Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6

[Arild Moland]

Glad to know you're getting better! 

 

Don't forget though, that the nozzle size of your airbrush as well as the pressure you paint at, is equally important variables to consider. I really wouldn't be too concerned with thinning ratios alone. Getting the right combination of thinning and pressure for the nozzle and paint you are using, and also considering spraying distance, is key to get good results. Practise makes perfect. I never ever had to thin Vallejo Air to get it to work back in the day when I still used it, though. I usually painted using a 0.3 mm nozzle.

 

I'll agree that frequent nozzle cleaning is vital to get good results with Vallejo.

 

Looking forward to see some paint on that tank

[roma847]

Thanks for your response, 

 

I fully agree with your remarks, especially that practice makes perfect, which is why I'm going to do some exercises ... 

 

BTW, I'm using a Triplex Gun with a 0,3 mm nozzle at a pressure of 2 bar.

 

It sounds like it's been a longer time since you had sprayed Vallejo Model Air, right?

 

Maybe Vallejo had his Model Air series better adjusted towards ready-to-spray consistency that time ... 

 

 

 

 

[Arild Moland]

Hehe, I doubt that Vallejo has fiddled much with their formula, but you never now! Some manufactureres also struggle with inconsistent batches, ie that one bottle/jar can be just fine and the next can be fiddly to use. I also find that there's variation between how easy different colours are to use and spray. Another thing with Vallejo is that it needs to be mixed/shaked well. You'll also suffer it the paint is "cold", that is, it will be beneficial to warm the bottle a bit (like in luke varm water, not boiling!).

 

I sold off my Vallejo Air collection six years ago, after moving house and installing a new hobby room with a proper spray booth and hefty ventilation. Since then I have almost exclusively used laquers, or specifically stuff like Tamiya, Mr Hobby etc cut with laquer thinner. You get excellent spray control and finish, without any of the hassle of clogged nozzles etc, but at the expense of the smell and hazardous odours. (Now, I wouldn't recommend sniffing Vallejo either, but it is much nicer to your internals than laquers )

 

As for pressure, I must admit I usually have no clue at what pressure I'm painting! My compressor sits underneath the spray booth, in a position where I can reach the regulator, but where I can't see the pressure dial unless I crawl on all fours on the floor. So I just fiddle with it until I get the pressure I want. Judging by its present setting at about 1.75 bar, I suspect I spray most things at between 1 and 1.5 bars as I tend to leave the compressor at a higher pressure setting than then one I use for actual painting, as I crank up the pressure while cleaning the airbrush. What I'm saying is that I think 2 bar sounds a bit high?

 

Arild

[roma847]

Thanks Arild, 

 

however, it is important to be able to check whether or when a paint is ready-to-spray for direct use in the airbrush gun, what one can test with the Wagner Method. 

[roma847]

Hello friends,

 

first a short health update. After the complaints shifted more towards the shoulder, I went to a specialist once again, who has sent me to the MRI check to clarify the indication of a Rotator cuff lesion.

 

The radiologist interpreted the scans, among other things as laceration of the supraspinatus tendon (transmural anterior defect, 1.0 by 1.0 cm).  In addition, another tendon (Subscapularis), the local Bursa, and the Biceps muscle are inflamed.

 

If interested, this image shows the muscles/tendons of the Rotator cuff.

 

Source: sportsinjuryclinic.net

 

"Just" a rib bruise, My eye! - as it was initially said by the family doctor, Nobody is perfect!

 

What that means I will hear next Thursday ... I just hope that I can get around a surgical operation.

 

But now back to the Vallejos. I was interested again in the consistency of the re-ordered Model Air paints, which I therefore tested with the Wagner method. 

 

 

As one can see, the diameters of all three color points are below Heinz Wagner's critical limit of 11 mm and should therefore not be ready-to-spray.

 

As a result, one would have to dilute it by adding Vallejo Airbrush Thinner to avoid clogging the nozzle. In any case, I now know how things stand, what is very helpful already.

[philp]

Sorry to hear this.  I have been dealing with a shoulder issue since the end of last year.  Finally got an appointment the end of May and am currently undergoing PT for a Frozen Shoulder.  Really only an issue when I try to reach behind me and sometimes when I sleep.  Not a whole lot of fun but hasn't affected my building ability though that has never been great.

