Ariane 5 1/96, pt. 21 - the EAPs [part 7]

The EAPs are done. Now proudly strutting their stuff. (No pun intended. Oh well, it actually was. Of course. Struts, strutting, oh my, what a weak attempt to be funny. I could hit myself.)
The lower struts were nice to make. Just lots of fitting and refitting but there you go, that is scratch building. 
The top attachment points of the EAPs were a little harder. I designed them myself by just looking at the couple of drawings and pictures I had on which the contraptions were shown. It looks like they do the trick but I am sure there are some errors in them. But they certainly look more like the real thing than the stuff the models themselves provide.

So here's a shot of where I am now in the build, after the jump more pictures. On to the fairing!

Here's one ready attachment point and one layed out in its parts. The base plate is a doubled piece of photo paper. I curved it around a cone shaped object to get a different curve on top and bottom. You can see that clearly in the two following shots.

Here you can see the curvature over the inside. You look from the bottom part up to the top.

The brass rod goes into the nose cone of the EAP for extra sturdiness. This way the whole attachment plate will stay firmly in place. 

 Good fit and placement.

The two fairings of the connectors on the core stage are plain wedge shaped parts with a little hooks on the side they touch the hull. I made two small cut to insert them. They kind of "hang" upside down on the fuselage, pushing up by their hooks. So when the EAPs are attached, they push against something. (is that clear?)

I wasn't really pleased with the rough look so I made an extra shape to go over the wedge. Now they look really nice. You'll see that at the last photo.

Yeah, that's the one. smooth and shiny. And only because you see it more than triple lifesized it looks a little irregular. That's macro photograpy for you. When using just your old eyeball version 1.0 you got at birth you'll notice nothing out of shape. I promise. No, really. Believe me.
I am a little excited to get started at the last part of the build. I have been working on this rocket and its contents since late january so I really like seeing the end of the build coming closer now. I still enjoy it, don't get me wrong and I am not going to rush it because the fairing must look good. So that's next. Thanks for looking and until we meet again. Soon.
--PK