Puttering in the Study

Apollo Saturn V Launcher Umbilical Tower (LUT) - post #2 - LUT base detailing

This weekend was the second stage of detailing of the LUT base.  The first stage was addition of the correctly spaced vertical beams on the outside of the base, as well as the top of bottom flanges.

Yesterday I added the rest of the detail shown on LUT #1 in various photos (the best of which is to the right.

Engine chamber

I detailed the engine chamber a couple of weeks ago, but yesterday discovered that the supports for the launch release clamps were way to large, so I removed them (they're in the foreground) and built new ones the correct (smaller) size.  They're now too small to sit the model Saturn V on - I won't be able to place it until the extensions projecting above the launcher deck (the launch release clamps) are done.  But they're the right size now.

Base side detailing

The first round of detail - the vertical supports - were added based on the original construction blueprints of the LUT.  But in use the units picked up a lot more detail - doors and additional bracing.  Of course there is an enormous amount of piping as well, but that's a contrasting color, so it will be added later.  The immediate goal is to get everything that will be airbrushed gray done now so I can move to the tower levels.

There were three LUTs, all helpfully labelled 1, 2 or 3, and I have chosen LUT 1 for my model - it's the one that launched among others Apollos 8 and 11.  One of the main reasons is because the photographic coverage of Apollo 11 was the most extensive, so I have the best chance of accurately reproducing it.  

The white sections above are the sheet and strip plastic additions to represent this external detail.

Fixed support interfaces

The most difficult piece of detailing is the six "fixed support interfaces" around the perimeter of the LUT.  As shown on this photo of LUT 3 as reworked to accommodate the space shuttle (as well as the drawing to the right, where they are labelled "mount mechanism", and the drawing above of a similarly "docked" LUT, they are locations which support the LUT when it is left at the launch pad by the crawler/transporter.  They had a complex (to model) structure on the exterior of the LUT base.

As I doubt I'll ever get a crawler built, I'll probably make smaller replicas of the mounts and use those as the permanent stand for the model.  Only reason I haven done it already is that I don't have the right combination of rod plastic shapes to model them.

Launch release clamps

Finally, the engine chamber has four launch release clamps , which hold the rocket down until it has generated enough thrust to safely begin its ascent. They are the parts in green on the photo of the first Saturn V, the unmanned Apollo 4, but by the time of the manned missions the bright yellow and green were the same gray as to the launcher base, with hoods painted with white ablative paint.   They are shown in action on the attached still of Apollo 11 lifting off after the clamps and support masts have detached and swung away.

As the clamps provide the actual base that the Saturn V sits on, they're an important part of the model for structural reasons as well.

They're an unusual shape, and had to be modeled by a unusually shaped plastic box with a base, center piece (with two braces) and four sides of thinner plastic cut in various shapes.  The first photo shows the clamps before the fronts and backs were glued on and the sanding and puttying stage began, and loosely positioned in their final locations.

They will actually have two more parts added - the upper sections shown in the photo that make up the actual "clamp" and the protective hood, but I decided to add those after I have completed the bases and confirmed that they hold the Saturn V model straight and level.

Once that's done - and I have added the shielded stairwell (which the above photo of LUT 3 shows is still there) as well as a triangular blast shield that protects the elevators - I'll be ready to start laying out the different levels of the tower.

Apollo Saturn V Launcher Umbilical Tower (LUT) - post #1 - Launcher assembly

Well, it's official.  I am after the great white whale of baby boomer modeling - a scratchbuilt Launcher Umbilical Tower to go with my 1/200 Saturn V.

After a couple of weeks collecting photos, plans, modeling supplies and planning out how exactly I'm doing this, I started today, setting up my writing desk in the workshop to draw up plans, and Daddy's old drafting desk at my side for references.

I've been able to locate most of the original LUT blueprints online, and together with the many photos of the actual LUTs and photos of models, I was able to come up with a plan that I think I can pull off at this scale.

Step 1: Assembling the Launcher 

The base of the LUT is a two story box that sits 21 feet off the ground referred to as the "launcher".  I drew up plans for the launcher in 1/200 scale by taking measurements from the original plans and converting them to 1/200 scale.  Once I had the dimensions, I came up with an exploded view of the launcher as I planned to build it in order to gets a parts list of the various pieces it would need. 

