STS - 1 (continued)

Some progress has been made. Real life kicked in and while I would love to have STS-1 quickly finished to get to work on new models, I obviously also have to do my job. Perhaps some of that another time.

I finished the biggest part of the Crawler. I only need to do the walkways along the four sides.
I was amazing how easy everything came together. Alfonso makes models that are well designed and easily reduced in scale.

Biggest issue was the angle in which I had to put the four trucks in order to get the MLP level while the crawler climbs the 5º slope to LC39A.
I used a transparent gel glue to give the trucks some time to adjust to their positions while hardening. After that I did the steering rods that put all the trucks in the right direction. When trying the crawler out for the first time in the late 60s,  they discovered that they couldn't just let the tracks steer the behemoth like a tank or a shovel. With such a delicate load it had to be more subtle.

 Okay, I smuggled. The rotating parts of the engine sections weren't paper cylinders but small pieces of cocktail sticks.

As almost usual, the thickness of the paper causes some displacement issues underneath the tracks. Since this part will be on the crawlerway and not visible, I don't give a flying hoot about this. Ha!
I did, however make the exhaust pipes and mufflers for some extra detail.

 Clearly seen here is the angle of the trucks in relation to the body. It looks kinda weird and maybe even a little grotesque but with the MLP on top it has exactly the good look. Besides...

The deck is completely level. As it should be.
Tomorrow I'll add some more pictures.

Something new

While waiting for Rassvet and the payload of STS 134 to be released by Alfonso to finish the ISS diorama, something new is taking shape on PK's desk. PK just can't sit still.

It's a slope of five degrees placed in an angle on this square board.

The title will be "The 5º slope to the stars" and will depict Shuttle Columbia with its boosters and white ET upon the Mobile Launch Platform and Crawler being carried to Pad 39A for the start of STS-1 in april 1981.

All of it is scratched up 'til now. I am a bit bad at maths and stuff with numbers so I just use my ruler and pencil. The base will be filled with plaster and the card strips are here for getting the lines all right.

Here's a sketch I made earlier:

It should end up something like this. 
This is also the first time I try something more with a base than just it being a base. This slope is placed in an angle on the board and since the crawlerway has slopes, it also has some complex structures to make if you do it just with the ruler and a pencil. Since this is something new I will post progress on this blog here.

The shuttle stack, MLP and Crawler will be a very downscaled version of the models designed by Alfonso Moreno, you can find them on AXM (in the sidebar is a link)