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Old 01-04-2013, 02:08 PM
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WeeVikes WeeVikes is offline
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Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...

Hey guys,

I haven't built a diorama in a while, and I decided it was time to take on a new one. I thought it would be fun to depict Eagle just seconds before touchdown.

My approach is to use the repainted Gulf LM model from Jon Leslie's site, reduced in size to 1/96th scale. I know it's not 100% accurate, however, it's extremely buildable, particularly in that scale, and with a few tweaks, I can get it looking a little closer to the real thing. I'm using a couple parts from U-Don's masterpiece and a couple parts of my own design to round it out.

Also at Jon's site, included with Ton Noteboom's Surveyor model are instructions on how to build a "Moonscape". I plan on using those techniques to depict my little portion of the Sea of Tranquility. Lastly, I thought I might sculpt some Polyfill, appropriately "dirtied up" to depict the dust and exhaust being kicked up by the Descent Stage engine.

Attached is a sketch of my concept of the model. I've started construction on Eagle, and it's progressing nicely. I'll load construction photos as soon as I can. My son is wrestling tonight and is in a tournament tomorrow, so it may be a bit before I can share build photos with you. I'll try to get some up as soon as I can.

As always, any thoughts, suggestions, and critiques are welcome. (PK, I'm looking at you, mister "King of the Diorama"! ;-) )


Mike
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Old 01-04-2013, 02:14 PM
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Vermin_King Vermin_King is offline
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This ought to be great. Looking forward to your progress
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Old 01-04-2013, 02:37 PM
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SCEtoAUX SCEtoAUX is offline
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Should look good when you are finished.
Perhaps use some steel wool that is pulled apart and shaped then painted to resemble Moon dust to represent the material being displaced by the engine exhaust.
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Old 01-04-2013, 03:18 PM
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WeeVikes WeeVikes is offline
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Ascent Stage

For those of you familiar with the Gulf LM model, I won't bore you with a lot of details. Suffice to say that for the most part, I built the Ascent Stage pretty much as designed, with two exceptions -- the kit doesn't have an oxidizer tank, so I printed another copy of the fuel tank, trimmed it to fit, and attached it to the starbord side of the vehicle. It's a little big -- in hindsight, I should have shrunk it to about 66% or so, but it looks ok. Also, I tweaked the mounting of the S-Band antenna on the starbord side. The part featured in the kit is a little bulky and clunky. I cut it down a little, and colored it with a gold Sharpie.

Sorry for the photo quality -- all I have is the camera on my phone, and it's not the best.

Next is the Descent Stage. I made a fair amount of mods to this.
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Old 01-04-2013, 03:39 PM
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WeeVikes WeeVikes is offline
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Descent Stage

For the Descent Stage, I cheated a little bit, and used toothpicks cut to the proper size and beveled on the ends for the landing legs. I colored these in with a gold Sharpie. I think they look better than the "stock" legs.

I cut out the top of the Descent Stage body, cutting away the legs and supports, but leaving the top mounting "outriggers" for later use. I then glued the top and bottom halves together. It's a well designed kit, and the fit is excellent.

I don't care for the nozzle assembly that comes with the kit, so I "borrowed" this section from U-Don's model, appropriately shrunk, assembled, and applied.

I then carefully cut out the lower leg supports, cutting away the internal "web" material, then recolored them with gold, silver, and black Sharpies, to come closer the the look of the real thing. These I then glued to the Descent Stage body.

I made diagonal leg supports on PowerPoint. I printed the parts, which were basically 0.5" x 0.75" triangles, laminated them to three sheets of cardstock, and when they were dry, cut them into a "V", and colored them with my gold Sharpie. These I then glued to the body betweein the lower leg supports and the outriggers.

I then glued the legs into place. Up next will be the footpads, porch, ladder, and maybe some more details.
Attached Thumbnails
Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...-photo0350.jpg   Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...-photo0351.jpg   Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...-photo0354.jpg   Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...-photo0355.jpg   Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...-photo0357.jpg  

Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...-photo0358.jpg   Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...-photo0359.jpg   Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...-photo0360.jpg   Four forward... Four forward... Picking Up Some Dust...-photo0361.jpg  
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Old 01-04-2013, 04:21 PM
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Paper Kosmonaut Paper Kosmonaut is offline
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Hi Mike,
Great idea! I myself also have this one on my list. I like your approach to the diorama. As for some suggestions:
I'd keep the dust low and wide, as I think it didn't blow up high but just was blown to all sides, in a bit of a long curve down, in blow pattern. You could put (for sturdiness as well as hiding purposes) the suspension rod right underneath the engine bell. The flame might just touch the dust "cloud" and disappear in it, right into the base.
For the moondust, I'd recommend the fine grained sand from a model railroad. You could use pieces of kitty litter painted dark grey as rocks. I know Eagle landed in an area without big boulders but there might have been some smaller harmless rocks laying around. It also adds to the scenery.
The dust cloud could be made from either steel wool (nice idea) dusted with the "moondust", or just a thoroughly fluffed out cotton ball, painted grey.

And oh yeah, your LM comes together really nice!
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Old 01-04-2013, 05:33 PM
vbsargent vbsargent is offline
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Another choice for the moondust would be appropriately colored corn starch, baking soda, or baking powder. I've used these years ago for snow on 1/72 scale models and dioramas. The only drawback to using it for snow was the discoloration form dust (didn't have them in a case).

Last edited by vbsargent; 01-04-2013 at 05:34 PM. Reason: spelling
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Old 01-04-2013, 05:47 PM
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Swampfox Swampfox is offline
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I worked in Exhibits and Displays at The Denver Museum of Nature and Science and made dust by selecting as thin a piece ot glass, or acrylic. Make surthat has no dust, scratches etc, Use an airbrush to paint the dust cloud as it would look from a couple of different points of view.

Select your illumination source so as not to create reflections in the direction of the viewer and place the "dust plates" in place and view or photograph your setup, and if done right, you will be amazed as to how real it will look.

I wish you the best in pulling this off, no mater what method you end up using.

SFX
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Old 01-04-2013, 05:57 PM
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Just remember with no air the dust didn't "fly" up like on earth but slid more along the surface and also don't think much visible flame would show, if you remember when they used the rover cam to film the ascent stage taking off there was almost no flame in seen....Rich
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Old 01-05-2013, 04:23 AM
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mk310149 mk310149 is offline
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I have built a diorama any years ago (without dust...)...
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