RichO Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 So, that gap in posting was not totally unanticipated. The storage and move went ok, and I finally got thing out of boxes. The project, now has a permanent home (altho a little rough at the moment), with a new support. The travel damage was not very bad at all, just some railings fell off. Altho I was slightly shocked and thought I had repaired the Launch Tower. Apparently not. It's been in storage for eight months this time....... I thought I might try to get a poster print of the beach area at the launch site. Just a generic beach seen with a lot of sky, to tack to the walls. I will now take some time and get caught up on the repairs, and find all the items that go with this build (in other boxes). I'll be back when I find everything and decide what's next. Thanks for looking! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adm Lord De Univers Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 Looking in surprisingly good nick Rich, and can't wait to see this continue. I've taken the liberty of searching for anti-cat defences for you, whilst a guard tower might be good, I always prefer a more mobile defence... David 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 David, Thanks!! I found this first thing in the morning, a good laugh to start the day!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted February 15, 2022 Author Share Posted February 15, 2022 Hey Altogether A slow start to getting back into this build. I still have outer influences slowing things down, but the build has started again. Altho I realized that over the course of a few years in storage, and a couple of moves, I have lost some models, but I have managed to find all the items related to this build and have collected everything into one cabinet. I'm starting again with a small bit of repair work, and then (mostly) remembering what I was doing. So to start, I worked a bit with one of the finished deck platforms, and went from there. This is an already finished deck from befor the moves and storage. The tower. You can see the card cutout decks in this photo. you can see where the constructed deck lives on the tower. The bottom deck. This is looking up the tower. The already built deck is installed about here. Above this built deck, are my cereal box cut out patterns, for the next decks up the tower. This is it. The first new work on this project in quite some time! The new frame for the next deck. I will continue now with building and fitting these as I go up the tower. Until next time, were I should have a couple of new decks built and installed. Thanks for looking. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 Good to see it (and you) back again. The cereal box templates are a good idea. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted March 11, 2022 Author Share Posted March 11, 2022 Hey Everyone, Slowly getting back on board with this build. I'm currently working on the platforms on the inside of the service tower. Befor I could get to placing the first beams of the individual decks, I noticed that, looking at the photos of the real deal, there seemed to be some sort of unknown objects that blocked light from passing through. I don't have photos close enough to see exactly what's in the way, so I just placed some panels that block the light as per the photo. The card patterns for the light block....... In this photo you can see how the light is blocked, in the central body of the tower, with patterns of openness. (it's blocked with openness). I'm guessing that at the actual site, the light blockage is all sorts of items. Launch control panels, manual pullies and chains, supply closets, coke machines, could be anything really. I'm choosing to use the flat panels for this because I just don't have the room for anything else. I just copied the pattern with V-grove siding styrene, and inset them into the tower. Fresh back from the paint dept. In this photo you can see how the card patterns will fit, along with the deck patterns, to match what looks like the general pattern of blockage. I removed all the card patterns for the decks, and got it all ready for new construction. You can see the pile of deck patterns in this photo. With the fresh painted panels, I mounted these into there proper locations. The white styrene strips in between the new painted panels, are the back support beams for the individual decks that I have yet to build. Each beam is custom cut and sanded to match the angle of the tower. With the light blocked by placing panels at random locations,(apparently), I can now start with the individual deck construction. Up the long ladder. (for you Star Trek fans). I have the first three decks built and placed (temp.). So now just repeat the pattern, all the way up the tower. Only ten more decks to go. I'll be back. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Looks good Rich. Still one of my favourite projects to follow. There is something about those photos and the light that evokes the age of the space race. It all seemed so new and exciting 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 Hey All, More Service Tower construction. I have finished with the frames of the decks inside the service tower. Still much to do. When I built the frame of the service tower, I made sure that I could "plug in" the individual decks. When you look at the photo here, of the tower, the frame beams are "I" beams that are large enough that I could use a smaller "I" beam for the deck frames and make theses just fit into the large beams of the tower, (that made no sense at all, did it?). And in this photo you can get an idea of how these decks plug into the tower. I made a card jig to hold everything, and here you can see the little strips that I used for spacers on each side, as we ascend the tower. Each deck becomes narrower than the one below. That's a lot of new decks.......... It all looks good so far. A bit of clean up and fitting, but ready for hand rails and deck flooring. I still have a ton of thins to take care of with this part of the build. But for now, it's clean up time and off to the paint shop. I'll be back with some new decking and hand rails. Also it's time to consider the Capsule Housing at the top of the tower. Until next time, don't touch that dial. P.S. Todays movie; "Teenagers From Outer Space". 