1/15th scale Space Shuttle

[dupes]

This is amazing work. That thing is HUGE!

[mach7]

WOW!
Just WOW!

Great work!

[Steve Zuleski]

That's gonna be a ton of tiles, woof!

[406 Silverado]

This is all highly enjoyable to watch. Talk about large scale!!! Sheesh!!!!

[bradley25mm]

Nov 4, 2023 10:47:50 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

That's gonna be a ton of tiles, woof!

When I told a friend of mine I was going to tile it, he gave me some advice. Look at the process like an apple, one bite at a time. Lucky for me, I’m building Atlantis. A large portion of the top and sides are the thermal blankets.  

[406 Silverado]

That's about the way to look at it too Christopher. This project continues to "WOW" me. Looking forward to the next update.

[Tobi]

That's something you don't get to see every day. Thanks for sharing.

[adt70hk]

Just had a catch-up. That is some amazing work. Love the ends of the rockets!

[handiabled]

Tiles or thermal blankets it looks either way you have a lot of work ahead. Really enjoying watching this come together!

[bradley25mm]

The beaver tail is done being tilted. I just completed putting the last of the tiles on the vertical stabilizer. I’ve decided to use one thickness for the entire project.(.015). It bends east. This weekend, the Mongoose and I are going to permanently attach the wings. We also have to drill the holes for the thrusters.

[bradley25mm]

Used a laser level to plot out the thruster holes.

[dean48ws]

The amount of work in this is staggering, not to mention the size of it but what an experience!

[406 Silverado]

I really enjoy following this project Christopher. I almost forgot about the "other" Chris helping you out on its construction. The cool factor is WAY high on this.

[Steve Zuleski]

I'm likin this!

[handiabled]

I cannot imagine ever going through that much sheet styrene EVER! This is epic!

[themongoose]

Nov 4, 2023 10:47:50 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

That's gonna be a ton of tiles, woof!

We roughed it out at about 25,000   

[themongoose]

We did the major thrust nozzles today. Wait till you see these. They add so much to it, kinda like the tiles and blankets do! Wings are on with automotive panel adhesive so they ought to be SOLID. Chris’ buddy Miles designed a stand for it so the wings will have the mounts on them. Look for pics upcoming…

[chromdome35]

I do not think the correct adjective exists to adequately describe how cool this is. What a huge shout-out to your skills for you to be asked to restore this. Are you attracting a lot of attention in public due to how big your head must be swelled??? Mine sure would be. Congrats, can't wait to see the finished project.

[bradley25mm]

We had in mind what tasks we wanted to get done while Chris was here. To do this, we needed a way to plot out where things were going to be placed on the orbiter. Our friend Myles, enlarged some drawings to the size we needed. We were able to cut these out as templates to attach to the orbiter. That was step 1. Step 2 was making sure everything was plum and level. We used the laser level before we started to cut any holes.
The orbiter was originally setting on big foam blocks. We removed these, and cut wood blocks to go under the nose and wings. The only flat spot were we could put a torpedo lever was the bottom of the orbiter where the beaver tail attaches. Once that was done, we shot a laser line on that spot. We used wood shims to make our adjustments until the line was perfectly straight.
After that, it was looking at photos of Atlantis to see the lay out of things.

[bradley25mm]

I’m getting all the small things out of the way so I can start working on the orbiter.

[mach7]

How many times can I say WOW!

That is some amazing work!!!!!!!

The Reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) leading edge of the wing has an interesting shape,
It looks like the model has a more rounded leading edge. Are you guys going to try and replicate
that? Its a small detail and potentially would require a lot of work. On a normal scale model
it would be insignificant, but on this huge model it might be worth looking into.

GREAT WORK gentlemen!

[armornutii]

Thanks for bringing us along on this epic restoration. I for one wish I was closer so I could crash your party and see it in person. Simply amazing guys. WAY BEYOND MY MEEGER SKILLS .

[Steve Zuleski]

Teamwork is making this beast a Beauty! Looks like they picked the right guy for the job.

[themongoose]

“ I’m getting all the small things out of the way so I can start working on the orbiter.”

🤣 are you allowed to use the word small anywhere in this thread?

[themongoose]

This was the ultimate in “chain-drilling” 😂

[bradley25mm]

Nov 12, 2023 8:42:10 GMT -5 mach7 said:

How many times can I say WOW!

That is some amazing work!!!!!!!

The Reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) leading edge of the wing has an interesting shape,
It looks like the model has a more rounded leading edge. Are you guys going to try and replicate
that? Its a small detail and potentially would require a lot of work. On a normal scale model
it would be insignificant, but on this huge model it might be worth looking into.

GREAT WORK gentlemen!

       Thank you very much for the compliments. As a group, we appreciate them very much. We’re so glad that we can share this with everybody else.
     As far as the leading edge of the wings, the museum has limited what modifications we can make on the orbiter. I wanted to try and get some new engine, bells, fabricated, but they wanted to keep everything as original as possible.
       If we HAD to do this, I have no idea where we would start. I’m so glad we don’t have to.😂😂. One thing that Chris and I noticed yesterday when we were pre-drilling the holes, we noticed some parts of the shuttle or very thick, but other parts were very thin. Thanks for having a look. And more importantly, thanks for the feedback.
       

[bradley25mm]

Nov 12, 2023 0:03:09 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

I do not think the correct adjective exists to adequately describe how cool this is. What a huge shout-out to your skills for you to be asked to restore this. Are you attracting a lot of attention in public due to how big your head must be swelled??? Mine sure would be. Congrats, can't wait to see the finished project.

Thanks for the reply. I’d like to think, as a group, we are some humble Model builders. It has been a collaborative effort from the start. Four of us total. Myself, the other Chris, Harry, and Myles. Chris’s skill set covers a broad range of areas.  He’s the head mathematician on the project. (He also helps me keep my sanity).Harry is a car builder extraordinaire. He makes all kinds of custom decals. He’s done a tremendous amount of kit designing.  He pre-scored every sheet of polystyrene for the entire project.

[bradley25mm]

Myles printed all the full scale templates, redrew all the graphics need for the project, and designed the wood base that the shuttle will sit on

[Steve Zuleski]

Most excellent!

[bradley25mm]

Well, the vertical stabilizer is just about done. My buddy Chris came up with the idea of doing a white wash on the black tiles. That’s the last step to do. Each panel is a piece of athletic tape. I clean the surface really well before applying each shape. I let it sit overnight. The next day I gave everything a coat of Woodland scenic glue. After it was completely dry, I took 400 grit, sandpaper, and knock down any high spots. I then painted it with Tamiya fine white primer. After it was dry, I picked out panels to paint different shades of white.
Now we can devote all of our time to the orbiter. Thanks for having a look.

Christopher