1/350 Moonlander

[Jeffry Fontaine]

What about applying a piece of thin plastic card stock or thin paper across the problem areas?  Small triangular shapes to reinforce the joints but not enough to obscure the observation windows on the lower part of the sphere.   

[Frank3k]

Rick Lowe over at What If suggested using bass tubes to fix the problems with the re-attached tank supports. Of course, I didn't have the right size on hand, so i ordered a few. The brass tubes worked like a charm:



I think I prefer this to the original, unmodified supports. Here's a fuzzy closeup:



It took very little time to cut the brass tube to length, slightly ream out the holes, snap the old tank supports off, then slip the brass in place. As a bonus, they've straightened out the supports. The brass is just holding things in place, with the tank support glued in. I can adjust the straightness left or right by adjusting the tube positions.

Now on to finishing the rest!

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Excellent!  Now I see where my suggestion was for nought as it was not what I was looking at in the image you were referencing for the problem. 

[Mig Eater]

Nice fix with the bass tubes, it fits the aesthetics of the model too, you wouldn't know it was a fix unless it was pointed out.

[Frank3k]

Slowly approaching the finish line... very slowly. The original design has two wimpy cranes that are supposed to take the astronauts from the "observation deck" to the surface, but other than the crane, the kit provides no obvious way down. The Paragraphics PE set adds two nice elevator cages, but I couldn't see a safe way of getting the astronauts (in their cumbersome suits) from the deck to the elevator. The elevator cages then have to swing out far enough to clear the engine base and landing pads. It just didn't seem like a safe operation all around.

I spent way more time than I'm willing to admit designing a platform that would allow the astronauts to safely step into the elevator and not have to swing widely over the surface just to clear the vehicle structure.

 I also added an expandable airlock to the base of the cargo/habitation module. I spent some time in my CAD program designing the folds... when  I realized that if I printed it on my FDM printer at 0.1mm resolution, the print layer artifacts would be perfect. I also added some internal guide lines and a hatch. Here again, the printer artifacts look like insulation/details.

Both in place. Adding the PE ship railing was a perfect example of CA refusing to work. The CA stuck to everything except the edge of the plastic. It took several attempts (with the help of some accelerator) to get everything to stick. I still have to bend one of the railings back into place. There's a small piece of plastic at the front of the platform (barely visible) that will act as the local controls for the crane. The first crane would be almost directly over the front of the platform:



Here's a closeup of the expandable cargo airlock. I still need to add a smaller platform and the possibly larger cargo crane:



I used some printed 1/350 astronauts to get a scale of this ship. It is just massive; a crew of 50-60 would fit comfortably in the sphere.

[Buzzbomb]

Looking splendid, right amount of detail for the scale to my eye.

Good fix with the brass, seamless to the overall look

[Old Wombat]

The more I see this, the more impressed I am by your attention to detail & your ability to fix sh!t, Frank. Going great guns! 

[Frank3k]

Decals are on and all that's left are a few minor cleanup details. Overall shot:



Besides dust and debris, the crew sphere has two astronauts under the big clear dome (in blue) and one in the smaller dome (in red):



Detail of the crew elevator. I used very thin elastic cord for the elevator line and restraining rope across the entrance; neither is really visible in this picture:



The cargo crane is from a USN ship PE set. The crane control is from an ancient 1/150 Tarantula torpedo boat model - the sprues were repurposed into space ships by a Czech company called Andromeda. Really handy set.

I used 10 astronaut figures; 5 on the crew platform, 3 in the crew elevator, one in the lower cargo hold hatch and one (not in this picture) in the cargo elevator.

[Buzzbomb]

Really is an impressive kit.

I like what you have done with the tweaks and additions.
Lovely work 

[Old Wombat]

Really is an impressive kit.

I like what you have done with the tweaks and additions.
Lovely work 

I second this! 

[GTX_Admin]

 

[FAAMAN]

Great build there!!!

[Kerick]

Lots of imaginative problem solving on this one!
It looks awesome!

