Sheri's Saturn V.

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
IMG_0002 (24).jpg This appears to be a wiring harness of sorts. There are two of these on the lower skirt of the second stage. I've made the plate from 0.030 plastic and am contemplating whether to use wiring (insulated or uninsulated) or thread. The colors are up in the air for these as well. I'm guessing red, white and black for each of the three cables and either aluminum, silver, brass or even copper for the plates. I simply included the umbilical connections in the lower picture. One of the two plates is sitting above the connectors. .
 
I had actually managed to drill the three holes in the 'plate' with the tip of my Exacto along with three more in the umbilical panel for the lower attachment points. I ran a length of red thread through one hole and it's looking good so far. Photos will eventually follow. Remember, three cables are seen running here so that's the reason for three holes. Black, white and red thread is being used for these two cable harnesses.
 
IMG_0002 (24).jpgIMG_0002 (25).jpg Though things look like a jumbled mess (because it is), this is the general layout without having stretched things taught yet. I'm of the general consensus that this will be tackled at the end of the project with things having already been painted so this is probably all I'll do on this for now. I wanted to find a way of actually doing this which so far, it is doable. I've finally layed down putty over the first stage body spirals. Sanding is next. Tomorrow I'll probably be back at Starbucks working away on this. They have tables outside where I chose to fill the spirals in. The stuff has toluene in it and can become quite offensive as far as odor is concerned. Don't want to bite the hand that feeds me here. The folks at Starbucks are a flat out amazing, generous, inquisitive, always smiling lot. I wouldn't have been able to get further on this without their generosity and understanding! THANK YOU STARBUCKS!
 
The manager of this Starbucks store (Terri) plus a few other employees have spoken to me about the possibility of the store taking a day off to watch the launch of this rocket. As I understand it, rather than shutting down the store all together, they would find employees from other stores to fill in. She only requires a good three month notification on my part. Interest is generating quit a bit on this at the store. Many folks are genuinely excited to see this and listen to my story. Any and all questions are answered to the best of my ability. I swear that just as many women are showing interest as men are.
 
The manager of this Starbucks store (Terri) plus a few other employees have spoken to me about the possibility of the store taking a day off to watch the launch of this rocket. As I understand it, rather than shutting down the store all together, they would find employees from other stores to fill in. She only requires a good three month notification on my part. Interest is generating quit a bit on this at the store. Many folks are genuinely excited to see this and listen to my story. Any and all questions are answered to the best of my ability. I swear that just as many women are showing interest as men are.

That’s very cool. I think I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Thanks for being an ambassador for our hobby!


Steve Shannon
 
Thank you guys for the interesting thoughts. I was thinking of having the three chutes silk screened with "Powered By Star Bucks". I may very well need their permission too. I've no idea who could do something like that as of yet. At the coffee shop today I took the lower section outside to sit at one of the tables to do some aggressive sanding on the taped off tube spirals using 80 grit to start (very gingerly) then on to 320. More sanding with 320 is needed before finishing with 600.
 
Been spending more time at Star Bucks today. Been laying more paint masks on the rocket such as the interstage ullage motors, third stage systems tunnel and second stage liquid hydrogen fairings. Still need to do the first stage systems tunnels and a panel of sorts on one of the corrugated sections here. Also yet to be done will be a second coat of laminating epoxy on the SLA/IU as well as the LES requiring a first coat. The first stage cardboard areas have been sanded down with 600 grit though I have seen some low areas on the body spirals needing additional putty.
Being April the wet weather has certainly hit here. First coats of primer are getting closer as these issues are worked out and the weather breaks. More people continue to connect at the shop and a continued strong interest from women. Pretty well 50/50 between the sexes. I don't quite know what it is that women are seeing in this rocket.
 
IMG_0001 (51).jpgIMG_0005 (4).jpgIMG_0009 (1).jpgIMG_0007 (1).jpgIMG_0003 (11).jpgIMG_0009 (1).jpg I had decided to create window portholes and vent nozzles found around the bottom perimeter of the capsule. I simply used my X-Acto knife to 'drill' the holes out, then more plastic tubing to create the window frames and actual nozzles. A few coats of primer will show me where additional filling and sanding need to be done. Clear acetate 'windows' will be glued to the backside of the frames.
 
IMG_0001 (52).jpg So here's the deal with the capsule. I've decided to use Steve Shannon's idea of magnets to hole the LES in place. By simply cutting the capsule off just below the mounting stanchions for the LES, I can also utilize part of the upper capsule as you can see in the photo. Thanks Steve!
 
View attachment 344080 So here's the deal with the capsule. I've decided to use Steve Shannon's idea of magnets to hole the LES in place. By simply cutting the capsule off just below the mounting stanchions for the LES, I can also utilize part of the upper capsule as you can see in the photo. Thanks Steve!

I’m honored!
 
