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

[kerick]

Always bear in mind that there are two kinds of "felt tip pen", differentiated by their "ink":

1. "Pigment Markers" are the ones you want. The "ink" is essentially paint dissolved in a volatile solvent. You draw it on, the solvent evaporates, and the paint is deposited on the top of the surface, just like you'd put it on with a hairy stick.

2. "Aniline Dyes" or "Dye Markers" are what you DO NOT want. The "ink" is a dye that works by soaking into the surface and changing it's colour all the way through. The trouble is that it's formulated to work on a uniformly absorbent surface, like paper, not an absorbant layer over a repelling substrate like painted plastic. If you draw a black line on white painted plastic with an aniline dye marker tonight, then by tomorrow morning you'll have a black line with a lovely purple "glow" either side of it where the dye has absorbed sideways into the paint layer.

If the problem is that the felt tip marker is "skidding" on the paint, not depositing ink and therefore not drawing more into the tip by capilliary action, then perhaps it might help if the paint was matt or had a matt varnish coat over it? A matt fiish provides a bit more friction than a gloss or satin one.

When I tried to graffiti the car I was trying to draw on undercoat not on a gloss finish.  I figured that the satin finish would absorb the ink.
Thinking about it the best people to ask about what to use are those antisocial f**k-knuckles who like to write their names on bus-stops, signage, shop windows, doors...

Isn't it great how so much culture is world wide these days!
You can't get away from the idiots no matter where you go!

Moron see, moron do mate.
 

Too true.

[jcf]

Spray paint - there's a wide variety of spray caps available for doing from fine line work up to broad areas, paint markers of various sizes, squeeze markers, mops and solid paint sticks are all used.

[Weaver]

Spray paint - there's a wide variety of spray caps available for doing from fine line work up to broad areas, paint markers of various sizes, squeeze markers, mops and solid paint sticks are all used.

Yes, I noticed that ebay has loads of caps for the Montana range. I bought a dozen as replacements for when they get gummed up.

[PR19_Kit]

The Aquila has just ONE decal left to go on the last SRB and then it's all done.

It goes without saying that that last decal would NOT go on properly and I had to print off another one, and the paper jammed in the printer, and I can't find the manual, and the only one I can find on-line is a Japanese one and the translation software won't work........... AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!      

All this for ONE decal!

Eventually I fixed the printer (Standard Service Engineer's Method #1 :- Take all the bits off that wil come off, give it all a good shake and put it back together again. Switch on......) and the last decal is now drying prior to clear coating.

It should be finished later TONIGHT! 

[buzzbomb]

Good news... Amazing how pesky one decal can get.

Had one of a few the other day, all slid into position as expected, except one, that stuck fast where it first went on, slightly misaligned of course,  would not budge.

[PR19_Kit]

This one BLOODY decal fought me all the away to the finish! Luckily I'd printed off two lengths of orange stripe for it as the first one just curled up and died as soon as I put it in the water! The second one went on OK, after a fashion, but one end curled up too, but a small scrap bit left over from the first print was just long enough!

So the Aquila itself is actually finished, and I'm waiting for the decal for the plaque that goes on the base to dry out before taking the final batch of pics.

[Old Wombat]

Mission Impossible: Accomplished!       

Now, where are those photo's?     

[kerick]

Finished is word I love to hear!
Those pics will look great.

[PR19_Kit]

Now, where are those photo's?     

Right here. 



Here's the Aquila HL in all it's black, white and orange glory, sitting on a stock Airfix Saturn V stand with a special plaque for the Aquila.



The plan view, if a rocket can actually have one of course, but at least the 'glider's' in plan view.



The underside, showing the ablative tiles under the 'glider', but otherwise it's pretty much the same as the plan view.

I've got the backstory sorted in my head, but it needs a few pics to enhance it, and to show the Aquila HL Mission Profile, all of which should appear before the end of today.

[zenrat]

I bet you had fun blasting it off and flying it round the house.

Good job.   

[Gondor]

That looks great Kit 

[Mossie]

Great work Kit, like that very much.     

[NARSES2]

Come out well Kit 

[PR19_Kit]

And here's the backstory and Mission Profile too.

The Aquila HL system

The original Aquila system was designed as a crew and light cargo re-supply system for low Earth orbit satellites, both for manned and un-manned missions. Primarily seen as a backup for the Space Shuttle and other heavy lift systems, the Aquilas were intended as a low budget and quick response system that could re-supply any vehicles in orbit under very short notice. As such the Aquila vehicles only had two stages, a 1st stage with 5 liquid fuelled engines to launch the vehicle, and a 2nd stage with 4 smaller engines to achieve orbit. Nestled into the stern of the glider was a small, 2 engined, de-orbit module that was jettisoned after the de-orbit burn. All components other than the glider burned up in the atmosphere after use.

After a few successful missions it was realised that there was a demand for a heavier lift system between the Aquila's and the Shuttle's capabilities, and the Aquila HL (Heavy Lift) system was developed. Not having anywhere near the capability of the Shuttle, the Aquila HL was able to loft quite bulky items to orbit by means of a novel cargo collection manoeuvre developed during the Lunar missions of the 60s-70s and this proved to be very useful for its designed purpose.

Aquila HLs consisted of an original Aquila 1st and 2nd stage supporting a standard glider and de-orbit module, all of which was mounted on top of a Saturn S-IVB stage, which was uprated considerably by the use of an R-1 engine from the Saturn S-1C 1st stage instead of it's orginal J-2 engine. The S-IVB stage had its fuel tank shortened and the resulting space was used to carry larger cargo items required for the mission. The modified S-IVB stage was referred to as the Primary Boost Stage (PBS) during the Aquila HL programme. This assembly was mated to two shortened Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) from the Shuttle programme, one on each side of the Aquila stack. Unusually the whole vehicle was launched without its main R-1 engine running as the two SRBs were more than capable of lifting the required load. Once the SRBs reached burn-out they were jettisoned, returning for re-use under large parachute systems, and the R-1 engine was fired up lifting the remaining vehicles to a near orbit altitude.

On burn-out the 1st stage, 2nd stage and glider assembly would detach from the PBS and turn through 180 degrees to extract any required cargo items from the cargo bay and then turn back to its original position for the orbit burn provided by the 2nd stage, mounted directly underneath the glider. On reaching orbit the 2nd stage was jettisoned, the cockpit hatch opened after the crew had inflated their suits and the orbital tasks carried out.

At the required time the glider and de-orbit module assembly would rotate into a de-orbit position and the burn carried out, after which the de-orbit module would itself be jettisoned, and the glider commence its re-entry. The glider had a fully tiled underside, similar to the Shuttle, which enabled it to return to conventional landing speeds at any one of NASA's Shuttle Landing Grounds as a normal aircraft.

[Old Wombat]

Very nice, Kit!   

The battle with the SRBs was absolutely worth it, too!