Middle-aged kit building

[Trebuchet]

"Sway Target"? Is that something for them to aim a camera at and see if the whole rig is swaying in the breeze?

[grant hutchison]

Nice masking across the stringers. Corrugations can be a pig for bleed.

Thanks. I used Bare-Metal Foil for the masking. Gives a good seal, then a bit of pig to get off.

Grant Hutchison

[grant hutchison]

"Sway Target"? Is that something for them to aim a camera at and see if the whole rig is swaying in the breeze?

That's my understanding. The whole paint job on this interstage is about motion detection - the fact its four quadrants have four different paint patterns (black, white, black/white, white/black) was intended as a visual roll detector, too.

Grant Hutchison

[DaveC426913]

Since we're talking about scale model painting...

I had an idea, with sketches, for a gadget - a 3D pantograph - to help with scale painting.

Imagine sitting at your desk. At eye-level is a magnifying lens, and right behind that is your model in a clamp.
Poised at the model is a tiny brush (I'll call this the receiver).
The brush has a mechanical pantograph-like arm that syncs up with an arm farther back, behind the model, that has a full-sized brush (I'll call this the transmitter). This is the one you hold and manipulate.
Every motion of the transmitter (X,Y,Z and rotation) is reflected in the receiver's motion at a greatly-reduced scale.
You can even change the "magnification" level between transmitter and receiver.
It would scale down all motion - including shaky hand syndrome to 1/5 or 1/10 or more. (No limit, really. Just move the model closer to the pivot point at your eye.)

Of course, you'd put a tiny paint tray within reach of the receiver.

It's entirely mechanical - no electronics or anything.

Think hobbyists might use it?

Think I could ever make it cost-effective?

[schlaugh]

That's my understanding. The whole paint job on this interstage is about motion detection - the fact its four quadrants have four different paint patterns (black, white, black/white, white/black) was intended as a visual roll detector, too.

Grant Hutchison

This piqued my curiosity and I found this image of the Saturn V displayed at the Johnson Space Center showing what are described as sway targets running down the side of the S-II. That said, I can't find any examples of these sway patches on other manned Saturn V configurations.

[grant hutchison]

This piqued my curiosity and I found this image of the Saturn V displayed at the John Space Center showing what are described as sway targets running down the side of the S-II. That said, I can't find any examples of these sway patches on other manned Saturn V configurations.

That's actually the vertical motion target on the Position II (ie, tower-facing) side of the S-II - same job, but different plane of motion. You can see it, for instance, on this tower camera image of AS-506 (the Apollo 11 launch vehicle).

Grant Hutchison

[ngc3314]

That's my understanding. The whole paint job on this interstage is about motion detection - the fact its four quadrants have four different paint patterns (black, white, black/white, white/black) was intended as a visual roll detector, too.

In my more recent years, I have been amused by noticing that quadrants of the conical shroud between the S-II and S-IVB can be read as a binary numbering system for quadrant location. That does not mean it was the intent - two sections per quadrant was enough to distinguish all 4, and there are only so many ways to arrange two sections colored two ways - but they do fall in order. (For instance, it's not the Gray code order which might have been in engineers' minds, although there would be no reason to use approach of changing the color of only one segment from one to the next. I think this was just a piece of my brain harking back from a lecture decades ago on using masks to build up images).

[Solfe]

Since we're talking about scale model painting...

I had an idea, with sketches, for a gadget - a 3D pantograph - to help with scale painting.

Imagine sitting at your desk. At eye-level is a magnifying lens, and right behind that is your model in a clamp.
Poised at the model is a tiny brush (I'll call this the receiver).
The brush has a mechanical pantograph-like arm that syncs up with an arm farther back, behind the model, that has a full-sized brush (I'll call this the transmitter). This is the one you hold and manipulate.
Every motion of the transmitter (X,Y,Z and rotation) is reflected in the receiver's motion at a greatly-reduced scale.
You can even change the "magnification" level between transmitter and receiver.
It would scale down all motion - including shaky hand syndrome to 1/5 or 1/10 or more. (No limit, really. Just move the model closer to the pivot point at your eye.)

Of course, you'd put a tiny paint tray within reach of the receiver.

It's entirely mechanical - no electronics or anything.

Think hobbyists might use it?

Think I could ever make it cost-effective?

That would be interesting. How small could you go? These are 15mm figures.

[grant hutchison]

In my more recent years, I have been amused by noticing that quadrants of the conical shroud between the S-II and S-IVB can be read as a binary numbering system for quadrant location. That does not mean it was the intent - two sections per quadrant was enough to distinguish all 4, and there are only so many ways to arrange two sections colored two ways - but they do fall in order.

Yes, if you take black=0 and white=1, with the least sig. digit at the bottom, then the quadrants are binary colour-coded to match their quadrant letters: A=00, B=01, C=10, D=11. (The quadrant lettering system falls between the cardinal positions, with quadrant A between Pos.I and Pos.II.)

Grant Hutchison

[captain swoop]

They already exist and are used by sculptors and mould makers and model makers for reducing from master models.

I suppose one could be adapted for applying paint.

