1:24 Space Shuttle?!

[dhanners]

At the risk of telling somebody else how to build their model.... I don't really think the SSME's "hatbands," as they are sometimes called, would be too difficult in the scale you're working in. Simply laminate two or three pieces of paper (a dark metallic paper would work great) then cut the paper into thin strips that are as wide as the hatbands.

Then you could curl the strip across a straightedge. Once the strips are curled, they are relatively easy to glue around the circumference of the SSME since you already have the reference points of where they go. And in 1/24th scale, the hatbands would be a fairly prominent feature, I believe.

That's just my opinion, though.

[Spaceguy5]

Originally Posted by Paper Kosmonaut

Incredible! Very nice. This is just the opposite of what I do and it's very nice to see.

My Brother printer doesn't seem to want to print in decimals, unfortunately. I always have to round off.. So 33,33% is always 33% at my printer.

My printer is even worse at scaling, so I do all of that work in Photoshop then print at 100%. That's also good because I can choose how to split things up, where to cut any parts that are too big to fit on one page, and I can erase graphics and annotations that would otherwise take up precious ink (So far I've gone through two color cartridges and one black cartridge with just this project)

As for the bands, I agree that they would be a very prominent feature although after seeing how long it takes to just make the piping, I don't want to spend the better part of a day working on just one engine as I wouldn't have time for that (My goal is to finish either this week or next week before I have to go out of town because I don't think I'll have enough time to work on it afterwards). At least, the bands that Thorsten designed would take too much time to make in this scale. I may try something similar to what you suggested. I wish I had some metallic paper, sadly there's no stores nearby that carry it otherwise I would have used it quite a bit

[thorst]

Originally Posted by Spaceguy5

Thorsten, I very much dislike your engines. Not that they're bad, rather that they're *too* good =p

The thought of doing this wiring 22 more times is veeeeerrryyyy unappetizing. [...]

Spaceguy5,
once more, I know what you mean. I had some anger against myself when I had to build them (and you know, I had to do more because of the testbuilds). But now, I am VERY happy that I spent the time doing this and all blebs on my fingers are gone now too, but the engines look way better with them (not to praise my own work). And don't forget, they add a lot of strength to the build, too.

So, with or without these rings, I really like your work very much!
Thorsten

[Spaceguy5]

Originally Posted by thorst

Spaceguy5,
once more, I know what you mean. I had some anger against myself when I had to build them (and you know, I had to do more because of the testbuilds). But now, I am VERY happy that I spent the time doing this and all blebs on my fingers are gone now too, but the engines look way better with them (not to praise my own work). And don't forget, they add a lot of strength to the build, too.

So, with or without these rings, I really like your work very much!
Thorsten

I actually just now finished finally bending all the wire for all 3 engines (Luckily I only developed a blister on one of my fingers). I think the extra work is well worth the effort too. Building with cardstock, they're actually very sturdy even without the wire. This is good, as the wire I'm using is very stiff. I was worried about the wire damaging it while I tried to shape it (making the wire fit the shape of the engine bell is something I've been struggling a bit with).

[Retired_for_now]

Mandrels - tip I picked up from silveroxide and others on making round parts. Use a socket set as mandrels to shape the parts (paper or wire). For wire, I'd make two wraps around an appropriately sized socket and use the center bit for the loop - most tightly wound part should spring back the least (use a slightly undersized socket to allow for the springback?). For very small parts a set of drill bits (use the shaft obviously) works as well.
Yogi

[Spaceguy5]

One down, two to go. Most of the time was spent refining the shape of all the piping (I also had to recut a number of them which were too short) and cutting out the 141 tiny connection points

[dhanners]

They look great. At the risk of asking a question that has probably already been asked and answered, are those SSMEs available anywhere?

[Zathros]

Man this model is just awesome!

[jparenti]

Originally Posted by dhanners

They look great. At the risk of asking a question that has probably already been asked and answered, are those SSMEs available anywhere?

They are. You can get them as a member of the Space Paper Models group on Yahoo, listed in the Files section. That's also where Thorsten's other 1/48 shuttle orbiter parts are located.

[WeeVikes]

Good grief, that engine bell is beautiful. It looks like it's time for me to join the Space Paper Models group...

Outstanding work, both the design, Thorst, and the build, Spaceguy.