bgire Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Hello Folks! Following is my assembly of LVM Studio’s magnificent kit of the Baikonur Soyuz Launch Pad. A really big kit (resin, photo etching) which will host my NewWare kit of Soyuz TM. http://www.forum-maquettes-spatiales.com/t1282-lanceurs-r7-vostok-et-soyuz-tma-new-ware-1-144-montage-de-bgire I first discovered this kit on the LVM Studio’s stand in Telford Scale Model Show four years ago. It took all this time to decide to start this huge project. The cardboard box is really big and includes many parts and assembly instructions (a CD): Inside, many photo etched sheets (.15mm brass), numerous resin parts and 4mm thick styrène plates for the concrete base: Starting with the « concrete base ». This reproduces only part of the real, huge platform built above a big trench in Baikonur. The top plate and inner cylinder are moulded parts, the rest is made of 4mm styrene plates. Meanwhile photo etched plates and resin parts are airbrushed (army green on white undercoat): Finishing the “concrete” base: The numerous service arms basements are secured with screws from the bottom of the base through the top plate, mainly because of their reduced surface which are insufficient to hold them: To be continued… 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgire Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 Continued… Lower arms assembly. These arms hold the launcher from below and allow access to the engines: A dry fitting of these arms on the pad. Note the annular brass plate which will hold the other arms: Arm bases are being screwed and glued to the base plate: Now is the turn of the four holding arms which support the launcher just above the four boosters. These “petal” arms open to free the rocket when nominal power level is reached during lift off: This finely made brass photo etching is .15mm thick and a pleasure to work with: Making of the four “counter-arms” which free the rocket during launching: A small aesthetic improvement to the photo etched folds which are bonded with white glue to hide the void between faces. When painting I opted for down toning the original colour for scale effect. I follow my usual method, by adding 12% of white to the original colour. 12 is the square root of the scale under figure (144). Almost no weathering: pictures show the whole metallic part of the pad appears very clean and freshly painted. The four “petal” arms are now equipped with top platforms: Their articulation bearings: Now is the turn of the small umbilical arm which services the central core (second stage). This naked structure will be equipped later with a lot of cables: Following is the large umbilical which services the third stage. This spectacular, one piece build is quite challenging to shape and glue: To be continued… 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgire Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 (edited) Continued…. Now I'm starting the assembly of the two large service and access towers which “sandwich” the launcher and are opened and folded horizontally hours before the launch. Each tower is built around a square truss core which serves also as a lift well: The two towers: A tower top showing underside overhead crane: This is the truss structure which holds the large tower folding actuators: Both towers with their access platform and folding base. The blue lift cabins are dry fitted: My workbench: After watching a lot of Soyuz preparation videos I decided “my” green wasn’t appropriate and I airbrushed the whole stuff again with a “better” green: Detailing this build, I designed, drew and printed some decals, including the security circle around the pad (black and yellow on a white undercoat) and some markings I noticed all around. The four “petal” arms are now finished. I couldn’t resist a dry fit to have a look on what will be going later: The two towers are now being equipped: Gluing the numerous yellow protections on access platforms: An underside view which shows the numerous lighting bulbs under each platform: Assembling the counterweights. Each moving part is equipped with highly visible yellow counterweights. The two umbilicals: The four “petal” arms: The two almost fully equipped towers. Fore view: Rear view. Note the cuts to allow access for the umbilical arms: To be continued… Edited May 18, 2015 by bgire 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 WOW and I have trouble sticking one flat piece of PE onto a plastic kit ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 WOW! I have never seen so much etch! Great work, really impressive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Heath Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Great project and nicely executed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimme Shelter Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 stunning work there - such an attention to detail - you are a master of PE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I've seen this kit advertised but never considered buying it because I thought it would be beyond my abilities. Having seen your work I now realise it is way beyond my abilities. Some really impressive work there - I look forward to seeing it mated with the Soyuz launcher. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Leon makes such great kits, you guys should try one. You really do make all the PE look good, and nice clean painting. Great Job!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestar12chris Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Great work, fantastic subject, many thanks for posting this, sorely tempted. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamS Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Oh yes, this is going to be good! Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgire Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 Thank you Folks for your kind replies. Next week-end I hope to have this build completed, so stay tuned. My Soyuz launcher (NewWare excellent kit) is waiting for its pad... As said RichO you really should try Leon's excellent launch pad kits. Cheers! _Bruno 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 First of all my compliment for this excellent Launch Tower, which is very impressive. As I have seen, the resin parts almost have such base plates, which is not so great. That was certainly very expensive to remove them, right? But on the other hand the quality and fitting accuracy of the PE parts seems to be very good. What kind of glue have you used for the PEs? What tools did you use for bending the long parts? Can't wait to see your pretty Soyuz on the pad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Mind-boggling complexity, but looks like an amazing kit. Inspirational work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgire Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 As I have seen, the resin parts almost have such base plates, which is not so great. That was certainly very expensive to remove them, right? But on the other hand the quality and fitting accuracy of the PE parts seems to be very good. What kind of glue have you used for the PEs? What tools did you use for bending the long parts? Can't wait to see your pretty Soyuz on the pad. Thank you Sir for your kind comment. Yes, resin parts are somewhat tricky to separate as they're not very distinct from the resin sprue below. However, the resin used isn't very hard and "surgical"cuts are possible. No trouble encountered at all. I was afraid regarding the 60 light bulbs but separating these from the sprue went nearly perfect. The quality and accuracy of PE parts is excellent. The PE is by far the best part of the kit indeed. Fitting is easy and very smooth. To bend the metal part I used three methods: - Using a folding machine when the folds comes too close to the part edge to get a sharp, angle controlled edge. - Using a flat metal rule and/or a cutter blade for small easy foldings. - Folding between fingers only for very large truss parts: LVM designed these as being very easy to bend this way, thanks to a calibrated half deep cut inside the fold with the proper width to "stop" the folding at the designed angle. I folded the long truss parts between my palms. My Soyuz will find its place tonight and I expect to finish the whole build early next week. _Bruno 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimme Shelter Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 looking forward to seeing the diorama completed. I have a question - were these launch towers re-used or were they used just the once and destroyed in the launch process? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 L'Arsenal (& Model Warships) Bruno Gire? Lovely work Bruno on a fantastic kit. I would like something similar to go with my Heller Ariane IV and Ariane V kits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 looking forward to seeing the diorama completed. I have a question - were these launch towers re-used or were they used just the once and destroyed in the launch process? Thanks The launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is still in operation. Progress M-27M launched on Tuesday April 28 and was on its way to the ISS, but got out of control, the rest is history. Source: bild.de Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgire Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 Thank you for your messages. Well... I'm experiencing an unexpected delay. I tried to fit the Newware Soyuz TMA to the LVM launch pad. A very challenging operation. Clean fitting is rather hard to obtain and I had to improve/ alter some parts which, for good, will not show on the finished model but are firmly holding the rocket suspended between the four arms. Some frightening moments last Saturday, I took a big breath and all ended very well. Hope to make decisive progress next week end. I wish I could build the same stuff for my Apollo Saturn 1B, Apollo Saturn 5 and planned 1:144 scale Ariane's (these last scratchbuilt). At last, launch pads are funny additions to build, believe me! Dave: yes you're right! _Bruno 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgire Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 Continued… After a long (professional) break my project is again on course for the last phase (at last I hope!). Finishing equipping the two service towers: electric cable ducts, platform suspension cables, a long but very straightforward step. The two towers : The left tower: The right tower : Here I reached the detailing limit as supplied in the kit. Thanks to numerous high resolution pictures available on the internet I’ll start now further detailing. …to be continued… 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Hi Bruno, the towers look bombastic and are built very clean. I like the delicate PE parts which let rise my anticipation for my LVM Detail kits for the Shuttle Launch tower. I'm curious to see how it will go on with further detailing. Keep on scratching, buddy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Further detailing?! Can't wait to see this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Very nice work. Very clean. Yea for more details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimme Shelter Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 mind bogglingly amazing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamS Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 mind bogglingly amazing It is a bit nice, isn't it? Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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