[grant hutchison]

Here's another puzzle. This is an approximation to a classic concept spacecraft, which I've built by doing some violence to a rather poor quality but classic kit (which was loosely based on the concept spacecraft, but very loosely).

It's not quite finished - eventually it'll be on a mount with an EVA figure for scale.

Grant Hutchison

[John Mendenhall]

Here's another puzzle. This is an approximation to a classic concept spacecraft, which I've built by doing some violence to a rather poor quality but classic kit (which was loosely based on the concept spacecraft, but very loosely).

It's not quite finished - eventually it'll be on a mount with an EVA figure for scale.

Grant Hutchison

Grant, I love it !

[Heid the Ba']

That would be interesting. How small could you go? These are 15mm figures.

Blimey, that is a bold choice in 15mm! Nice job. Zulu War HLI? I tend to avoid tartan in 15mm, I dabble in 10mm but nothing with patterns, and you can forget any detail in 6mm.

[selden]

Grant,

I'm not quite sure what you're saying when you mention "a puzzle". Are you asking us what spacecraft it represents? (One of the early designs by von Braun published in Collier Magazine for lunar exploration) Or what models you kit-bashed? (There I have not the slightest idea.)

[grant hutchison]

I'm not quite sure what you're saying when you mention "a puzzle". Are you asking us what spacecraft it represents? (One of the early designs by von Braun published in Collier Magazine for lunar exploration) Or what models you kit-bashed? (There I have not the slightest idea.)

I've made a couple of "Can you tell what it is yet?" posts with previous builds, and this one seemed like it might offer two puzzles - what the spacecraft is intended to be (which you've got right), and which kit I had to damage to produce my rendition.
The spacecraft is indeed von Braun's "round the moon" concept from 1952. Built in orbit, it was intended to follow a free-return trajectory without landing.

Bonestell did a painting for Collier's:


Lindberg produced a deranged "US Moon Ship" kit in 1958, based on the design. But they added landing legs and removed the crew access hatch - creating a design in which the crew were permanently stranded at the top of the spacecraft, with no way of getting out or getting down to the surface. They marked it as 1:200 scale, which was maybe about right, but produced crew figures which were way too big for that scale.
Round2 Models rereleased it, and marked it as 1:96 scale to bring it more in line with the crew figures (which are now 5ft tall instead of 10ft tall). You can get an impression of what the kit is supposed to look like from the box art, complete with its red transparent rocket nozzles and strange red domes over the windows.

So I took the legs off, added the toroidal peroxide tank, and scratch built the crew access from 20mm tube. The markings (including a 48-star flag) are mainly from decals I had lying around, with a smattering of kit decals applied while ignoring the placement instructions.

As the vintage suggests, it's not a great kit, with some horrible seams that I couldn't eliminate without having to completely redetail the panelling. (Matt Irvine produced a much more faithful conversion, which involved him in pretty much rebuilding the entire kit.)

Grant Hutchison

[Solfe]

Blimey, that is a bold choice in 15mm! Nice job. Zulu War HLI? I tend to avoid tartan in 15mm, I dabble in 10mm but nothing with patterns, and you can forget any detail in 6mm.

I tried. It really looks like yellow lines over the black/blue pants color. The yellow is semitransparent, so it looks odd.

[grant hutchison]

Here she is, mounted on an old Airfix aircraft stand, and with an EVA astronaut in place.







Grant Hutchison

[schlaugh]

Very nice Grant. How did you create the umbilical for the EVA figure?

[grant hutchison]

Very nice Grant. How did you create the umbilical for the EVA figure?

Thanks. It's 5A fuse-wire, which I've hung on to despite our lighting circuits all being converted to breaker switches more than a decade ago.

Grant Hutchison

[grant hutchison]

Grant, I love it !

Sorry, John, I seem to have missed this until now.
Thanks for the appreciative words.

Grant Hutchison

[captain swoop]

Loyd Carrier

[captain swoop]

[captain swoop]

[captain swoop]

[schlaugh]

Beautiful!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[grant hutchison]

Loyd Carrier

Ah, nice. I always love the detailed little bits of kit that comes with these vehicles.
Is that another diorama base with multiple uses, or a one-off for this kit? Love the dandelions.

Grant Hutchison

[Trebuchet]

Very nice. I had never heard of the vehicle so will have a lovely few minutes Googling and reading. I was wondering about the spare tire until I got to that last picture.

[pzkpfw]

Any CQ'er in NZ want a 1/72 Thunderbolt II? (A10 Warthog)

(Unassembled, some larger bits taken off the sprue. Seeing pics here tell me I never will get to it.)

[captain swoop]

Ah, nice. I always love the detailed little bits of kit that comes with these vehicles.
Is that another diorama base with multiple uses, or a one-off for this kit? Love the dandelions.

Grant Hutchison

That's a base for that diorama.
Dandelions are from a range of paper and etch flowers I got at a show years ago, can't remember the make, they are in a little tuperware as the original packets long since perished.

Shrubbery is some kind of plant sold for railway scenics with a mix of scenic powders and ground up foam applied with white glue then a spray of matt varnish.

Figures not painted by me, they were done by a friend.

[Heid the Ba']

Very nice Captain.