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1/72 Saturn V ... a semi-scratch amalgamation


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The pix of the batted engines are first time I've taken a good look at 'em. Mostly, I've seen other modellers attempts at depicting batted engines and ... they leave alot to be desired. Basically just crimping and crunching aluminum foil around the plastic.

I'm loving these photos ... and the work you're doing. The radial cut on your engine is really good ... did you use a motor tool or was it just a time consuming file and sand job.

And the Dragon stuff ... suffice to say I'm not a fan of their Real Space releases. It's a shame that we Space modelers are letting them get away with out-of-scale and inaccurate kits.

Keep doin' whatcher doin' johnlove_mk-II!

Thanx

Pete

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  • 2 months later...

Now that the holidays are over I can start back in on this ...

When I could work on the F-1 master I did, which wasn't very much at all. Been mainly researching pressure casting. With that being said, I may just deal with a few bubbles in the castings. <_<

Also working on the drawings and templates for the S-IC heat shield as well as the support structure.

ScreenShot2014-01-08at21710PM.png

Another very cool bit of news. Josh over at Meatball Rocketry has agreed to scale up his 1/200 J-2s to 1/72 scale! They're still a work in progress, but he said they should be available soon. (See preview below.)

FSvs1200_compare.jpg

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Here are a few picts of my F-1 master as it is now. I've improved the TPS "frame" from my first attempt and will now start filling it in with putty. Which putty? Well, good question ... I'm not certain yet. Any suggestions? Has anyone any experience with Magicscuplt? I have been messing around with Milliput, but I'm finding it a little too difficult to work with.

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Now that the holidays are over I can start back in on this ...

When I could work on the F-1 master I did, which wasn't very much at all. Been mainly researching pressure casting. With that being said, I may just deal with a few bubbles in the castings. <_</>

Also working on the drawings and templates for the S-IC heat shield as well as the support structure.

ScreenShot2014-01-08at21710PM.png

Another very cool bit of news. Josh over at Meatball Rocketry has agreed to scale up his 1/200 J-2s to 1/72 scale! They're still a work in progress, but he said they should be available soon. (See preview below.)

FSvs1200_compare.jpg

Look,s great , why do you not use the 3D printing 1/72 F1 ?

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I've used Milliput a few times and if mixed well, and once it's dry, it sands bee-yoo-tee-fully. I've used it to fill small gaps, BIG gaps and large patches on styrene. If you keep your fingers moist by dipping 'em in water, Milliput works very nicely. Let it dry for a day and yes, it's a little messy, but nothing a little soap and water won't clean up! :thumbsup:

Magicsculpt? ... nope, sorry.

And regarding CAD, IMHO why spend the dollars on every little element when there's the 'fun factor' in building it the ... old fashioned way!

Keep us posted!

Pete

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Did a little research last evening on Apoxie it looks like pretty good stuff. My biggest problem with Miliput is the workability … and I think some of the fault might lie in the user’s ham-fisted approach to sculpting.

The thing I found about Milliput that I didn't even know I didn't like so much until I found Apoxie is it sticks to your fingers more and granulates some when you work it. True you can use water to prevent it from sticking, but sometimes you need to maintain hard edges AND for it not to stick. It's difficult to get hard edges with a wet clay. I'll still use Milliput at times, mainly because you can get it readily at Hobby Lobby. But if I have the time to wait for the order, or if I have it on hand then I go with Apoxie. I've only used the sculpt so far but I've been meaning to try out the clay I bought as well. Not quite sure what the actual difference is.

I look forward to seeing your progress on this. It's really impressive.

Bill

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Started adding the “conduits” to the nozzle for the overboard drains. I went ahead and ordered the Apoxie sculpt … I can’t wait to get started with this stuff.

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Also found another TPS picture to share. The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney has a F-1 on display with part of the blanket installed … I think this might be the only example in existence. It’s not much, but it’s a angle I haven’t seen.

It shows the helium and gaseous oxygen supply/return lines coming from the heat exchanger. Pretty neat stuff.

f1_tps_new.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

After a long wait from UPS I finally got my first set of J-2s from Shapeways ... needless to say I'm completely gobsmacked. Josh did a wonderful job and yes, these things are sooooo worth the money.

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The Dragon kit part and Meatball Rocketry's J-2.

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Here's one is slid into my incomplete S-IVB. They are going to look amazing.

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Wow, those did come out nice. Do you feel you'll have to do any surface prep other than clean and primer? They don't appear to have much in the way of faceting so they should paint up really well. This thing is going to look amazing when you finish.

Bill

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They are a little textured and there is a lot of the support wax in the crevices ... so a little prep will be necessary. I've been reading everything I can find on the subject, and there are a lot of opinions. I'm hoping that something like Mr. Surfacer will take out some of the graininess. But at any rate, I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. They’re way better than anything I could have cobbled together from scratch.

Also, I just made a huge order from Plastruct to get the remainder of the raw materials I'll need to build the S-IC and S-II stages. Mainly some 5.5" ABS tubes and 5.25" elliptical domes … but also some tiny acrylic spheres for the J-2 re-start tanks and the ambient helium tanks that reside on the S-IVB thrust structure.

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Very nice how those prints turned out. :thumbsup: I'm excited to see them painted up. Remove the wax and oil as best you can. Even if they feel dry enough just give them another cleaning. I was actually worried about doing it too much on one test thruster and I guess I hadn't completely removed all of the oily substance before I started painting and the paint just peeled off in places. Different animal these printed parts.

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Anyone ever use Ponoko? They're like Shapeways in that they print 3D stuff but they also provide 2D laser cutting and embossing. I'm going to give them a try and have them cut out this ...

ScreenShot2014-02-20at112141AM.png

Just cutting out all this would take a few hours, not to mention scribing everything ... with a 50% off coupon code, it's only around 25 bucks. Awesome, eh?

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Awesome ... indeed!

How do you communicate the depth of the etch?

And is that Illustrator template from Ponoko or within Illustrator?

And ... where are you getting all this lovely detail information? Just gleaning it off of blueprints? or sleuthing it out by yourself ... this is gonna be a remarkable model!

What scale was it again? 1/48? 1/24? ;)

Terrific work!

Pete

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WHY!?!? OH WHY?!?!? Why would you show me this company knowing how I can't resist such things? Are you just trying to make sure I spend what little money I have left? :woot.gif:

Seriously though, this is awesome. I may have to give them a try myself. I'm curious how well your parts come out so please keep us posted.

Bill

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Ponoko provides three different sized illustrator templates for the stock sizes they use. The line color indicates cut depth. Pink is a the lightest cut and will only really be a mark on the surface. (I’ll use these as guides to apply stringers.) Green is like a scribed line … with blue being a through-cut.

I’ve pulled in information from a ton of different sources, but I mainly just use my vast picture library. I’ve been fortunate to be able to visit both the Saturn Vs at Johnson and Kennnedy on more than one occasion. I have hundreds … maybe thousands of photos of both of them. That alone has helped more than anything … well that, and Google.

You guy’s are probably familiar with some of these sites, but they’ve been invaluable as well.

John Pursley's Accur8 models - He's got fairing and fin info ... plus a lot of other cool stuff. (I used his patterns for my fairings.)

Mike Jetzer's Heroic Relics - This a really cool site with a ton of picts and info.

Edited by johnlove_mk_II
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