1/26th Scale Space Shuttle (full stack)

[Bravo52]

Aligning the aft fuselage parts

So, yeah, the rear fuselage has a lot going on. Here's a Fusion 360 visualization of the rear fuselage and neighboring systems (wings, retracts, etc.). I decided to use the rear fuselage mold to help with aligning all the parts, because of the angularness of the aft fuselage.

View attachment 620409

Quick question. Do you colorize your components as you design them in Design mode or do you do it in Render mode?

 

[sambatterman]

Quick question. Do you colorize your components as you design them in Design mode or do you do it in Render mode?

I use design mode.

 

[burkefj]

Are you considering doing a smaller scale model to fine tune the thrust line of the single tank mounted motor, or is the stack going to be light enough to try the simplest form of boost, just a single motor in the tank only before you add in complexity of off center srb thrust lines and associated risk in them starting at slightly different times or is it so heavy it must have all three at least to boost safely the first time?

I won't give you crap about weight, designs can have very different approaches. At approx 48 ounces per square foot or more wing loading for your shuttle is getting near turbine powered jet class of wing loading assuming some fuse lift, you'll want extremely robust gear and mounts and hopefully a smooth landing surface to survive the landing speeds and loads. For one large example Dave Shaefers 1/5 X-2 model had about 32 ounces/sq foot glide weight not including fuse lift but it had a longer span narrower chord which is a bit more efficient, it only used a nose gear and scale skids in the back. I don't know what Andy's orbiter weighed but reports on glide tests were 2:1 best glide angle and 4:1 flare...I'm sure yours will be similar.


Frank

 

[sambatterman]

Hi Frank - thanks for your message. The cold, hard reality about my project is that this orbiter may not ever fly - think Enterprise over Atlantis. I have never built a rocket with 3D Molds and Carbon Fiber skin; I have never built anything with a retractable landing gear or doors. This was a concept model to get those skills in line. I also need a physical "twin" to go along with the "digital twin" for controlling this in recovery mode. It will take years to accomplish this goal, but I needed to start somewhere - and I know that these issues will take a while to iron out. Getting everything aligned and understanding how to support the shuttle on the External Tank, where the sensors need to go, how to attach and separate the orbiter from the ET are all hard problems getting solved along the way. As I move forward, getting models to weigh less will be a goal.

 

[burkefj]

Hi Frank - thanks for your message. The cold, hard reality about my project is that this orbiter may not ever fly - think Enterprise over Atlantis. I have never built a rocket with 3D Molds and Carbon Fiber skin; I have never built anything with a retractable landing gear or doors. This was a concept model to get those skills in line. I also need a physical "twin" to go along with the "digital twin" for controlling this in recovery mode. It will take years to accomplish this goal, but I needed to start somewhere - and I know that these issues will take a while to iron out. Getting everything aligned and understanding how to support the shuttle on the External Tank, where the sensors need to go, how to attach and separate the orbiter from the ET are all hard problems getting solved along the way. As I move forward, getting models to weigh less will be a goal.

That's fair, I've recently been doing my own building, scaling and lightening of shuttles as I learn. As much as you plan and draw things there is never any way to avoid all of the gotchas that crop up when actually building something, or just the stupid mistakes