Space Shuttle Challenger on Launch Pad

[Twokidsnosleep]

guys
I appreciate the support group

Yep, you've got your own Tiger Team there mate

Failure is not an option

Smashing the damn thing has been an option a few times
Repaired paint scratched from the try in and some popped supports.
Have to figure out how to assemble and add details without blocking myself out
Might just spend a few hours on the Shuttle itself today to clear my thoughts

[DrSprue]

guys
I appreciate the support group

Yep, you've got your own Tiger Team there mate

Failure is not an option

Smashing the damn thing has been an option a few times
Repaired paint scratched from the try in and some popped supports.
Have to figure out how to assemble and add details without blocking myself out
Might just spend a few hours on the Shuttle itself today to clear my thoughts

Dont go on the Shuttle Endeavour! They had issues as well!

[youtube]dcZWGxHzJ-k[/youtube]

[Twokidsnosleep]

“Errr, Roger Houston, we are go for main engine static test”



“Roger Rodger, surely we already gave you a go, what’s the vector?”

“Err, no vector Victor, just firing up the damn engines...and stop calling me Shirley”





“ number three looks good, two is a little hot and number one is a blue flamer”

Ahh fun with cheap LEDs and Airplane the movie .....old gags are the best ones
Drill two holes for the metal ‘legs’ and drop the bulb down inside...easy peasy

[Stokesy44]

Great film. Have you ever seen Top Secret? Its by the same guys but nowhere near as well known. One of the funniest films I've ever seen.

Here's 2 members of the French résistance going undercover, Nigel on the left, Latrine on the right

[bfrd]

First off, outstanding work Scott. The rest of us are just playing for second.

Secondly, I remember seeing Top Secret in the theater with my friends. What an awesome movie. It may have lost a little in age, but still quite a funny flick!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Yes, seen that many moons ago....will have to revisit it, Val Kilmer was in it which was super weird but funny

This build has many hurdles to leap before I hit the finish line

[DBMiller]

I don't know how many of these I can post before you get sick of them but here's a few anyway!
I have trouble with just the parts that come with a kit - I can't imagine creating my own!


A few more for luck.

[Twokidsnosleep]

I don't know how many of these I can post before you get sick of them but here's a few anyway!
I have trouble with just the parts that come with a kit - I can't imagine creating my own!


A few more for luck.

DB

[Stokesy44]

[DrSprue]

Wow Scott, I agree the third one looks perfect! The blue was too intense and the red (even tho closer to flame) was over the top. There is serious whiter component to a blast fume as well and ....

[Twokidsnosleep]

Wow Scott, I agree the third one looks perfect! The blue was too intense and the red (even tho closer to flame) was over the top. There is serious whiter component to a blast fume as well and ....

Yep, bright white intense burn for the main engines. I have a red and orange for the SRB's and their plume
Leslie Neilson was a very funny Canadian straight man

"Looks like I picked a bad day to stop sniffing model glue"...hilarious Stokesy

[Twokidsnosleep]

Taking a different tack with this shuttle and priming it all black before white. The Enterprise Shuttle I primed only white. Interesting to see the differences in depth. I think it is visible in the white over black engine covers
Pretty happy with the seams on wings and such, nice and smooth. Tamiya white putty and Vallejo stufff as well



A little pic to encourage myself that I am making overall progress.....tower half of the floors are glued in, solid boosters painted white, fuel tank primed grey with highlights on top 1/3 in white, shuttle assembled and primed black and main engines painted and lights installed- ish.


Shuttle Columbia dashcam view of a launch
[youtube]zhuGwQq7qZk[/youtube]

[Stokesy44]

Very nice. Really coming alive as the paint goes on. Loving the stealthy ninja look of the shuttle

[bfrd]

I fixed it for you.

[DrSprue]

Shuttle Columbia dashcam view of a launch
[youtube]zhuGwQq7qZk[/youtube]

Oh wow that ... was...so... cool!
Love to see it go from blue to dark in just a few mins.
What was funny was to see some kind of bags or something at the beginning at 0:50 minutes in.
What were they and why did they fly away? Looked like plastic covers for the shuttle.
So cool to see how long they kept that tank connected too.
That was so much fun to watch Scott.Thank you for sharing that.

After that I found one with a cool view of the tank floating away. Look at the burns too.
[youtube]aoNHhTyaxJg[/youtube]

That was a funny F-14 mod you made on it Matt!

[Twokidsnosleep]

I fixed it for you.

Oh I LOVE THAT !!!

[Stokesy44]

Wow you've got some great paint references in that external tank video.

