Apollo Capsule Pad Abort Test Vehicle.

Very nice project, gentlemen. Words sometimes cannot describe the sensation of accomplishment over something done on our own. (?) So much for my philosophizing....Great job, great pictures, nice video.

Gordon, The ROW drawing shows it without the red stripe.
so,you may have stumbled onto something..

the models are awesome either way

PA-1 doesn't get a red stripe.

But it does have the cooler roll pattern.

When I decided to go with the tower-substitute on my boilerplate there was no way to be sure the BT-70 "tower-equivalent" was exactly centered under the motor mount. I think that's the primary reason for the roll seen in the video, which the roll markings on the bottom of the capsule highlight so well.

Other interesting factoids we discovered in our quest for accuracy. PA-1 was scrapped, but PA-2 is on display in Huntsville. Sandman will be accompanying his TARC team there shortly so he will be able to get more photos.

Free PDF Flight Data Summary report of the PA-1 mission is available at:

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/index.cgi?method=search&limit=25&offset=0&mode=simple&order=DESC&keywords=19790076960

Summary report of the PA-2 mission has not yet been PDF'd but can be bought from NASA for $35 from the NTRS site. Document ID# 19740072766

I think for now I will leave the red stripe off. It'll be easy to add later...it would be harder to remove.

I'd like to answer the question of making this a kit. Let me explain some of what was involved in this model first.

The parts had to be as light as possible but still had to be strong!

The top of the capsule (the blast shield) ends just below the base of the tower so is a separate part. It's a nose cone 5.4" high and 8.2" in diameter. The base of the capsule is 1/10th of 156" in diameter or 15.6". If this were to be kitted well, that would be the minimum inside dimension of the box!

For these two models I turned custom parts out of foam on my lathe and fiber glassed them with very thin 0.5 oz. cloth. There is probably a simple "production" method of making these parts but most of them would require me to get or make a few thousand parts. I sure don't want to make a bunch of these by hand!

A few of you have also shown your "contempt" for paper shrouds, well, I'm good at them and I had a few "French" works to say on the ones for this model! Just as a reference the main capsule shroud consisted of a small radius of 7.85" and a large radius of 14.93" with an arc angle of 189 degrees. That's BIG! I had to make it out of poster board.

Those were the EASY PARTS!!!

The motor mount would be a little harder to explain!

Short answer...No kit of the Pad Abort Test Vehicle is forthcoming!

Not by us anyway!

Hmm - I wonder how this would scale to 29mm?

A cluster of WL motors would be a really neat effect, possibly F40's?

The hardest part as I see it would be attaching the base to the tower with something strong enough to hold it with 4 F40's pulling it along. Still, an interesting idea to think about.

According to this page, the protective boost cover was added between PA-1 and PA-2. When the escape tower was jettisoned, it took the cover with it. Perhaps this explains the diffrence between launch and landing?

Nerull,

The red stripe is on the bottom and the protective cover is at the top. Maybe this drawing can explain it better.

cjl,

I have drawings already completed for a 29mm 4 motor cluster already finished. I have them in CAD and the tower uses a 4" Quantum tube.

I made these drawings up for a custom machining customer but that was the last I heard of it.

I could make up the parts.

BTW the 29mm version is 74.81" tall. The base of the capsule is just over two feet across.

Here is the boost protective cover attached to the tower.

While I'm not "into" this as much as you guys, I do have a question: Why is it called the "Pad-Abort" ?


BTW--- If you can make it look like the real picture with the 29mm MMT, go for it!!

The cover has two parts, that is the upper section. When the tower is jettisoned, it takes both parts with it.





Unless aborts only seperate the top half (which I don't think is likely), there would be a diffrence.

On the final flight hardware, the CM itself is very reflective, while the cover is white, so the diffrence is easily notable. If the cover only extended halfway down the CM you could definatly tell.

Nerull,

THAT explains a lot!!

So the roll pattern must have been painted on both the cover AND the capsule with the capsule having the addition of the red stripe!

So for my model in "launch configuration" would NOT show the stripe!

OK, that makes perfect sense now.

On the operational mission Apollo Capsules the capsule is bright chrome or gold colored in all the shots of it in space.

I knew somebody would have the answer!

Thanks.

sandman/gus,

awsome jobs. you wanna build one for my 10"dia redstone, id be happy to "jettison" it a apogee (around 4000-5000 feet).

metalwizard,

Sure, I could do that...but why?

The capsule has 7 equal segments on the outside. This is part of the protective cover!

I hope George Gassaway doesn't mind I chopped up his drawing.

The top view shows the capsule (BP-23) with the protective cover in place before launch. No stripe.

The bottom picture shows it AFTER launch. Red stripe!

I have the 7 segments on my model (that's how I built it), so it's obviuosly in it's launch configuration.

Now how can I make it jettison the tower and protective cover...mission points?

Nerull, thanks again for sending me in the right direction on this head scratcher. The difference between the 7 segment seams and their absence in the pic of the model on the ground further confirms your information.

