Dr. Zooch SLS- beta build thread...

Hello all... Wanted to share the beta build of the latest release from Dr. Zooch Rockets, the SLS-- Space Launch System. This is the rocket enacted by Congress last year for NASA to pursue as a shuttle replacement after President Obama cancelled the Constellation program to return to the moon and the Ares I and Ares V rockets along with it (and for a time, the Orion crew capsule along with it). While NASA is being VERY secretive about the SLS, there are ONLY SO MANY WAYS you can build a "shuttle derived" rocket using "shuttle parts" (well, all except the orbiters anyway which are now retired) and basically every possibly "shuttle derived" rocket remotely possible has been examined at some point in time or other, so one doesn't have to have the keys to the Administrator's bathroom at NASA HQ to figure out what SLS is probably going to look like. SOME information has already leaked out, and Dr. Zooch has incorporated the latest information in this new kit, including the interim "kick stage" borrowed from Delta IV...

And, unlike NASA which is releasing data saying you'll have to wait 20 years before SLS does anything interesting, you can build and fly YOURS, TODAY, and beat NASA to the punch!

SO, lets get to it...

The kit comes in the ubiquitous 4x4x12 parts mailer box that doubles as a storage box for the completed rocket when you're done (that's a nice plus for Dr. Zooch kits). The parts consist of a bunch of tubes, including a BT-60 for the main shuttle ET derived core stage, a BT-50 for the upper "kick" stage,
(2) BT-20 SRB tubes, an 18mm motor mount tube, and 3 BT-5's for various parts. Three centering rings, two of which are BT-20/60 and one about a 20/50-ish for the boattail that houses the SSME's on the core vehicle surrounding the central 18mm model rocket motor. Three nosecones, 1 ogive BT-50 for the new improved (over early Ares I) boost protective cover over the Orion spacecraft, and 2 BT-20 SRB conical nosecones, all balsa. One transition, BT-50/60, to adapt the smaller second "kick" stage fairing to the top of the BT-60 core vehicle. Two sticks for various sundry lines and bits-n-pieces, and several smaller bags of parts including centering rings for the flame fins, LES rocket motor nozzles, sheet balsa, recovery parts including trash bag parachute, shroud line material, shock cord material, swivels, and various and sundry paper wraps, engine nozzles, and paper detail parts, and of course the trademark smart-aleck humorous Dr. Zooch instruction sheets.

The build starts off with you cutting out the paper boat-tail for the thrust structure that will be added to the bottom of the shuttle External Tank-derived core vehicle to house four SSME's from the shuttles. Cut out the paper from the wrap sheet carefully, curl it carefully and loosely over a Sharpie marker to put a little curvature into the paper, and use a little white glue and a hemostat or other handy clamp to glue it up.

Next we build the motor mount. Pretty much standard fare, but if it's your first Dr. Zooch, this is probably a little more involved than you might be used to with other kits... This is a STRONG motor mount, not some fly-by-night junk! You slit the tube with the hobby knife at the proper place, put a drop of CA glue in the slot to "toughen" the paper tubing slot, cut a reinforcement band out of the wrap sheet and smear white glue on the back, and wrap it around the motor tube to beef it up under the slit (to prevent ejection damage from loosening up the motor hook in the slit over time). Install the hook loosely, cut a small bit out of the inside edge of the centering rings with your hobby knife to clear the hook, carefully measure and glue the bottom notched centering ring in place, and the much smaller bottom-of-the-boattail ring to the bottom of the motor tube, carefully measured and placed. The last big centering ring (2 are for 18mm motor tube to BT-60, the other at the aft end is smaller) goes on the very front of the motor tube and is not notched. Tape the motor hook down with a few wraps of electrical tape or masking tape. Install the thrust block in the front of the motor tube down to the motor hook, and your motor mount is now complete.

The instructions have you add the paper boattail cone at this time, but BE CAREFUL-- The motor mount motor hook is aligned with the LOX pipe on the ET/core, so if you want your paper boattail seam to line up with the SRB and be mostly hidden, you'll have to mock the thing up and align the motor hook to the LOX line and then align the paper boattail seam with the reference line so everything will line up when you put the motor mount in the core vehicle later on... it's not hard to do, but it's worth the effort to 'dry fit' everything. Make a little mark on the bottom motor tube centering ring to align the paper boattail seam with when the motor clip is aligned with the LOX line per the instructions... Then you can glue up the paper boattail to the bottom two motor mount rings-- remember, HALF the thickness of the lower BT-60 centering ring should remain exposed to glue the motor mount into the core vehicle later on-- and the paper boattail should be flush with the bottom of the smaller aft centering ring.

