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Now to install subassemblies into the mid section.
I first glued the Environmetal Control System onto the right wall using the white printing for alignment. I did it by applying glue to the edges of the ECS that would come into contact with the wall and the flap on the top of the ECS that attached to the wall near the hatch. After the glue dried I added a small bit of glue to the top of the upper brace arms to keep them in place. They kind of wedge into the top corner of the mid section.
The next subassembly to install was part 48 which goes under the ECS using the white printing on the floor of the mid section for positioning.
Next the Ascent Stage Engine Cover assembly was installed. Instead of applying the glue directly to the subassembly I decided to apply the glue to the floor of the mid section where the part would attach. I did this to minimize the glue stains in case I did not set the part down exactly where it needed to go. That way I could reposition it before the glue dried without smearing the printing ink. The ends of the two tabs off coming off the top of the cover attach to part 48.
Applying the glue to the mid section instead of the subassembly worked pretty good for the engine cover, so I used a similar technique for gluing the Left Hand Mid Section Stowage subassembly. The glue was applied to the white alignment printing on the wall. However, it got pretty dry before I was able to get the subassembly in place. Nevertheless, it did hold loosely at a few attachment points. To strengthen the bond, I carefully added some glue to the subassembly where the shelving butts up against the walls and held it in place until it was tacky enough to hold. It worked resonably well, but the extra fiddiling around with things caused one of the glue joints of part 15a to fail. I was able to reattach the joint without much incident. Disaster averted, but it was a good reminder of how delicate some of these part are.
Next I attached part 53 Suit Umbilical to the wall next to the stowage assembly.
Next in was part 52 LGC Control using the alignment marks on the floor of the mid section. No big concerns there except when trying to attach part 30 Water Control Module. It is very tight fit onto the wall under the ECS wedged next to the LGC Control. There are no alignment marks for this part so I had go to off the pictures from UHU02's build notes. It took some finessing to get it into place but in the end worked out okay.
Part 31 Film Magazine was glued to the floor using the alignment box.
The Coolant Regenerative Heat Exchanger (parts 45-47) was glued into place under the ECS.
Part 54 Filter Box was glued right into the face of the ECS. No alignment marks are there, but I used UHU02's build notes for positioning.
It is starting to get crowded in there! I have a bit of trouble opening the hatch because of the ECS. I can force it open but it puts lots of stress on the hinge. I don't know how many times it will take the stress, so I will have to resist the urge to open or close it unless necessary for the building process.
Since there were no additional parts used for installing these subassemblies into the mid section, the part count remains at 72.
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