New Monogram 1/72 Shuttle Stack build

[Lake County SpacePort]

I'm plowing forward with a new 1/72 Shuttle Stack build, employing the AMP Window set, along with other detail parts from Real Space Models, NiParts (3D printed parts available through "Shapeways.com") along with custom printed applications and decals I'm working on.

Photos included are the Orbiter fuselage with AMP windows installed, along with the Payload Bay forward bulkhead.

The Payload Bay forward bulkhead is an example of the graphics work coming through. Take a NASA photo showing the interior of the bay, crop the forward bulkhead, correct for perspective tilt and print onto Avery full-page while label stock. I'll add the Cabin Vent Standpipes in polystyrene tubing later after the bay comes together into the fuselage.

The build will also be shown on my own website - www.lakecountyspaceport.com.

Editing has begun, but not posted yet. First images and build-up reports should be up next week.

[Rokket]

Tell us everything about pic #3 and the cargo cap. That looks brilliant!

[Rokket]

Ooops, I shouldn't have skimmed in my excitement. I have toyed with using the AMP flag technology to print onto fabric and make that quilted look.

She's looking great!

[Lake County SpacePort]

From Rokket - "Tell us everything about pic #3 and the cargo cap. That looks brilliant!"

Well, a friend of mine, David Maier of Edu-Craft Diversions out in California, has spent an incredible amount of time using photos of NASA launch support equipment to make ingenious paper models of things like the Apollo/Saturn V Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT) and Mobile Launch Platform in numerous scales, as well as the MLP for the Shuttle, the "milk stool" for supporting the Saturn 1B on the LUT, as it was during Skylab and ASTP, etc. (See http://www.educraftdiversions.org/)

So, playing off David's idea of "photo-realistic" detail, I found a NASA photo of the Payload Bay interior shot while one of the Orbiters was in the OPF for servicing. Taking only the forward bulkhead portion of the shot, I attempted to correct the perspective shift and sized it to be bulkhead of the Monogram model, printing it onto Avery full-page white label stock.

That was the result.

I'll include pis of the rest of the Payload Bay, as I was able to get a section of the bay's floor matting lifted and printed, as well as the rear bulkhead.
A number of these shots are already posted on the "New 1/72 Monogram Shuttle Stack" section of the "Non-Fiction Models" section of "www.lakecountyspaceport.com", but I will post some here as well.

[Lake County SpacePort]

The first pic is a shot of the Payload Bay interior looking aft. The floor panels are done the same way as the forward bulkhead was, pulling an image of the mat from NASA photos, figuring the proper size and printing onto label stock. Each section was place on the floor, with just less than 0.10" space between them. I use 0.10" wide, 0.015" thick polystyrene strips to do the joiners across the bottom seams as well as the sides.


The SRBs have been moving along, now receiving detail painting. The upper sections show the sep motor caps and access panels, and the lower sections show the heater roll color applied to the three lower joints.


The External Tank got its overall color of Rustoleum "2X Satin" Cinnamon, then got airbrushed with soft Pumpkin mix that I created to do the lighter relief sections. The colors for the Aft Support Strut hardware was taken from NASA images. The ET Itertank Access panel artwork and Gaseous Umbilical Plate were also captured fro NASA images and scaled to the tank.


The ET will be getting NiPart 3d printed Frost Ramps applied to its surface to support the pressurization lines and the wiring chase. More on that to follow...

[Rokket]

It works great, your hard work has paid off. Very impressive end result. How long til launch?

[Lake County SpacePort]

"How long til launch?"
A bit, I think...
The ET is virtually done. Once the NiPart 3D printed Frost Ramps arrived, they got a coat of color, and then got placed onto the ET. The pressurization pipes are now 0.039" music wire.
After all the plumbing was finished, there were some small decals from the Real Space Model's 1/72 Shuttle set that go put in place, then the whole thing was coated with Testor's Dullcoat.
Soon , The SRBs will be placed onto the ET, using the aft attach rings and the forward 3/32" steel rod which will engage hole on the NiParts SRB forward sections.


Meanwhile, the Orbiter is getting "clad" by section of Thermal Protection System "blankets" made from Johnson & Johnson Cloth Bandage Tape, which was a woven texture that looks a lot like the actual blankets of the Shuttle, close up. the pattern is being taken from photos and TPS locations maps, obtained on-line. The photo attached shoes the Port side of the Orbiter, behind the Crew Module-Payload Bay line.


The last photo attached shows the same process being used to cover the OMS pods.


The work continues...

