Falcon 9 v 1.1 (4)

Onwards and upwards we go.
Back to where we left the long pencil rocket called Falcon 9.
Lots of progress made today and yesterday. Great to have a little spare time for the hobby. What did PK do? Well, for a start he put on some clamps for keeping the second stage in place. It needs to be said that in Alfonso's original model there is no separable second stage or Dragon. So I had to cut the clamps in half. I also did all the engines and because all posts up til now had the engines as front post pic, I'll do the same here.
More, lots more! after the jump.

Shall I explain some stuff with the photos? Yeah, I guess so.

The clamps were made separable so the lower parts remain on the interstage and the upper parts come off with the second stage after separating. Of course there's no innards of these clamps. I simply don't know what's inside. But it gives an idea of how its done in the real thing.

Leggie time! Four landing legs around the rocket's base. SpaceX's brilliant idea of reusing a rocket brought into practice. The legs will be deployed by an actuator hidden inside the four legs. They will spread out and lower themselves so the rocket can land safely without toppling over. After separating from the upper part, the first stage will drop to the ground, stabilised by the middle rocket engine. There still is sufficient fuel in the tanks to do so. Like a broom balanced on a finger it will gimbal to keep the rocket straight up. When the legs are deployed, they extend to a meter or so beneath the rocket so there is room for the flame and the deflection. Brilliant system. It already is being tested on sea, so the first rockets equipped with these legs still are not reused but soon they will try an on-land return of the stage. Might be spectacular. And a historic first. But I digress. Where were we?  Oh yeah: the legs in paper.

 Now while that was drying, I made the tank dome for the second stage. I again took this one from Leo Cherkashyn's Proton model and made it a little smaller. I saw the tank domes on the Falcon are painted white. Oh well. I like the metallic shine.

Legs bolted on the first stage. Alfonso even provides the hinges for the legs. They just won't deploy.

As you can see, the rest of the engines was also added. Did that during the leg assembly to make it less boring. One leg, two engines, one leg, two engines.
Varying while doing tedious tasks makes it easier.

As you can see, the two stages of the Falcon 9 v 1.1 really makes it a long pencil shape.  It is higher than an Atlas or a Soyuz.

The Dragon supply ship for the ISS. I used an embossing needle to accentuate the RCS thrusters and the ribs on the capsule's hull.

The trunk. Weird name for the back part of the Dragon space ship. But it actually is somewhat like a car boot. It is not a service module but used to carry unpressurised cargo. Like elements to put on the outside of the space station. It has a weird shape with flattened sides for the solar panels. They will be covered with shrouds underneath which the solar panels are folded during ascent.

Hey, I have an embossing needle. Why not emboss the heat shield? it might give a little extra depth to the structure.

While we're on it, why don't I do the hatches on the Dragon  as well? Bla bla bla depth etc. It looks good, I must say. This photo paper I use helps a lot, the top layer is a little fragile but it also shows a nice shine when embossed.

A magnet strip inside the top of the trunk will make the capsule fully detachable.I made this up on the go, so whether it would fit was a surprise. (-;

The shrouds for the solar panels were cut in two, because after separation from the second stage, the lower parts stay on the stage, while the top part is on the trunk.

A strong magnet inside the heat shield will keep the two together. Testfitting showed it all kind of fitted. Kind of, because there will be a gap between the heat shield and the trunk. But all of it adds to the demonstrability of the model so I keep it like this.

I also doubled the RCS thruster structure to give it more of a robust appearance.

The solar panels were made from grey heavy card. Only the bottom edge will be seen so it doesn't matter what they look like. I added little spacers to make them look like the original folded ones.

Also, I gave the hatch a makeover. Used copper coloured paper and small pieces of another colours to make it less flat.

The docking collar was added. Made from silver coated paper. Copper coloured strip inside.

Solar panels inside the shroud. This is the top part of the shroud, the lower part will be added to the second stage later on.

And here's where I am now. Almost done, just the shrouds and the nose cone top part. Then it's onward to one of the biggest projects I have ever taken on in paper modeling.