The book is fantastic; it details all aspects of the development, testing, precursors (Mercury, Gemini etc), the booster rockets, the command module, the descend stage and the ascend stage. Not as many pictures for reference as I'd like, but a really compelling read nonetheless.
Two evenings ago, I started on the struts holding the plume deflectors. For those wondering what I'm on about, witht hese plume deflectors; they're the 1/4 cilinder shapes attached with a framework to the descent stage, directly under the RCS thrusters. They look to me to be almost an afterthought, when they realized that the placement of the thrusters to manouver the LEM would mean they'd fire directly onto the top surface of the descent stage. So a last minute(?) solution was added. As lightweight as possible of course.
And that's how they were not included in this kit; this was designed in 1968, based on some earlier design drawings, and not on images of the actual thing. Which is why the egress door looks so weird and the deflectors are just missing altogether.
But I want this bird to be either complete on the surface, or just the descent stage. The kit was designed for the two parts to separate already, so this was always my plan. It was only after tons of reference material that I realized that the deflectors would be required. They will form a significant part of the silhouette when the ascend module is not there.
Anyway; I started measuring out and cutting the required parts in styrene, welding them together. But as I've experienced before; the plastic available around here is a type of ABS that does not quite melt in the same way as 'proper' polystyrene does. So the welds remained weak points in the construction and even picking one up from the cutting mat (where a tad of glue had cemented one strut to the surface) broke the bond.
And since these things will be standing proud of the top of the descend stage quite a bit, and thus will be rather vulnerable, I decided I would be needing a more robust solution.
So I redid the whole construction with brass rod for the top parts and paperclips for the lower construction. This was not only loads quicker than the styrene option, it is also solid as heck. I will be tying them together with very thin copper wire and then superglueing the knots. Then I'll cover the unsightly rounded bends with some styrene bits to simulate the nut and bolt assembly.
Mind: in the pictures they're just mocked up and not glued in, so their final positions will be a lot better
Furthermore; the joints will be all but covered by the deflectors themselves. I'll be sourcing the correct material for that, but for now I'm contemplating aluminum sheet, plastic tubing or just the right shape of jet fighter fuel tank, as the shapes are ever so slightly conical too.
It may not seem like much progress, but this was one of the stages I was actually a bit apprehensive about, considering it needs to be both (reasonnably) accurate
and sturdy enough to survive the tabletop. So switching to metal made the path that much clearer and I can now steam ahead again
Oh, and I've also started cleaning up the astro- and cosmonauts I got, in preparation for their upcoming painting.
I also bought some grey tile grout and Noch grey railroad ballast to start experimenting with mixing up the ground cover. I will preferably not paint it; I like to use materials as they are for added realism. I still need to find some sand and gravel in the right grey tone and also some pigment powder to tie everything together.
However; this weekend will be filled with Halloween shenanigans, so I don't expect to make progress then. But we're chugging along...
December 28, 2008, 10:41:34 PM