[Frank3k]

I'm calling this one finished! Despite its size, this was an absolutely fun model to build. All of the issues were self inflicted - mainly my rushing ahead and gluing some structural supports before getting all the other supports and structures lined up properly. Most of the parts will press together firmly and cleanly, so there's no need to rush and glue.

Very enjoyable build and highly recommended. Plus you get spares (many or a few, depending on the version built). The Paragrafix PE set was a joy to work with and you get spares there, too.





I used both dishes from the Paragrafix PE set - the open frame to communicate to the Earth, the other to communicate with relay satellites as they pass overhead, or with explorers on the surface:



The astronaut at the far right may be afraid of heights, because he's holding on to one of the support beams:



Let's play "find the supervisor" - closeup of the guys going down to the surface. The elevator is free swinging, so even the slightest breeze makes it rotate. I had to wait for the right moment to photograph it. In fact, I just noticed that it swung all the way around one of the beams - ignore that:



Lower cargo section with cargo foreman. There's another astronaut in the elevator:





RANT section
"The Spaceship Handbook" gives a total height of the cargo ship at 160ft/48.8m with the landing gear and central leg retracted. This matches published data elsewhere. With the landing gear and central leg extended, the ship would have been 210.8 ft/64.3m. In 1/350 scale, the landed ship should be 183.61mm tall. It was hard to measure properly, but the completed model measures between 250mm and 260mm tall - which (averaging) would make it around 1/250 scale.

I scaled one of the kit images to true 1/350 scale. pretty obvious difference:



Typical Pegasus; they have a very hard time designing kits to match the stated scale, even when the "real" vehicle's size is easy to find with minimal effort. The worst example is the space ship from "When Worlds Collide", which is listed as 1/350 but is closer to 1/500. No excuse here, either - the actual measurements were clearly displayed on the screen for 20-30 seconds.

RANT off

I'm declaring this one as a larger, heavier cargo ship used to build bases and long duration stays near the lunar poles. That's why the Earth pointing antenna is aimed at to the horizon.

Thanks for all the helpful comments and for following along!

[Old Wombat]

Over sized is better in undersized! easier to come to some arrangement via Kit's 2nd Law (Any discrepancies can be rectified with a decent backstory - or words to that effect  ).


Fantastic result, Frank! 



PS: The supervisor is doing what all supervisors on a worksite do, standing around with his/her hands on his/her hips doing nothing. 

[GTX_Admin]

 

[apophenia]

PS: The supervisor is doing what all supervisors on a worksite do, standing around with his/her hands on his/her hips doing nothing. 

Well, to be fair, interfering with potential progress on the site doesn't just happen 

Brilliant work, Frank    And good backstory rationale for the scale discrepancy!

[Robomog]

That's one brilliant build Frank, I'm well impressed 

Mog
>^-.-^<

[Frank3k]

Thanks Mog,
 I posted this over at WhatIf, but forgot to post it here.

Years ago, I saw a Von Braun "Round the Moon" ship on Shapeways:



It was in 1/400 scale, so I asked the designer if he could rescale it to 1/350 and he did. I bought a copy and quickly realized how delicate it was. I managed to prep and paint it with only minor damage (the radio dish and the mercury boiler snapped off) but the white primer just didn't look right. I put it away for a few years and recently, I tried to remove the acrylic primer with denatured alcohol. The age of the print (6-7 years) or something else softened the resin plastic and barely touched the primer. I let it dry out and the print hardened again... but in the process, the frame never straightened out. I think they may have separated in some spots as well



This is accurately scaled (you can see a ghostly astronaut right below it) - compared to the Pegasus kit, it's the length of the cargo module.

I guess the only option I have is to use the drawings in the "Spaceship Handbook" and CAD up a version. I'll make it so it's easier to paint and maybe not as delicate (the resin Shapeways used is much more brittle than modern hobbyist resins). I just started the CAD work and it's moving along. Of course, the hard part (besides detailing) is breaking it down into reasonably easy to print sections.

[Dr. YoKai]

The Lander came out beautifully. Your knack for detail never ceases to amaze.
I'll look forward to your Around the Moon ship.

[Frank3k]

Thanks, Craig. I've come along on the Around the Moon ship, but still have a long way to go: