Saturn 1B Build from pages of a Book.

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JumpJet

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I was fortunate to be allowed to build one of the models for the Earth Day event taking place in Houston in a couple weeks. I received a box full of books today so I began my build of a 37” tall Saturn 1B. From the pile of paper strips I still have it is going to take less then one book to build this model. Depending on what I use for centering rings I may need a couple extra covers which I have plenty of.

Basically I will be making all the parts seen in the image of the old Estes Saturn 1B layout page out of book. The second image shows the book I am using and a few of the mandrels I will use to wrap the paper around.

The build starts by making a simple jig to cut all of the pages to the same width. They didn’t come out perfect but they were close enough. The first layer of paper was made up of strips of paper taped together. This long strip gets spiral wound around a suitable tube to obtain the correct tube diameter. It is simply taped on each end to hold it in place Since this is a Sport Scale model the tubes may or may not be the exact sizes needed but their close enough. Next comes the 3M spraying of the first layer of strips. The first strip is the hardest since it has glue and the edges need to line up as the spiral layer is made. The rest of the pieces go on easy since they have an edge to follow. I used four layers of paper, each spiral going in opposite directions for the eight tubes used on the first stage. The longer tube seen in the image is around eight or so layers. This longer tube will be the main tube that everything gets connected to and will also serve as the motor mount. The large four inch tube seen is the tube all the fins will connect to. It is cut to the correct length in the image with all the rolled tubes. I found it very frustrating to layer the paper around this large tube; since it was almost impossible to get the spiral seem to line up so I stopped trying. Hopefully tomorrow night I will get the rest of the tubes needed for the build so I can then layout the needed centering rings.


John Boren

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John, you have some amazing rocket skills.

:pop:

For those of you who don't know, John also made this rocket based on a video game (which flew!) ...

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Greg
 
Tonight I completed the rest of the tubes. The two longer tubes used for the upper part of the body were made with layers of spiral wound and parallel wound pieces of paper. This process went much faster then using only spiral wound paper. I have used two cans of 3M spray so far. I’ll need at least one more can for the fins and transition pieces. I am very happy that all the tubes are fitting together. The only tube that is over size is the upper tube that the Apollo capsule connects to. It came out about .1" oversize since I didn't have a slightly smaller tube to use. The image where the tubes are assemble are just resting in place. I need to now make the centering rings and some spacers to align everything.


Total mass of all the tubes so far is 6.7 ounces. There is a good chance I'll be able to fly this model on a single D12-3


John Boren

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Great work John
I just don't get the connection with "earthday"
Paper is a renewable resource, as well as recyclable. what the heck are they promoting the destruction of books?
just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Good job rolling our own tubes anyway.
 
Why upcycle old textbooks? Good question.

Our goal is to eliminate textbooks all together.

We want to replace them with more more affordable, more environmentally friendly and more personalized learning tools.

So, we're taking old textbooks and upcycling them into not just rockets, but everything you can think of, from fine art to musical instruments. The goal is to use creativity to inspire change. You could call it art as activism, but we just call it upcycling textbooks. You can see more about the movement and some thought-provoking pieces made from old textbooks here: UpcyclingTextbooks.org

Best,
Craig




Great work John
I just don't get the connection with "earthday"
Paper is a renewable resource, as well as recyclable. what the heck are they promoting the destruction of books?
just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Good job rolling our own tubes anyway.
 
I took the easy way out and used a laser to cut out the centering rings from the books covers. It took two passes for the laser to cut through this material. As you can see I stripped off the glossy covers to get rid of excess weight. One photo shows some of the centering rings I cut. I cut many more of different types since I wasn’t sure how I was going to assemble the model until I started building it. Most of the rings in the image are used but so are others not seen. One image shows the lower spacers and scalloped rings I used to locate the eight outer tubes. It also shows the bottom most rings that will be seen. It has lightening holes cut in and I covered it up with a layer of two pages so it looks like the rest of the model.

I completed forgot I had a 1/100 scale Estes Saturn 1B in my shop. As you can see the model I am building is quite a bit bigger. If I have to use nose weight to balance this model, I won’t use paper.

Although I got a lot done these last three days I believe the fins, shrouds, capsule, escape tower and other details are gong to take up way more time then the tube part of the build. There’s about 18 hours of work present so far. I am way behind on my TV viewing time.


As seen in the photo the model weighs in at 8.7 oz.