[Rokket]

Everything looks awesome, but especially your blanket work. I'm sure J&J are on the list of aerospace giants... very nice! The detail is making it pop.

[Lake County SpacePort]

Wink said "I'm sure J&J are on the list of aerospace giants..."

Oddly enough...yes, they were at one time...


During the early Shuttle era, J&J, along with McDonnell-Douglas. flew a device aboard the Shuttle called CEFS - Continuous-Flow Electrophoresis System, which separated organic chemicals based on the electrical charges on the molecule. It was placed on the mid-deck of the Orbiter, where the Galley now rests on the "operational" Orbiters. The idea was to prove the viability of the process in Zero-G (where gravity would not affect the separation process in continuous flow) and then evolve the system into free-flying "space factories" that would be visited by Shuttles for installing new feed stock and removal of the finished materials.


Obviously, it didn't work out "commercially" for the Shuttle in the Post-Challenger era, and so the big plans never happened.
Maybe now, they could hook-up with SpaceX or Sierra-Nevada and do it with one of their man-rated systems.


Only time will tell...

[Rokket]

Wow! I was trying to be funny (my major problem) about JJ. I am very interested in that process though, one of the old reasons for zero/micro g work was new metal alloys and such like this. A few more years...

[OldNoob]

indeed, "WOW"  awesome detail. looking forward to more images.

[Lake County SpacePort]

More photos, you say?
OK. Here's a little more progress to show.
Photo 1 - "The stack" is now for all intent and purpose, completed. The ET / SRB combination stands tall after booster integration onto the ET.
Photo 2 - We re-scaled the 1/144 black and white tile decals originally sold by Mr. Ed Bisconti on eBay, for use on this model. Black tile sets on the bottom, front wing edges and nose, and white tiles for the Orbiter cockpit and the fronts of the OMS Pods. We also started applying the markings onto the Orbiter.
Photo 3 - The completed OMS Pods, with full tile decals, blankets and tile protective shields on the back lower edges, which will be just above the tail umbilical plates.
Photo 4 - Side markings being applied to the fuselage of the Orbiter.
Photo 5 - A close up of the nose and cockpit area, showing how the blankets transition to the white tiles around the cockpit.
Photo 6 - The OMS Pods and Vertical Stabilizer are installed.
Photo 6 - The SSMEs and OMS engines are installed.


That's plenty for now.
More to come as the work rolls on.

[Rokket]

really nice work. Love the pix!

[Lake County SpacePort]

Well, the Endeavour stack is completed.


More pics are posted on LakeCountySpacePort.com. Look for the link for the "New 1/72 Monogram Stack Build Project" on the Home Page.


But, like Yoda Said, "There is another..."


Right on the heals of this build, I'm doing yet another 1/72 scale Orbiter-only build, liveried as Atlantis, in "in-flight" mode, just as she appears in her new display exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center.


I really think, this will be my last Space Shuttle model.


But, there again, I've said that previously...

[Rokket]

She's beautiful and ready for launch!

[Lake County SpacePort]

We'll these should be the last pics for a while...
Endeavour in now on the 1/72 scale Edu-Craft Shuttle Mobile Launch Platform (MLP) model, looking every bit as good as I wanted it to.
We've placed a "photo-correct" 1/72 scale "We're Behind You, Endeavour" banner on the south MLP railing, along with the NASA flag, the United Space Alliance flag and the American flag, just as they were when Endeavour rolled out prior to STS-134. The realism of David's (Maier) Edu-Craft models compels me to keep doing better on the "birds" I perch on them.
This one's a "keeper."

[Rokket]

Wow!  There are a lot of other words, but that does it for me.

I saw Endeavour's maiden launch in Fl. Just at the gates of the military base. Far away, but what a sight.

VERY well executed build, and with so much great detail behind it. Thank you for posting.

[Lake County SpacePort]

Rokket:


Here's another set of "parting shots."
As you might recall, there was a "parallel project" going on while the Endeavour STS-134 "stack" was being built.
It's another 1/72 Orbiter-only model of Atlantis for STS-135.
The AMP Shuttle windows came out even better on her that they did on Endeavour! Maybe practice does make (more) perfect. Anyway, here's her front window area, and a look at the finished product.
She's sitting at the same 42 degree tilt that she is in her display building at KSC's Visitors Complex.
Thanks again to AMP for making these great components available!!

[Rokket]

She looks fantastic! Great display too as an extra. Nice framing and angles for the pix, too. Wow! Beautiful ship.

Thanks or the kind words about the windows...they can be fiddly, but you made them sing.