Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6 (1:144)

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Give and Take - Many guys just want to take, and that completely and of course immediately!

It is a shame for the rest that this great source has now apparently dried up ...

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Hello friends,

the break was long enough, and since Sascha1990 has probably said goodbye forever, I have shelved my 3D Printing Considerations for now.

Most likely I had thought of the 16 Propel motors, four of which drive one of the four Truck pairs and thereby move the huge Crawler forward.


Source: NASA

In David Maier's Kit, these motors form a unit with the gearbox housing and must be laboriously folded and glued together from these parts,



whereby the details in the typical Maier design are only indicated by partially blurred textures,



what then looks like this at the finished model of my friend Michael Knobloch.

What bothers me even more are the even more rustic-looking modules of the JEL Hydraulic cylinders for equalization the crawler on the slant Crawlerway up to the pad,


Source: papermodelers.com (mk311049)

which are only built box-shaped and covered with textured wallpaper,


Source: papermodelers.com (mk311049)

what is immediately noticeable on closer inspection and therefore would not please me.


Source: papermodelers.com (mk311049)


Source: papermodelers.com (mk311049)

That is why I thought for a long time how I could at least partially circumvent these inadequacies in David Maier's Paper Kit.

To do this, I firstly again dealt more intensively with Mischa Klement's Crawler Kit (1/96) and the few construction reports about it and then contacted the master who had briefly introduced his unprecedented Crawler in our German Raumcon forum a long time ago in the topic Paper models.


Source: Mischa Klement (cyana)
His kit consists of approx. 11.000 parts (0,4 mm to 40 cm) and is without exaggeration High-End Paper Modeling, whereby the Crawler is a true work of art in museum quality due to its impressive level of detail.

The kit has been available since 2010 and is limited to 499 pieces worldwide, but is not for the faint of heart, which is why so far only a few modelers have successfully completed the construction of this monster, of which I know three, whose construction reports I am followed and studied with interest.

Due to the high level of detail, these assemblies look worlds better by Micro Artwork, here just the components for a Propel motor and beside it the finished pair Gearbox housings with motors,


Source: Mischa Klement (cyana)

as well as here on the finished model.


Source: Mischa Klement (cyana)

And in his extensive building instructions (48 pages) everything is illustrated and described in detail.

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In our last conversation I learned that there are actually still some kits available what I no longer believed. That's why I spontaneously decided to buy a kit and have received the proud part in a sturdy cardboard box a few days ago.



Here is an overview of the contents of the kit:



1 The kit comes in a solid card board box and is packed in a nylon bag to avoid damage from humidity. The red circle shows the placement of your serial number, for me 443/499.

2 Instructions manual with 48 pages

3 2 sheets of 300 g card stock – one A4 sized in gray, one half A4 sized in yellow (WWY2, WWY3)

4 2 sheets of A4 transparent film (TRNS1, TRNS2) for windows and gratings

5 1 sheet of black A4 tissue paper for Guide and JEL tubes as well as for steering cylinders (TPA)

6 12 sheets of 250 g card stock A3 (CHA1-CHA5, COR, CBL2, TOP, 4 x TRK2)

7 10 sheets of 120 g paper A3 (SMP, CBL1, 4 x TRK1, 4 x TRK3)

8 1 sheet of 100 g paper A3 (WWY1) and 1 sheet of 80 g paper A3 (PIT)

In the kit nearly everything has been thought of, both in terms of different paper/cardboard thicknesses and colors, as well as transparencies for windows in the driver's cab and gratings for covering openings in the crawler floor as well as for fans and walkways.



Since the truck booms contain breakthroughs and openings, these parts are printed on gray cardboard of the same color,



and partially even the backs of the sheets are printed with the backs of the parts.



And here is a look at the detailed and illustrative assembly instructions,



that one also can downloaded from the Homepage, here with a look at the detailed structure of a Propel motor.



And here for comparison the individual parts of a motor in the kit size (1/96) and about half the size in my scale 1/160 with my obligatory one reference Cent, from which it can be seen that it should be difficult, if not impossible, to tinker such a small motor respectively 16 pieces of it.



But maybe I should at least give it a try ...

[Revell-Fan]

HOLY!!! This is quite a surprise! Congrats on your score, Mani! I would scan the pages first to have a backup just in case something goes wrong or if you need special parts for layering. The original is too precious to be cut up.

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Thanks Marcell for watching on me again.

I'm not going to build Mischa Klement's Crawler Kit, but especially the Crawler outrigger structures (incl. the JEL Cylinders) of his kit I will try to recreate of plastic by using the down scaled outlines (1/160) I have let print out today, which I then want to combine with David Maier's Crawler kit.

The original print files of the Mischa Klement's kit are available now also as PDF documents (to customers only).


Source: Micro Artwork, Mischa Klement (cyana)

The files are outlines without any coloring thus enabling prints on colored card stock, plastic or any other material, or to be used as templates when resized to a different scale.
So I keep his original kit as a collector's item.

[Revell-Fan]

COOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is the right decision.

Thank you for bringing this kit to my attention, BTW. It commands a proud price but the amount of detail is mind-blowing.

[spacerunner]

Hi Marcell,
this Paper kit is unique and worth every Euro, after all, the Lord of the Crawlers worked on it for about 10 years, until after his extensive CAD modeling everything was printed on paper/cardboard/foil in 11.000 cuttable parts, what a hell of a job!
And then he has still put a sweet cherry on the top of the cake: The following risk warnings you can ignore, these sources are absolutely serious and safe!
The Crawler truck assembly procedure as 3D PDF file, Additional instructions.

This revolutionary new concept of building instructions gives you full access to the 3D model and lets you zoom, pan and rotate the complete model, selected parts or part groups.


Source: Micro Artwork, Mischa Klement (cyana)

And this is just the start. Predefined scenes lead you through the assembly procedure, and each scene gives you full 3D access to the model. You can individually isolate, show and hide parts or part groups. No more guesswork how parts are meant to be folded or fit together.

And the best of all: All you need is the Acrobat Reader.

And here some interesting information about the Background of the Project, of which the visit to the KSC and the ride on the Crawler Transporter #1 was a highlight.


Source: Micro Artwork, Mischa Klement (cyana)
And as one can see, the master was deeply impressed ...

[Algebraist]

As always great work and interesting posts Manfred. Glad you got a microart crawler kit. I really wanted to build it myself but it is way beyond me to do even a half decent job. I hope you do make it and post your progress as I am sure many people would really enjoy following your build.

With regard to crawler itself you might like this you tube video (though I am sure you have already researched this already, but just in case not)



Keep up the great work

Regards

Kevin

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Thanks Kevin for the Video,

I know that, of course, there are three parts of it, Inside the Crawler ...
But for God's sake, I don't plan to build Mischa Klement's Crawler Kit with all 11.000 parts, but I plan to use it for scratching important assemblies by using plastic.

I also plan to let some parts such as the tiny Propel Motors and the Gear case housings to be 3D modeled by my friend Joe (crackerjazz) in ARC Forums and printed at Shapeways.

A great help for doing this will be the construction report by the German Jürgen Ziegler (FADDA), a true genius in paper modeling, who successfully built Mischa Klement's Crawler Kit.

In addition to his construction report, he has uploaded 20 YouTube Videos with all the individual steps during modeling of the paper crawler from its 11.000 parts each as a slide show!

For example take a look at his Video #15, which is a safe source, in which he first presents all 52 parts of one Propel motor in full and then puts them together step by step. You will be amazed, because this makes it easier to understand both the structure of the motor and all of the individual parts.

[Revell-Fan]

WOW!!!!! Hats off!