1/24 Apollo/Saturn V (enlarged 1/48 Greelt et al version)

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by mbauer

That looks like a drywall/sheet rock circle cutter

Mike

So I went and bought one of these to try out and thought I would report back.

The model was made by "Stanley" and cost £8 (by comparison plastic compass circle cutters range from £2-£7 and even more). Photo below.



It goes up to circles of radii 19cm.

The good news:
point is excellent (and is changeable via an Allen key)
Adjuster kbob solid and can be set easily to within fractions of a mm
All substantial steel so zero flexing/movement
Design means there is no "walking" problem (at least how I used it)

The bad news:

The "cutting" part is a circular wheel



Although this wheel does not wobble about (so that's good) it is not sharp. I have not managed to cut any paper or card with it whatsoever. I don't think it could cut its way out of a paper bag.

So as it stands the tool is useless for paper/card circle cutting (but please remember it is not sold for that job).

However all is not lost. The "cutter" can be removed (again by Allen key). I am going to ask my friend who made the other stuff for me (let's call him "Tony") to put a threaded hole there with a bolt so I can put a stanley blade (or any other blade) in place of the "cutter". I will then have a great circle cutter for that range.

So if you know a "Tony" or are a "Tony" you could do that.

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by dhanners

"Awash" means, "containing large numbers or amounts of someone or something." If you were awash in references (I didn't want to be presumptuous when I wrote) you'd have lots of references. If you lack research material, you have a dearth of references.

You've done a stunning job on the F-1s, but keep in mind the engines used for flight were covered with an insulated batting. Granted, adding the batting would obscure all the great work you did, so you could model one of the display Saturn Vs.

"Dearth". Nice word.

Thanks for the complement on the F-! engines.

I am still considering the batting. I like the idea of a separate model of a 1/24 F-1 engine being covered (which is what I understood your suggestion to be) or even partially covered in batting and having a couple of "pad rats" checking it. I do not know if there are any suitable paper figures at 1/24 scale, but I have found these two on the web. Although car mechanics I thought they could be promoted.





Looking through my rapidly increasing references I see that the five J-2 engines of Stage II also had a "heat shield" near the bottom of the exhaust nozzle, which was a noticeable structure. This feature is not in the model parts (as far as I can tell). So what with this (as well as the stringers) have a few things still to investigate.

Kevin

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by beckychestney

I do worry about the 1/24 model though. Doubling every length, quadrupling every area and increasing every volume by 8 fold, yet the paper is just the same strength. Will the interstage be able to support itself?

Maybe if you mount the ring parts to very thick card like posterboard then they may be able to assist in supporting the outer tube?

Hello Becky

Thanks for the suggestion. Going to do some tests.

Kevin

[Algebraist]

Dear all

Having completed the "skin" of the interstage and ensured a good fit with the forward skirt of stage I, next steps are to do the internal struts and ribs.

There are 24 ribs (each on quarter of a circle that need to be attached to 1mm thick card and accurately cut out. I tried three different methods



Method A (on the left): The ribs have been glued to the 1mm card and I have cut them out free hand using a knife. Method B (in the middle): I have cut out just the backing using a compass circle cutter. Method C (on the right): The ribs have been attached to the 1mm card and then cut out using a compass circle cutter.

For method A, I found I could accurately cut the curve but I was hopeless at keeping the knife perpendicular to the card (which is essential for these parts).

For method B, I found that I could not manage to cut two segments the same required width no matter how carefully I set the cutter. I was unable to even score three consecutive circles. This was because the cutter arm flexed and the point wandered.

For method C, I found I could cut the ribs really well. The reason method C worked was that I had stumbled in a way to hold the cutter, had a definite line to follow and stumbled on how to negate the "walking point" problem.

So I now hold the cutter like this



My wrist is pressing down on the point and my fingers are are controlling the angle and direction of the blade as well as the pressure. When cutting I am constantly slightly varying the weight between my wrist and fingers. The other thing is, after setting up the cutter, I very lightly score one circle (basically letting the cutter do its thing), I then ensure that as I go over it again and again (very lightly at first) I keep the blade in the first grove ti has already made.

Anyway, that's how I managed to (eventually) cut out those backed rib parts. And so on with the build...

[Algebraist]

Dear all

So now I have reached the part where the parts do not match the instructions. So here is what I did.

I backed the vertical strut outline onto 2mm card (this is the thickness as specified on the parts page). However do NOT do this yet if you are making this model. Read all this post first.



I then cut them out. You need to cut perpendicular otherwise the struts will not join to the inside wall of the interstage well. Also take it slow and careful cutting out the notches. If you force it you will just crack the card. Also you need the notches just over 1mm in order to take a rib. I found it good to try them with a bit of card the correct thickness. You do not want the fit too tight since this is just arching the strut and that will not work when glued to the inside wall of the interstage. So don't force it.

Once I had done this I noticed that the lugs on the ribs (which fit into these notches eventually) are each 2mm and two lugs go into one strut. This would imply the struts should be on 4mm card. Looking on the cover photo of the instructions the struts look more than double the thickness of a rib to me (and the ribs are on 1mm card). Also the parts that go on the sides and front of a strut seem to have the strut thickness of 3.5+ mm.

So I decided to cut a second set of struts on 1mm card and one from each set together. This gave me 8 struts of thickness bigger than 3.5mm and less than 4mm (counting card, paper and glue).




Back the 24 quarter circle ribs onto 1mm card and cut out them out (using circle cutter).



I then checked the ribs and struts all fitted together (I offset the joints to maximise strength)



As you can see I could not quite manage to get all the "cage" set up. It was a bit like herding cats! But it did check they should all slot together.

So the struts were glued into place (these set everything else so getting them correct is crucial).



Then the ribs (I had the trim the lugs). Also I deliberately placed the "bottom ring of ribs" the other way up so grey card is being glued to grey card. I thought might be a better bond.Also since the inside face of a rib has no part on it I decided to edge colour it black. Thought this would look better than just grey card.



Then cut out the 48 underside of the ribs (I cut these free hand with a knife), edge coloured these black and glued them to the underside of the ribs



Then I cut out and glued the 40 "sides of the struts". I had to trim these to fit. I also edge coloured these black.



Then I cut out, edge coloured and glued the front of the struts



It turns out the front of the strut was too short, so I cut off some bits fron some more front struts to go on top of the ribs (it was the best thing I could come up with)



Finally added parts 20 (electrical junctions) x 9



Apart from the 4 ullage rockets that is the interstage complete. I will add the ullage rockets at a later time once I no longer need to handle the interstage a lot.
I will but some more pics in the next post

[Algebraist]

Dear all

Here are some more pics of finished (all but ullage rockets) of the 1/48 interstage, as promised in my last post





(I have not glued the fuel tank in place yet as I now need to do the J-2 engine fitting problem).

So on the 1/48 model that is what is next.

But want to make progress on 1/24 model asap.

[mbauer]

Wow, great work! Looking good.

Sorry, to hear about the round blade in the drywall cutter. Wonder if a rotary cutter blade would fit.

The old ones that were used many years ago used the Stanley blades you want to adapt.

Mike

[dhanners]

Looks great!

[Richschindler]

Looks incredible. An amazing amount of work, but it’s paying off.

[Algebraist]

Originally Posted by mbauer

Wow, great work! Looking good.

Sorry, to hear about the round blade in the drywall cutter. Wonder if a rotary cutter blade would fit.

The old ones that were used many years ago used the Stanley blades you want to adapt.

Mike

Thanks Mike.

No worries about the drywall cutter. Glad you suggested it. I know it will be great when I get it "Tony-ized"