Saturn V 1/96 build report [004]: countdown on hold

Just a little and short update:
I have postponed the build of the Saturn. It's all a paper issue, the used paper won't stick in any way.  the backside is plain so there is no problem there, but the visible shiny metallic front is just not able to hold any glued object. it almost is like a non-stick Teflon pan. It gives me hell and I am fed up with it.
When I bought it, I thought it looked very good and would serve me well but well, it didn't.
regular white glue just slides off, Aleene's tacky glue is still tacky but cannot keep things in place, and CA mists up the entire insides of the tank's wall.  And that makes this build just an impossible and very un-enjoyable piece of sh*t.

This type of paper might be useful for other projects it really is beautiful stuff for metallic skins, actually but without having to glue stuff on its surface. So it's not going to be used for this particular project.
It means I will have to restart. Again. oh well. I now know some other building issues that now are easily solved and I think with this problem out of the way, the build of the RP-1 tank might be a little easier too. I am going back to the paper I know is workable in this situation. Although it is not as smooth surfaced, it still is very metallic and therefore useful.

Here's a couple of pictures of the build I'll be disassembling now for further usage of the dome structure in the next try.

Here you can clearly see the misting effect the CA has on the surface.

It really is beautiful metallic of itself but well, if it doesn't stick to anything it's just useless to me. 

Hopefully I will have a new update ready shortly.

Saturn V 1/96 build report [003]

The first tank dome is there. It's the LOX bottom tank dome, and the other domes all will be built before the actual tanks will come into existence. This is because of the LOX fuel lines that go through the RP-1 tank. I need to know where the pipes have to go in the bottom RP-1 dome and then adapt the top RP-1 dome. maybe a little hard to explain here, but you will see what I mean in a couple of days. At least, I hope so. Here is the first dome anyway.
It is made from two layers, the outer one being light (narcissus)yellow paper with a bit of a grain which depicts the isolation layer nicely. The inside is made from aluminium coloured paper. The rings around the holes inside are from chrome coated paper. it all looks exactly how I wanted. I hope the other three domes come out equally nice (or better).
after the jump three more pictures.

See you soon,
--PK

Saturn V 1/96 build report [002]

A little progress was booked today. Although I still had some printer issues (black ink gradually fading across the page - %^$##@!!1) I managed to assemble a part of the RP-1 tank. It still is far from finished but there is a start! In the end I also got the printer to make a decent print after all. But I had to increase the amount of ink used considerably.

The insides are made from matted but very metallic looking card, which will be further detailed in the coming days. It is not glued yet. The upper ring is there for measure, not for attachment purposes. The lower rings are there to keep the cylinder in shape.

Saturn V 1/96 build report [001]

In advance: Expect this to become a long lasting series of off-and-on build reports. This project is really going to take a lot of time.
This also is probably going to be a journey with a lot of setbacks and slow progress involved. This stuff already happened when a couple of days ago my precious circle cutter broke. The thing is made from solid plastic and has a metal slider on which end the blade is held. The slider is kept in place by a metal nut which twists around a plastic screw. This screw broke off and unfortunately it wasn't repairable. This set me back 40 euros because I really need this cutter for al the rings and bulkheads. A necessary investment.

My dear old broken circle cutter with the metal slider and screw removed. 
The metal parts now are reserve parts but these plastic bits are a goner. )-:

For some time now I already have been experimenting with pieces and parts to try out shapes and fitting issues. Researching where I want to have the openings in the rocket's hull (They have to be on one side all the way to the top) and looking up where vent holes, valve umbilicals and other thingamabobs are to be found.
The U.S. government shutdown isn't making things easier at the moment because everything at NASA is blocked and there are an awful lot of other sites normally having great information but all their links to specific sites (NASA again) are dead ends (thanks a lot, GOP congress members, you belong without a doubt to the silliest bunch of people in the world - and I express myself quite mildly here).

Clear skies, Scott.

Today Scott Carpenter died from complications after suffering a stroke. He was 88 years old.  He was the second American to orbit the earth. His only spaceflight, with a Mercury capsule called Aurora 7,  ended in a bit of a messy situation when he overshot his designated landing spot by several hundred kilometres. because of a malfunctioning horizon scanner he used a lot of manoeuvring fuel during his orbits but also suffered several malfunctions at re-entry that caused him to push the retro rockets manually, which occurred almost a second too late. The thrust of the retro's also was not optimal and all of this caused the overshoot. He also was the one that spoke the words "Godspeed, John Glenn" when Glenn lifted off as the first American to orbit the earth.
After a motorcycle accident in 1964 he suffered loss of function of one of his arms and that resulted into losing his chance to return into space. But I presume his not so perfect Mercury flight also might have played a role in the decision to take him off the list for another flight.
He turned into an aquanaut for the Navy in the late sixties, working in underwater laboratories.

Malcolm Scott Carpenter © NASA

Carpenter was one of the first to explore the New Ocean and just for that reason alone he already was a pioneer and a vanguard. He might not have been NASA's ideal astronaut in that time but he certainly was a tough man, having to endure the gruesomeness of those first astronaut's medical tests and become one of the Original Seven. His old colleagues, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordo Cooper, Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton already passed away earlier. 

This leaves his good friend John Glenn the only one still alive of the Original Seven.

Saturnial interlude: Design and doodle time.

While I appear to be idle at the moment, there's a lot going on in my grey matter up in my head.
Mostly when I am doing boring or numbing stuff like trying to get to sleep or while I am doing some training exercises on some fitness contraption, I am thinking about how I have to tackle certain aspects of the Saturn V build I am planning. Studying imagery of the beast and sometimes asking experts on the web about details I cannot seem to find an answer to.

During this process the rocket comes to life in my mind. I am starting to be able imagining all the nooks and crannies, or at least the ones I can make and put into my model. I start making little doodles and detailed drawings of parts in the sketch books I carry with me all the time:

And Yes, I am a Dutchy but I often provide my modeling doodles with English notes. You figure out.

More importantly, I can ponder over how the thing has to be assembled. What do i build 
first and what next? My girlfriend, surprisingly, came up with the perfect solution for one of the biggest issues I was trying to solve. (She usually shows a complete disinterest in spaceflight and only is amazed at times when she sees the size of a new model I made.) "Why not try and follow the way they build the rocket for real?" she suggested and the longer I thought about it (which was about ten seconds at most) the more this idea made sense.
Now, another point is the size. Measuring Greelt's pieces and resizing them 50% to get 1/96 turned out the parts are a little too large. 48,20% happened to be the right number to use for reducing to 1/96. I already have bought some nice pieces of paper to start with but the actual build might be some time further away in the future.
And I start to make small sketches and drawings to learn the Saturn's looks and where its doodads, thingamabobs and whatchamecallits go. (I won't bother with the real names for now…) These sketches help a lot in creating a 3D picture of the rocket in my mind and later on in paper. The building soon will start, In the meantime, after the jump you can find some more of my sketches.

--PK