After completing the Saturn V and its launcher I realized NASA reused the crawler, launcher and they even chopped out the middle of the tower and reused it. The tower does not sit on the launcher like the Saturn V but next to the launcher. Having reused the launcher, the wooden box is about the same and the side panels are mostly reusable with a few tweaks. To start with I printed the shuttle model made by the Amphioxus including the Hubble Telescope to fit in the cargo bay. These parts are out at đ° space shuttle STS31 hubble discovery pack 3/3ă» 3D File for 3D printingă»Cults for a reasonable price. Here is the shuttle with the Hubble telescope inside. My model is out at bglasford1 | Printables.com. This site is being updated as sections are completed. The main model with the instructions is the Shuttle Mobile Launcher Platform.
This is one of the SRBs next to the Saturn V. Yes, that is step ladder in the background which I had to use to construct the upper levels of the LUT.
These are the side skins. There were more changes than I initially anticipated. Once the box is constructed these simply glue onto the sides.
Very VERY cool my man! I like it a lot! Nice job.
Thanks. The top plates were printed. They are not a simple flat surface like the Saturn V. There is a raised section towards side 3. I printed these parts, glued them down and then used Bondo to fill in the joints, sanded that down and spray pained the surface.
Very impressive! Iâm just curious, how many prints did it take for the booster and liquid tank?
The engine chambers also have skins lining the inside. Here are the engine chamber skins in place and the raised rims around the chambers. These are hot spots that would melt if it wasnât for the amount of water being sprayed.
The underside of the rims are hollow so air will flow through them. I chose not to make them completely hollow underneath, just at the edges so visually it looks correct. This is a test cross section of the rims.
I just finished the tail service masts. For these some of the parts are detailed enough that I got a small resin printer. The filament printer can print details down to about 0.4 x 0.4mm but the resin printer can print down to a resolution of 18 x 18 microns which is crazy small. For the side 2 TSM there are end pipes and other details that without a resin printer I would have had to make these old school using styrene and brass rods. I really like the results of the resin printer.
Here is the side 4 TSM in place before painting. You can see that I resin printed the ladders and pipes. There are platforms on each long side and the shuttle side. I chose to model them in the down or launch position. I made parts to install them in the up position and removable hand rails if that is what you want to show.
The one thing that I had to add was a small ledge on the bottom of the connector. Most rockets are symmetrical so they stand on their own. The external tank and SRBs stand on their own but add the shuttle and it falls over. In this picture you can see the small ledge that allows the TSMs to keep the shuttle upright.
Here are the final TSMs in place, painted and supporting the shuttle. I still have to add all the deluge pipes around the engine chambers along with a bunch of top details.
And here is a perspective view. I took off the cargo bay doors so they wouldnât get damaged. I plan to remake the hinges so they actually work. As built they are held in place by magnets.
Whatâs the cost into a project like this? Roughly. Looks awesome.
There are two answers as to the cost. If you have a 3D printer then itâs very reasonable. If you donât have a printer then thatâs the big cost. I got into 3D printing about 3 years ago and have not looked back. I have used all the traditional modeling methods; wooden ships, plastic with photo etch, hacked plastic models, even paper models. 3D printing opens up a whole new world of modeling where anything is possible. With paper and plastic models you are limited to what the companies want you to build at the scale they choose. With wood you can scratch build anything you want, however it involves lots of time consuming sanding and painting. With 3D printing you can start by building other peopleâs models before branching out into CAD design. You can also use the printer for other non-modeling projects. Recently the trash truck ripped the lid off my plastic trash bin. I sketched up a replacement hinge pin, printed it with the tough PETG plastic and pounded it in with a hammer. Trash bin fixed.
My first 3D FDM filament printer was a cheap printer, still recommended on many âtop 10â sites. After a year of frustration I realized not all printers are the same. For me there is one printer that stands out above all else, the Prusa printer. Why? First of all when I bought and assembled the MK3 kit there was an issue printing. I worked with their help desk. They had me run a series of tests to determine what was wrong and then overnighted a new print head fan all the way from Prague to the US at no cost. I also had the print head heat sensor go out and they overnighted a new one for free as well. Secondly, as the technology has improved I have purchased kits to upgrade the original printer to a MK3S, MK4 and now the MK4S. There is an even newer kit which I have not yet purchased. With any of the other printers if something breaks you throw it away. If a newer version comes out you throw the old one away. The other advantage with Prusa is they lead the industry in slicer technology. Interestingly enough, their printers are made with many 3D printed parts. They have a print farm that has printers making other printers. When I purchased my second Prusa printer one of the printed parts was not in the kit. Instead of having them mail me the part I just used the other printer to print the missing part. They have recently expanded into the US with a location making their own filament brand and providing printers and kits. If you go with Prusa I would highly recommend getting a kit and assembling it yourself. The instructions are straight forward, it was cheaper than a fully assembled one and the build was very satisfying. They even include gummies to reward yourself after steps are complete.
