Spaceplane!

[kerick]

Think of Dream Chaser on a Titan launcher.

[kerick]

The booster will be made from parts I have while the spaceplane will be mostly scratch built.

[PR19_Kit]

One of those looks very much like what I'm building now. 

[kerick]

I looked it up and the Titan is from the old Monogram US and USSR missile set. It's in 1/144th scale which should work out well. I also have a couple of the big Soviet missiles which will become the SRBs.

[kerick]

Mojo is incredibly hard to come by right now. Big family problem is ready to drive my wife off the deep end. It's hurting me too but she's really taking it hard. Why is it so hard for some to just let people be. If I haven't got something good to say I really try hard to say nothing at all. I wish others could do that. I thought we had made progress on reaching an understanding but two days ago it blew up like a tactical nuke. And I'm still trying to finish some remodeling of the kitchen. At least I installed a new light fixture. That was a step in the right direction.  I had to do something working with my hands or go actually crazy.

[Rick Lowe]

Mojo is incredibly hard to come by right now. Big family problem is ready to drive my wife off the deep end. It's hurting me too but she's really taking it hard. Why is it so hard for some to just let people be. If I haven't got something good to say I really try hard to say nothing at all. I wish others could do that. I thought we had made progress on reaching an understanding but two days ago it blew up like a tactical nuke. And I'm still trying to finish some remodeling of the kitchen. At least I installed a new light fixture. That was a step in the right direction.  I had to do something working with my hands or go actually crazy.

Yeah, no-one can push your buttons like family - cos they know where & what they are.

Hope the situation can be resolved as amicably as possible.

[kerick]

Mojo is incredibly hard to come by right now. Big family problem is ready to drive my wife off the deep end. It's hurting me too but she's really taking it hard. Why is it so hard for some to just let people be. If I haven't got something good to say I really try hard to say nothing at all. I wish others could do that. I thought we had made progress on reaching an understanding but two days ago it blew up like a tactical nuke. And I'm still trying to finish some remodeling of the kitchen. At least I installed a new light fixture. That was a step in the right direction.  I had to do something working with my hands or go actually crazy.

Yeah, no-one can push your buttons like family - cos they know where & what they are.

Hope the situation can be resolved as amicably as possible.

I hope so and soon but I don't see that happening for quite a while. We have to find a way to deal with it until then.

[kerick]

I've been gathering parts and it's looking good. I found the little toy trophy cups for kid's parties that I made the SRB thrust nozzles out of last time so that will help. Still digging around for a plastic shape to start the space plane fuselage. Wings are no problem.

[kerick]

I've hit a small snag. It seems I mixed scales last time I built this. The Titan missile was from the 1/128th scale Monogram kit and the SRBs were made from Soviet missiles from the 1/144th scale kit. This time I only have stuff from the 1/144th kit which makes the Titan booster somewhat smaller. I was intending to make both the SRBs and the Titan booster taller. I may just find a larger diameter tube for the Titan and scratch up the details on it. Both the top and the bottom get cut off anyway. I have some dimensions for a spaceplane and I'll have to remember to use 1/128th scale when I convert them.

[kerick]

I've been working on the nozzle and base for the SRBs. I've got the SRBs glued together and the bottom cut off ready for the base. Once I get the seams cleaned up it's time for detail parts.

[kerick]

I got lucky and found a dowel rod the correct diameter for the Titan booster. I also have aluminum tape for ductwork that I can cover it with. That way I won't have to paint anything aluminum. Should be no problem attaching things by drilling a hole and gluing in a rod.

[kerick]

I'll be back home tomorrow and the mojo wants to get cracking on this. Vacation was great but I'm itching to get cutting some plastic!

[kerick]

I've been applying the aluminum tape to the wood dowel rod and after some gentle burnishing with my thumb nail it's starting to look pretty good. I'll have to apply some details and greeblies to cover up the edges of the tape.

I have collected twice as many water bottle caps as I need to build the wheels for the lunar rover I may also build. A big problem is creating the A frame style suspension the Apollo rovers used. I better focus on the Titan.

Here's a pic of the parts I've collected so far.

Rocket nozzles and the skirt for them plus Christmas ornaments for lunar hopper fuel tanks. Behind the packaged parts is a box of possible rover parts.

More renovation work tomorrow. The flooring crew will be in to place vinyl plank flooring in the kitchen, bathroom and living room. I hope this goes well.

[kerick]

Well, the flooring crew never made it here today. the owner's mother is in a bad way and in the hospital so it's up in the air right now. I'll keep up on the progress here as it happens.
The Titan missile body is coming along. I found a dowel rod the right diameter, sanded it as smooth as possible and covered it with aluminum tape. By running the first layer "vertically" and a couple of bands "horizontally" it looks like different panels. My first experience with foil application of sorts and it's working well. I polished it down with my thumb nail, but I need something smoother to prevent scratches.



I made a cone shape connector for the space plane once I get it made. I pored UV resin into a plastic cone shape I saved from a cookie container. I set it out in the sun and left it there for an hour and it popped right out of the mold. It wasn't PS but probably PETE so that made a difference. At least the resin part I can glue to the dowel rod with CA and it will stick better than the PETE.



The SRBs are looking good. The communion cup skirts are attached. I'll attach the nozzles after everything else is painted.



The stack is beginning to look good. lots of little parts to go.

[Captain Canada]

Nice work !