Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius

[Wichita]

Parts 99a and 99b Helium Tanks are simple spheres. The are identical except that 99b has a round gray mark on it that does not appear on part 99a. These two tanks are glued to the brackets on part 95. I aligned them so that the seam is on the bottom. They will receive a second attachment point to secure them later in the build (parts 136 and 137).

Parts 100a and 100b Glycol Accumulators are pretty simple. The sides are rolled to match the cap at the top. They are then glued onto the back of the LM (part 2) at the designated attachment points. Interestingly the bottoms are open but they will not be very visible once part 125 of the aft equipment bay is installed later in the build.

Part count to date: 149

[Wichita]

Parts 101 through 111 form the Propellant Fuel Tank (L). Parts 101 through 108 form the primary part of the sphere. Part 109 is an alignment guide for the two hemispheres of the tank and is not visible after the tank is closed up. Part 110 and 111 form the base of the tank and the fuel line connection point. I glued part 110 to part 111 before attaching it to the main sphere of the tank. This allowed me to make sure the two parts fit together properly before attaching them to the rest of the tank. Note that there is an alignment arrow on part 111 that lines up with an alignment arrow on the tank. The completed tank was attached to the spacecraft using the support rack attachment points.

Parts 112 through 122 form the Propellant Oxidizer Tank (R). The construction of this structure is identical to the process for parts 101 through 111 except that it is installed on the right side of the spacecraft.

After installing the two tanks the fuel lines from the mid section were attached to the bottom of the tanks.

I used two different construction methods for building up the tanks. For the left tank, I glued the sphere together using only butt joints. It came together okay but I found it a bit difficult to get all the parts to fit together cleanly, and it was hard to keep from making a mess with the glue. In the end it came out okay but it took quite a bit of effort for a beginner like me. So I tried a different approach for the right side tank by using tabs to help line up the sections of the sphere. The tabs were NOT made by cutting the parts out with a little extra paper extending past the printed edge. But instead, I cut separate pieces of thin paper to glue to the back of the joints. That way the seams line up precisely with no overlapping of the printed card stock. Basically a butt joint with thin paper backing it. I was very happy with the result and think I will use that method for future parts that are a little difficult to line up cleanly.

Part count to date: 171

[Wichita]

Parts 123a and 124a are folded in half so that printing shows on both sides, with a couple of tabs that attach it to the aft equipment bay. Parts 123b and 124b are folded at a 90 degree angle. Parts 123a and b are attached to the left side, and parts 124 a and b are attached to the right side. There are alignment marks on the aft equipment bay to help line them up.

Part count to date: 175

[gotham]

I have to say you're quite brave taking this build on, it looks complex, but you are making a great job of it. Keep going.

[Wichita]

Gotham: Thank you for your words of encouragement.

[Wichita]

The next several parts form the Aft Equipment Bay. Part 125 wraps around part 126 to give printing to both sides of the support struts. Part 127 gives printing to both sides of the electronic box array. Parts 128a through 128i are structural beams for the electronic box array.

After carefully cutting out the parts, I folded them using a photo etch bending tool.

The extremities of the four edges of part 127 flip up to basically form a shallow box. This part is then glued to the back side of part 126. Be sure it is oriented correctly and not mounted upside down, otherwise the placement of the electronics boxes will be thrown off.

Next I did dry fitting of part 125 to part 126/127 to make sure they lined up okay. The gluing of part 125 is a bit tricky so patience is needed. I first glued 125 to the perimeter of part 127 one side at a time, allowing it to dry before gluing the next side, carefully making sure the struts would line up well. Next I glued the struts together. All came together quite well and it forms a surprisingly rigid structure.

I next glued parts 128a through 128i to part 127. Each of the structural beams are a bit different from each other so they need to be glued in the correct order. Also be sure they are oriented the right direction.

The last step was to bend the extension of parts 128d and 128g over to form a small cage at the bottom of the electronic box array.

Part count to date: 187

[elliott]

Agreed, this does appear to be a complicated model, to say the least. Your slow (me too!) methodical approach and clear pics are making for a great build thread. Been following this thread since the beginning and always look forward to the next installment. Keep doing what you're doing!

[NYC Irishman]

Great work!

[Wichita]

Parts 129, 130, and 131 are folded in half to show printing on both sides. The are glued in between some of the upper appendages of the structural beams for the electronic box array (parts 128a through 128i).

Part 132 is a stringer that ties parts 128a through 128i together.

Part 133 forms an open ended cube and glues to the interior side of the electronic box array (part 126).

Part count to date: 192

[Wichita]

Parts 134 and 135 are mounting brackets for the Gaseous Oxygen Tanks (ECS). I used a black sharpie to color the underside. They mount onto the interior side of the electronic box array (part 126).

Parts 136 and 137 are mounting brackets for the helium tanks (part 99a and b) that were previously installed on the aft equipment bay. I colored the back using a black sharpie. They fold 90 degrees and are mounted onto the interior side of the electronic box array (part 126).

Parts 138 and 139 (Gaseous Oxygen Tanks) are simple spheres. Once formed they are mounted onto the brackets (parts 134 and 135).

Now comes a challenging step...mounting the electronic box array assembly to aft side of the spacecraft. The pictures show the mounted assembly. There are several glue points to attach it securely. Additionally, the Helium Tanks (part 99a and b) attach to mounting brackets (parts 136 and 137), and the Gaseous Oxygen Tanks (parts 139 and 139) are attached to upper brackets of part 93. A bit hard to describe all the details of how it is mounted, but hopefully the pictures show the detail.

One small modification I did was on a couple of the support braces of the electronic box array. Once mounting to the back of the spacecraft they were bowed because of being a bit too long. It was likely due to some mistakes in my construction, but to correct the problem I cut them in the midpoint with scissors and reglued them with overlapping. You can see what I did in the pictures.

Part count to date: 198