Picking magnets for this is not as simple as it may sound. What shape, what diameter, what depth, how many lbs. will one hold before separation and how many will it take are all unknown right now. Are they too weak with separation occurring during the flight phase or to strong not separating upon hard impact with the tower once again taking the brunt of the punishment. I've a feeling this will be based purely on empirical methods. Problem is, removing the old magnets might be difficult and/or fixing the tower becoming a pain in the ass. Seems more like a crap shoot either way. It just dawned on me using Velcro. The problem I see is that adding weight to the nose will mean covering the Velcro inside with lead shot and epoxy making the backside totally inaccessible for hooking up the straps.
 
Just doing some repair work on some stringers on the aft interstage. At the bottom stringers get snapped off during transportation so there were roughly 45 that needed partial replacement. All done and sanded. Still have to deal with the LES issue, not settled on anything specific yet. Keeping in mind there will likely be weight added to the nose is also in mind.
 
Applied a second coat of thinned epoxy to the IU/SLA unit and have begun sanding. Got my parachutes from Ky the Rocketman along with some harnesses. I've decided to change out the two 5 ft. chutes for the lower end and went to a single 8 ft. as the weight added up pretty quick. The elimination of one 5 ft. chute and 15 ft. harness made a difference. Ky is an alright guy to do business with. Very fast shipping and top quality equipment are his forte. Thanks Ky!
 
Been a while since I've been around, but looking good, Steven. If you decide to go with magnets, you can use a steel plate on the side that would be more difficult to dig a magnet out of. The other side could be neodymium. There are a number of places you can get assortments in one shot. I've had good luck with K&J Mags. https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TIN1
 
Been a while since I've been around, but looking good, Steven. If you decide to go with magnets, you can use a steel plate on the side that would be more difficult to dig a magnet out of. The other side could be neodymium. There are a number of places you can get assortments in one shot. I've had good luck with K&J Mags. https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TIN1

Yes, I already ordered magnets from K&J Magnetics. I figure using hardwood such as the kind for servo rails as the mount. I'll use epoxy clay to mount the hardwood mounts in the top and lower sections of the capsule. I just have to get off my ass and rummage through the scrap would bin to find the wood. I still need to finish sanding the IU/SLA unit smooth. It's coming out. Thanks for the sources nevertheless. ;)
 
Steven, you are not just a model builder...
YOU, my friend...are an Artist!
I would really like to see you build the crawler and tower to match.
I bet you would win prizes when entered into competition.
But not only that, I would say your models would make their way to a museum someday.
And your name become famous with past, present and future Rocket Geeks!
Build on Brother!
 
I truly appreciate your words Woody. There is always someone greater sitting in the stratosphere above everyone else and that's not me. I look up to the likes of John Pursely https://www.accur8.com/NARAM39_SaturnV.html and this individual who's name escapes me, https://spacemodels.dk/saturnv.htm. I'm still at the bottom floor in comparison. These guys make me look like a rank amateur. They both scratch built their models which is something I don't do. I'm a 'kit' guy who's too lazy to come up with his own designs. Like the old AMF commercials who stated "We don't make the product, we simply make the product better." That's where I see myself. This project has stretched out almost three years now which is indicative of my lazy building. It sits collecting dust more than actually having work done on it.
To the people here who scratch build my hat is off to you. You have a skill I'll never have in my tool chest. As far as building the LUT and any ground support equipment I feel that would take me out of my realm. This rocket has taxed me at times as it is. But it is at the front of my mind nevertheless.
 
beautiful work Steven! I never get tired of looking thru the pictures on this build!

It's been a learning curve most of the way on this project. Manufacturing issues gave me the option of taking the kit further than initially intended. Perhaps I managed to turn a frown upside down only to have it right itself again in a cyclic manner. Knowing the towers on these types of models are an issue made me take on that very concern. I've no idea what will be the weak link on this LES: the scaffolding itself, the magnets, the wooden mounts, the joints and still be able to survive both the flight mode and the recovery is all unknown. There's no way to measure the forces for me. Another issue will be the RCS nozzles on the SM. These are EXTREMELY delicate and WILL get knocked off on landing. I was in bed last night thinking about an approach to this when I figured repositionable spray may very well work.

For display I simply attach the nozzles. For flight, I remove them. When the spray becomes ineffective due to time and dirt, a bit of cleaning and more spray. Was this a protracted way of saying thank you? Well thank you. The fact I can take this to a favorite 'watering hole' thanks to the kind and generous staff of employees there has really perked up the interest on this for me. The number of people who are curious has been uncountable. One in particular may very well have recently become what I would define as my number one fan. An extraordinarily kind, thoughtful, enthusiastic gentleman who even helped drag 'Gort' in for me AND offered to buy me coffee which after hesitation I did.

I'm not one who is triggered by the word free, but by being able to put myself in his shoes with his genuine thoughtfulness I too would do the same thing for him without hesitation. A model rocket becomes more than that when you can show folks the process of construction right in front of their eyes. They take part ownership of the model by merely being there on a day to day basis and witnessing first hand the progress and partaking in any discussion. This is truly a 3 dimensional relationship.
 
Did some work on the first stage system tunnel covers. I replicated the panel lines from 1/32" pin striping tape. IMG_0002 (28).JPG
 
IMG_0001 (40).JPG I believe this is an access panel located on the first stage interstage. 3D printed. I just took a pencil to outline the detail. Yes, there's something there.
 
Back
Top