Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 (edited) I've built a few Space Shuttles and they are all poorly made kits, lots of gaps and poor fitting parts, but, I get my funn in trying to make it look ... better. I wanna give this a try ... I would like to have the Payload Bay doors open and an empty Bay ... this kit's PB comes loaded so I'll hafta cut it apart. I'll keep the forward and Aft bulkheads and rebuild the rest ... To form the Payload Bay, I formed a sheet of styrene, by dipping it in boiling water and wrapping it around a tube ... Two styrene circles will add a bit of support to the PB. They'll be glued to the bulkheads. A notch needs to be cut in the aft portion ... EVA windows have to be opened in the fwd bulkhead ... And it's coming together nicely ... ... till next post ... IPD Edited April 8, 2020 by Ima Penin Diaz 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 Great start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 8, 2020 Author Share Posted April 8, 2020 Assembling the Orbiter. I should mention that this will be JUST the Orbiter, no SRBs or BIG fuel tank ... Drilling out the RCS thrusters ... Needs just a bit o' putty ... Clamping on the wings ... To fit in the drogue chute compartment, I cut a notch in the tail ... Attached and the seam was filled ... The fit of the belly was what I expected ... a little filing and sanding and it'll look just fine. I fill some seams with small bits of scrap styrene ... Gap between fuselage and wings ... ... filled with styrene strips. I'll wait till they're dry, trim 'em, sand 'em and because the PB doors will be open, it won't even be seen ... The poor fit of the chine will be filed down and sanded ... eezy peezy! Gap filling with scraps on the fwd bulkhead ... ... and puttied ... And that'll do it for now IPD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 New Ware has some PE for the REVELL Shuttle which I'll use for this Airfix ... the fit should be close ... Some filler after the first sanding ... Plugging some holes for the fuel on the belly ... Using New Ware's PE for the Payload Bay doors ... they look great, but are just a little short. Too bad they'll be covered up with Radiator panels. A map of the bulkheads was supplied for placement of the grab handles ... I cut it out and stuck it on ... This is the Aft bulkhead And Forward bulkhead And the handles are on 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 ... and continuing ... I marked the sections of the PB. I'll use styrene strips to separate 'em ... Some junction boxes made from bits of styrene ... ... and attached. Along with some PE details. ... added the rests for the RMS, the Remote Manipulator System or the Canadarm. I made a new RMS from tubing. The kit piece is below it. This way I can pose the Canadarm. This is moving right along ... thanx for visiting! IPD 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Good work so far. I always like a good Shuttle build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 The decals are a combination of the kit's and JBOT Masking ... ... applying decals ... ... decals for the blanket texture on the tail ... ... the lovely belly decal ... ... time to clamp the doors on ... ... and almost done. IPD 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 ...and Done! This was a nice quick build and I quite enjoy building a Shuttle with the Payload Bay exposed. All that equipment offers the opportunity to add detail. I don't understand the modellers who choose to display the Shuttle with the doors closed up ... yes, it's easier, but ...where's the fun? Thanx for visiting! IPD 11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 That looks a fine job,very nice, I'm about to attempt to build and polish up the revell 1/144 offering in the "kit you built as a kid " group build, I'm hunting for tips, what decals have you used for the belly and cockpit screen tiles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 The decals were made by a fellow modeller on another forum and this set was a Beta test for him. He was creating these 3 or 4 years ago, wanted to check the fit and ... then life got in the way and he hasn't done anything further on 'em. A few years ago, a modeller from UK, his avatar is Saturnapollo created some realistic looking belly tiles, but I think those too are out of production. I'll take a peek at your GB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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