The Convair Shuttle B - 'Aquila' HL -LAUNCHED!

[Gondor]

Did you accurize it by scratching the exhaust deflectors under the thruster quads that are missing from most "classic" Apollo LEM kits?     

In 1/144 scale? NO way! 

A bit of fuse wire and some tin foil, no problem 

[PR19_Kit]

Because the S-IVB '1st Stage' is so small, even with that MONSTER F-1 engine, it wasn't used to actually launch the Shuttle-B vehicle, that was down to the even more powerful SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters) each of which had over twice the thrust of the F-1! The F-1 took over once the whole assembly was waaaaaay up there and lifted it to a sensible altitude for the 2nd stage to take over and put it into orbit.

So I've dug out a couple of SRBs from the Airfix Shuttle kit, and tried them on the sides of the Convair Shuttle but they're much too long and look pretty stupid, so out came the razor saw and I hacked off an inch and a bit.

Here's the two sizes, original SRB and the sawn down version.



As the whole thing plugs together nicely I'm going to work out some way to get the SRBs to plug into the sides of the 1st and upper stages, but that can't be too difficult, can it?

[Famous last Words mode off]

[Old Wombat]

The surgery on that is excellent, Kit! 

I can't see where the cut out bit is but I'm assuming it's the top 2 sections below the double rim of the nose segment.

[PR19_Kit]

Exactly right, all I have to do is make the second one as good.................... 

Lots of progress on the Shuttle-B today, quite a bit of it is painted white, almost all of it is in primer and I've done the engineering to get the SRBs to plug into the PRB and the 1st Stage. Plus I've added some fins to the PRB, following an update to Kit's Rule 1) Any rocket can be improved by adding more fins! 

Pics coming maybe later on.

[Old Wombat]

an update to Kit's Rule 1) Any rocket can be improved by adding more fins! 

Kit's Rule 1.a. 

[PR19_Kit]

Here's the engineering bit................

The PBS lower section and what Atlantis call the 1st Stage plug together because I filed the inside edges of the PBS so that  they do. But as the SRBs have to plug into the assembly it's essential that the two lower stages always align in exactly the same position angularly and vertically.



So I drilled the skirt of the 1st stage in two places to take a couple of lengths of copper wire and glued them in place. Then I positioned the two stages together and marked where the pins came to on the PBS' skirt and carved a notch there to take the pins when it was fully assembled. They're not 180 deg opposite each other as that ensures the 1st Stage is always in the same position radially.

Here they are in position with an SRB alongisde.



The two plugs sticking out of the SRB fit into carefully positioned and sized holes on the PBS and the 1st stage, arrowed above.

And here they are plugged together.



The other side SRB is similar of course, but it's still in primer just now.

[Rick Lowe]

Good idea and execution. 

"I love it when a Plan comes together. Using a Certain Set of Skills." (a two-fer for you    )

[Old Wombat]

This build is getting better by the day! 

[PR19_Kit]

And here's the whole stack ion all its glorious whiteness! 



Painting it outside when the Sun was at its height resulted in me not being able to see anything for a while once I'd come back inside!

Yes, I know the added fins in the PBS aren't orthogonal to the rest of the stack, but that's because I was stuck with the weird shape of the S-IVB stage, with all it's different and strangely positioned greeblies. I tried many different locations around the body of it, but that's the best I could come up with. I added some greeblies, ex-Saturn V kit, to the 1st Stage too, it looked very bare otherwise.

Lots of detail painting to do now, much of it in matt black I suppose, plus a few decals which I'm drawing up now. The Saturn V and Shuttle kit decals are well past it, and the Atlantis decals all say 'USAF' and 'Air Force' which won't really fit the NASA based time line I have in mind.

Oh yes, the 'glider' part's going to be called 'Aquila', which is Latin for 'Eagle', and is also a star name, fitting in with NASA's naming protocols.

[kerick]

You'll need lots of black and red stripes to go around the SRBs. That really sparks it up.

[PR19_Kit]

You'll need lots of black and red stripes to go around the SRBs. That really sparks it up.

Really? All the pics I've found show them being all white. Where would I find pics of these stripes?

[kerick]

You'll need lots of black and red stripes to go around the SRBs. That really sparks it up.

Really? All the pics I've found show them being all white. Where would I find pics of these stripes?

Many of the space shuttle stacks had them.

[HarryPhishnuts]

That it awesome looking. 

I remember as a kid looking through old encyclopedias and magazines that my grand parents had at all the cool and crazy ideas back in the 50's and 60 for reusable, space plane like things. I was so fascinated by possibilities.

[PR19_Kit]

Those are MAGIC, thanks so much!

Much easier to do stripes going round the SRBs than along them!

[PR19_Kit]

The major paintwork on the Aquila HL is done now, but looking at the pics of the SRBs that Kerick found for me I reckon I'll need LOTS more masking and painting to produce those black & orange stripes around them! The SRBs have lots of circular ridges around them, some are black, some are orange and some are both, and there's no way I can do that with decals as the ridges stand proud of the casing.

Anyway, here's the upper view of the complete stack.



And here's the lower view, almost the same, but not quite.



I've never found out why the Saturn V had all those strangely shaped and located black areas all over it, but I presume they were so the launch tracking cameras could easily determine which way round the craft was going. If they were good enough for a Saturn V, they were good enough for an Aquila HL too. 

You might note that the underside of the 'glider' has been painted black, with square scribe marks all over it. That's the re-entry tiling system, nowhere near as good as RAFF-35's job on his superb 'Silverbird' recently, but a similar idea anyway.

I've got to draw up and print the decals now, some of which will come from the Saturn V sheet, maybe some from the Shuttle sheet, but they'll all be home printed as the decals from the kits are WELL ancient, so I scanned them all and I'll re-draw and print the ones I want, plus add a few too.

It's going to take a while................