Next up, we start with the core vehicle tank. This is a BT-60 and construction is almost identical to the Dr. Zooch shuttle ET, just easier without all the fiddly bits of wood to mount and support the shuttle glider. Just like the real thing, which is basically a shuttle External Tank without the fiddly metallic bits to support and mount the real shuttle orbiter... Using your handy doorjamb (or a handy aluminum or brass angle as I use) draw your reference line down the length of the tube. All the wrap seams and detailing aligns off this reference line, so that the seams are hidden when the kit is complete. Neat huh??! Go ahead and grab your two BT-20 SRB tubes and put a reference line down the length of them too. Next get the corrugated paper wrap strips out of the kit box (probably tucked under the balsa sheets). Wrap them around the tube and mark them at the overlap, and using a steel straightedge and the hobby knife, cut to the exact length to wrap the tube. There are two corrugated wraps-- one is the wide "intertank" which separates the LOX tank and LH2 tank on the ET/core with a corrugated section, and the other is cut to represent the upper and lower corrugated connection rings which will have to be added to the ET to turn it into a core vehicle for SLS (much like the old S-IC stage, which had a "Y" ring to connect the upper tank upper dome to the corrugated support ring on top, and another "Y"ring to connect the lower fuel tank bottom dome to the thrust structure beneath). Carefully measure and cut with your steel straightedge and hobby knife, and using white glue, carefully apply the wraps in the correct locations.

Next, a small wood dowel is sanded down to "half round" each end. This will simulate the LOX line, which will come out of the bottom of the intertank area and go down the outside of the LH2 tank, turning back inside the lower corrugated adapter ring beneath the LH2 lower "Y" ring. Just sand the end of the stick over with a bit of 220 sandpaper so it looks like a 90 degree plumbing "L" on both ends where it meets the tube, and then after cutting the small alignment tool from the wrap sheet with the hobby knife, draw a line on the tube where the LOX line will go and carefully align the LOX pipe. It will overlap the corrugated wraps a bit, so you might want to trace around the tips a bit with a pencil and then trim a small notch out of the corrugated wrap with a hobby knife, so the LOX pipe will lay down tight against the side of the ET/core. This makes for a neater build, and only takes a couple minutes and some careful work with the hobby knife. Once this is done, the ET is turned over and the launch lugs are installed. One piece of lug material comes in the kit, which is cut in half to make two small lugs. I went a bit beyond the instructions and cut my lugs at an angle, as they look MUCH cooler! Once cut, carefully align them and glue them on the tank centered on the 'rear' of the core per the instructions.

More to come! OL JR

Cont'd...

I use a steel rod from one of those "clippy" pants hangars that usually come with a pair of slacks when you buy them-- once the metal clips are removed, the short steel rod is PERFECT to use to align launch lugs when gluing them on a rocket! Once aligned and the glue toughens up a bit, I remove the rod and the fillet the lugs and they're done.

Next, prep the ET/core for painting. Like the real shuttle ET, this SLS vehicle will use a core vehicle stage coated with the same spray-on foam that's been used on shuttle all along, to prevent excessive boiloff and formation of liquid air on the surface of the tank from the extremely cold liquid hydrogen. SO, the core stage will be painted the same rusty orangish-yellowish-brown as the ET. In the "Dr. Zooch Space Shuttle Thread #2" https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=1207 I detail the procedures to make the paint as realistic as you can possibly get, including paint tests of different materials, and stargazerdave and foose4string give some excellent advice on painting as well. The instructions give a detailed account of how to recreate the color of the ET, and through my testing I found that a pretty darn close facsimile of the color of weathered sun-baked yellowish-orange-brown foam can be approximated with a coat of New Krylon "Bauhaus Gold". The core tank is painted when complete before the motor mount is glued in, because the thrust structure boattail at the back remains white as it will not be covered with foam (no reason for it to be anyway-- would just add weight to the real vehicle so why do it??) To prep for paint, I installed a coupler in the end of the core tank tube, mated it up to another BT-60, wrapped a sheet of printer paper around the spare tube to keep it from getting coated with overspray and taped the paper down at the seam right up to the bottom edge of the core tank. That way the spare BT-60 is like a really big handle for spray painting the core (just DON'T get any paint runs on the coupler seam or the paint might glue the coupler in the tubes!)

If you don't want to risk it, roll up some newspaper or something and use that to hold the core tank tube for painting. I primed the core tank, sanded it, filled the spirals with Bondo Spot Putty, sanded that, reprimed, lightly sanded with 440 to smooth the primer out nicely, and shot the tank with 3 light coats of Krylon "Bauhaus Gold" to simulate the orange foam. Also, I'd recommend cutting a strip of masking tape about 3/16 inch wide and about 7 inches long and applying it straddling the reference line on one side of the tank and the SRB line on the opposite side (the SRB lines) so that you maintain a good clean contact surface for gluing on the SRB's later on.

