Middle-aged kit building

[eburacum45]

http://www.astronautix.com/v/vonbraunlunarlander.html
I recognised the 'table' that holds the fuel tanks etc.

[grant hutchison]

http://www.astronautix.com/v/vonbraunlunarlander.html
I recognised the 'table' that holds the fuel tanks etc.

That's the one. This seemed like a good year to be building it.

Grant Hutchison

[schlaugh]

Too bad you can’t build an “as flown” version.

[grant hutchison]

It's interesting that the photo in the Astronautix link shows Wernher von Braun holding a model that has the same "unrealistic" configuration as the Pegasus model I'm building. The very large, outermost spherical fuel and oxidizer tanks were intended to be used for translunar injection, and then discarded, like the S-IVB stage. During that acceleration phase, the legs were to be stowed out of the way of the rocket plumes - the outer ones folded forward, and the central one retracted. They were only to be deployed during the final powered descent to the moon, by which time the vehicle had a more stripped-down appearance. And the central leg was only the same length as the others once the vehicle had landed - it was intended as a shock-absorbing "probe", and initially extended beyond the plane defined by the footpads of the outer legs.

I'm modifying my kit to depict the landed configuration.

Grant Hutchison

[eburacum45]

Thirty rocket motors! A crew of fifty! That's a spaceship. The mission seems to have been modelled on the Endurance or Discovery in the Antarctic.

[grant hutchison]

Thirty rocket motors! A crew of fifty! That's a spaceship. The mission seems to have been modelled on the Endurance or Discovery in the Antarctic.

Here's the engine array:

The outer twelve could be vectored in triads for attitude control:


According to the 1952 Collier's article, the expedition crew of 50 would have travelled in three ships, one of which replaced the lunar departure tanks (in the centre of the structure) with a cargo hold. Each ship could accommodate 25, so that the two with return take-off capability could get everyone off the moon.

Grant Hutchison

[eburacum45]

Three ships would require 90 rocket motors.
The same number of rocket motors were used in three N1 launches. Not a resounding success.

[Trebuchet]

And of course, the BFR Starship/Superheavy is going the same way.

[publiusr]

But with fins. And no worry about a hypergolic disaster.

[grant hutchison]

1/350-scale astronauts.

1/350 is a common scale for ship models, and I managed to find some figures in that scale, to which I applied little bits of styrene strip for life-support packs, and a blob of glue for a bubble helmet. Bit of a challenge to paint, as you can see.

Grant Hutchison

[Trebuchet]

Mercy, that's tiny!

My first reaction to the photo was that your pennies are quite a lot bigger than ours. They aren't that much, just 1mm and change.

[grant hutchison]

Grant Hutchison

[Trebuchet]

Grant Hutchison

Now weld some stainless steel around it....

[grant hutchison]

No, honestly. That's the size of it.

Grant Hutchison

[publiusr]

That is what should have been the first lander. Sigh....

[DaveC426913]

You guys might be just the guys to help me out with this.

I'm planning to make a landscape relief map out of foam core layers (1/4" or 1/8"). It's mountainous territory, so the cutting will be very intricate - and a lot of it. I'll print out the landscape, paste it on, then cut along the contour lines. (The printed landscape will be the final surface.)

I tried using an X-acto knife already. It was not up to the job. Even a #11 blade, that's only a mm or two thick, does not allow me to cut the curves I want. Worse, it doesn't cut cleanly through the paper and foam core, so the contour frays or falls apart.

I'm looking for a better - and ideally faster - way to cut.

I have a coping saw but a flat blade will still be problematic. Ideally, I can get a blade with a circular cross-section, so I can cut in any direction. Still, using a coping saw for hours on-end will probably rattle my teeth.

I wonder if there are hand saws for this kind of work? I'm thinking like a micro-screwdriver, but instead of a bit, it has a blade with a circular cross-section. Then it would essentially be a human-powered coping saw.

I also thought of a hot wire but, while it might go through the foam core fine, it likely won't handle the paper very well.

Thoughts?

[Swift]

I don't have a good suggestion. I've used and cut foam core, but only as single layers, and an X-acto works fine.

[Nicolas]

Cut out the paper separately first (any way you see fit), put it on the foam, then follow the contour with the hot wire. That way the hot wire doesn't have to cut the paper. You spend extra time because you have to cut twice, but two easy cuts might be faster and more pleasant than a combined troublesome cut.

[DaveC426913]

Cut out the paper separately first (any way you see fit), put it on the foam, then follow the contour with the hot wire. That way the hot wire doesn't have to cut the paper. You spend extra time because you have to cut twice, but two easy cuts might be faster and more pleasant than a combined troublesome cut.

Thanks for the idea, but I think it will be problematic. Making circa-millimetre mistakes when cutting both is not a problem for me, but when cutting the foam to match the paper, even the tiniest divergence from the cut the paper, the edge will look terrible.

And I've got a lot of cutting to do...

This is about 18" square and has 20 layers.

(I'd 3D print, but I think it's way too large/expensive. )

[pzkpfw]

...
(I'd 3D print, but I think it's way too large/expensive. )

Rather than 3D print, I'd have thought that's more a job for an "old fashioned" CNC router table kind of thing.

(Dunno about the detail achievable though.)

[Solfe]

My Dad is still building model castles in his 70s. Here are two pictures.



This is a 25mm scale shell or motte and bailey keep. It's about 3x4 feet.



This is a crusader castle. It's about the same size as the other one.

If you want to see more details, check out my blog. Here is the shell keep. And this is the castle.

Just an FYI - there are some ads on my page. Amazon and DriveThruRPG. For whatever reason, an adblocker will stop the Amazon ads but not the DriveThruRPG stuff. Not sure how I did that. I used to have my blogs in the sig line, but there isnt' a heck of a lot of crossover between D&D themed blogs and Space and Astronomy Forums. I used to maintain a section for an ad free experience for Forum users, but I switched to a generic blogger page and accidentally killed it.

If there is any interest in an ad free experience for Forum users, shoot me a message. I just don't link out to my blog all that often, even though I have asked for permission to do so. It really isn't a "thing", except for large pictures.

[Trebuchet]

My Dad is still building model castles in his 70s. Here are two pictures.



This is a 25mm scale shell or motte and bailey keep. It's about 3x4 feet.



This is a crusader castle. It's about the same size as the other one.

If you want to see more details, check out my blog. Here is the shell keep. And this is the castle.

.

I'm also in my 70's and building machines to knock them down!

[Heid the Ba']

Nice castles.

[DaveC426913]

Rather than 3D print, I'd have thought that's more a job for an "old fashioned" CNC router table kind of thing.

(Dunno about the detail achievable though.)

Good point. Hadn't thought of that.

[Solfe]

I received a package in the mail and it was packed with Styrofoam that screamed "Keep!" So I kept it and started making a keep.



Edit - I discovered something I didn't know the other day. Fat Sharpie markers melt Styrofoam, while dry eraser and skinny sharpies don't. I outlined each window and door with a thin Sharpie and burned a recess with the fat marker. The floor levels are marked with the dry erase marker. I'm going to skim the whole thing with plaster, so I need recesses to put the wooden windows and doors into. I'll cut some cardstock to back the recesses and pull it out so the plaster doesn't fill them in.

[Torsten]

So I kept it...

I've kept some too, as it whispered "glider" to me (no play on words here). But that was a long time ago, and it still sits there. Maybe a project to do with grandchildren.

[publiusr]

Nice starship paper model here
https://twitter.com/axm61/status/1198597983492886528