 

Hope you make it without surgery.  Both of my coworkers have had the shoulder done and were out for 12 weeks.

 

[Arild Moland]

Hope your shoulder mends without having to cut it! And that is mends as fast as possible.

 

Now, interesting to see this Wagner method employed, but do you control for temperature of the paint, and how well the paint is mixed? Do you have a way of ensuring that you drop paint from the exact same height every time, and that the same amount of paint is dropped?

 

I guess I'm just saying that one can take the very scientific approach, or one can just try things out until it works for you.

[Mustermark]

So sorry to hear of your fall! I’m very glad it was not worse, but I hope your recovery continues well and that You are pain-free and back to normal very soon!

[roma847]

Thanks my friends for your good wishes, great that you all think of me.  

 

I think everyone has to make their own experiences on this sensitive topic. Regardless of whether scientific or empirical approach, both are justified.

If one has always worked as a scientist, one has these rules of thoroughness and reproducibility in the blood forever. 

 

It is important for me to work as reproducibly as possible and for this a reliable test is essential. Therefore I prefer to test the sprayability of the Valejos beforehand using the Wagner Method, which one can rely on.

 

A friend of mine from the ARC Discussion Forums found out that the thinner to paint mixture is dependent on the weather and humidity. Some days the acrylics spray great and on humid days they clog the airbrush tip. 

 

Therefore one should always pay attention to test under comparable conditions, what I mean by reproducibility. That is why it makes a difference whether you are testing in summer or in winter.

 

The test/room temperature should be comparable, then it is the temperature of the paint too. And how well the paint is mixed depends on how long it is mixed by shaking the bottle in hand. And this time of mixing should of course always be the same, according to Heinz Wagner, 3 minutes. And then you always let fall the drop from a height of 30 cm, which is not rocket science. And that's the Wagner Method. 

 

Heinz Wagner is holding the drop bottle on top of a ruler (30 cm).

 

 

For this I've built a small gallows, a simple stand with a rod at a height of 30 cm. 

 

 

And this test should always give comparable results about the sprayability of a paint. 

 

 

In other words, it should be in the range of 11 to 14 mm.

 

That is the whole science. 

[roma847]

Hello friends,

 

last Thursday I was with the doctor who had referred me to the MRI.   After looking at the CD, he said that it was a complete rupture of the Supraspinatus tendon close to its enthesis, what has rather sobered me up.

 

He then has explained the conservative and surgical therapies to me, leaving the decision up to me, as well as the offer to get a second opinion.

 

He showed me the recommended Shoulder arthroscopy, possibly with a seam of the Rotator cuff, on the model and in a schematic video, which looked relatively harmless and remembered my knee arthroscopies.

 

That would mean 1-2 days in hospital and then wearing a Shoulder abduction splint, for about 6 weeks, including physiotherapy ...   

 

Although I initially agreed to the operation, I've started now mulling over it again, especially since I now have hardly any complaints and can actually move my shoulder as before.  

 

However, the doctor pointed out that the torn tendon would gradually shrink, so that later one could not operate it this way, what one can believe it or not.  

 

What also made me wonder was his statement that I could still take my time with the operation and that September/October would still be okay ...

If one then considers yet that the doctors in Germany often recommend an operation far too quickly these days because one can earn a lot with it, I'm actually on the verge of getting a second opinion from another shoulder specialist.  

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

there is still justified hope that I might get around a surgery.

 

The physiotherapist said today that it could not be a complete tendon rupture, especially since I have no pain and no functional restriction in my shoulder and I can totally lift my arm to the top and let rotate it through 360°, just like the other.  

 

So I immediately registered with the Chief physician for Orthopedic surgery, Trauma surgery and Sports medicine in a larger clinic in Stuttgart, where I've got an appointment on August 6 to get a second opinion.

 

Then we'll see ...

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

after I have had enough time and have now formed my own opinion, I can now go on carefree and cheerfully, but next week I will get as planned a second opinion from the specialists at a clinic in Stuttgart.

