Apollo Crawler at 1/72 scale

[roma847]

Hey Rich,

good to see that you have survived the monster storm and your house is still standing.

Welcome back on your crawler yard.

Therefore let all the lamps light up, you're making an exceptionally good job, well done like before!

With your LED approach you've achieved a nice contrast between the cold white lights outside and the warm white lights inside, which look terrific.

The cabs lighting also looks great and the interior can be seen very brightly, really nice effects.

[RichO]

Gordon & Brian,

Actually this thing weighs almost nothing, not as light as paper, but very easy to handle. Because I have used styrene welder to build with, this whole thing is fused into a single mass. I can pick it up and shake it quite hard and no ill effects.

Hillstar & Manfred,

Thanks for the comments about the lighting. The plans I have for the caution lights will really kick this thing into high orbit. keep watching!

[RichO]

Hey All,

In my excitement about getting back to posting, I sort of got things in the wrong order. So this morning I will show how I closed up the top side and finished with the painting.

In this first photo I have cut the plate that will seal up the top side for good. The scale is 1 U.S. foot or 30 cm.

In this next photo I have started with securing a single corner. Then I make sure that every aspect of the top plate is aligned properly before I secure all to the main frame construction. In this photo you can see that I used a sheet of copy paper to use as a dry lubricant. At this point, there is a fair amount of wiring and edges that the top plate was getting hung up on.

Now as I glue the top plate to the main frame, I secure a bit of the top plate to the beam construction and simply roll the top into place as I glue and go.

The finished top plate secured into place.

The top plate all fixed and painted.

This is the final top construction. All is painted and placed and now with the final Chassis Top mounted into place. This Chassis Top is removable so one can see the inside details, and for later on when the motors, engines, pumps, and other detail can be added to the interior.

Time to turn it over and start with the bottom side.

Tanks All for liking and looking. Be back later!

[RichO]

Hey Guys,

To secure the bottom plate is just as the top plate. I had to cut out the part and then mount to the main frame. The procedure was just the same as the top plate. Secure a corner, line up the plate and glue as I rolled it into place, then paint.

Next up is the construction of the support legs. Thanks for watching!!

[roma847]

Then you just have to be careful that your cat does not become entangled in the wires.

[RichO]

The Chief Inspector General is no longer allowed on site until all is secured!!

[roma847]

As I see you have learned additionally, so Safety First!!!

[hillstar]

Nice idea with the "glue and role" trick!

How thick was the plastic sheet that you have used?

[RichO]

Hillstar,

The glue and roll trick was easy to do because I have been using styrene sheets that are thin enough to bend easily. I use several thickness of sheets. I contacted Evergreen Styrene office and ordered sheets that are 16 inches x 24 inches. For the heavy frame work I used the thickest sheets at .020 inch (0.5mm). For thinner work I use .015 inch (0.4mm) and for the thinnest and smallest parts I use a .010 inch (0.25mm). I received a sample pack from Evergreen and then picked out the thickness that would work out the best.

[RichO]

Hey Altogether,

Today I will show how I made the support legs for the crawler. The support legs are called JEL Tubes. JEL is Jacking, Equalizing,Leveling. These JEL Tubes can lift the crawler and its load up or down as much as 6 feet.

As you can see in the photo above The JEL Tubes are also covered with a black material that keeps the dirt and grime from getting into the hydraulic cylinders that lift the crawler.

In this first photo I have started with the painting.

I found some wood dowels at a local hardware store, cut to length and painted. I have started the assembly process here.

In this photo you can see that I am using a thin black tissue paper to simulate the black material that is present on the original

crawler.

And even tho the tissue paper dose not quite hang the same way as the original material, I think it gives a good impression of the dirt cover.

The four smaller tubes at each corner will be built during the Truck phase of the build. At this time I have no way to support these and they would just flop around until I broke them or they fell off. So that step will come a bit later.

As Christmas is approaching I don't have as much time to build, but I will keep posting for a few more days. So....

Thanks all for liking and watching, the build continues.

[RichO]

Hey Guys,

This morning I 'll show the muffler install. The photo below is the only photo I could find of the original Apollo era muffler. The old style mufflers looked and performed like a car muffler and tail pipe.

In this photo I have already constructed the mufflers. This was a simple process of just bending some sheet styrene into an oval and gluing with an end cap at each end.

In these next photos I have painted the mufflers and installed them. I have also add the exhaust pipes and hanging straps.

And here is a shot of the overall bottom so far. I have installed four mufflers. Two small, two large.

I used some scrap plastic model sprue for the exhaust pipes. Maybe slightly to small, but I did not have the proper size evergreen rod. I tried to use styrene tube the proper size but every time I tried to bend the tube, it just collapsed.

Next I'll build the steering arms.

Thanks All!!

[roma847]

Hey Altogether,

Today I will show how I made the support legs for the crawler. The support legs are called JEL Tubes. JEL is Jacking, Equalizing,Leveling. These JEL Tubes can lift the crawler and its load up or down as much as 6 feet.

As you can see in the photo above The JEL Tubes are also covered with a black material that keeps the dirt and grime from getting into the hydraulic cylinders that lift the crawler.

...

...

Hi Rich,

very nice progress so far.

But the protective sheaths of the Guide tubes I would improve in your place, because they have not enough fine wrinkles.

