Jeddahbill Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) Greetings! This WIP is for the Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT) only. The Apollo Saturn V rocket is being constructed concurrently with this LUT and can be seen under a separate WIP topic. I posted some completion photos of the Colby Crane recently which is part of this build. Well, it has certainly been a long and difficult journey! I started in June 2021 and very quickly the build expanded beyond my original scope of work into a far more detailed project than I originally planned. It really took on a life of its own and just kept getting more intricate and complicated with every step! Thankfully, it is almost finished now and when combined with the Apollo Saturn V rocket, it should make for a very impressive display! The build started with a very detailed paper kit, but rapidly became a massive scratch built effort as I replaced or enhanced much of the paper kit parts and added many new entirely scratch built details. Items used in this build include: Edu-Craft Diversions 1:96 Scale Apollo Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT) paper model. This kit includes 38 sheets of 11 x 17 inch beautifully printed parts with a very detailed PDF instruction manual. By itself, this paper kit builds into a highly detailed and accurate model. Tom's Modelworks 1/96 scale photo etch railing set #9612 (several sets needed). Central Valley Model Works railroad details sets for stairs, platforms, railing and other structural components (many, many sets used) Various polystyrene sheet, tubes, rods, half rods, strips, beams and channels. Various wood planking strips left over from wooden ship projects. Various wood pieces cut to size to provide structural strength in critical areas. Various gauge music wire. 12 volt double density cool white LED strips with 90 degree connectors and power adapter. LED wireless remote control. Plastic and paper drinking straws. Various paints and sealers. Permanent markers in various colours. Derwent watercolour pencils. PVA, carpenters wood glue, CA glue and 5 minute epoxy. Various modified LEGO pieces and odd bits from the spares bin. Early on in the build I decided to use wood in the base and tower core to provide a more sturdy structure. Next came the idea to add LED lighting. Then the decision to replace paper kit parts for stairs, railings, platforms, piping, conduits and so on which complicated things greatly. The Colby Crane was almost entirely scratch built. All of this added a high degree of detail and accuracy, but required a tremendous investment in time and effort with about 80% of the overall build being scratch built or heavily modified paper kit parts. So, now onto the images. Many thanks for having a look, questions and comments always welcome. Cheers, Bill The note on the following image should be "Bottom edge" view! Apologies for the error! Edited March 31, 2022 by Jeddahbill 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) More images . . . . Edited March 31, 2022 by Jeddahbill 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roma847 Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 What a very clean work and above all a stable structure, and everything with lighting. Great job so far, keep it up! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bell209 Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 I built the 1/144 version of this kit and it looks like you're doing a much better job than I did. I like the way you're lighting it, too - I used fibre-optic cables and it was a nightmare! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 On 3/31/2022 at 12:20 AM, roma847 said: What a very clean work and above all a stable structure, and everything with lighting. Great job so far, keep it up! Many thanks! Your work has been a inspiration for me on this project. Cheers, Bill On 4/17/2022 at 6:31 PM, Bell209 said: I built the 1/144 version of this kit and it looks like you're doing a much better job than I did. I like the way you're lighting it, too - I used fibre-optic cables and it was a nightmare! Thank you very much. The strip LED lighting with 90 degree fittings has worked well. I made a power bus from very long music wire soldered at each level. Regards, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 More progress images on the LUT. The Saturn V is complete and waiting for installation as soon as the LUT is ready. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted May 20, 2022 Author Share Posted May 20, 2022 (edited) More work in progress photos. Swing arms need detailing before attachment to the LUT. Various pipes, conduits, and cables to be completed. External walkways to be scratch built and attached. Finally, a multitude of smaller details (including figures) will be added to finalize the build. Many details remain to be done, but the major work is now complete. Cheers, Bill Edited May 20, 2022 by Jeddahbill 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted May 20, 2022 Author Share Posted May 20, 2022 More WIP images . . . 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bell209 Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 Looking fabulous! I didn't use threaded rod for mine and the rocket is still quite stable, even with the whole lot sitting on the crawler. