so that the two pipe ends directly in front next to the Blast Shield lay on the MLP deck. But there should still be a sufficient distance for the local thickening with the flange.

Purely by chance I still have found this great NASA Streetview shot where you can see the details on location clearer than on the last picture.

Source: NASA

To cut a long story short, I have provided new Evergreen profiles Ø 1.2 mm and have bent the pipe once more. But now I unfortunately realized that these rods are a bit more unruly in bending than those with Ø 1.4 mm. Firstly, the curves have repeatedly slightly bent up, and on the other they are with stronger bend even broken now and then, which had resulted some waste.

So I've been trying to preheat the pipe with a hair dryer, but this also was not successful because the opening was too large. So I bought this handy heat gun (Proxxon) with restrictor (Ø 9 mm).

And this device is almost perfect for preheating of the profiles, because you can heat exactly on the spot.

However, one needs a bit of tact, because the point to the softening of the plastic is reached relatively quickly, in which the rod suddenly becomes completely unstable. And since then the curves can not be bent smoothly and accurately enough, I had to refine my technique with the balsa brackets for fixing the line sections.

It is important to fasten firmly as possible to each section in front of the bend, so be clamped between the balsa cards.

Then the bending point is preheated gently with the Proxxon, and at the softening point the line can then be easily bent with a balsa strips in the desired direction and fixed until cooling by means of pins.

Then each bend is "frozen" and retains its shape, as can be seen in the next picture.

And the fitting on the Blast Shield confirmed the perfect line run up to the TSM's.

But now comes the tricky horizontal section below the TSMs that runs directly on top of the hole, and thus only about 2 mm lower than the previous line. So the line having to be clamped accordingly again.

But even this minimal bend can be done in this way.

And then the line can be unclamped again,

to carry out the next fitting.

This procedure is somewhat cumbersome, but ultimately leads to success, and that's the main thing.

Next follows the same bend just a little further up, and then the remaining bends over the Blast Shield.

That's it for today.

[noeyedears]

lovely job on the pipes!

[phildagreek]

Every time I check in on this, it just becomes more outrageous. Fantastic work.

[RichO]

Great job with the pipes!! I really like the balsa jigs you have there. I am really interested in how you will do the size reduction and flanges with your styrene pipes. All great stuff to watch. Great job.

[roma847]

Thanks guys for your nice compliments,

maybe it would be easier to use thin brass wire, which one could bend more precisely and will keep his stable form. But I want to scratch build the small water nozzles (0,5 mm) too, which can be seen in this picture,

Source: NASA

and that would be hardly to realize for a brass wire (1,2 mm). But one could also try a combination, the rear part with the tiny nozzles of Styrene and the front with the tight bends made of brass.

[RichO]

I do like the brass wire idea. I think you would get a nice visual with the different materials and sizes.

[roma847]

Hey Rich,

nothing confound, the visual effects with the different materials (brass & styrene) would be the same, because everything finally will be painted gray, and the pipe diameters (1.2 mm) are of course equal for this Firex line.

[roma847]

Hello friends,

today it is now to go on with the bends at Firex pipe, so first directly in front of the TSM upwards, and then over the Blast Shield to the right. And if I have measured correctly, the line between TSM and the front ladder should extend what has worked, fortunately.

For the bow behind the Blast Shield down I used again the Balsa jig.

Thereafter the wire was re-clamped and then the bending followed obliquely forward.

And up to this point it looks actually quite passable, in my opinion.

On this short end now I only need to install this thickening with the flange, which could be seen in advance.

Source: NASA

And so now for the manufacture of this part, for which I've bored up a round rod (2.3 mm Ø).

In order to stay as much as possible when drilling in the center, first I have bored a smaller centering bore (Ø 0,8 mm) and subsequently bored up at Ø 1.3 mm, so that the 1.2 mm pipe fits well therethrough.