Once the paint is dry, the masking over the SRB lines is pulled off and the motor mount/boattail is glued in the aft end of the core tanks. Remember that the LOX line is ON THE BOTTOM HALF along the outside of the much larger hydrogen tank! Carefully "clock" the motor mount by aligning the motor hook with the LOX line, which if you clocked your boattail earlier, will put its seam line aligned with the reference line the SRB glues over, hiding the seams! Use white glue to glue the motor mount in the BT-60 core.

Next, using your steel straightedge and hobby knife, carefully cut the SRB wraps from the wrap sheet. Apply a THIN layer of white glue around the outer half inch or so of the back of the wraps, all the way around the perimeter, and aligning the edge CAREFULLY with the reference line on the SRB tube, and also aligning the TOP edge of the SRB wrap with the TOP of the tube, carefully roll the tube onto the SRB wrap, burnishing the edges down tight to the tube as you go. You'll probably notice there's about half in inch or so of tube uncovered at the bottom-- that'll be covered over later!

Once the wrap is on and burnished down, it's tight and ready to go. If you REALLY want to make the model pop, use your straightedge and hobby knife to cut out 30 black stripes about 1/16 inch wide or so from the black bars in the center of the page between the two SRB wraps... These thin black strips can be coated with a thin layer of white glue on the back and then carefully aligned one by one and rolled onto the SRB's over the printed on black stripes on the wrap sheet, making the SRB's look MUCH more "3D" like! It takes about a half hour to do, but it's WELL worth the effort! You can also cut white strips from the edge of the wrap sheet in a similar fashion and glue them over the white stripes, delineated by the two 'black lines' with a white "stripe" between them around the SRB's, and by three overlapping white strips where the SRB aft attach points mate up with the ET/Core vehicle.

Next, cut the SRB aft skirts from the wrap sheet. These are paper cones glued up identical to how the boat-tail was done. Gently curl the paper over a sharpie to round it slightly, align the tab and edge, and glue them up with white glue, and clamp with a hemostat or spring clothespin to dry.

More to come! OL JR

You'll find a pair of 24mm motor block rings in the kit-- these are to stiffen up the back of the SRB skirts. Sand the rings lightly to fit over the BT-20 SRB's, then using a SHARP hobby knife and considerable care, CAREFULLY trim the rings down at a roughly 30 degree angle around the outside edge, all the way around, and about half the thickness of the ring.

Then gently sand them down and even them out with some 220 grit sandpaper.

If you're not sure of your skills with the hobby knife, just sand them to shape-- it'll take longer but there's less chance of stitches...

When the SRB aft skirts are dry, slip them over the bottom end of the SRB tube (where the wrap didn't cover) and glue them in place with a little white glue. Coat the end of the SRB's with a little white glue, and the outside of the angled rings with a little white glue, and install them up into the SRB aft skirts... I use the steel launch lug alignment rod to help push them up the SRB into the aft skirts until everything is centered and seated nicely.

Your SRB's are now complete!

More coming tomorrow! OL JR

Thanks for taking the time to do the thread Luke.
I'll be following this one.
How tall will this be when finished?

hcmbanjo said:

Thanks for taking the time to do the thread Luke.
I'll be following this one.
How tall will this be when finished?

Click to expand...

I'll let ya know when it's finished!

Later! OL JR

Cont'd...

Next we'll prep/paint all the nosecones and the kit transition. There are two SRB nosecones (BT-20) and the BT-50/60 transition, as well as the BT-50 ogive Orion BPC nosecone. I started by what I typically do with balsa cones, which is a bit beyond the instructions, but works well for me. I use ultra-thin CA to "harden" the cones by saturating them on all exposed surfaces (I don't treat the cone/transition shoulders) and let them soak up as much as they can. Do this outside standing crosswind to minimize your exposure to CA fumes. Once cured, the cones are sanded smooth with 220 grit paper and then any major grain or holes filled with either Elmers Wood Filler thinned to mustard consistency and brushed on, or with Bondo Spot Putty (which I used on this build since the cones were excellent quality with tight smooth grain). Give em a couple coats of primer, sand with 220 grit and then 440 grit, prime again and lightly sand with 440 grit, and they're ready for paint.

That takes care of the transition and SRB nosecones. The Orion BPC/LAS needs some more work...