You could either use finer tissue paper or press top and bottom together more strongly and then unfold again, as the Crawler Guru Mischa Klement (Cyana) had described elsewhere (papermodelers.com). That would certainly look more realistic like here.

Source: papermodelers.com (Cyana)

The final result should look like that,

Source: papermodelers.com (Cyana)

that comes close to truth as you can see here:

Source: papermodelers.com (Cyana)

But this is only a suggestion. As you know, the same applies to the JEL Tubes and the Steering Cylinders, which also have such wrinkled protective covers.

Edited December 19, 2014 by roma847

[RichO]

Manfred,

Taking a little mentoring from you, I pushed up the "socks" and left them pressed for 24 hours. Then pulled the "socks" down. I had a hard time pulling the retainer ring down without tearing the paper, so this is where things will stay for now. The wrinkles are smaller and fit the scale better. However I did not capture the sagging effect that is in your photo.

"Socks" up.

"Socks" down.

[heloman1]

Great work Rich, I'm enjoying your build, it's very enspiring.

Colin

[roma847]

Rich,

I know this is a tricky business with these "socks", but now it looks much better, similar to Misha's image.

Edited December 21, 2014 by roma847

[Learstang]

Great work as always, Rich! An amazing undertaking!

Regards,

Jason

[RichO]

Hey All,

Today I'd like to show how I built the steering arms. As you can see by this drawing, the steering arms and support columns are mounted to the underside of the crawler and attach to the truck assemblies. Their are four steering arms per corner. At this time I will be installing just two per corner. I will install the two inside arms, these are the ones that are on the underside of the corners and attach to the main frame.

The two arms that attach to the truck assembly will be installed when I build and install the truck assemblies.

In the photo above you can see some of the steering arm construction and where these reside on the crawler.

So, to start with the construction. These are the parts for the Steering Arms.

I just happen to find some plastic colored pencils that were the exact size I needed for the main steering arm tubes. These pencils have a plastic color covering that worked great for this application.

In this photo I have built the support elbows and assembled the arm shafts.

and in this picture I have painted the arms and elbows.

These are the parts after painting.

In this photo I am showing the little pin that holds the arm to the elbow. The red pin is simply a small length of wire with the plastic sheath.

And here are the elbows and arms attached to each other and ready for mounting.

In this photo you can see how all this is attached to the main frame.

The mounting elbows also have a support tube the helps to stablize the whole assembly.

In these next photos I have painted the stablizing tubes and all is mounted to the main frame.

So this completes the underside install of all the componants that needed to be done before I can install the caution lights. The caution light install is going fine, but I will not be showing this install until the holidays are over. This is the last free day I have for a short while now.

I hope everybody has a great Christmas Holiday and you all get the models you asked Santa for. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year All!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brianthemodeller]

Looking really good. Have a great Christmas and see you in the New Year!

[bootneck]

Hi Rich,

just want to say a special "Thank You" for making my year so enjoyable following your build. I am sure that you have inspired many of us with your attention to detail; also thank you for showing us the excellent build photo's along the way

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope you have a Happy and Prosperous 2015

Mike

[roma847]

Hey Rich,

You're a perfect steersman and have everything under control.

All new parts and details look great, even the little "socks" on the steering arms.

I wish you and your family Merry and Peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year with spectacular ideas.

I stay tuned.

Edited December 24, 2014 by roma847

[RichO]

Hey Everybody,

I hope you all had a great Christmas!!

I have a preliminary caution light posting for today. This posting will show the construction of the caution lights. After I have finished with the install I will try to post a video of the spinning caution lights..

In the first photo is a shot of the yellow lights to be installed.

And of course, all the lights get a function test.

Once all the lights test clean, I then go into a mass production mode.

So what I have done here is to:, cut a small piece of covered wire that I use for this lighting chapter. This piece is only about 1 mm long. Next I glued three lamps ( that make up the caution light) onto the short length of wire to make a triangle with the lamps.

The next thing to do was to find a home for the simulator chips to live. These simulator chips came from a model railroading site. What they do is to flash on the lamps in rapid succession to simulate a spinning caution light. It simply turns on and then turns off the lamps in rapid order and makes a very good likeness of a spinning caution light.

In this photo I have built a distributor wire feed to the chip location. The black wire is for power distribution and the red wire is the common ground. Both the red and black are designed the same and distribute the power to the same locations.

In this photo is what the simulator chip looks like and this is how I wired the chip set.

This is the lay of the first caution light run. From it's location, to the chip set for power.

And now, the first installed light test.

Now all I have to do is replicate this 10 more times. I have 12 spinning caution lights. each light is made of three lamps and a simulator chip. Once all are installed I'll be back with the finishing of the lighting chapter.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[activexp]

Fantastic work Rich, and a Happy New Year to you

[heloman1]

Thanks for the entertainment over the past months Rich, it's been good to see how someone else would tackle certain aspects of scratchbuilding. I'll certainly follow in the New Year Best wishes

Colin

[brianthemodeller]

Hi Rich, I think I followed your post but could you post some video footage so we can see how the 'rotating' beacons look once you have finished them?

Also, what diameter are the beacons once you get the three LEDs together - I have a project in mind if they are small enough!

All the best for the New Year!

Brian

[noeyedears]

How have i not seen this before! Gotta say this has blown my socks off. Very impressed with the planning that must have gone into this to have such a neat result with all the wiring that is hidden.