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

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,
wow, what a spectacular picture-book launch of NASA's SLS Moon Rocket with the Orion Spacecraft atop to its maiden flight Artemis 1 that leaves you wanting more.


Source: NASA

[Revell-Fan]

What a beautiful sight!

[spacerunner]

Hi Marcell,

yep, the NASA's mighty SLS Moon Rocket and the object of desire.

BTW, you make yourself very rare, are my particles too small for your eyes?

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

and from NASA's huge SLS moon rocket back to my crafting table and to my little puzzle pieces.

In fact, the smaller the pieces get, the smaller and slower the steps I take along inevitably get, but I have to get through that now.

For the sake of completeness, I would like to add one small but important detail for the safety of the Can Crew, and these are these Grab rails here, which are next to each upper Door Actuator where members of the Can Crew could hold on themselves or buckle their protective belts.


Source: NASA (STS-132)

In order to roughly fit my scale (1:160), I used NiCr wire (Ø 0,15 mm) and tried to bend grab handles out of it, which wasn't that easy, since they should only be 1,7 mm long and 1 mm high, so they are tiny.

For my first attempts I've bent the wire step by step over three 0,5 mm thick steel rulers.







However, the first four bending attempts (left) were not satisfactory because the handles with 2 mm were too wide. For more reproducible widths of approx. 1,5 mm (right) I've later modified my bending technique.



Here, however, a handle is inserted into the door as a test, which has not completely convinced me, as the handles are still on a narrow base plate (0,1 mm x 0,6 mm x 5 mm), which I initially wanted to omit.





But with a brass angle (wall thickness 1,3 mm), narrower handles with a width of approx. 1,7 mm could be successfully bent,



which I already rather was more satisfied with.



But then I've still decided to try scratching the tiny plates and used my thinnest Evergreen sheet (0,13 mm) for this, into which I've drilled holes with my thinnest Twist drill (Ø 0,25 mm),



in which the handle also has fit.

[spacerunner]

First I've drawn the shape of the narrow plate around it,



and carefully cut out.





The remaining plates I've pre-drilled using the template,



and then cut to the final shape.



Luckily I only need four of these base plates.



Now I have to see if I'm able to carry on during the Soccer World Cup as I've done before.
We'll see ...

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

from this disastrous false start of our kickers against Japan I had to recover ...

I didn't get much further either yet, only the base plates for the grab rails on the doors are now glued with MEK. Perhaps the grab rails are painted before gluing.







Next I took a closer look at the lower Door Actuator linkage and the Pneumatic Drive and determined the required dimensions for the scratch build, which again should become tricky.


Source: NASA (STS-135)

The brackets for the lower linkages are similar to the Access Platforms, only they are a bit narrower. In between runs the drive shaft connected to the Pneumatic drive, by means of which the lower linkages are extended to be coupled with the upper linkages in order to open the doors.

In this photo one can see the entire arrangement again in the top view.


Source: NASA (STS-114)

Let's see what profiles I can use for the individual parts.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

just a quick reminder of the Challenger Rollout - STS-6 in the fog 40 years ago.

Let's Keep the Legacy Alive!

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Manfred, I think it might have been said before, but your attention to detail and the level in which you are adding it to the build is beyond incredible.
It's enough to make me wonder whether you should tackle the shuttle stack on the same level...

[spacerunner]

Thanks PK for your nice compliment.
Other friends have said the same thing already too, which time and again makes me happy and proud.

The shuttle stack has a similar level of detail.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

in order to understand the structure of the Door actuator pneumatic drive in detail and to be able to determine the dimensions of its individual parts, one cannot avoid looking at it from different perspectives with a higher magnification, e.g. as can be seen in the following images,


Source: NASA (STS-135)

here slightly larger, seen from the other side.


Source: NASA (STS-132)

This pneumatic drive is connected to the two screw jack bracket assemblies by the horizontal pipes of the pneumatic system, which extend forward and aft. When the door actuator system is activated in the horizontal configuration, the door actuator pneumatic drive pulls the screw jacks down vertically, tilting as necessary in their brackets,


Source: NASA (STS-126)

to clear the opening doors.


Source: NASA (STS-135)

Based on the determined dimensions, I've cut the corresponding individual parts,


Source: NASA (STS-126)

which can be seen in this image. The frame of the drive unit will be made from the smaller strips (0,25 mm x 0,5 mm), the longer strips (0,13 mm x 0,7 mm) should be used for the side retaining struts.



To get an idea of the size of the drive unit, I added a cuboid of the appropriate size, but a few more details this White Box should get already.

Let's see if and how I will succeed in putting together this puzzle work.