When making a model like this from scratch I test print a number of the more complex parts to get them just right. For this I use the cheapest filament, typically white, before printing a final part using a colored filament. For most of my model parts I use the correct color filament which means no painting. When I mix in resin parts or use Bondo I am forced to break out the air gun.
Back to cost⊠Once you have a 3D printer it is just the cost of the filament. Most people ask me how many spools of what color are required. That is a bit tricky since I sometimes have to throw away parts that I am unsatisfied with until I get the part designed just the way I want it. If you are building one of my models you would not have that scrap allowance. I also have partial spools of left over filament from previous projects so I rarely start a project with a new spool. My recommendation is take a model you want to build, slice all the parts and the slicer will tell you how much filament is required. Then create a spreadsheet with each part and how much filament it takes for that part so you can total the amount per color. This is my approach. Here is a portion of the spreadsheet I made for someone elseâs model, the Orion class ship from The Expanse. You can see that sometimes I print a number of small parts in one print session.
I hope this helps and I highly encourage everyone to try out this new modeling technique.
Back to the build⊠Years ago when I was building the Saturn V launcher I designed the piers that the launcher sits on, allowing the crawler to go underneath and carry the assembly from the Vehicle Assembly Building out to the launch pad. The Saturn V LUT is so tall, over 7â, that I chose not to add the piers. The shuttle is much shorter I have added the piers to this launcher, allowing me to park the crawler underneath. In one picture you can see the crawler in the background. You can also see some of the side 1 progress. The piers are hollow so you can insert a piece of 1/2" wooden dowel for strength. The launcher sits on a 1/2" sheet of plywood painted dark grey. 1/2" holes are drilled into the plywood so the pier dowels can be glued to the plywood. The other end of the wood dowels are drilled to accept a 1/4" dowel. This dowel indexes into holes in the corner and side âinterfacesâ. You should take a 1/4" drill and deepen the hole on the underside of the interfaces so this smaller dowel goes a ways into the underlying wooden box. This proved a very strong wood on wood on wood support. You can also see that I angle cut the plywood base on side 1 to provide a ramp for the crawler. The base had to extend a ways on side 4 since those piers have angled supports on that side. The bone colored blocks are meant to simulate the concrete blocks.
An amazing build youâve got going on there. Something to be very proud of. Thanks for taking the time to explain the process.
Next I figure I would tackle the side details. The most complex side by far is side 1 which has the LOX and LH2 valving. The Saturn V had many valves positioned at various levels on the tower. For the shuttle, the only fueling points are the two TSMs that attach to the back side of the engine housing. From there the liquid fuel flows through the shuttle and out to the external tank. Since NASA reused the launch complexes as well as the launcher the LOX and LH2 supplies come from the same points; the corner of sides 2/3 for the LOX and 3/4 for the LH2. Each has a pair of supply lines; transfer (supply) and vent lines. These lines go along sides 2 and 4 up to side 1. The side 1 valve complexes need flooring to support them. The lines then cross each other and enter into the side of the Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP). From there the pipes go to the TSMs and up to the connectors. Seconds before liftoff the computer starts the three main engines. Once all are running nominally, the valves are closed and the TSMs are commanded to yank off the connectors and retract them inside the TSMs. A metal door then closes, keeping the pipes and fuel away from the fires of launch. Then if everything is a go the SRBs are lit and there is no turning back. The mains are throttled up, the explosive bolts are activated and the shuttle leaps off the pad.
So to start side 1, platforms are needed. You would think they would only need one long platform. The middle of the platform is split in two because they needed a way to access the MLP while it is on the crawler. The lower platform has a set of stairs that I modeled in the retracted position. Since the platform structures are I-beams, I modeled them the same way I did with the Saturn V LUT, as two parts that glue together and then a separate grated floor. Here are various pictures. You can see some test piping prints on top of the MLP. The railings will probably go on last.
