Flis kits Saturn 1b build thread

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OK...sorry progress has been slow up here...had to work around the house and I am moving my son back to college tomorrow so that was basically a day packing up the minivan...lol...but I finally got the thrust structure painted and attached. You want to line up the bottom of the BT 50 tube with the BT-5 motor mount tube...you want these to be flush with one another.

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I tried to line up the edge of a roll band to be right between the fuel tanks. That is where you will want your fins to attach and the fins will have to be painted to match the roll band pattern. I had to come back and touch up the roll bands on the thrust structure so that they would line up between the fins..I will post better pictures when I hang the fins. Hopefully the attached pictures do a better job at describing this...lol. Mine are pretty close to being on target...then again..it took me three times to line it up...:facepalm:

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I'm all excited! It's rare to see a build thread on our Saturn 1B! Loving it!

If I can ever get the nose cone back into production I will get this kit back AND the Saturn V of the same scale...
 
its a really cool kit I can tell you that! I think I messed up on one of my cuts of the tanks so I think one side might not have the tight fit the others have...its OK...I am learning as I do this one. There really aren't any threads on this kit and its a shame..it deserves one! (especially by a better builder than me!!) Thanks to Saluki I managed to track down another one of these kits and its already here awaiting its turn on the build table.

A Saturn V in this scale would be awesome! I am hoping you can get the nose cone production sorted out so other s can take a shot at this! Its an incredibly detailed little kit....I think I can add some other details to it at a low cost....thanks for making such an awesome kit!

I'm all excited! It's rare to see a build thread on our Saturn 1B! Loving it!

If I can ever get the nose cone back into production I will get this kit back AND the Saturn V of the same scale...
 
You are doing a wonderful job. The picture on the kit cover art is of a version built by Jay Marsh for NARAM (took 1st) and a few weeks later it arrived in the mail to me as a thank you from Jay for letting him use my design. Have that beauty under glass. It's incredible.
 
Hiya Rick !!

Good to see you building another Flis kit ,always very enjoyable to watch !!

Who knows ,maybe I`ll tackle one of those little buggers one day , but for now ,I`ll sit back and take it all in.

Take care

Paul T
 
he did a magnificent job on that build! Love to see work of master like that...just amazing builders!

You are doing a wonderful job. The picture on the kit cover art is of a version built by Jay Marsh for NARAM (took 1st) and a few weeks later it arrived in the mail to me as a thank you from Jay for letting him use my design. Have that beauty under glass. It's incredible.
 
Paul!! GREAT hear from you! I hope that you have been well? lots going over here since I last talked to you with a daughter getting married in less than a year :sigh: and I just moved my son up to college for his junior year..time sure flies by when you have kids! Always a pleasure to watch the work of the Master!

this kit screams for someone like you to take a shot at her! Its a great kit...very impressed with it so far!

Hiya Rick !!

Good to see you building another Flis kit ,always very enjoyable to watch !!

Who knows ,maybe I`ll tackle one of those little buggers one day , but for now ,I`ll sit back and take it all in.

Take care

Paul T
 
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OK...over the past few days I have been working on trying to trim the tank fairings....one of the neat things about the Saturn 1b was how they fared the tanks into the thrust structure.

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this kit tries to replicate that by way of a shroud that will be glued together and then gently (did I say be gentle??) over the tanks and pulled into place. I suggest you make extra copies of the plans so you can practice with them. I made four farings ...I tore one trying to get it over the tanks..this was the best of the four that I made. I think another way to do this would be the way the Zooch kit suggests...making 8 individual farings...kinda 6 in one and half dozen in the other...each has its strengths and draw backs.

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I then tried using various blades to gently trim this. My wife is a quilter and she let me borrow her circular blade...it is helpful on the round cut...I used my x-acto knife with a fresh blade to trim away as best as I could.