For the flange I have used an Evergreen strip (0,5x0,5 mm) and bent corresponding rings. For that I have wrapped the profile onto a core and subsequently heated with the Proxxon blower as long,

until it has retained the shape,

and then separated a few rings from the spiral.

For the clamping ring I bent rings from 0.3 mm lead wire,

and then glued both rings on the sleeve.

That's it for today with this small stuff, true to the slogan Many a mickle makes a muckle.

[noeyedears]

excellent update

[roma847]

Thanks noeyedears for your nice words,

yep, it will, slowly but surely.

Stay tuned, I'll be back!

[roma847]

Hallo folks,

here is the next update with the front end of the Firex-line in front of the LOX TSM that takes bizarre forms slowly, and therefore be treated with caution.

At first I tried on the part with the flange.

Although the place in the corner next to the Blast Shield is close, the flange part fits there quite well.

Now, however, still missing the branching of the line forward, I've tried on. And then another thing of this place is a part, which has the same shape as the parts on the front and back of the TSM. These are presumably transport aids, which I had built during the re-construction of the TSMs. And see there, even this thing fits just about in between too.

Finally, I have still bent the line in front of the flange part and then cut where it empties into the upper deck.

And so it should be enough for today.

[MartG]

Incredible work !

[RichO]

Great work Manfred!! The piping looks great as per usual!

[noeyedears]

Is that a big red Ferrari I see in the background! Can I see it?

[roma847]

Thanks Martin and Rich for your nice compliments,

the bending procedure of this Firex line from Styrene is really a tricky matter, but I try to struggle through.

Yep noeyedears, this is the Ferrari 248F1, which was the 40th Formula 1 race car from Ferrari.

With this bolide Michael Schumacher became in his final season in 2006 Vice World Champion behind Fernando Alonso.

[noeyedears]

very nice!!

[roma847]

Hello Guys on Sunday,

and thus back to the tricky narrow and short bends above the Blast Shield, only this time on the other side, so everything is reversed. And so the secure clamping of the line between the balsa boards slowly becomes already a delicate matter, because the need to sit tight as possible and must not move when bending under the hot-air shower.

In addition, you must now somehow protect the neighboring areas of the line too, because otherwise the rest could be deformed when it gets too hot in the vicinity, and then all the effort would have been for nothing.

But that's not happening here at this point, fortunately, previously however, but already times now and then.

And how the test fitting shows, the line fits so far also quite good, as well as without the TSMs,

and with TSM's, which of course is crucial.

Finally the second flange part was strung, cut the rest of the line and placed the branch line tentative.

So, that my today's destination is reached.

As next steps now the 18 tiny pipe supports and 25 spray nozzles are waiting for me, in front of what I already have little jitters.

[roma847]

Hi all together,

But nevertheless I think it should be feasible, although it already is in the area of very small dimensions, what concerns the Water Nozzles. They are 0.5 mm in diameter, i.e. I also have to pre-drill the thin pipe (Ø 1,2 mm) with about this diameter in order to put the nozzles. And because thereby the cross section is fairly weakened, the line could already become quite unstable.

That's why I tried this on a sample piece.

And as you can see, the test was successful, one just has to be careful not to pierce the line.

So please press again thumb and stay tuned!

[Kallisti]

O M G

You have the patience of... er... something with a lot of patience!

[roma847]

Thanks Kallisti, but tell just what you mean, I want to laugh too ...

The patience of a saint?

No matter, but one needs patience for such things, that's right, even a lot of patience ...

[RichO]

I can barely stand it!! The anticipation of what comes next. This is great stuff. I can only imagine what the launch tower will look like when you get there. Keep up the great work my friend!!

[roma847]

Thanks Rich for your nice words and for your curiosity about the launch tower.

Here is exceptionally a little foretaste.

As you know, there are lots of tricky PE parts of the five LVM Detail kits which have to be processed, and I no longer need to invent as much as before.

In this great challenge, I'm very curious. But at the moment I'm dreaming only of SSWS pipes, supports and water nozzles ...