No pressure mate!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Oh wow that ... was...so... cool!
Love to see it go from blue to dark in just a few mins.
What was funny was to see some kind of bags or something at the beginning at 0:50 minutes in.
What were they and why did they fly away? Looked like plastic covers for the shuttle.
So cool to see how long they kept that tank connected too.
That was so much fun to watch Scott.Thank you for sharing that.

After that I found one with a cool view of the tank floating away. Look at the burns too.
[youtube]aoNHhTyaxJg[/youtube]

That was a funny F-14 mod you made on it Matt!

Good stuff Doc, I thought you might like the dash cam launch
Ya I saw those bags, looked like plastic covering the windows to me
Great shots of the tank in the second vid...I was too sleepy to watch that one last night, but yes some great colour references

[Twokidsnosleep]

Moving forward, planning the overall diorama base and the Shuttle’s base
When building a house last year, I was basically a pack rat collecting bits and pieces of ‘stuff’ I thought might later be useful for my hobbies. Case in point the base options for this build...cardboard and styrofoam
Let’s not talk about how much different wood I have stored away as well



I am liking the cardboard over the styrofoam, well mainly because I hate styrofoam
If I cut off the RHS extension of the cardboard, I can make the shuttle base out of it. The heights are pretty good and I can just paint it all up like concrete.
Styrofoam, well it just sucks so out of the question stop asking about it

I have a hugenormous bit of the same celled cardboard that would make a wicked cool pad with flame trenches and the like ...but that is a lot of space for storage and would be a ridiculous amount of work...still it would be cool

So here we are deciding

Late edit:
Hey you know, all you naysayers about styrofoam might have it wrong.
Makes a very presentable overall base of reasonable size and height....hmm

[DrSprue]

Yanno the styrofoam kind of looks like the base texture of concrete!...Hmmm, ill keep that in mind.

[Stokesy44]

Some heavy card would look a treat covering that block. The kind of stuff used for picture mounts.

Cheap as chips from an art or hobby shop.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Some heavy card would look a treat covering that block. The kind of stuff used for picture mounts.

Cheap as chips from an art or hobby shop.

We are on the same wavelength my friend
I have just the stuff lying right next to the photo booth. My mom gave me a picture mat cutter and tons of mats just before she died
I also have a cool sample vinyl floor tile that looks like concrete I might incorporate somehow
I like the thickness of that bit of foam for a base, it picks the diorama up off the counter

[TeufelHunden]

Your priming looks stellar. Mine didn't go so well. I blame the airbrush. Or me?

[Twokidsnosleep]

Your priming looks stellar. Mine didn't go so well. I blame the airbrush. Or me?

Have my troubles airbrushing as well..THIN layers and build the coulor, wait between layers and wipe the tip
And Yes, well I did have to strip the tank once already
Second coat of oxide is much better this morning

[Twokidsnosleep]

Getting the colour and details on the main tank.



Pretty happy with this darker band oxide mixture: 8 drops Ultimate black to 2.5 ml of Ultimate Oxide, couple drops of Ultimate thinner and sprayed with my lovely little H/S Ultra at about 25 psi. This gave me a nice fine spray with control...it was magic!!!
I also kept the excess paint in a little jar for inevitable touch ups. Lighter colour is Ultimate Gelb



She is moving forward, bit by bit. Trying to work on all areas of the build at the same time so I don’t get too bogged down and stalled. The launch pad will be the next addition

[Stokesy44]

Ooh, tasty!

Loving those oxide hues

[Twokidsnosleep]

Ooh, tasty!

Loving those oxide hues

Thanks sir, the camera doesn’t pick it all up properly.
There are four shades in there, better seen with the human eye and not my questionable photography

[DrSprue]

ooo the oxide mix for that tank is great Scott!

[Stokesy44]

Thanks sir, the camera doesn’t pick it all up properly.
There are four shades in there, better seen with the human eye and not my questionable photography

[Twokidsnosleep]

Thanks Stokesy, I get called genius a lot, but with a sarcastic tone

Laying down some white today Tamiya XF-2 diluted 50:50 with Tamiya Laquer Thinner.
Down like butter, just really smooth, err flat I guess.
Then I did a gloss of Future over the white and untaped to clean up any runs and such.
Hopefully the grey details of the wings tomorrow and clear the solid boosters





Will get some panel lines done and the windows made from Mylar in the morning

[DrSprue]

Oh wow man that shuttle and the external stuff is looking just great so far!