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once I trimmed it I gently rolled the shroud over the handle of my knife to try to shape it.IMG_3440.jpg

carefully glue the ends together ..a film of white glue is sufficient

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its then a process of gently pulling the shroud over the tanks and massaging it down the tanks into place...I am going to accept what I have here as the best I can do with it..in real life, from the pictures I see, its not the cleanest joint either but I think this will do. Once I paint it and hang the fins I think the effect will be acceptable. As suggested in the instructions I have been gently filling in the gaps with some white glue. its a tough part of any Saturn 1b build I think. Just one of the neat but difficult to model aspects of this booster!

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the next step is to glue the CRF 5-48 centering rings into place. The first ring gets glued flush against the top of the tanks

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the next ring gets glued 1/8 of an inch from the top of the engine tube

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I will let these dry completely. The S-IVb stage will get glued onto these centering rings. It is starting to take shape up here!
 
OK...the next step is to tie the Kevlar cord between the two centering rings..I put a touch of CA on the knot

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once that is dry the S-IVb stage gets attached. The instructions ask you to glue this in place 21-32nd of an inch from the top of the fuel tanks so I made my self a template of that length and marked a fuel tank.

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then I carefully moved my upper stage into place...because I didn't do as good a job cutting the tanks I have to slowly massage a tank or two into place within the S-IVb..but my second stage is on!

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you may have noticed that I removed the tank fairing on my S-1b first stage...I just didn't like the way it was resting on thrust structure...tonight I am going to try another way of doing it.
 
I decided that I was going to cheat a little bit on these fairing...I am not saying that there is anything wrong with the fairing or shroud that is provided with the kit....if anything this kit is AWESOME...(I just bought yet another one...) I just have never been that great making a shroud that fits precisely and I think the other way will be easier. At this scale any imperfections I think will be tough to see once the fins are attached.

So I decided to trim the tank shroud into individual pieces and attach them that way.

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I cut them into individual pieces (8 of them)

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and then I glued them around the tanks. personally, I think these fit a bit better than previously.

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OK...I trimmed out the appropriate decals from the sheet...these get applied to every other tank as you travel around the circumference of the fist stage. These tanks are the RP-1 fuel tanks...the non marked tanks are the LOX tanks. I build my share of model airplanes and I have to say the quality of the decals provided is excellent! Let them sit in water for @30 seconds or so and then gently apply them from the sheet. I start from the bottom the lettering and gently slide the backing sheet out from underneath the decal so that when I am done the U for United States is the last letter to come off the sheet. Use a wet paint brush to maneuver the decal into position dipping the brush into water if necessary and gently dab dry when you have it in position.

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now...you might noticed that the thrust structure of my 1b is a little different than earlier pictures. I want to give a shout out to Saluki of the TRF who sent me an email of some wraps for the Flis kits 1b...they are too nice not to use. I am trying to post these for others to use if they want.
 
now...we are just getting started with this little rocket. I say we try to add some extra detail to the S-1b first stage. Here is what I am going to try to replicate. Attached is a picture from SA-208...Gerry Carr's Saturn 1b from the last Skylab mission. You will note that each tank has a red line that runs down the tank. That is the PDS line or Propellant Dispersal System...its a shaped charge that splits open the tank ...now when I first read that I laughed because I am not an engineer and it seemed to me that they were dispersing the propellant by blowing the rocket to smithereens...but actually the NASA engineers calculated that the damage done by blowing the tanks in air is much less than if the whole package hit the earth and then detonated...Also, you will notice that there is white cable tunnel to the far left of each fuel tank (lettered tank). I think you can see it in this picture. Only the lettered tanks seem to have this cable tunnel but every tank has a red PDS line. I want to add this to this build. Right now I am letting the decals dry up here before I start handling it. All of the pictures that I am attaching come from retrospace images...I can't recommend them enough...there are some really super pictures on these disks that I have never seen before and they make great references for modelers. https://retrospaceimages.com/

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whoops! I almost forgot to apply the booster marking decals! these go right below the United States lettering on the fuel tanks...I chose SA-207...Al Bean's Saturn 1b on his Skylab mission. Although the decals are small, they are of excellent quality. Just slide it off with a wet paint brush and maneuver it into place.

