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  #1  
Old 06-28-2014, 01:22 PM
Wichita Wichita is offline
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Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius

I am very new to model building but have been lurking around this site for several months. I am particularly interested in real space models and appreciate when others document a work in progress. My first paper model was the Lunar Surveyor in 1:24 scale which I downloaded from the Lower Hudson Valley Paper Model E-Gift Shop and finished about a month ago. It turned out okay and the lessons I learned on that first model gave me the confidence to try something more complex. I came across UHU02's Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius model and am excited to try building it.

This will be my first ever attempt to document a work in progress. I look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions.

My first job was to download the instructions from UHU02's website. I used Google Translate to put them into English, but the translated instructions are a bit difficult to understand. Nevertheless, the pictures are excellent and easy to follow.

Next was to figure out the scale then to size it up to 1:24 to match the Lunar Surveyor mentioned above. I used Vincent Meens 1:24 LM-5 blueprint as a comparison. Not sure how scientific my method was, but I came up with needing to print UHU02's model at 158%. Since my inkjet printer is not made for large format printing, I had to crop the pdf sheets to print everything out on legal size card stock (8.5" x 14"). A handful of parts would not fit on that size, but I was able to get access to a color laser printer to print those few parts on 12" x 18" sheets.

Now to start the building process. Parts 1 and 2 are each folded in half with a piece of card stock in between, basically ending up a 3-ply part with printing on both sides. My first attempt at laminating using white glue did not work very well, so I tried necroscoping using plastic from Ziploc sandwich bags. (I learned about the method in the Tips and Tricks forum.) It worked great. Here is the result.
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Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-19-21.00.38.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-19-21.00.50.jpg  
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  #2  
Old 06-28-2014, 01:33 PM
Wichita Wichita is offline
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Part 3 is the aft interior wall of the LM. Parts 4 through 10b are various components that mount directly onto it. Part 5, the ECS Relay Box, has a couple cables leading out of it. Part 6, the Cabin Pressure Switches, is pretty small with a couple interesting folds into an L shape. Part 10a is a shelf and 10b is mounted onto it. The rest are just basic boxes. All pretty straight forward.
Attached Thumbnails
Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-11.13.22.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-11.42.41.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-11.42.55.jpg  
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Old 06-28-2014, 01:55 PM
Wichita Wichita is offline
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Parts 11a, 11b, and 12 are a bit tricky. When assembled the top and bottom are flat, but the sides, which form the interior walls of the aft section of the LM, are curved and need to match the curvature of edges of part 3. I started off prebending parts 11a and 12. Then, after lining up the hatch hole of part 11a with the hatch hole of part 12, I glued them together applying glue just on the flat parts around the hatch. They have to line up very precisely since the curved parts will later be glued together and have to line up.

After doing more bending to the sides of parts 11a and 12, I lined up the engine hole of part 11b to part 12 and glued them together, being careful about the alignment.

I then glued the curved walls of part 11a to the curved walls of part 12. It took some creative stretching and bending, but I am quite pleased with the end result.
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Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-13.04.00.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-13.04.12.jpg  
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Old 06-28-2014, 02:16 PM
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Paper Kosmonaut Paper Kosmonaut is offline
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Hi Wichita,
Welcome to the forum and man, you really chose a very very big and complicated model to follow up your first one. But with a little skill and patience it is very doable.
Great to see this model being tackled by more people in a short time here.
Have a good build!
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  #5  
Old 06-28-2014, 02:20 PM
Wichita Wichita is offline
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Parts 13 through 16 go on the exterior of part 11a. Parts 13b and 15b are structural tabs for reinforcement. Since this structure will later be glued to part 2, use part 2 for proper alignment. This was particularly important for parts 13a and 15a. I did not realize that until after I glued the parts. However, after some repositioning, I think it is pretty close and good enough.

Gluing the structure to part 2 was a bit challenging since the walls need to line up properly with the edges of the big hole cut in part 2. However, things were nicely designed and it fit well...as long as the walls were glued together precisely.
Attached Thumbnails
Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-13.05.10.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-13.39.19.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-13.39.28.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-14.06.50.jpg  
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Old 06-28-2014, 02:34 PM
Wichita Wichita is offline
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Parts 17 through 20 form a reinforcement frame for the ascent engine. Parts 21a through 21c form the hatch. Part 21b is folded in half and parts 21a and 21c are glued to that. Basically forming a 4-ply hatch.
Attached Thumbnails
Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-19.25.39.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-19.55.43.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-19.55.54.jpg  
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  #7  
Old 06-28-2014, 03:17 PM
Wichita Wichita is offline
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Parts 22 through 29 form the ECS Equipment that is mounted on the right wall in the aft section. Parts 23c and 24c roll into short tubes glued directly onto part 22. Part 25 was a bit challenging. In addition to the small round holes to cut out, the face has a compound fold which forms a relief for the hatch to clear. This in turn created a bend in the bar across the top of the unit. I fixed this by cutting the edge of the bar and regluing it to the opposite mounting pole. Also, I had to trim and bend the corner where part 24 was mounted because the cutaway portion was not large enough to accommodate the part.

Since part 22 is attached to the inside surface of part 25, I had to add the same compound bend to that part.

Part 26 was also a bit tricky because the edge that glues to part 25 did not incorporate the compound bend into the design. Thus, I had to trim the edge a bit to conform to part 25.

Parts 29a through 29c form a short tube that comes out the aft side of the ECS Equipment. No major troubles there.

Part 30 is the Water Control Module. There are some compound curves that form the outer shell, but I worked through it slowly gluing just a small portion at a time, letting it dry, then gluing the next portion.
Attached Thumbnails
Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-23-20.28.48.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-28-10.54.55.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-28-10.55.13.jpg  
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  #8  
Old 06-28-2014, 03:19 PM
elliott elliott is offline
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Looking good Wichita!
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  #9  
Old 06-28-2014, 03:20 PM
gene1772 gene1772 is offline
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Wichita, I am very anxious to get to this model myself, always was amazed by the lunar module. Just FYI, I think UHUO2 model is at 1/48 so to increase it to 1/24 you have to print it at 200%. Great job so far!
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  #10  
Old 06-28-2014, 03:35 PM
Wichita Wichita is offline
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Part 31 is a basic straight forward box.

Parts 32 and 33 are long and narrow. I folded using a photo etch bending tool which worked very nicely.

Part count to date: 45
Attached Thumbnails
Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-28-11.19.05.jpg   Apollo 13 LM-7 Aquarius-2014-06-28-11.35.23.jpg  
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