[Kingdan]

Holy moly that is looking the mutts nuts Scott really liking what your doin especially the idea of the flame pit that would be cool as all lit up with flames and smoke trails (wink wink)

[Twokidsnosleep]

Holy moly that is looking the mutts nuts Scott really liking what your doin especially the idea of the flame pit that would be cool as all lit up with flames and smoke trails (wink wink)

Thanks Danno
Yes, smoke and flames ....I will either create them or go down in them

[NorthernModeller]

YOU CAN DO IT awesome work so far mate looking forward to the end result

[Kingdan]

Holy moly that is looking the mutts nuts Scott really liking what your doin especially the idea of the flame pit that would be cool as all lit up with flames and smoke trails (wink wink)

Thanks Danno
Yes, smoke and flames ....I will either create them or go down in them

[Twokidsnosleep]

Tonight’s job, working on the base and the Flame Trench


So these are openings in the mobile base that allow the unbelievable blast from all the engines to be funneled out and away from the complex via a cool trench system in the concrete pad’s base

This is a good view of the pad 39 A or B as the Shuttle Complex rolls up the ramp to the launch site.

You can see how they have engineered it so the initial exhaust gets vented away.


In the first photo above, those pipes are part of a water system that runs full on that dampens the vibrations on the Shuttle and tanks and cuts sound down from those powerful engines running full tick.
Marvellous engineering, now just do double o-rings on the GD tanks and we are still flying in space

I am laying this out on the cardboard and paper to get the dimensions right and make cutting easier
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Instead of calculating the odd scale of his kit, I just used the tanks and the shuttle itself to keep the scale and locations correct...NO MATH, please god NO MATH!!!!
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[Twokidsnosleep]

My numbers on the elevator floors are wrong, but I just cannot get a good source for what they numbered the elevator floors all the way bottom top. I have seen photos of level 215 and 195, bit no list of them all
I may have to call artistic licence on this one.

[NorthernModeller]

you is a crazy man this will be epic

[Twokidsnosleep]

you is a crazy man this will be epic

Well thanks Ivan
Hopefully an epic success and not an epic fail

[Twokidsnosleep]

So flame pit holes cut out

Things seem to be fitting in ok

Pretty happy with progress as have had a busy week with minimal modelling and time starting to feel a bit pressing
Loads of Christmas stuff to do as well

[Fridgy]

Holy crap dude... i go awol for 2 months and come back to this!

[Stokesy44]

Stunning pics of both the build and the real thing mate.

Always been amazed by pad 39a and the whole launch process going back to the Apollo era. The sheer scale of everything is just mind boggling

When you pick a project you really do pick one my friend!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Holy crap dude... i go awol for 2 months and come back to this!

I Am INSANE!!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Stunning pics of both the build and the real thing mate.

Always been amazed by pad 39a and the whole launch process going back to the Apollo era. The sheer scale of everything is just mind boggling

When you pick a project you really do pick one my friend!

Thank you kind sir; awesome people like you are why I model here
The fun side effect of modelling is learning things while you research. Lots of photos, videos and text read for this build and I get sucked into the history, humanity and engineering/ science during the process.

The pads at site 39 A and B sent American men into space for the first time and ultimately to the moon.
They seem to have recycled part of the Apollo rocket support tower into the Shuttle tower...hence weird numbering on the levels. 39B tower is already taken down and the metal recycled.
39A is being modified for the Space X program which for some reason seems to think we need to go to Mars before we solve our problems here
I am having a blast, he he pun, just the pre Christmas crunch is freaking me out...and we go skiing on the 28th for NewYears, so gotta finish before that!!!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Found a great image of the Shuttle Complex taken from the view of the Flame Trench

You wouldn’t not want to be standing here when they light those candles...pooof!!!!!
In the middle under the Orbiter, there are two curved steel ramps that direct the exhaust out into the trench the Flame Deflector. They look like metal skateboard ramps

[Stokesy44]

Stunning pics mate

The level of ironwork on that umbilical tower is staggering! Its also awesome to think that crawler and mobile platform were around back in the 1960's for Apollo.

I did chuckle though, I had a Wile E Coyote moment when I thought of the crawler driver exiting his cab and falling down the trench

[DrSprue]

Looking great Scott! Did you get my copy of the tower from my Space Systems manual? Was it any help? Love the photos you found!

[gaz45]

That is looking awesome mate

[DBMiller]

Aren't you done being silly and moved on to something more manageable?

[Stokesy44]

Aren't you done being silly and moved on to something more manageable?

This is Scott we're talking about DB. You are asking WAY too much of him