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The wraps that Saluki created are just awesome...I haven't figured a way to post them yet because the file is just too big...if you are interested let me know and I will ask for Saluki's permission to email you a set. I attached the interstage and the IU wraps. I was going to use black decal that I have but these look much much nicer I think.

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next trim out the S-IVb stage markings....those red USA decals always look great on the second stage, You will note that the USA goes directly over top of the white band on the interstage roll bands. The black band is supposed to line up over the lettered fuel tank on the first stage. She is really taking shape up here!

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here is a copy of Saluki's wraps. Beautiful job Saluki! They line up perfectly! You guys will note that he has made wraps for a Skylab Saturn 1b and for the Apollo 7 1b (SA-205)....the interstage roll bands are different on Apollo 7. (in addition to 7's black fuel tanks)

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OK....lets install the PDS lines to our first stage. I use a pin stripe tape made by Line-O-Tape.....its comes in a huge variety of colors and widths. For this 1b, I will use their smallest width, 1/64 of an inch. It looks small but I think you will find its easy to work
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I use a pair of tweezers and try to line up the top portion of the tape up by the top of the tanks and then gently hoild it in place with a finger and then try to gently pull the tape tight and lay it down in place. If its not where you want it you can easily move the tape with your finger nail and gently nudge it in place or lift it and re-apply. When I am all done with the kit I put a couple of coats of Krylon Crystal clear on and that will lock the tape in place. I have used it before and once clear coated it stays in place and does not come loose.

PDS lines are on...I like them! Dresses up that cool looking booster in my opinion!

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The detail looks very good!

I see now looking at Alway's book that 4 of the outer tanks did carry LOX. There are many versions of the Saturn IB. I think yours looks like the ASTP Apollo SA-210 in Alway's book.
 
thanks Aerostadt. Its a fun little build! The quality of the decals with this kit is outstanding. The kit allows you to make 4 different 1bs...Sa-201 which was the first flight of the 1b, SA-205 which is Apollo 7, SA 207 which is a white tank version and was Al Bean's Skylab Saturn 1b and surprisingly SA-209 which was the Apollo "rescue vehicle" a 5 man Apollo capsule that was actually placed on the pad at one point because one of the Skylab missions developed a leak in two thruster quads. It never flew and is the white tanked Saturn 1b that rests down at the Cape now. I used to have an article book marked on SA-209 and it showed some engineers entering it and the inside is preserved...remove before flight tags still hanging...it was a complete flight vehicle with matching stages and IU unit and all...

The detail looks very good!

I see now looking at Alway's book that 4 of the outer tanks did carry LOX. There are many versions of the Saturn IB. I think yours looks like the ASTP Apollo SA-210 in Alway's book.
 
OK...this is the first time I have ever tried to paper fins...not entirely pleased with the result...I might end up re doing these... the neat thing about this kit is that its a builders kit. The kit gives you the option to use scale fins or to make over sized fins that would attache to a sleeve that would then slip on the bottom of the rocket. I want to go with the scale fins so I cut out the fin template and then cut the fins out of the attached sheet of balsa.

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I sanded the fins down the best I could to give a sharp leading edge....and then trimmed my paper fin templates. In making test folds I thought that a I must not have sanded enough because my wraps seemed too small. So I kinda over trimmed them to cover the fins as best as I could get them. I used my ruler as a hard edge to make the fold and then glued them on with a film of white glue.

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I didn't get pictures of the papered fins..but I have one side of them painted overall white right now and they are drying outside. I will shoot the other side tomorrow and then on the weekend start the process of masking the roll pattern onto the fins...it laborious but looks neat when its done!
 
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