 

According to my diagnosis, I did not completely tear the Supraspinatus tendon, when I fell almost 4 weeks ago, as one has meant last, but rather probably "only" a local defect happened, as the radiologist meant after his MRI, which, however, might also already be based on a degenerative pre-damage, that went unnoticed.

 

The initial pains, which has now almost completely subsided, was in my opinion a result of the rib bruise that I had contracted. In any case, I have no pain in the shoulder and no functional restrictions and can do the "windmill" with both arms as before. Thank God and my Guardian Angel!!!

 

I've found a plausible explanation in the said Article, which I've read again in more detail.

 

There it says, among other things: A rotator cuff tear that is the result of aging, called a degenerative tear of the rotator cuff, must be distinguished from a tear that is the result of a traumatic injury to the shoulder. There is some crossover, where the chronic weakening of the rotator cuff from aging degenerating leads to susceptibility to tearing from relatively minor trauma. Therefore, each individual likely has components of both degenerating and trauma that contribute to their shoulder problem, and your orthopedic surgeon can help determine why your tear occurred.

 

Since I think that I don't have (no longer) a shoulder problem, I now wait relatively relaxed, what the 2nd orthopedist next week thinks about it. But an surgery would now rather mean like to shot with cannons at sparrows ...

 

In the light of recent events, I have now played a doctor myself and have operated our little squirrel that had suffered a complete foot fracture in the garden some time ago. 

 

But since I am not a miracle healer, I got myself with the Revell UV Super Glue a miracle weapon that I wanted to try out already a long time ago.

 

 

So I put the patient in the stable supine position,

 

 

and then have applied the liquid adhesive to the break point. 

 

 

After putting on and pressing the front paw, I then irradiated the seam with the UV pointer, which causes the adhesive to harden transparently.  

 

 

And that was already the miracle healing, 

 

 

and the squirrel wanted to go back to the garden quickly.  

 

And this gave me the idea that I could also use this UV glue for the Pad and MLP lighting to seal the LEDs in the lampshades, or that one could be able to shape glue drops over the LEDs, so to speak as "bulbs".

 

 

And then I've tried it out on my test lamps.

 

Back then I had also experimented with tiny glass beads (right) to simulate the lamp body. To the left of it, the LED is only inserted flat into the lampshade and should have been glued yet.

 

 

Both lamps are switched on here.

 

 

In this position I've then dripped the glue onto,

 

 

and then hardened with the UV pointer,

 

 

as well as tested. 

 

 

 

To shape a nice round drop, I will have to experiment a bit yet, but this solution should certainly be useful, also for the three special lamps 11, 12, 17 without a wide lampshade. 

 

But now I'll switch off all the lights and slowly move into the horizontal, and maybe dream of the squirrel ...

[John_W]

That superglue is something like my dentist uses for small fillings, he colours it to match, applies it and then UV cures it. Tempted to try it myself (the glue, not dentistry) looks like a good solution for aircraft landing lights and similar.

[Vince1159]

Great job on the Squirrel,you should've been a vet.....

[roma847]

On 8/1/2020 at 6:38 PM, John_W said:

That superglue is something like my dentist uses for small fillings, he colours it to match, applies it and then UV cures it. Tempted to try it myself (the glue, not dentistry) looks like a good solution for aircraft landing lights and similar.

 

Just try it out, it's child's play! 

[roma847]

12 hours ago, Vince1159 said:

Great job on the Squirrel,you should've been a vet.....

 

 my friend, maybe in my next life ... 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

first of all the good news of the last week's Health check that my gut feeling has not deceived me. I didn't want to go under the knife, and after getting a second opinion, no shoulder surgery is necessary either!!!

 

The orthopedic surgeon I've consulted in the Stuttgart clinic first asked me about my concerns and how I was feeling. And after I've shown him my easygoing windmill-arm rotation, he said, to my surprise, short and sweet: Well then, Goodbye!!! Oops, sorry?

 

Only then he has looked at the MRI-CD and showed me the defect (1 cm x 1 cm) on the Supraspinatus tendon that the radiologist had found and explain it to me on the model . Accordingly, the term Complete rupture of the first surgeon would be appropriate, but would only apply to this small area behind the enthesis. On the other hand, the tendon would be present all around, so it is more of a "hole" and not a torn tendon, which I initially thought.

