Two halves of the straight part of the fairing, with the second stage of the Ariane 5 |
The new plan was to shape the three-layered shroud by wetting the two inside layers of card and rolling it around a mould to dry and fixate the shape. The outer layer, made from photo paper, will be glued as the last part. It all needs to be quite exact and fitting. That's why I shoved it aside for so long.
Yesterday I wetted the paper and let it take shape around the moulds. That came out surprisingly well. Yesterday, I joined them with glue and put them back on the moulds for curing. Now it's the time for the result.
For the time being I made a crude quick fairing, to give myself an idea on size and shape. It turned out I really disliked the pointy top. So that needed some extra attention, too. And well, uh, looking at the Vinci engine (the one that powers the 2nd stage) I wasn't that happy either with its looks. Too straight a cone to be an actual engine exhaust. So lots of things to do!
The rest of the story after the jump.
The innermost part of the fairing on its mould, all wet and tied up. |
Result! |
Having two cylinders that were perfectly fitting for this task was a happy coincidence.. The paper roll was cut lengthwise to make it a tad smaller, the wooden cylinder was just what it was. |
Then, after they came out and looked pretty much as I hoped they would, I glued the outer layer in place. A little more glue this time, because photo paper. I usually use CA in these cases but I didn’t want to risk that here.
Here goes nothing... Fingers crossed! |
Ariane 5 with its temporary fairing to get an idea of how it will look finished. |
In the time in between I started out redesigning the not so pretty pointy top of the fairing. I immediately thought of Mark Cable’s Delta IV Heavy nose cones. Looking over my shoulder I can see it standing right there on my shelf. The cones look really good and nicely curved. They just are a tad too small in diameter at the widest point. But they also are too short. So with one segment added below the original D-IV fairing it might come out as very usable. With the online available shroud calculator I quickly came up with an extra ring to add. On paper it all looks great but I still have to prove this in reality. I printed the cone and it awaits cutting. Now for that engine bell. Too straight. I have always thought that but it never occurred to me to redo it until now. Again Mark Cable came to the rescue when I took one of his Titan engine bells, lengthened the bigger part of the bell a little bit and created a new sleeker curved engine for the 2nd stage. Great.
To keep me occupied in the time the glue dries, I already started a new build. The last photo is the first bit I glued of it. Guess. This project will be further shown after Ariane is ready.
See you soon!
-PK
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