aerojacket
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2018
- Messages
- 36
- Reaction score
- 62
The Shuttle is another build that got started and then languished, but I've recently returned to it, along with the Screaming Eagle.
The orbiter body is mostly unremarkable other than, if I had to do it again, I'd do some more darts in the paperboard skin of the orbiter. It has a minor wrinkle or two that probably aren't that noticeable, but OCD me sure does. The nose cone was shaped with a band saw and a belt sander to make fairly short work of it. I did the final sanding by hand and it could be a touch more symmetrical, but it's pretty close.
The wings were completely built on the bench so that they are flat. I glued them up on wax paper atop the flat work surface, and they still needed a touch of glazing putty to smooth them out enough, especially in the joint areas. The wood for the wings is very thin and easy to break. so lots of care while handling and sanding them.
I like to hit the balsa parts with a coat of wood sealer where paint is going to go, and it seems to give good results. However, it does tend to raise the grain, which means re-sanding the parts with very fine sandpaper after the the sealer has dried. The tabs where they insert into the orbiter or booster body, I leave as bare wood for gluing purposes.
Somehow I managed to lose the plastic hook that goes on the underside of the nosecone, but I figured out a good alternative. After fitting the orbiter into the aft hooks to see where the forward hook needed to fall, I added two small sections of 1/8" dowel. On top of them is a third section of dowel that extends backwards enough to engage the forward cradle.
The orbiter body is mostly unremarkable other than, if I had to do it again, I'd do some more darts in the paperboard skin of the orbiter. It has a minor wrinkle or two that probably aren't that noticeable, but OCD me sure does. The nose cone was shaped with a band saw and a belt sander to make fairly short work of it. I did the final sanding by hand and it could be a touch more symmetrical, but it's pretty close.
The wings were completely built on the bench so that they are flat. I glued them up on wax paper atop the flat work surface, and they still needed a touch of glazing putty to smooth them out enough, especially in the joint areas. The wood for the wings is very thin and easy to break. so lots of care while handling and sanding them.
I like to hit the balsa parts with a coat of wood sealer where paint is going to go, and it seems to give good results. However, it does tend to raise the grain, which means re-sanding the parts with very fine sandpaper after the the sealer has dried. The tabs where they insert into the orbiter or booster body, I leave as bare wood for gluing purposes.
Somehow I managed to lose the plastic hook that goes on the underside of the nosecone, but I figured out a good alternative. After fitting the orbiter into the aft hooks to see where the forward hook needed to fall, I added two small sections of 1/8" dowel. On top of them is a third section of dowel that extends backwards enough to engage the forward cradle.