Virtual NARAM - Sport Scale Build Thread

[GuyNoir]

I started work on my Virtual NARAM Sport Scale model and thought I'd post it as a build thread here. I've never done a build thread before and hope I can be disciplined enough to take pictures at each stage of construction.

I've decided to build a Soyuz using this cardstock model:

• https://cardmodels-r.narod.ru/html/Soyuz.htm

The first step after printing out all the parts on 110 lb. cardstock is to laminate selected parts.





Next step will be to begin prepping the rest of the parts, which don't require reinforcement.

 

[GuyNoir]

Got a bit more work done on the Soyuz today.

While you can simply cut out and glue up the parts per the plan, I've found that there are some issues with that approach. So instead, I prepare the parts first by cutting some of them out and applying Elmer's white glue, carefully spreading it along the seams.



I also apply glue on the connecting tabs (not shown).

You should also consider how you're going to keep track of all the parts; paper models tend to have LOTS of parts, and if you don't keep the part and its connector together, you'll be scrambling around trying to find out where one or the other of them are hiding.

So sometimes it's easier to apply glue to the seams BEFORE you cut out a part. To do so required marking the back side of the sheet to show you where to put the glue, like so:



Once the glue is dry, you can now apply a trick to join things together without any excess glue or seepage. First apply one side of your connector to the part. Here I've attached connectors for the two forward first stage shrouds and the main tube.



Now you need to pre-roll the parts to shape. I use a large knitting needle that my wife discarded, but a 1/2 - 3/4 inch dowel will work as well. You'll also need a sheet of foam. Rolling the part on the foam prevents wrinkles.



Next time: Completing your individual parts!

 

[GuyNoir]

Now that all the glue is dry and we've pre-rolled the parts, it's time to "assemble".

The trick to getting these parts all to fit is to make sure everything's aligned properly and stays that way while you apply heat to the joint. To do that, I used clamps of all sorts.



The plastic clamps shown work well for holding things together away from the end of the tube or shroud. The clothespin is great for clamping down the end.

Once you've gotten the joint properly aligned and clamped to your satisfaction, then it's time to apply some heat. I use a Monokote iron from our RC airplane friends on a medium high heat setting. The small wooden blocks in the picture are put behind the joint I'm heating to give me something to press against. The heat welds the two pieces together, and you get this:



I'll move on to finish up the rest of the major tubes including the four conical booster sections and then we can start talking about stuffer tubes and basic airframe assembly.

 

[Aeronerd]

Now that all the glue is dry and we've pre-rolled the parts, it's time to "assemble".

The trick to getting these parts all to fit is to make sure everything's aligned properly and stays that way while you apply heat to the joint. To do that, I used clamps of all sorts.

View attachment 424437

The plastic clamps shown work well for holding things together away from the end of the tube or shroud. The clothespin is great for clamping down the end.

Once you've gotten the joint properly aligned and clamped to your satisfaction, then it's time to apply some heat. I use a Monokote iron from our RC airplane friends on a medium high heat setting. The small wooden blocks in the picture are put behind the joint I'm heating to give me something to press against. The heat welds the two pieces together, and you get this:

View attachment 424441

I'll move on to finish up the rest of the major tubes including the four conical booster sections and then we can start talking about stuffer tubes and basic airframe assembly.

Neat trick! Literally. No drippy mess or smears when you do it that way and it sticks almost instantly.

 

[GuyNoir]

Neat trick! Literally. No drippy mess or smears when you do it that way and it sticks almost instantly.

Yep. I learned this trick years ago from Randall Redd (a Utah rocketeer).

 

[GuyNoir]

More done on the Soyuz. But first, here's what failure looks like:


At the top are the fins, which attach to the four strapon boosters. I intended to reinforce the cardstock with 1/16" balsa, but when folded, the fins are even on both sides. I didn't properly account for the radius of the fold. The fix was to cut new fins out of cardboard, then cover them with orange cardstock:



Beneath the fins are the first of what are likely to be many problems. The Soyuz is covered with lots of bumps, cable channels, etc. On the paper model you're supposed to cut out, fold and glue these tiny parts, then stick them on the model. Too fiddly and small for this builder, so I thought I'd be smart and built them around balsa bits of the right shape. Still too fiddly. I'm thinking about how to solve this issue since these "bits" provide good eye candy and look cool. Stay tuned.