Next we start building the Orion BPC (Boost Protective Cover) and the LAS (Launch Abort System). These consist of an ogive BT-50 nosecone with some modifications and added on paper and wood bits to simulate the LAS tower. Thankfully the open trusswork of the Apollo and earlier days has been replaced with a solid structure similar to the Soyuz tower, so now it's MUCH easier to model, especially on small rockets.Sand/trim the tip off the cone, flat and level, until you have a flat circular spot on the top of the cone about 1/4 inch in diameter. Then, using a 3/16 drill bit and finger twisty-power, drill a shallow indention about 1/8 inch deep in the center of the cone tip flat spot, to hold the pointed wood dowel in the kit which represents the LAS rocket motor and tower. You have to "eyeball" the alignment of the dowel tower to ensure it's 'straight and true' with the capsule centerline-- I find that popping the cone into the BT-50 "kick" stage tube and then rolling the assembly on the table while carefully watching the sharpened point will reveal any misalignment via a distinct wobble in the point-- then the tower can be pushed in the opposite direction a bit to center it up. Of course that assumes you did a good job of centering the hole in the tip of the nosecone, and of drilling it as near to perfectly vertical as possible... I have a handy 'center finder' tool which proved its worth, and then a steady hand, so mine came out pretty well.


From the wrap sheet, cut the "party hat" which is basically a paper transition to adapt from the small diameter of the LAS tower partway down the ogive nosecone of the Orion BPC by an amount carefully calculated after MONTHS of CFD computer runs modeling the aerodynamics in NASA labs and more months of testing in NASA wind tunnels to optimize the shape and cut drag, thereby improving performance for Ares I (when there WAS an Ares I and Orion was going to ride on it). Hence the difference from the old "Ares I-X" Apollo-looking conical capsule BPC, compound angle 'party hat', and LAS tower. Hey, they've spent the money on it so might as well use it, even though the new vehicles really don't NEED the performance advantage the new "Kaiser helmet" (or "toilet plunger" depending on your preference of monikers) BPC provides... but the works been done and so that's what will be used... :wink:

Anyway, cut out the "party hat" from the wrap sheet, apply a bit of white glue to the tab, and glue it up with white glue and clamp it with a hemostat (you won't get a spring clothespin into the little thing unless you butcher the clothespin on a sander by grinding it down to the profile of a needle-nose pliers... which ain't a bad idea!) Once dry, it slips over the pointed LAS tower (if you cut it right, if not you'll have to trim the opening). Apply some white glue to the tower about 1/3 of the way up or so (not quite halfway) and some white glue to the inside edge of the bottom of the paper party hat, and slide it down into position. This will also help to align your tower dowel if the glue is still a bit soft when you put it all together-- a quick roll on the table will allow you to make any last minute needed tweaks to the alignment. Set it aside to dry.

More to come! OL JR

Cont'd...

Now you'll need to screw your patience up a bit and hopefully you'll have some small tools to help, especially if you have "twinkie fingers" like me... Get the tiny zipper baggie out of the kit containing four TINY LAS rocket nozzles. CAREFULLY get them out, and PRAY you don't lose them off the workbench, because they are about 1/16 diameter by about 5/32 long or so. Trim the back ends off of them, and then trim the back of the nozzle end to about a 45 degree angle with a SHARP hobby knife using pliers or small clamps to firmly hold them during trimming. Alternatively, you can sand them to shape, but being hardwood, it'll take awhile. Make sure whatever you use to hold them holds them firmly but doesn't mangle them! Once trimmed to shape, using yellow wood glue, glue them on at the location indicated in the instructions. If you have a Dremel, you can drill some small indentations in the tower dowel with a small drill bit and install the nozzles without the surgical-precision of trimming, but that assumes you have a Dremel tool handy and can use it on such tiny parts! Otherwise just follow the instructions and take your time-- I've done both and either works well. Use a toothpick or a bit of scrap balsa to apply a bit of yellow glue around the nozzles to 'fillet' them and make the connection a bit stronger. Once dry, the assembly should be ready for paint.

The LAS tower, BPC nosecone, the BT-50 "kick stage" fairing tube, transition, and SRB nosecones can all be painted white. As these parts are small and tip over easily, especially from the "blast" from the paint can, I mask off the shoulders of the parts and then use strips of masking tape to tape them down to cardboard 'handles' for painting-- that way I can easily handle them without getting my fingers coated with spray paint, and set them down securely to dry outside in a cardboard box (use that 100 degree + heat to our advantage!) I used Walmart Colorplace gray primer (which like the red primer has seemed to disappear, sadly) and Colorplace Flat White spray paint. Once dry, the tower/nosecone is glued in one end of the "kick stage" tube and the transition is glued on the other end. That completes the transition, upper stage fairing (the upper stage would actually be inside the tube, just like on Delta IV) and the BPC/LAS tower.

More later! OL JR

WOW, Nice build...VERY detailed one too,It's like your writing report/essay! :y:

[POW]Eagle159;226193 said:

WOW, Nice build...VERY detailed one too,It's like your writing report/essay! :y:

Click to expand...

Thanks... without detail there's not much point is there??

Later! OL JR

Cont'd...