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Hi Rich, you've been very busy and you're having fun again, that's the main thing besides our entertainment. Keep it up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Rich, It's all still very impressive, the model, your skills and your patience! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted May 1, 2022 Author Share Posted May 1, 2022 It's about time for a short posting today. I have been considering the Capsule Housing for this posting. I used some scrap to make a card structure as close to what I thought was a reasonable resemblance to the photo. You can see here that the capsule housing is basically a weather shield to protect the capsule while the staff dose there work. The big white sliders open and close. I thought that this was a good start for this part of the build. Once I got the tower to were I liked it, I set everything into place to check the scale and fit. Remember that for now, this is just sitting in place and adjustments will be made. I have enough materials to build this. I need to get it all just right. It's starting to look like a construction site. I'll be back with some more good fun. Thanks All. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 Good to see the master builder up and running again. Hang in there Rich! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 The last shot is great Rich. Love seeing the scene around the rocket coming together. Seeing a rocket on its own just looks a bit odd but you are adding all of the context 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Looking great, fascinating project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 to you Rich! Haven't seen anything from you for a long time, hope you are doing well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 Hey All, It's been awhile since my last posting. So a small posting at this time. I'm starting to work on this again, and if I stay with it for a bit this time I can maybe get to a finishing point (maybe). I last left off with working on the Service Tower. That's were I'm starting this time. I decided to start with the decks inside the service tower. I had a bit of repair work to do to get started after such a long time away. Eleven fresh painted service tower decks. In this photo you can see that I have started with building the service tower deck flooring. The thin white strips around the deck frames are to help secure the hand rails. I'm going to finish cutting the floors and paint grey, then start with the hand rails. I have an interesting situation with the hand rails next posting. Thanks for checking in on this long running project. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bar side Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 (edited) Handrails - my modelling pet hate. Will be watching to see how you do them Rich Edited April 21, 2023 by bar side 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 Welcome back Rich after a felt half an eternity. Give the cats enough food, throw yourself into it and go full throttle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted June 7, 2023 Author Share Posted June 7, 2023 Thanks guys for watching! Hey All, My modeling hours have been reduced to about two hours a week now. I did manage to get some more work done on this project and came to a decision about the hand rails. These are the finished platform frames. I got all the repair work done and the decks are solid. These are the finished platform decks. Fresh painted Service tower platforms. These are the Rocket Gates, closed. These are to be opened or closed for service access to the rocket. This is what these look like open. This shows that the Rocket gates wraps around the front of the rocket. Here you can see the Rocket gates full open on the right of the photo, and the gates half closed on the left side. I have ten sets of these to build. Also you can see that the Service Tower has no hand rails on the separate floors. The Rocket gates have rails on the outside, but the inside decks have just upright standards with chain rails to hang on to. I could not find a suitable material to replicate a chain rail at 1/110 scale, so I have decided to make a solid rail after all. Next posting should be ten sets of Rocket Gates. Until next time.......... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 Hello Rich, looks like you had been very hard-working in the meantime. Did you paint the Rocket Gates with an airbrush or with a brush, which I'm almost assuming? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 Good to see this back on here. It's looking simply exquisite. I look forward to the next post. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichO Posted June 8, 2023 Author Share Posted June 8, 2023 Hey Manfred, All my modeling projects, no mater what they are, rockets or big trucks, are painted with old fashioned rattle cans and brush work. I have an airbrush set up, but I just don't use it any more. It's very simple to shake a can and spray. No set up, and no clean up. And the cost is much easier to deal with. 3-4 dollars for a rattle can at 12 oz. and 8-10 dollars for a 1 oz. airbrush bottle. I'm a poor artist what pinches every penny to do my modeling. Thanks All 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 No understatement, Rich, you are a great artist! 🤩 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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