After several weeks off I finally got a day in the model workshop yesterday, which extended late into the night and several more hours this afternoon.
While I made some progress on the Hood (I count progress in number of parts added in this 432-part model - in this case 22 parts) I made more progress on the Arizona, where I cleaned up the deck tan paint from my mid-build color change, and added a few more pieces of photoetch.
But the giant leap, to borrow a phrase, was on the Saturn V LUT (launch umbilical tower) where I got several things done:
- finished the exterior pipe framework
- finished the internal ladders (well, 4 1/2 out of 5)
- designed, built, painted & installed the bracket for the service arms.
- added detail and detail painted the crane (including the "Colby Crane logo)
One of the things that really helped was using Super Glue for the parts like ladders instead of normal plastic cement. I could assemble, paint and install multiple sections without waiting to dry.
Service arm bracket
I was particularly pleased with the service arm bracket. That's the girder attached to the front of the LUT that in turn has all the service arms attached to it. It consists of two parts, which gave me a chance to try out the design on a smaller piece before tackling the 14" long version.
I sized the parts from photos and pieced it together from angle, rod and strip plastic, then test-fitted the bracket after assembly but before all the detail pieces were added, and it was painted.
The LUT looks terrific in the display case now, and with the
annoying things like structure and ladders out of the way, and the service arm bracket in place, I can move to the final two parts of the tower - the massive external piping, and the service arms.