Antares & Dragon Capsule

[TimT64]

This next project will continue with a theme of creating a display to include a piece of space memorabilia and a model or models that are directly related to it.

The piece of memorabilia is a commemorative patch that celebrates NASA’s 60th Anniversary. The patch spent approximately a year aboard the ISS. It was flown up to the ISS aboard an Antares-Cygnus flight (NG10) & returned to earth aboard a Dragon Capsule (CRS-19).

The vehicles used to transport the patch to the ISS & back will be modelled using the following

 

Antares Launch vehicle will be a 1-144th Scale resin kit from New Ware (NW120). 

Dragon capsule will be a 1-48th Scale Resin 3D print, I have “designed” and drawn using Fusion 360, and it will be produced by a 3D print service.

 

Preparations for this project have been ongoing on & off since 2018 when the seller of the patches announced his plans and started taking orders. As the Falcon 9 project is nearing completion they have been kicked off again in earnest so that all of the "hardware" will be ready to go as soon as the F9 gets completed.

 

 

 

 

The base kit for the Antares

 

 

The kit as supplied

 

 

 

The new ware kit was first produced in 2013 and was modelled on the vehicle as it was then. The NG-10 flight was in the November of 2018.

Between these dates there were some changes to the launch vehicle and spacecraft

1.       First stage

In 2015 the first stage (100 series) was retired due to the unreliability and age of the AJ26 engines, the final nail in the coffin was the loss of the Orb 3 flight in 2014. These engines were 15 year old Russian NK33 engines (that had been purchased by Aerojet, refurbished, and renamed AJ26)

The first stage was replaced with the 200 series, which in essence was a beefed up version of the 100 series, powered by a more modern Russian Engine, the RD181.

 

 

 

2.       Cygnus Cargo spacecraft & Second stage Castor Engine

The original standard Cygnus version was last flown on the ill-fated Orb 3 flight in November 2014 and replaced with the Cygnus Enhanced version. Over the intervening years the second stage Castor solid fuel engine was upgraded

 

3.       Northrop Grumman acquiring Orbital ATK

In June of 2018 Northrop bought out Orbital in a 9 billion dollar deal. The NG10 flight in November of that year marked the first flight of the vehicle by its new owner/operator

 

To accurately reflect these changes the model will be modified as below

 

1.       First stage

The AJ-26 engine bells were heavily insulated with a pink coloured insulation. The current RD181 does not have this present. The only correction needed will be to remove some material from the engine bells that represents the insulation.

 

2.       Cygnus Cargo spacecraft & Second stage Castor Engine

The enhanced Cygnus is 2.5m longer than the standard version. The Second stage Castor solid rocket engine was also upgraded.  Although the later engine is physically larger, and the Cygnus was lengthened by 2.5m both of these upgrades were accommodated by lengthening the payload fairing by 2.3m

At 1-144th scale a 16mm long extension will need to be inserted in the payload fairing. Fortunately, whilst I was looking into these changes I was in close contact with Martin, the owner of Martins models. He very kindly cast me a resin part of the correct dimensions

 

3.       Northrop Grumman acquiring Orbital ATK

This change meant a relatively minor change in the vehicles livery, the Orbital logo being replaced by Northrop Grumman’s corporate logo. Again, I was fortunate with the timing of this as I was having a sheet of assorted decals printed for a model, I was working on at the time so a batch of various sized logos were added.

I think I have got the main changes covered and looking at the three points laid out they look fairly insignificant, but it took a fair few hours of internet searches, head scratching, calculations and educated guesswork to get there.

 

A screengrab of where the proposed cut line (the red one) will be for inserting the extension

 

 

 

Two shots showing the changes to the livery

 

 

 

The second element of the model is the Dragon Capsule. I had previously looked around for a capsule on the open market and had made an approach to Oli Braun of Buzz media labs who produces a range of Space X rocket kits. Nothing came to fruition, and I left the looking on the backburner. A couple of years down the line and armed with a bit of Fusion 360 knowhow coupled with google & you tube I decided to have a bash at drawing one up and having it printed.

 

If I rewind time back to the early eighties when I was just about to leave school and I was messing about with my newly acquired ZX80 the younger me would have not imagined that the older me would have access to, the tools, and the knowledge to create 3d parametric models. Then with a couple of presses of a button, send (for that time an unimaginably huge) file to someone who could then turn that information into a physical object using a 3d printer.

 

In this COVID era it appears that to travel you are required to print an extraordinary amount of paperwork to carry around, that is then totally ignored by the people that request it. So, whilst in quarantine the paper, and the enforced idle time were put to constructive use

 

 

The capsule was drawn up as two separate elements

 

 

 

When it was finished, I had a play around with it, and the different visual effects available in Fusion

 

 

 

A couple of shots in a wireframe environment, and one of a very quick render with some colours added

 

 

 

This part of the build should be relatively straightforward. Glue A to B and apply paint he said.

