Collier’s Ferry Rocket (1952)

[nando]

Originally Posted by Paper Kosmonaut

Nando, perhaps is it useful to take a look at how Ralph Currell did this with the Friede Moonship from the Fritz Lang film "Frau im Mond". He also designed a zillion six-sided conical rocket engines for the rocket, which look a lot like the engines for the Ferry Rocket.
The rocket engines of the Friede all fit like a dream. I built that one some years back. Might take some time and callus to assemble but the result is awesome.
Great progress on the rocket, by the way.

Thank You PK, great hint! As I could not remember this! The Friede was the same lineage, the true roots of the Von Braun’s rockets.
I revised the kit and the story of the movie ( it’s odd the launch of the missile immersed in a basin of water!) and I decided to do an easy and an hard way to reproduce the engines, like Ralph Curreil did in his model

For the “easy” way, I represented the engines as a 2d pattern, giving some sort of 3d effect: rough but effective.

The “hard” one is very hard and I hope that the arthritis at my right hand does not prevent to complete the job.

I designed the pattern of the engines on the firewall, and the engines as little hexagonal pyramids.




It’s hard to fold those thin details and to glue them, keeping the right geometry of the pattern. I tried different approaches. The first thing I learned is “you have to use little glue!”



The result is acceptable for me and now I have a long and tedious job.



Best, Nando

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Yes! That is how it should look, indeed! I agree, it is a tedious and intense job to cut them all out and place them in that pattern. But the result is worth it. It looks good already, Nando. Just take all the time you need to do it, don't rush it.

(I have a copy of Fritz Lang's movie at home. I bought it merely for the technical scenes, the bulk of the story itself is quite uninteresting, actually. A bit too romantic and unrealistic. And much too long.
But the rocket launch itself, apart from the full immersion in water looks eerily similar to modern launches. The roll-out, the launch tower, even the The 10 to zero countdown. The countdown was something Fritz Lang "invented" to increase the tension in that scene. Something NASA just 'borrowed' from this movie? That immersion in water to suppress the sound of the engines wasn't such a bad idea, of course.
The rocket itself was designed by Hermann Oberth, Von Braun's teacher. Oberth wanted to stay as close to a realistic spacecraft as possible. He only quit when in the end Lang wanted to let his actors walk around on the moon without a space suit.)

[nando]

All the engines cut!



Some statistics. Per each engine:

6 fold lines x 51 engines = 306
20 cuts x 51 engines = 1020

[Tonino]

Hi Nando! Are you folding those engines? Can't wait to see the completed set!

[rmks2000]

Nando,

Just a suggestion, and one I haven't tried yet. I have the Delta7 Studios Saturn Shuttle with a similar issue. Rather than score and fold each part, you cut the each section as a separate part. You could then insert each section into a hexagonal jig. The jig could be made by tracing the outer diameter of a formed nozzle on a piece of card, one piece for the bottom diameter and one for the top diameter. Cut out the inside area of the traced part, and stack the two cards with a height between them equivalent to the distance of the nozzle length. You could make other cards to fill in that gap as well. Essentially the jig is nothing more than a female mold from which to place the nozzle pieces. Hopefully this makes some sense.

[nando]

Originally Posted by rmks2000

Nando,

Just a suggestion [...] Essentially the jig is nothing more than a female mold from which to place the nozzle pieces. Hopefully this makes some

sense.

Good suggestion rmks2000.
I did something similar some time ago when I shaped the ogival spinner, using washers of different diameter for keep the petals togheter.

Here i designed two small jigs and I hope these could help keeping in shape the engines.

Originally Posted by Tonino

Hi Nando! Are you folding those engines? Can't wait to see the completed set!

Yes, I'm folding, folding, folding ... But now I have to suspend the work for a week: other things are pressing, but be sure: I'll continue the

work.

Best, Nando

[panzerlite]

It's been a long week!...
Hopefully you haven't lost interest in this fine model; (or that your arthritis prevents you from doing so...)
I'm envious of your skills and craftsmanship.

Wishing you only the best... panzerlite

[nando]

Originally Posted by panzerlite

It's been a long week!...

panzerlite

Some commitments have distracted me from the model, but do not worry that soon i will return to work and will show you the progress.

Sorry but I'm a slow modeler.

Best, Nando

[nando]

Some step haed.

The last one



All engines ready (for the first stage )



Best, Nando

[nando]

First of all I mounted the twelve swirl engines



Next I continued with the main engines and now I'm here



The process of gluing in place the engines is complicated and it is difficult to maintain the hexagonal shape and the honeycomb pattern. Till now the result is quite satisfactory but not perfect.

And the work continues ...

Best, Nando