John Boren

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Here's what I've got done so far today. First image shows the lower shroud that wraps around the eight tanks. It fit pretty well on my first attempt. It's made from three or four layers of pages. It's very weak but it really doesn't have to support anything. I used small pieces of low tack tape to hold the shroud in place while I applied dabs of Med. CA glue all along the seam with a small stick dipped into the glue as an applicator. It looks better in the photo then it does in real life. For the large upper shroud I ended up using the cover of a book after I pealed two thirds of its thickness away. I used another thin strip of the cover over the back side of the seam. The seam was glued together with thin CA. The entire shroud can then be sanded. It kind of fuzz sands away but as long as you use fine sandpaper it gets pretty smooth. I will most likely cover this with a single piece of a page.

This was in fact my third attempt at making this large shroud. It's still not perfect but I don't have time to make it perfect. The first two attempts were tried using about 8 to 10 pages of the book laminated together with 3M spray. The thickness was good and in formed pretty well but the pages started delaminating causing wrinkles so I hand to abandon this method.

Nest comes the fins.

I welcome any comments or questions.


John Boren

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Can anyone guess what these four book covers are going to end up being?


John Boren

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I turned those four book covers into the 8 fins. They are much heavier than I would have liked but I was able to build these in a much shorter time frame then I could have it they were built up like the ones the original kit had. I in fact I plans to make built up fins so I laser cut all the internal parts for the fins out of book covers but when I went to build a fin it simply wasn't going together very well. The combined weight of all eight fins is 2.6 ounces.

The last image is the escape tower. I thought about building this out of roll pages of the book, but then reality set in so I simply laser cut the sides out of a books cover, bevel the edges at a 45 degree angle and thin CA glued the four sides together. It wouldn't win any prizes for being pretty but boy is it strong.



John Boren

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It’s been a long day working on this model but there is only one more major part to make before I can add some of the small details to the model. After that I just need to add the recovering system. The model is up to 15.1 ounces so she will need something like an E24 or E30 for a nice safe flight. If someone asked me what tools I was going to use building this model I never would of said a wood lathe. After making the fins out of the book covers I figured I might as well try to make the Apollo Capsule out of the covers as well. This was the longest turning project I’ve ever done for something so small.

The key to turning this stuff on a lathe is to soak the surface with thin CA, spray with kicker then turn a 1/16” layer off. Repeat with the glue, kicker and turning until you get to the shape you need. I bet the layers blew apart a dozen times on me while turning the cone. I’d have to resurface the joint, then glue the parts back together. I never could get the capsule to the exact shape I wanted but it’s close enough. The best part, I’m pretty sure I won’t have to add any nose weight, so I guess I did end up using paper for nose weight on this model. Even the screws holding the paper to the face plate started coming loose. I never thought I would have to CA glue the part I’m turning to the face plate in order to complete the part. The last thing I used the lathe for was to align the tower with the capsule.

The only major part left is the escape tower rocket. I might try turning the two cone shaped parts and use the pages of the book for the cylinder.


John Boren

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Wow. That looks amazing. The colors and the finish of the textbooks with how you stacked them look great.
 
I'm amazed at your progress...

How many hours do you have invested in this so far?
 
How many hours do you have invested in this so far?


I'm right at 35 hours. This time includes a few hours of cad time for laying out the full size parts to build from, laser cut drawings and other stuff needed to make the model. I've worked on it from the moment I get home from work to late at night. The whole weekend was nothing but this build. I can't wait until it is shipped out so I can rest a bit and then start working on all my RC airplane project.


John Boren
 
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The Saturn 1B is finished. At least it’s all I have time for since I need to ship it to Houston. I tried adding a couple detail parts to the model but I’m not real happy with them. I’ve worked with card stock before on models and I can usually get the parts to look really nice but using paper from a book simply isn’t the same.

The finished weight of the model minus a couple of Estes 24” chutes is 16.3 ounces. It balances right where my Small Estes model does so hopefully it will fly straight and true. I wish I had time to make one large ½ mil thick Mylar chute for the model, but I simply don’t have time. I will also use a 18” Estes for the nose cone.

The one thing I learned while making this model is that I never wish to make another one. Total time on this model is 40 hours of labor, two cans of 3M spray glue and one 2-ounce bottle of thin CA. I used less than half the pages in the book but used covers from 4 books in total to make this model. I’m also pretty sure my almost new band saw blade is shot. Cutting through four layers of paper book covers to make the capsule and fins took its toll on the blade.



John Boren

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Amazing work John. It really looks nice.

Now that you know the mass, what motor are you going to recommend for it?

Greg
 
motor are you going to recommend for it

An E30-4 is the motor I am recommending. It should put the model up plenty high. An F32 would also work ok.

John Boren
 
Amazing work on the Saturn 1B!

The textbook model I put together is pretty simple by comparison.
I agree, working with book pages wasn't easy, it took a few tries. Still an interesting exercise.
You can make very strong tubes from textbook pages.
 
I would love to see a photo or two of your model.


John Boren
 
I hope it arrived undamaged. I look forward to a flight report on all the models.



John Boren
 
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