I have gone for a 1-48th scale, and that measures up at approx. 81mm diameter at the base and around about 70mm tall, a nice healthy size.

The paint application is where I will force myself to leave the comfort zone and for the first time attempt some creative weathering.

 

Here is a shot of the recovered capsule and the look I would like to recreate, any pointers as to how I could do this would be gratefully accepted

 

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by TimT64
Edited text regarding the Antares Kit release date

[TimT64]

After another lengthy layoff from the bench due to work commitments I Managed to get a bit done

 

The Dragon was received from the printers, overall, quite pleased with how it turned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A coat of primer was applied to highlight the areas in need of attention, a good scrub down and minimal filler and the capsule is ready for another prime coat.

 

 

 

 

Then I had a look at the Antares, first job was to cut off the pour plug and sand the base flat.

 

 

 

 

Next up was to tackle the first mod to the Antares, something I wasn’t looking forward to as it involved chopping the thing in half so the extension piece could be inserted.

 

 

 

 

 

The ends were sanded square, but still couldn’t get a perfectly flat surface. Out came the Dremel and machined a recess out of the centre section of the mating faces. This made it a lot easier to get a true and square surface

 

 

 

Checking for squareness,

The insert is seen here, this mod is to allow for the fact that this flight was of an upgraded Antares that came from later than when the original model was released

 

 

 

[TimT64]

The insert was glued with C/A to the fairing using a piece of aluminium angle to line the two pieces up

 

 

A stiffener rod was inserted and epoxy added to strengthen the joint

 

 

 

A small spacer was made to replicate the relief section at the interstage joint

 

 

This was glued into place and the two halves joined

 

 

A coat of primer applied to see how it all looked. Not too bad, it will need some of the cut edges softening a little with a very small chamfer and a tiny amount of filler here and there.

 

 

The fit between the heatshield and capsule of the dragon needed a bit of a tweak

 

 

With the fit all good a final coat of primer applied

 

 

 

[TimT64]

With the fit all good a final coat of primer applied

 

 

The kit supplied engine bells were modelled on the AJ26 engine and were heavily insulated. The newer engines installed at the time of the flight being modelled (the RD181) do not have this

 

 

 

 

I had a bash at removing the insulation by placing the bells in my Minicraft drill and filing them

 

 

 

 

It turned out not so well

 

 

 

 

At the same time, I was trying to tidy up the join areas of the extension piece that had been grafted in. Repeated rounds of filling and sanding were not giving good results

 

 

 

 

It was a case of back to the drawing board, in this case Fusion 360 an extension piece and engine bell were drawn up and 3d printed

 

 

 

 

The old extension piece was removed, and new stiffeners were glued in place, and the stack was glued together again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The finished result, and the engine bells shown ready to be attached. Much happier with the fit of the extension, with minimal work.

 

 

 

The base of the stage was drilled, this will be to accept a couple of brass rods, which will be used to secure the model to the display

 

 

 

 

After taking some advice as to how to weather the dragon Capsule a repaint was required. I was advised to base coat in white, and as the primer I had used was a grey I stripped it back again. Not sure what happened during the stripping & repainting, but when I fitted the heat shield back again the fit at the split line was not as good as before. I decided to remove some material from the split line to give more of a point contact

 

 

 

This made the fit a lot better. The capsule & heatshield were glued together. A sanding session ensued to “soften” some of the sharper looking edges. A rework with some filler is still needed in a couple of areas, but apart from that the capsule is ready for priming (yet again). Next to the 1-48th version is a 1-72nd print that I purchased a few years ago. This will be used a test mule for some of the weathering I will try.

 

 

 

 

 

[TimT64]

The display base including the ISS flown patch has been progressed as well

 

Various ideas were considered for displaying the patch, the one I chose was to encase it in Perspex. The concept was modelled in fusion 360

 

 I contacted an Acrylic cutting company and they requested that I supply them a DFX file with dimensions. I don’t have a subscription for an CAD package as my small usage doesn’t justify the annual cost. Fortunately, Autodesk were offering a free one-month trial. Signed up and drew up the parts.

 

 

 

 

 

The parts were received and prior this stage the base for the holder was not finalised. I had ordered some other items for a couple of other projects on the go, and as luck would have it any circular cut outs are sent along with the order. One of these was used for the base.

A brass strip was made up, and some stainless-steel screws used

 

 

 

 

The assembled item

 

 

 

 

[Norman]

Wow great work ! looking forward to your future posts very much !

[Jeddahbill]

Excellent work!

Bill

[TimT64]

I haven't posted in a while due to a lack of time created by "real life" commitments as my wife so patiently puts it. The project did get finished & I have posted the pictures in the ready for inspection forum.

I do maintain a website for cataloguing my space memorabilia, and model building. The last part of the build section is included there, link below

 https://www.tsmodels.co.uk/space-models/antares-dragon/the-build