 

In short, he said that he would not operateon me, especially since I have no restrictions on freedom of movement or a loss of strength in my arm, which finally convinced and reassured me.    

 

And so I was able to go back to my Pad construction site completely relaxed and again turn to the two lamp shapes with and without a shade/reflector on the MLP-Side 1,   

 

Source: NASA

 

whereby it was again about the three circled lamps without a lampshade.  

 

In the meantime I had adapted the splitting of the circuits a little bit more to the local conditions in order to be able to achieve the easiest possible relocation of the lamps. 

 

Source: NASA

 

In my first attempts I had still experimented with tiny glass beads, which is rather tricky and should be much easier to implement with the help of the new UV adhesive, like my first attempts with the larger lampshades have already shown.  

 

For these three lamps without reflector I used the smaller ferrules (0,5x6), which have an inner diameter of 0,8 mm, through which the LEDs of the design SMD 0401/0402 can be threaded through, as one can see in this image with a LED Sunny White, with the LED standing upright and protruding relatively far out of the small shade. 

 

 

Here one can see the size difference between the LEDs of the types SMD 0401/0402 (left) and the SMD 0603 (right), whereby the last one is too bigfor the smaller ferrule, but is fitting the larger ferrule.  

 

 

Here one can see for comparison one of the larger ferrules (1,0x6) for the other lamps on the Side 1, the shade of which I have widened from a diameter of 2,4 mm to 2,8 mm. 

 

 

Here the switched-on LED (0401) shines in its warm white color. 

 

 

In the meantime I've got another UV adhesive. The whitish drop on the right is from the Revell Fix-Kit, and the other is an UV adhesive called BONDIC, which looks a little yellowish, but otherwise has similar properties.   

 

 

At first I only tried without LEDs to create a glass body by building up the adhesive in layers, which is quite feasible with a little practice. One just doesn't have to drip too much glue on, because otherwise it will run too wide before one can irradiate it, causing it to harden, so layer by layer.

 

One can also make clever use of the force of gravity by turning the sleeve immediately after the glue has been dripped on and allowing the drop to be shaped a little for itself, and only then irradiate it, which initially looked like this. 

 

 

And with a little practice I managed to create this beautiful glass body.

 

 

Then I've repeated the same procedure with an upright standing LED Pure White (0401), so first a drop was dropped for fixing the LED, 

 

 

which was then cured with the UV Pen,

 

 

here with a finished glass body.

 

 

 

With a little skill, the small LED can also be inserted flat into the sleeve, which makes the light emission more even.

 

 

 

 

 

So much for my feasibility experiments, which show that it's also possible to do without the tiny glass beads.

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

meanwhile I took a closer look at the lighting on the Side 1 of the MLP-2 and evaluated these three photos from different perspectives, whereby some lamps are unfortunately covert or not visible.  

 

Thereby I noticed that there are not three, as previously assumed, but four lamps without reflector, which are circled on all images.  

 

The first two images are image details from my reference photos of the MLP-2 during STS-6 (1983), each from a slightly different perspective.

 

The newly discovered lamp without reflector is the yellow circled Lamp 7, which in the 1st photo can only be seen with difficulty as a point to the left of the vertical strut, and in the 2nd photo as a point to the right of the slant strut.

 

Source: retrospaceimages.com - STS-6 High-Res. Image Library

 

Source: retrospaceimages.com - STS-6 High-Res. Image Library

 

But on this photo of the MLP-2 during STS-28 (1989) one can clearly see at the same lamp arrangement that the yellow circled Lamp 7 has no reflector.

 

Source: NASA

 

So I have to scratch four lamps with a glass body but without a reflector with the help of the UV Adhesive technique.  

[busnproplinerfan]

I hope this ends up in a museum on loan. Is the real pad still around? only one was built I guess?

[roma847]

Wait and see ... Keeping the legacy alive!  

 

There are two launch pads, 39A and 39B, but they look a little different today than they did then ... 

 

 

[busnproplinerfan]

6 hours ago, roma847 said:

Wait and see ... Keeping the legacy alive!  

 

There are two launch pads, 39A and 39B, but they look a little different today than they did then ... 