One of my favorite things about modeling unusual projects like this is learning new skills trying to figure out how to solve problems.  One of the first problems I ran into was cutting such long straight pieces.  Working mainly with 1/700 ships I never deal with long pieces, and am almost always using only .020 sheet plastic.  For this larger modeling, however, I went to .040 thickness, which was still too thin I discovered, but I still couldn't cut it cleanly.  But I quickly learned that I could use my woodworking clamps to set up a sort of a jig to let me cut long, straight pieces.

I assembled the launcher frame upside down to ensure the top was level, then added braces as I discovered how flimsy the .040 sheet plastic is. But by the time the top and a partial bottom (which is all I'm planning) were in place, it was pretty rigid. I began puttying and sanding tonight, and was able to get the first coat of primer on before bed.

Tomorrow I hope to finish sanding and get a final primer coat on, then spend the afternoon adding fine detail, and maybe begin working on the jigs for the tower, which has eighteen identically-sized platforms with a variety of pieces of equipment on each.  

Most modelers don't have their nervous breakdown until they start detailing the platforms.  See the photo of a finished model (in 1/96 or 1/72) below to see what I mean.  Eventually the tower will be swarming with pipes and arms, and one of the difficult decisions will be when to stop.

Stealing Lincoln's Body - Thomas Craughwell

Had a great trip to Springfield, Illinois last month, where the boys and I hit all the Lincoln sites.  One of the reasons for the visit was stories Grayson had told me about attempts to steal Lincoln's body from his tomb in Springfield.  So the day before we were to visit the tomb I got this book and speed-read it.  I was really glad I did because I recognized everything right away when I got there.  Not to put too fine a point on it, but I knew where the bodies were buried.  Literally.  And it isn't obvious.

Visitors now enter the tomb from the front and walk around to the rear to see the marker for Lincoln's resting place but it wasn't always that way.  

Originally Lincoln's body was in a casket inside a stone sarcophagus that sat in that same location as shown in the antique image to the right - but oriented the opposite direction towards the door Parker is walking away from, and visitors saw it from the outside from that location.  (Yes, he's hunting Pokemon. Somehow I think Abe would have really liked that).  That door had metal bars and a lock, similar to what visitors see for George Washington at Mount Vernon, but that was all there was protecting Lincoln's casket from tomb robbers.  Thus when they came in 1876, they succeeded in breaking open the tomb and hauling the casket halfway out before being surprised and beating a hasty retreat.

What happened after that beggars belief, but the eventual result - which took 25 years - was that Lincoln was buried 15 feet below the original above-ground tomb, with the grave back-filled with concrete, and the marble sarcophagus just marks the spot.  Visitors now come to see it from within the building from the front, and the original entrance is now a stained glass door - which you can see behind the tomb and behind Parker.

I knew it would just kill me to learn all this after I was there so I stayed up Saturday night till midnight so I'd know what I was looking at.  very, very glad I did.

 

Commander in Chief: FDR's Battle with Churchill, 1943 (FDR at War) - Nigel Hamilton

This is the second volume of Hamilton's FDR at War trilogy where he attempts to tell the story of FDR's war leadership from FDR's perspective, calling into question large chunks of the conventional wisdom that assigned Churchill a more dominant role in determining war strategy (or at least not noting that he was opposed to the eventual war-winning strategy).  I thought Mantle of Command was terrific, but was a little disappointed in this volume, although that's likely because I heard most of it while distracted driving and didn't get the full weight of what Hamilton was saying.

 

But the principal theme was clear and justifies the subtitle of "FDR's Battle With Churchill, 1943" - Churchill deliberately suppressed in his memoirs his continuous opposition to Roosevelt's insistence on a cross-channel invasion throughout 1943.  Despite having agreed as much in Casablanca in January, Churchill fought repeatedly for a Mediterranean-centered strategy, advocating invasions of Sicily, Italy, Greece, the Balkans, and the Eastern Med - anywhere but France.  Roosevelt agreed to an invasion of Sicily and later to limited operations in Italy, but refused to agree to anything else, understanding that Germany could not be defeated in peripheral battles, and thus setting the stage for the successful D-Day invasion in 1944.  

 

The book also goes into great detail about the vision FDR had for the postwar power structure - something that Churchill was completely uninterested in, since he knew FDR has no place in it for a reconstructed British Empire.  More importantly, FDR has the State Department develop that structure so that the Allied powers eventually became the United Nations.  You won't find this in Churchill's memoirs, but it is well-supported by the private, contemporaneous  writings by, among others FDR's son, the prime minister of Canada, and British and American military leaders.