Ok, so we're ready now to start on the engine fairings.

The SLS vehicle will use, according to early reports, up to FIVE SSME rocket engines in the boat-tail thrust structure that will be added to the bottom of the reworked shuttle External Tank/ Core Vehicle. Some early flights may use only three SSME's to extend the number of available engines to allow more flights before running out of shuttle program left over engines, but the plan is eventually to be able to produce DISPOSABLE SSME's (called RS-25"D" variants) to replace the RS-25C's that have been rebuilt and reused on the shuttles. Since this is an expendable vehicle, there is no way to recover the SSME's for reuse, hence the need to extend the available numbers to the greatest amount possible, while at the same time creating a thrust structure capable of housing enough engines to provide the necessary thrust for a large, heavy upper stage at some point in the future and heavy/bulky payloads, hopefully someday...

At any rate, this thrust structure, which is simulated by the paper boattail added on to the motor mount at the beginning of the build, is supplemented with some interesting parts. These include engine fairings, similar to those used on Saturn V to divert the airflow slipstream around the engine nozzle bells of the F-1's so they could gimbal properly. SLS uses them for the same reason-- to protect the SSME's from excessive 'wind loading' when flying through the lower atmosphere. On the SLS kit, these fairings are created by cutting out four fairings from the wrap sheet, and gluing them onto one of the extra BT-5 tubes in the kit with white glue. Once dry, the fairings are carefully cut out of the tube by cutting around the outline of the fairings through the tube beneath with a SHARP hobby knife. Make several light passes-- you can't cut through in one step and do a neat job.

Also on the wrap sheet, are four small yellow crescent moon shaped "toenails" which you will cut from the sheet and glue onto the end of one of the kit's balsa sheets. Smear a light layer of yellow glue on the sheet and glue the toenails down, and when dry, carefully cut them out of the balsa sheet by cutting around the paper templates with your hobby knife.

Even them up a bit with a little sanding with a bit of 220 grit paper, and then following the kit instructions, glue them about 3/16 inch up from the bottom edge of the fairings. Once dry, you can custom fit the fairings to the paper boattail-- I find that a little careful curling of the conical end of the fairing makes a tighter fit, since the curvature of the BT-5 tube doesn't exactly match the curvature of the boattail. I used a hemostat to gently curl the edges in a bit toward the tip of the fairing so it matches up more neatly to the boattail, and then sanded the edges lightly until everything was smooth and fit nicely. Now the fairings are ready to glue on.

From the wrap sheet, cut out the fairing guide. Cut around it about 1/2 inch all the way around so you don't remove the writing, and then cut the yellow center out of the guide so it will fit over the boattail. Slide it into position and align the "SRB" marks with the reference line and mark the opposite side of the tube from the reference line for the second SRB. The guide also has markers pointing to where you make "hack" marks for the placement of the SSME engine fairings on the boattail. Once you have the hack marks located, you can glue the fairings onto the boattail.

More to come! OL JR

luke strawwalker said:

Thanks... without detail there's not much point is there??

Later! OL JR

Click to expand...

Point well made.

Cont'd...

Next up we have the Flame Fins (TM) This kit, like the Dr. Zooch shuttle and even the Estes Shuttle and Mercury Atlas, use insertable supplementary fins for stability during launch. Unlike anybody else's kits, Dr. Zooch makes them look like they belong by shaping and painting them to resemble the flame and smoke behind the rocket.

Cut the flamefin pattern from the wrap sheet with your hobby knife-- don't worry about every little lick and notch of the 'flames'-- just make sure you don't cut them smaller than the outline of the fins. I round over the back sharp end since these tend to get a bit beat up and broken off in landings on hard ground. Trace the patterns onto the balsa stock, noting the grain direction as shown on the pattern. Cut 6 fins out of the balsa sheet, and stack sand them to identical shape/size.