 

 

The tube of glue is as vehicle, the x-acto is a vehicle. Just bugging because Nasa calls everything a vehicle.

[roma847]

Sorry, but I cannot follow you, what you mean ... 

[busnproplinerfan]

Whenever I see a video taken talking about Nasa, the one narrating always refers the everything as a vehicle of some kind. 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

with this update I want to briefly inform you about the current status.  

 

In the meantime I have thought of a solution for laying the first four lamps in the red circle on the MLP-Side 1, whereby the LED wires are laid in such a way that they cannot be seen afterwards.

 

In an intensive exchange of ideas with my German Raumcon friend McPhönix, who built the ingenious Mega power bank for the complete pad lighting for me, we agreed upon a solution, in which the cabling between the power bank and the MLP takes place via the front Pedestal at the right-hand corner of the MLP.  

 

Who would like to find out more about the structure of this power bank can look into his thread Lighting of models, unfortunately only in German.

 

After repeated detailed examination of the previous splitting of the three LED circles on the MLP-Side 1 I came across a tricky problem considering the sometimes very cramped spaces under the roofs of the MLP, related to the Lamps 5-7 in the yellow circle,  

 

Source: retrospaceimages.com - STS-6 High-Res. Image Library

 

which I have marked with the yellow arrow in this image.

 

 

The following two images once again show the cramped conditions circled on site.

 

 

 

After the laying the first four lamps (1-4) of the yellow line, I would then have to climb up with the last three lamps (5-7) from the ceiling above the lower Access Platform along the stairs there up to the upper Access Platform above the LH₂Valve Skid followed by pulling the strand with the three lamps through a real eye of a needle between the support struts of the LH₂Transport Line, which would be almost impossible. In addition, the LED wire would then hang freely in the space in front of the tubes on the MLP wall.

 

To find a way out of this dilemma, I changed the division of the LED circles once again, which can be seen in the following images. Therefore I've extended the red circle by a lamp,

 

Source: capcomespace.net

 

which now ends with the Lamp 8 at this needle eye and is led on the rear wall to the return conductor (GND). Thus the yellow LED circle only has still four lamps (1-4). 

 

The remaining two lamps (6/7) of the originally yellow circle now form the beginning of the light blue circle (1/2),

 

Source: capcomespace.net

 

which now includes eight lamps.

 

Source: capcomespace.net

 

With this redistribution, the laying of the LED circles should now be a bit easier, I hope so.   

[roma847]

Hello friends, 

 

let's go on.

 

And therewith back to the first LED circle (1-8, red), of which the first four lamps are somehow attached to the MLP wall, the question is only how?  

 

 

On this already shown part from a photo montage from the Side 1 of the MLP-2 I had conjectured inlet pipes for the lamp cords at the fastening points of the lamps, laying in the middle of the wall's frames.

 

Source: capcomespace.net

 

That's why in a first version I used a Styrene rod (Ø 0,7 mm) to hold the lampshades, which I've glued with UV adhesive onto the lampshade.  

 

 

 

To facilitate tests for the assembly and cabling of the first four LED lamps on the MLP wall, I made a true-to-scale copy of Side 1 from David Maier's paper kit as a template and then glued four vertical struts from the used styrene profiles,   as well as temporarily placed a lampshade, which should not lie against the wall directly.

 

 

 

Here the lamp with the holding rod is plugged into the wall, which would make this a useful attachment variant.

 

 

In the meantime I've remembered the great Launch Pad 39A Reference Photos by Troy McClellan, on which one can see at maximum resolution (3x click) that those are not tubes but Angle profiles to which the lamps were attached during the early STS missions, which were later replaced by other lamps like these ones here.

 

Source: Troy McClellan

 

On this image section I've measured some details and found that the angles, scaled to 1:160, are only 0,4 mm x 0,4 mm "large" and protrude slightly beyond the wall struts towards the front, i.e. they should be approx. 2 mm long, thereby the lampshades (Ø 2,8 mm) would be slightly in front of the wall. 

 

 

But such small angle profiles there are not available neither made of styrene nor brass, whereby the smallest brass angles are 1 mm x 1 mm, which would be a bit too big.

 

So I was thinking about how and from what one could scratch such small angles.

 

But more on that tomorrow, have a nice day.