Obviously the roll pattern is identical on the protective cover and on the capsule underneath.

But I did notice something else that I thought George Gassaway left off but it makes sense now. The "UNITED STATES" and the American flag decals are NOT on the protective cover but they are on the capsule under the cover.

THAT will save me some work!

Originally posted by sandman
snip....Here is the launch pic of PA-2....snip

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HOLY DIRTY UNDERWEAR!!!

Even with the blast sheild in place, that'd have to scare the brown greasy stuff out of anyone inside that!!!

Where do I sigh up for a test ride?

Greg

If that thing fires, something has already gone wrong with the Saturn first stage, filled with "lots" of rocket fuel - I think you've already gotten it scared out of you.

Originally posted by sandman
I'd like to answer the question of making this a kit....

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I just wanted to add that in addition to the capsule and motor mount fabrication problems, building the tower was a bear. Unlike the towers on other kits which just serve to hold up the very lightweight escape rocket, on this model the tower is a true structural element performing the same function it did on the original, as the traction connector between the escape rocket and the capsule.

My first attempt, using dowels cut and glued on a layout form, similar to how most other kit towers are built, looked OK but was far from true when I went to attach it to the capsule. For that reason, I had to build a second tower, using a template cut into foam board to assure the exact same size and placement of cross pieces on all 4 sides.

After the uprights and lower half of the tower were completed, placing the upper sets of V-struts and centering ring was a huge challenge. Both Sandman and I struggled with finding a solution to keeping the struts centered as they angle into the center ring.

In all honesty, I'd put the tower alone at a level 4 in terms of difficulty.

That's why I was afraid to fly mine without a boilerplate test first.

Originally posted by kelltym88
Why is it called the "Pad-Abort" ?

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These two tests were called "Pad Abort" tests because they were meant to simulate how the escape system would work if it was used to escape an exploding rocket still on the pad. Similar tests were done for the Mercury Escape system but were called "Beach Abort" tests.

The Little Joe tests, for both Mercury and Apollo, were used to test how the launch escape systems would work once the boosters were already underway.

The Apollo Launch Escape System, like so much of the early manned space program, was a true work of genius. It used three different solid rocket motors and functioned exactly the same whether it was used off the pad, from a standstill, or at altitude with a high speed abort. Truly an amazing piece of work, both in concept and execution.

Originally posted by kelltym88
Very nice project, gentlemen. Words sometimes cannot describe the sensation of accomplishment over something done on our own. (?) So much for my philosophizing....Great job, great pictures, nice video.

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My sentiments exactly - You guys did a great job on this project and commended on the amount of research you put into this . I hope you do plan on coming out with this in a kit form

Originally posted by sandman
metalwizard,

Sure, I could do that...but why?

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why,,,, because you can... plus my redstone seperates into 3 pieces for recovery now. if i could get the capsule out of the way then pop its chutes that would be really cool, and way less chance of the parts tangleing. and its never been done.

metalwizard,

I only question it 'cause it would occur at such a high altitude that nobody will see it....unless...you have an onboard camera...hmmmm...

I have been continuing to "detail" my model.

A little harder than I thought simply because this was a "boiler plate". So it's not quite perfect...but I'm happy with it so far.

I sure hope Gus is working on my tower wrap.

The way to make it visible would be to use ridiculously large motors for the size of the capsule - something that would make a lot of smoke and pull it noticeably away from the rocket.

Originally posted by cjl
The way to make it visible would be to use ridiculously large motors for the size of the capsule - something that would make a lot of smoke and pull it noticeably away from the rocket.

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i.e. true scale.

If its on top of a redstone, true scale is already thrown out the window.

If its on top of a redstone, true scale is already thrown out the window.

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You could model the round where the tower jetisoned on the pad and poped the chute...unintentionally.

Originally posted by Nerull
If its on top of a redstone, true scale is already thrown out the window.

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If sandman and Gus were only 2000 miles to the southwest, this would make a great addition to the ROC Saturn 1B...


Bill

Thanks for all the kudos guys.

The work continues. I'm trying to detail this thing up a bit. A few more things to go along with a tiny bit more head scratching.

This part worked out well. The tower "lock plates" are made on my CAD then copy, copy, copy so they are all the same then print on card stock.

Now I have to paint the roll pattern on the capsule and the roll pattern on the bottom.

BTW, that's the launch lug hole on the lower left.

Originally posted by Nerull
If its on top of a redstone, true scale is already thrown out the window.

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mines true scale as i could get. i built it from a set of redstone/mercury capsule drawings. i just got away from scale on some details to make it easy to build. like the escape nozzels. fin thickness and details, hatch doors,those kind of thiings. ask kelly88 he saw it up close

He was joking because Sandman's is of an Apollo pad abort (not a redstone beach abort )

OK now she's all finished.

I just hope she didn't gain much weight in the process.

Lots and lots of details. It's easy on a model of this size.

The problem is knowing when to just STOP!