Get the two remaining BT-5 tubes from the kit box and the little zipper bag with 4 BT-5/20 centering rings inside. Using the marking guide on the wrap sheet, put THREE marks on the back of the tubes AT 90 DEGREE ANGLES TO EACH OTHER as shown by the guide on the wrap sheet. I've seen folks get a bit confused by this, but the 3 fins on each Flamefin unit are arranged in a "T" configuration like you'd use with FOUR fins, only with NO fin on the inside where the rocket motor exhaust is... Don't put them on in the traditional three fin "Y" configuration, either... Using a doorjamb or brass angle, put a vertical line on the tube to align the fins with the tube. Now the fins are ready to glue on the tubes. I use a handy tool made from an old egg container, inverted, with the egg cups slit with a hobby knife, which makes handy clamps to hold the fins for double-glue joints. Pop the fins into the slits, with the root edges up and horizontal, and put a light bead of yellow wood glue on each root edge, and spread it thinly and evenly over the fin roots. Take your tubes, and go ahead and fit and glue on the rings per the instructions, about 3/8 inch between them, on one end of the tube (opposite the fin lines obviously). Sand the tube lightly over the fin lines to roughen up the glassine for the best glue contact, and then apply a THIN even layer of wood glue over the lines and spread out about 1/4 inch wide stripe centered over the fin lines, and stand it aside to dry. Once the glue is pretty dry (slightly tacky at most-- doesn't take long to dry enough given the thin layers!) apply a SECOND bead of glue to the fin root edge, remove it from the egg cup holder, carefully align the fin with the fin lines, and stick it in place. Hold it 15-30 seconds and the fin will be glued on with just as much convenience as using CA glue, but with MUCH MUCH higher strength! Swipe your finger down the fillet areas to spread any yellow glue squeezed out-- you can even add a THIN fillet of yellow glue if you want for greater strength if you like. Repeat with the remaining fins and fin unit. I use a scrap piece of balsa shaped like a 90 degree "V" to hold the two opposing fins perfectly aligned with each other, clamped up with spring clothespins. I eyeball the upright fin, and double-check it against a 90 degree triangle of scrap balsa with the inside corner cut out to clear the tube. Works like a champ! Set aside to dry.

Now we'll do the SSME nozzles themselves. These little jewels will REALLY make the model pop and look realistic! From the wrap sheet, carefully cut out the four cardstock nozzles with a SHARP hobby knife. Follow the outlines carefully and they'll turn out almost perfect! Once you've cut them out, I precurl them around the tip of a mechanical pencil to put a little curl in the cardstock to avoid kinking and subsequent ugly lines on the nozzles. Glue them up with a bit of white glue applied to the glue tab, and clamp them up to dry with hemostats.

For the kit instructions, the SSME's are now complete. I actually went a little beyond the instructions and incorporated a trick used on several other Dr. Zooch kits (like the Saturn V) and put "hat bands" on the SSME's. The SSME's have quite noticeable strengthening rings around the nozzles evenly spaced from the top to the bottom of the engine. These cardstock nozzles are just about as small as I'd want to go to do this technique, but if your up for a challenge (and have some sewing thread handy) this will REALLY make the SSME's look REALLY good... I wrapped a mechanical pencil tip with some extra masking tape to make a little 'mandrel' to hold them for winding, and pushed the nozzles (with the glue fully dried) over the tape to 'clamp' it to the pencil tip. Put a thin bead of white glue around the circumference of the nozzle, right in the middle, and spread it out evenly over the entire outer surface of the nozzle with your fingertip by rolling the pen between the fingers of your other hand. This will give a nice, even layer of glue to hold the sewing thread "hat bands" in place on the nozzles as you wind them. Take the end of your sewing thread, press it into the glue, and hold it a second to get it to stick (might take a couple tries-- sometimes the thread likes you fingers better than the nozzle and comes off with it-- using something else to press the thread against the glue-coated nozzle will help!) Once the thread is 'stuck down' GENTLY roll the pencil in your hand, carefully wrapping the thread onto the nozzle. The first wrap is the hardest-- start at the upper (narrow) end of the nozzle and I overlap the first wrap of thread over the end glued to the nozzle (I glue the thread on at the seam where the glue tab is glued under the nozzle wall). This overlapping "locks" the thread down and ensures that the rest of the wraps will be neat and even, and allow you to pull the thread tighter while winding. Continue winding the thread on in a shallow spiral, about 4-5 revolutions or so, about 1/16 inch apart, toward the bottom (large) end of the nozzle. Once the final wrap is made, CAREFULLY cut the thread off at the nozzle seam. Now take another big drop of white glue on your fingertip, and ROLLING THE NOZZLE THE SAME DIRECTION YOU WRAPPED THE THREAD, smear the drop of glue over/into the thread and nozzle. Spread the glue thin and evenly-- this will permanently lock the thread in position on the nozzle when dry. Gently remove the nozzle from the pencil tip and set it aside to dry. Repeat for the other three.

Once dry, the SSME's are ready for a coat inside and out of Gunmetal Gray paint. This closely approximates the color of the REAL SSME's. I inverted the nozzles over the same mechanical pencil tip with the tape "clamp" on it (putting the small nozzle hole down over the pen tip, leaving the larger nozzle bell opening pointing up, which easily allows you to paint the outside of the nozzle and the inside of the nozzle at the same time. Be sure you paint the BOTTOM EDGE of the paper of the nozzle opening (the big end of the nozzle) since it will be visible after the nozzles are glued onto the rocket. CAREFULLY set the nozzles aside for the paint to dry.

More later! OL JR

You always do a great job on the Zooch kits.

JAL3 said:

You always do a great job on the Zooch kits.