 

[Alan15578]

Wow! This reminds me of the time I roomed with Tom Hoelle at a NARAM. I think he entered an Arian that year, and he was doing way too much final assembly in the motel room. Of course his parts were all self made with most of the detailing built in. Thanks for sharing your build, and good luck in the contest.

 

[BABAR]

Cool build.

I gotta wonder, was dull green paint on sale or something during the 50s and 60s in the USSR? I know they also used white, and I have nothing against green, but that’s just the dreariest green I think I have ever seen. Was it the color of Stalin’s teddy bear or something?

It sort of reminds me of Air Force base housing, they all used to be these pastel colors......

 

[GuyNoir]

Sorry to have been slow on this build, but I had other models to get ready for FVR’s contest yesterday. Before that interruption, I made good progress on the strapon boosters.

The strapons consist of two cylindrical pieces, a large cone (the largest single part of the model), and a smaller cone. Here’s the cylindrical pieces:



One section has been rolled and its “shark tooth” connector installed. The other section on the right has an unusual shape consisting of a cylinder and a section with a flat side facing the core stage. (In the real rocket, that flat side makes room for the 4 vernier nozzles that provide the pitch, yaw and roll control.) The bottom two pieces are a reinforcing rear plate and the “pretty” version attached to that flat side I mentioned. I didn’t get the flat sections as nice as I wanted but after an hour fooling with it, I did what I could and moved on. Here are the assembled pieces along with one waiting to get that troublesome flat side finished up:





Now for that big cone. These were relatively straightforward; I needed an 18” piece of a ¾” dowel to preroll them but they turned out nicely:



We attach the large cone to our cylindrical assemblies next:



We roll and attach the small cones. I needed to use some masking tape to hold these in place. The small diameter cones wanted to pop off before the glue dried. When dry, I found one that managed to pop off even with the tape. Note the unsightly white gap.



What to do? I could have cut it off, printed another and started over, but I decided to try something else first. I pulled out my heat gun (used for shrinking plastic RC model covering material), heated up the joint to loosen the glue and pushed the part back into place. When it cooled, the glue dried back up and presto! No more gap! (Ignore the slight imperfection caused by removing the original masking tape holder.)



And finally, here’s what your trash can is going to look like when you build paper models!



Time to start digging up those stuffer tubes I promised early and assemble the core stage.

 

[GuyNoir]

Sorry for the delay in this build thread, but I had to get the model done and flown before the Virtual NARAM flight cutoff on Sunday.

It was time to start the assembly of the collection of fragile paper tubes and transitions that made up the core stage.


The frame we build on is a 9" length of foil lined BT-50, followed by a full length piece of regular BT-50. I chose not to measure all the individual parts, but simply attached them starting at the rear and moving forward until everything was fitted. Only then did I cut the BT-50 to length. A section of BT-70 was used for the chute compartment and attached to the BT-50 with centering rings.



The core stage has a bunch of transitions to fit, which meant beveling the centering rings before gluing the transitions into place. Tedious work, to be sure.


It's starting to take shape.

More to come.

 

[GuyNoir]

The Soyuz has that nice complicated truss work separating the first and second stage. I debated a number of way to do this, and in the end took a simple approach. I backed the paper part with an additional layer of cardstock, cut out all the areas that needed to be open and rolled it into shape, just like all the other tubes. The central BT-50 provided all the strength the model needed.



The third stage assembly was much simpler and went pretty quickly.

 

[GuyNoir]

Each strapon has 4 main engine nozzles and 2 vernier nozzles. Before I started the build, I painted the back side of cardstock with red paint to match the color shown in my scale data packet. These nozzles aren't the smallest I've seen but they're not huge and I was wondering how to hold them tightly rolled while the glue set. I pulled out my hemostats and they worked perfectly!



It took some time to get all 24 nozzles built, but the end result looked great!



The original paper model attached the nozzles in hole cut into the base plate. I decided to follow that process in order to provide a firm attachment.



The end results after final assembly looks quite nice, at least to me.