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted July 30, 2022 Author Share Posted July 30, 2022 Thanks Rob! The threaded rod is probably not necessary, but I was concerned that the added weight of the solid resin command and service modules at the very top of the Saturn V would be make the rocket unstable. It also helps maintain the alignment of the swing arms to the rocket. Regards, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lortie Posted December 25, 2023 Share Posted December 25, 2023 Hi there!! Nice work!!! Are you updating this build? I follow it because I have the same kit and I'm only at the start of everything. Question: The Core center piece, The paper parts that are glued onto the wooden staff, do they come with the kit??? It seems that I don't have these stairways that go around the core... or I'm missing something here. Can you please let me know? Regards Roger and merry christmas to you!!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted December 25, 2023 Author Share Posted December 25, 2023 8 hours ago, Roger Lortie said: Hi there!! Nice work!!! Are you updating this build? I follow it because I have the same kit and I'm only at the start of everything. Question: The Core center piece, The paper parts that are glued onto the wooden staff, do they come with the kit??? It seems that I don't have these stairways that go around the core... or I'm missing something here. Can you please let me know? Regards Roger and merry christmas to you!!!!! Hello Roger, Merry Christmas to you! I got distracted from this build by other projects, but have recently made much progress and am rapidly approaching completion! I will post some images soon and update the WIP. My paper kit included images for all four side of the centre core. One side includes printed images of the stairways, but I scratch built stairways (see above) to give more detail and depth. The printed stair images from the kit looked awkward alongside the scratch built replacements so I decided to get an additional copy of the kit core and covered over the staircase side. This gave a much better look with the scratch built staircases glued in place. I hope this helps you with your build. Please let me know if you have further questions. Regards, Bill 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lortie Posted December 25, 2023 Share Posted December 25, 2023 Thanks for that Bill!! I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more detail shot from this kit. As it helps along with the build. Question: Do you have a folder full of digital building-shots that you could part with???? regards from Germany Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted December 28, 2023 Author Share Posted December 28, 2023 On 12/25/2023 at 11:38 AM, Roger Lortie said: Thanks for that Bill!! I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more detail shot from this kit. As it helps along with the build. Question: Do you have a folder full of digital building-shots that you could part with???? regards from Germany Roger Hello Roger, I posted WIP photos here as I progressed with the build and don't have a central location for the files on my computer, it is a real mess. I use an old Canon S200 and upload the images to Post Image so I can post them here. Unfortunately, I don't always keep copies. When I need to reference old build photos, I usually come here - much easier than searching around my sloppy computer files. Almost all of the build images are posted above, but I will look around my computer files and see what I can find. You can always copy the images above to a folder for your reference if that will help. Let me look around my computer and see what I can find. Best Regards, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 Time for the Swing Arms. Initially I attempted to build these entirely from scratch, but I quickly discovered this was far too ambitious and compromised on a combination of some basic Edu-Craft paper kit parts enhanced with scratch built details. The following images show the preliminary stages of construction with some scratch built details added to the basic paper cores parts. Further details need to be added. Each swing arms needs to be carefully located on the LUT so that it properly aligns to the correct points on the Saturn V. Many thanks for having a look, questions and comments always welcome. Bill 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lortie Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 GREAT WORK THERE BILL!!!!!!!! Its nice to see each stage of this model as I am in the process of building it as well. I'll be posting my attempts shortly... again, nice detail work and extra work on eacharm!!! regards Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 Finally finished! Just need some minor touch up and maybe some gentle weathering in a few areas. Many hundreds of scratch built details added during the final stage of construction on the LUT, I am so happy to finally be done with this build! These photos taken outdoors and indoors with LED lighting and will be the final WIP images. More images of completed LUT with Saturn V will be posted in Ready For Inspection soon. Many thanks for having a look, questions and comments always welcome. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 That is just an amazing project! And your approach is very impressive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lortie Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Impressive job on the whole Kaboodle there Bill!!!!!! Especially those swingarms details and Colby Crane highlights!!!! TOP JOB buddy!!!!!!!! regards Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelerdave Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 Outstanding. I would have never guessed that was a (largely) paper model. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddahbill Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 Thank you all for the kind comments - I appreciate your taking time to have a look and commenting. Completed Saturn V and LUT can be seen here: Many thanks! Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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