Ima Penin Diaz Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 This'll be the Tamiya 1/100 Space Shuttle kit depicting the deployment of the LDEF, the Long Duration Exposure Facility. Gluing the fuselage halves ... The Payload Bay will be open and the kit's PB is quite inaccurate ... so I shall rework it ... a little. And rather than semi-circular, it's cross section is more elliptical, but I'll work with this .. The aft end needs to be squared off on the bottom, so I cut out a section ... Reinforcing the seam of the fuselage The OMS pods had a lotta parts and the fit was ... poor. The various subassemblies Starting the build of the LDEF. The forward and aft bulkheads ... One of the references ... The kit had a piece of cargo which I may use to depict the capture hardware in the aft end of the Payload Bay. IPD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted May 31, 2020 Author Share Posted May 31, 2020 The EVA windows in the fwd bulkhead were too far apart, so I repositioned 'em ... Added styrene bits to patch various notches ... Made the Payload Retention Mechanisms and added some styrene pegs to the bulkheads for the handholds ... Added some details to the kit's SSMEs with copper wire ... Formed a new interior of the Payload Bay ... And the result ... As this is going to show an on-orbit situation, and the elevons were free-floating, I cut them off the kit's wings to reposition them ... Next up will be a piece of payload. This mission also captured and repaired the Solar Max satellite and the fixture that retained the satellite during repairs needed to be built too. IPD 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 The fixture in the aft area of the Payload Bay needs to be built ... using a kit part of Spacelab and a sketch in Illustrator glued onto a sheet of styrene ... Here's a ref photo ... Dry fitting of the Payload Bay The EVA windows are getting patched because I won't use the kit's glass ... just a decal. The gap between fuselage and wings were filled sith strips of styrene ... filed and sanded. Till next post IPD 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturnapollo Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 Excellent work. If you need more LDEF photos, here are a few when I was considering building it - came across this; https://archive.org/search.php?query=ldef&page=2 Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted June 8, 2020 Author Share Posted June 8, 2020 Thanx Keith ... but not necessary. I've got pul-enty of images and have to create my own decal of each material on the LDEF too, so the images I've accumulated will suffice. The cockpit won't be visible but I applied the kit's Instrument Panel decals anyway. Just for the fun of it! To try to replicate the Insulation batting on the Payload Bay surfaces, I like to use Grocery Bag plastic ... cut in small squares and applied with One Coat Rubber Cement. The Fwd bulkhead after the texturing ... The Aft bulkhead after applying the grocery bag plastic ... The End Effector from the kit has a claw ... this needs to be reworked. The new End Effector is at lower left and the RMS ( Remote Manipulator System ) has been modified and accurized. I also built the Ku Band antenna and have two tiny cameras made for the PB bulkheads. Clamping the multi piece OMS pods ... The poor fit kind of surprised me ... but with some filing and sanding, it'll look just fine! Filling the gaps with scraps of styrene ... ... and putty ... Adding some attaching plates to the cockpit window ... yes, the kit windows are blue ... Attaching the bulkhead ... Filling the gaps in the belly ... with a little bit of elbow grease, this'll get done too! Till next post IPD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 (edited) Puttying the belly for the first time ... After the 2nd sanding ... the fit of this kit is par for the course ... poor, but entirely fixable. Adding little supports or fairings to the base of the Tail Filling and sanding the Chines ... Sanding the window seams ... I put on a sacrificial decal to protect the clear plastic ... Bulkheads are done ... Free Floating elevons ... Adding some detail to the Aft fixture ... Next up will be the Payload Bay doors and the LDEF itself ... IPD Edited July 10, 2020 by Ima Penin Diaz 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 The radiator panels on the Payload Bay doors were made from grooved Evergreen sheet. Using some tubing and some clamps, the panels were glued to the kit's doors. The kit's Radiator panels were nice but completely inaccurate. Using 0.020" styrene rod, I made the handholds. They are on a sheet of waxed paper for gluing. Installing the handholds ... and DONE. ... onto the LDEF ... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 The LDEF took a lot of sanding sessions ... Ready for a little primer ... ... and some more sanding ... This is the Map for the various Materials to be attached to the LDEF ... ... and my homemade decals ... after a lot of researching ... ... attaching the decals ... The decal paper/film, in the background, is garbage. The decals' adhesive was poor, the film was very thick and didn't conform to surface detail ... this awful paper made this more like work than fun ... That'll do for now! till next posting! IPD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Hello Pete, look here, that seemed familiar to me from the ARC Forums, although your stage name initially has irritated me a bit. But then I thought that couldn't be a coincidence and have compared it. Let's get ready to rumble ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 Guten Morgen Manfred ... let's keep this little secret to ourselves! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 I can be as silent as a grave ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 The Repair Fixture was glued in ... And Masking for Paint ... To get the pattern for the Hatch, I cut through the paper to the tape under it ... During a sanding, the window got pushed in and a couple of styrene strips were glued in to add a little more bite. The belly was sprayed Grey in prep for the lovely decals ... After repainting the window, the nose cap got some paint too ... The nose gear door decals didn't quite fit, but with a little paint the gap was touched up ... Till next post .. IPD 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 To replicate the blankets, I use First Aid Tape, 2 different textures. Cut them out individually and stick 'em down ... Using a photocopied guide ... Attached the SSMEs ... This decal material is awful ... The homemade decal printed out alright but ... ... it didn't adhere to the plastic. My thumb is under the applied decal. I discovered the poor adhesion by blowing on it, and it lifted. It was all sealed with Future, but still ... Adding the tiles to the OMS pods ... Adding tiles to front section ... ... and added some details to the Payload Bay ... Getting closer to the finish line ... IPD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted July 18, 2020 Author Share Posted July 18, 2020 With all the necessary sanding, the windows had thinned down to a point where I punched through it ... Using scraps of styrene the hole was filled ... ... putty was used to fill the smaller divots ... And after the patch was done, I prepped the nose to be scored to illustrate the tiles. It was easier to score 'em by hand. Yes, they're outta scale a bit, but, they're close enough for me. Starting to add decals ... Then glued on the Payload Bay doors ... ... and it's just about done ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ima Penin Diaz Posted July 18, 2020 Author Share Posted July 18, 2020 Some pix of the completed model ... ... and this image inspired this build of mine. I do like the way it turned out. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now