Click to expand...

Thanks! This one I'm pretty proud of this one so far...

Later! OL JR

Cont'd...

Now that the fairings and SSME's are done, they're ready to be installed. The fairings line up with the "hack" marks previously transferred from the placement guide cut from the wrap sheet. Apply some yellow wood glue to the back edges of the fairing and "toenails" and then glue the fairings in place with the toenails flush with the rearmost centering ring at the back of the boattail. This will provide a smooth mounting surface for the SSME's in a little bit. Be sure to fillet any squeezed out wood glue carefully from the edges of the fairings-- the fairings have a printed pattern on them that can be used stock, or the fairings can be painted over if so desired.

I reinforced my boattail with a layer of white glue yesterday, and got a bit of gunk on it in the process, so I'll paint the boattail white up to the fairings later on.

Once the fairings have set up thoroughly, you can glue the completed SSME's in place. Use a healthy drop of yellow glue and seat the SSME's firmly in them, with the seams in toward the central motor tube so they're hidden. Invert the core vehicle to allow the glue to dry.

The SRB's have their first layer of glue applied to the seams where they'll mate up to the Core vehicle in the next step. Apply a fairly healthy layer of glue to the seams and put them in the egg crate to dry.

In another tip from the Dr. Zooch shuttle build thread #2, beyond the instructions for this kit, and courtesy of stargazerdave who came up with the idea, I cut some small bits of scrap balsa into roughly trapezoidal shapes about 3/16 inch tall and roughly 1/8 inch wide at the widest point, and then sanded a groove into them with a folded over piece of 220 grit sandpaper. These will later be glued onto the SRB aft skirts to emulate the SRB holddowns used to attach the real SRB's to the MLP until liftoff. Four are used for each SRB. I attached them to a short piece of masking tape to hold them for painting with regular Testors white enamel.

More later! OL JR

Almost done...

Next we attach the SRB's. One is glued over the reference line to hide all the seams, and the other is glued directly opposite it. After sanding the sides of the tank lightly to promote adhesion and applying a couple thin layers of glue and allowing it to dry for double-glue joints, apply another healthy layer of glue (since the SRB joint strips and the intertank/aft body wraps tend to hold the SRB a little bit off the surface of the tube) and then carefully align the SRB to the tube, and press them together for about 30 seconds or so. That will give the double glue joints time to "grab" but of course using a lot of glue, the joint will be 'soft' and can be moved around as needed. After double-checking all the alignment, place the rocket on a book to keep it up off the work surface a bit, with the conical SRB aft skirt and the engine fairings on the back of the ET/Core vehicle overhanging the end of the book. This will allow the tubes of the core and the SRB to rest solidly on the book, which will keep them in perfect alignment with each other-- though you still need to check and make sure that the SRB/tank doesn't "roll" a bit and put the SRB toward the "back" or the "front" of the stack (front/back as if it were standing on the pad, not "top or bottom"). Glue the SRB's on one at a time like this and you can get the alignment perfectly straight in both planes... When you attach the SRB, be sure to put the 3 overlapping bands right at the top of the corrugated wrap around the bottom of the LH2 tank-- this will put the top of the SRB right around the middle of the intertank corrugated wrap, which is where it should be. Slide them forward or backward as needed to get this alignment. This will also ensure that BOTH SRB's are mounted in the same position in relation to the core fore and aft...


Once the first SRB's glue has dried, you can now attach the opposite SRB in the same manner. Alignment is a little more critical on the second SRB due to the fact that it not only has to align with the reference line (be parallel to the long axis of the tube), and located properly fore/aft with its 3 overlapping SRB bands at the front of the aft corrugated wrap, but also has to be in the same plane as the opposite SRB (meaning DIRECTLY OPPOSITE the first SRB though the center of the main ET/core vehicle motor mount). The easiest way to ensure this is to use a straightedge across the SRB "nozzles" against the central motor mount tube-- if the ruler touches all three, it's perfectly aligned. Once you've got everything aligned, put the stack back on the book, using something appropriately sized to "shim" the previously glued-on SRB up off the surface of the book by the correct amount for the newly-glued on SRB to rest flat on the book, with the ET/core tank tube resting flat on the book as well to maintain alignment. Don't support the glue-dried SRB along it's full length-- that can throw the alignment off-- support it in the center just to prevent roll which will pull the wet glue SRB out of alignment. I used a roll of tape and some scrap balsa to shim the thing up correctly. Also, one other tip-- use a hardcover book-- I tried using a thick catalog (in case any glue got on it) and they're a bit too soft-- just enough give to throw things out of alignment. Once you have everything shimmed and the glue ready to dry, do one final alignment check across the SRB nozzles to the motor mount-- this is THE most likely alignment axis to get knocked out of whack, but also be sure that the 3 SRB bands on the second SRB are placed exactly the same as the other side with respect to the aft corrugated wrap-- you don't want one SRB higher than the other one on the pad!




More later! OL JR

In the home stretch...

Once everything's dry, you can fillet the SRB's to the main core vehicle tube. I use a fillet of Titebond Moulding and Trim Glue for this... it's easy to work with (water clean up, and can be smoothed into beautiful fillets with a damp finger), produces NO holes/pits/bubbles like white or yellow glue does (and DO NOT use yellow glue for this-- it would be HORRIFICALLY FUGLY with the yellow resin staining the SRB wraps!), doesn't shrink as it dries, and dries crystal clear, making the fillets practically invisible. In other words, this is THE perfect material for this job! Another nice touch is, Titebond Moulding and Trim Glue will stay EXACTLY where you put it, not run everywhere like white glue would, so you can do all four fillets (both sides of each SRB) at the SAME TIME and set the whole thing aside to dry.

At the same time, the Flame Fins can be painted. I'm attempting a "fade paintjob" this time, since I've seen some REALLY nice looking flame effects done by others... of course this is my first time trying that, so I hope it doesn't suck too bad... Got the first coat on for the "flames" and will go back and put the "smoke" in around the edges later...

Also, you'll find another dowel in the kit-- from it you will cut 8 SRB "struts" to reinforce their connection to the ET/Core vehicle. Cut them with about a 45 degree angle or so on both ends, and use a bit of sandpaper to fit them to the curved surfaces of the tube. Once they look like they'll fit nicely, paint them white. I stuck them down to a piece of tape and then brushed them with Testor's Flat White enamel... Once dried they'll be glued on to reinforce the SRB/tank joints...


More later! OL JR

Man ,you`re doing a beautiful job on that kit.....looks great.

Wes picked the right guy to do a beta build.

I look forward to the finished project.

Cheers

Paul t

Yeah I could never do that good! It looks too good to fly, but WE all want to see a launch video when you launch!:wink:

[POW]Eagle159;226713 said:

Yeah I could never do that good! It looks too good to fly, but WE all want to see a launch video when you launch!:wink:

Click to expand...

Well, pics'll probably have to do... I haven't jumped into videos yet! I'd REALLY be lost!

Thanks for the compliments on the build...

I'd be done but I'm still waiting on glue to dry...

Later! OL JR

Expect the kit to be released next week folks.

hcmbanjo said:

Thanks for taking the time to do the thread Luke.
I'll be following this one.
How tall will this be when finished?

Click to expand...

Ok, as promised... finished height with the FlameFins is 20 inches. Finished height for display (no flame fins) is 16 5/8 inches.

later! OL JR

Cont'd...

Well, the rocket is pretty much complete. Make the "teabag" style shock cord mount and glue it in. Assemble the standard Dr. Zooch trash-bag parachute with the included tape dots and "poly-coated Popeilium" carpet thread and attach the included snap swivel. Coat the screw eye with yellow glue and screw it into the base of the transition. Make sure the Orion BPC is glued onto the "kick stage" BT-50 tube, and the tube is glued to the top of the transition, and the SRB nosecones are glued on.

That's pretty much it. Install the flame fins, motor, chute, and wadding, and she's ready for flight (well, aside from the CRUSHING RAGING DROUGHT around here!). Recommended motor is a C6-3, though a C6-5 can be used as well (probably in low-wind conditions I'd wager). If you want a low-slow flight for small fields or short recovery walks (to prevent your kit from being eaten by rocket eating trees or from ending up rotting on a power line) use a B6-4. In other words, NEVER use an "A" motor in this kit! Finished weight of *my* kit was 79 grams... but that's of course with a lot of filler and paint and stuff to make her pretty and strong... If you build light you can probably shave close to 10 grams off that I'd guesstimate.

SO, here's the finished product... I've got quite a few "glamour shots" and will post them a few at a time...

This is a fun kit that can be made to look REALLY nice with a little time and effort. Or, if you want, you can put it together more quickly with a little less detail and have a nice flyer of what NASA SHOULD be building (and hopefully will before it's too late) and what may eventually get us back into space and beyond Earth orbit.

Have fun and keep 'em flying! OL JR

Here's a few more...

OL JR

And a few more...

OL JR

More without the Flame fins...

Later! OL JR

And a few more...

OL JR

And the last two...

Later! OL JR

Nice ,so very nice!

Now that`s an "Artisan" build ,if i`ve ever seen one.You captured the craft in all it`s glory.

It`s one thing to do a build ,but to do it in that minute scale and make it look so good......

Bravo friend ,bravo :handshake:


Sincerily;

Paul T

Great looking model, nice job on the build. I can't wait to order one, been trying to decide on my next Zooch build.