50th Anniversary Moon Landing Saturn V 1/72 Dragon Models

[Bigfoot57]

Hello everybody yes I’m still about not done much over the past year way to much going on to do any serious modelling but with this lockdown in place I’ve started to build a 1/72 scale Dragon Models Saturn V oh dear missing lots of detail and wrong in many places never mind here’s what I’ve done so far
1st off a view inside the box and the sprues next off the main engine assembly and 1st added item namely the injector baffles to each engine these were made from a photo from the net then suitably enlarged and printed and cut out then stuck to the inside of the engines
After this the engines were given their 1st initial paint scheme then glued onto the bottom of stage then given a more realistic paint scheme
After doing this comes the next missing items namely the support struts from the outer engine fairings these were made from tooth picks and spare sprue then painted to finish them off

More to follow shortly

Regards

Colin

[boatman]

VERY intresting Colin Ian is also building one be nice to see who finishes first
chris

[Bigfoot57]

1/72 Saturn V part 2
With engine bottom section completed I next move onto the inside of the engine compartment and constructed a pair of bracing struts these may not be totally accurate but they are better than nothing which is how Dragon supplied it
These were made by using a circular card base and a side panel then the bracing struts were added to the top then whole thing was put inside the engine stage of the rocket base
Next off was an initial design in paper of the turbo pumps and pipe work seen here to scale before construction began
So next the base housings of the turbo pumps were constructed again from card they have now been painted and I’m waiting for some additional bits from eBay to finish them off
So to the point where I am now that is adding detail to the top of the fuel tank dome as it is missing everything so first off come the feeds to the fuel and oxidiser as you can see bits of cards and pins have been used construct the details needed
That’s it for now will keep you updated as the build progresses

Regards

Colin

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V part 3
Well here’s what I did over the weekend completely scrapped the fuel tank top and started from scratch also did the initial parts of the turbo impellers and fuel management controls for the 1st stage engines
Nothing drastic just some card cut and glued into a wedge shape then painted and a control box made in the same way
One of the photos shows the engine impeller boxes laid out roughly in the bottom stage just above the actual engines I’m still waiting for additional items to arrive to be able to finalise the 1st stage and move on upwards to the interstage and then the second stage which looks to be a lot more detail to ba added as before

Regards

Colin

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V build part 4

Busy weekend just gone a lot of the bits and pieces of scratch build came together enabling me to finish the internal structure of the 1st stage off from the engines section to the top of the fuel tank
Normally this would be hidden in most kits as the 1st stage is moulded as a single length unit with just the engine bells at one and the lox tank at the top prior to the interstage unit being fitted on top
Dragon for all its failings has split the 1st stage into 4 lengths thus enabling me to show each unit separately and reasonably detailed so my next part will be the lox section anyway here’s the build so far
The parts used include card to build the base units 6mm dowel for the centre piping drinking straws for the outer piping the only thing I couldn’t come up with is how to create circular balls to represent the various tanks other than rolling balls of silver foil of various sizes adding or removing layers until the required size is achieved not very scientific but as I said the best I could come up with
Anyone know of a device similar to a round bullet press with variable sizes and able to crunch foil into the required shape and size but without melting metal to achieve it

Regards

Colin

[papa 695]

VERY intresting Colin Ian is also building one be nice to see who finishes first
chris

That will be Colin :tongue-out2:

[papa 695]

Looking good Colin, a lot better detail than the kit I’m doing.

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V build part 5
All the scratch building and associated work has achieved this so far next come the next section including the lox tank and associated piping etc so here’s what I have so far needs a bit of cleanup around the joints and I will also need to be building supporting structure to allow the rocket to be laid down as in the Johnson Space Centre which is what I’m basing this kit on

Regards

Colin

[boatman]

HI Colin lovely work on that big Saturn of what I can see of it could you please put your pics on full size as on windows 10 even when I hit the button to bring the pic up big I get a pic cut off an cannot enjoy your work on the model cheers great work
chris

[Bigfoot57]

Chris full size pictures as requested I hope

Regards

Colin

[boatman]

HI Again Colin many thanks yes that's more like it now I can sit an study the pics an enjoy cheers
chris

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V part 6
Started to assemble the stages and paint the exterior using a length of thread like a plumb bob to align the stripes up to be painted also designed and built another tank bottom using one of the supplied as a template this will fit into the bottom of the 2nd part of the 1st stage replicating the bottom end cap of the lox tank I used the top tank end cap as a template
This was then constructed using wire to create a skeleton which I then glued card on from the inside its not perfect but will suffice if it comes out like the previous
Still loads to do such as all the trunking along the sides and the many access hatch’s and covers all missing from this kit and given its scale it should have been at least moulded if not supplied as separate pieces


Regards
Colin

[Mini Me]

Coming together nicely Colin. Rick H.

[Bigfoot57]

Saturn V build part 7

Hello again sorry for the lateness of this continuation but I have had to find and locate a drawing program learn how to use it and finally produce a scaled printout of the parts required so see the pictures below
1st off cut out cardboard strips mixed up the paint colour painted them then added vertical part of the i beam to 2 strips to form a complete capital I beam which were then glued into the rocket stage in 8 equally space sections ready for the arcs to attached to them
Next found and downloaded and installed a vector drawing program calked Isketch which is freeware and almost on par with adobes expensive offering anyway after installing had to learn how to use it to produce the internal structures of my build
So here is the resulting drawing now in word ready for printing I use words import pictures option as it is easier the size the object and print it than using the designing program
After that the images are cut out discarding the black area and then fitted as arcs into the interior of the stage
Finally the end pieces are added to finish off this part of the build next will come some more internal junction boxes etc this is price you pay for showing the rocket in its disassembled form as at either Johnson Space Centre or KSC much more to follow

Regards

[papa 695]

Some great work