Leo's Saturn V

[Mechanic]

Thank you dhanners and Siwi! @dhanners, I'm aware of the insulation blanket and I'm torn on the issue. I like to be accurate when possible. One of my pet peeves on the Saturn is seeing CSM's with block one features when they clearly should be block two. I love seeing all the tubing and such, but I wonder how well I could execute the look of foil (on all five engines). Perhaps one compromise could be only wrapping four engines and leave one one fully or partially exposed? The second stage, to some extent, has the same issue. Not many modelers put the insulation panels on or around the J-2's. I have said before, I don't build photo-realistic models; I like that when you take a closer look you can see that the model is made of paper. Plus I think it's beyond my skill set. I have mad respect for the people that can do it and do.

First pic is just what the foil batting looks like for anyone that hasn't seen it before. Since I was in a engine building mode, here are the J-2s. Construction is very much the same as the F-1. The exhaust manifolds were a bit of a challenge for me, but ultimately I think they turned out well. I needed some spheres for the helium tanks so went to do some shopping and I came back with a ton of faux pearls of different sizes. Seriously enough to last for the rest of my life! Also about this time I got my 'made in Japan' twist hole punch, and made a case for it. Pricey little tool but one of my favorites now.

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[dhanners]

EXCELLENT job on the J-2s!

And yeah, my Japanese hole punch is an indispensable tool. Very much worth it.

[Dave Pete]

Looking real nice!

[Siwi]

Only you can call the decision on insulation, but if it were up to me I'd reason along the lines of what will look the tidiest: can I wrap foil around the engines plus add all the fastenings as neatly as the paper kit parts look? If not, then leave as is.

[Mechanic]

Thank you Dave and David.

The interstage is fairly clean and neat and goes together nice with a lot of glue. The interior artwork doesn't look to me as technically accurate but it's something. I remembered to do the magnets to hold the pieces together, but I can see I need to order a bunch more as I have had to double up some of them for a secure hold. Not a lot of detail on the outside. A few tail ends of the fuel tube fairings and the ullage rocket motors. I didn't care for the lack of any nozzles inside the ullage motor fairings so I scrounged up some nozzles out of my scrap parts and stuck 'em in. I had to print out a couple of sheets for some purpose that I can't recall right now, but that made it so that I had a couple of extra printed-on former rings that I glued on to cover up some joining tabs. With all the glue on this component I put it on a shelf to dry with a couple of books on top to minimize warping.

The second stage begins with the cruciform for the thrust structure. The cruciform arms taper from the hub so I put a few scraps underneath while drying to keep everything straight. The ox. tank bottom sandwiches nicely between the former and the thrust structure. A couple of pipes are installed and then it's time to start mounting the engines. I did a dry fit first and the center engine hydrogen line doesn't fit tightly enough in the corner to match up with the engine inlet. I had to cut like a wedge out of the fuel line to get it to line up. Starting with the center engine using my bubble and steel ruler to make sure everything is straight, and then glueing the following four engines. A few boxes and fuel lines and I can do the 2nd stage skins. Everything nestles into the interstage nicely.

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[Mechanic]

@Siwi, definitely not going to do it on this model. If (or when, to be honest) I build another Saturn V, I wouldn't put any unnecessary details on the engines. The other thing is, of the models I remember having seen with the insulation on, I don't think they looked very good. Regular foil doesn't capture the look.

Moving onward, the rest of the second stage is pretty easy. I'm really liking the magnets. When you get close to the proper orientation it almost snaps into place. Getting up to the second-to-third interstage the ripples are starting to bug me. In the right (wrong) light it's just horrible. I think if there was another layer of cardstock it could be minimalized. Also, if I used another glue, one that's not water based, like UHU or Aleene's Rapid Dry would minimize it. But I really don't like using those glues. The tank dome goes on easy enough, and the pipes line up with the outside details. As I'm making the interstage two things stand out to me. The first, I really like. Leo did the blisters over the retro rockets. Although he did them in red, it was easy enough to change to white. The second thing, I'm not liking so much. And that is as we go up, the interior details are going down. It would have looked so much better if the inner skin was done, and perhaps the retro rockets were there. Maybe the next build I'll try tackling that. All that's left for the second stage is the rest of the blisters and fairings.

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[adolfocaetnonetto]

Unbelievable!

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Truly impressive construction! Seeing some of the visible plumbing well-represented brings it alive.

My skill level is more amateur-hour, but there's discussion over here of some issues with making smooth medium/large-diameter tubes, similar to the rippling you're finding. Would any of the tackier varieties of Aleene's Tacky Glue be too fast-drying for your purposes? I contacted them about their Super Thick Tacky Glue, and they said it's the same formula with even less water. Or might a minimalist "spot welding"-style glue attachment method be sufficient structurally?

Thanks for mentioning the twist punch, nice item to know about.

For other models with engine insulation, I wonder whether silver tissue paper over aluminum foil would have an accurate look. The tissue could give a nice surface texture, with the foil providing opacity. Or maybe instead of foil a second layer of silver or white tissue underneath would be sufficient.

[Mechanic]

Thanks adolfocaetnonetto, and ReynoldsSlumber.

@ReynoldsSlumber, I have to admit right off that I'm a chronic over-gluer. My brain seems to be hard wired to look at joining pieces together as a structural thing, that pieces are well bonded. I have a hard time using 'just enough' glue to hold it together. And using something like double sided tape on tubes is a complete non-starter for me. I've tried using Aleene's Tacky Glue, but I didn't like it compared to just plain Elmers. Of course using a watery glue like Elmers is problematic on larger glueing surfaces like formers, with the swelling and shrinking. Often I've just managed to work around it. I finally tried using 3M Super 77 on this model, since doing entire sheet sized laminations are way difficult. I hesitated using 77 before because I thought it wouldn't make a stiff bond, but at four laminations thick, it did just fine. Referring to Mike Bauer's building tips, I can't wait to try his dowel with double sided tape method to support the joint while glueing.

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[ReynoldsSlumber]

Originally Posted by Mechanic

My brain seems to be hard wired to look at joining pieces together as a structural thing, that pieces are well bonded.

Entirely fair point—the model would be no good if it buckled when it was picked up!

Really looking forward to seeing what you do with details like the Service Module reaction control thrusters and the escape tower.