Another Apollo project - LLRV 1/18 scale

crackerjazz

Sr Member
Hi I'm attempting to this ship. To me it has a Star-Warsy guts-on-the-outside appeal. I'm building the LLRV in its 1964 incarnation - with the caster wheels, pointed (engine rear) cone and more "open" cockpit.



In short, not this:

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But this:
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With Joe Walker at the helm:
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I started by modeling the engine to unfold the basic patterns from and I've been adding to it slowly.

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I've been at it for about a month already, but didn't want to post anything unless I feel that I'm making some progress
Here are some of the buildup shots:

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Hi Vectorzero, joberg, thanks for the encouraging words, guys. Hey Mike, yes it's in Solidworks. I chose 1/18 because
the ship is quite small, and I wanted to put as much detail as I could into the engine which would be more difficult at
smaller scales. 1/18 brings it to about 15 inches long.




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What an awesome subject!!!

I always look forward to your builds and looking forward to your updates on this one.
 
Great Project!

Which drawings do you work with?
Had this on my wish list too, but couldn't find enough references...
 
Hi feek61, that means a great deal, coming from you. Joberg, Mike, thanks - the small rivets along the skirts are pin-pricks, and the bolts along the flanges are styrene rods, inserted and trimmed, something I learned from watching Moska's threads.

Thorst, for the 3-views I blew up the ones from the NASA doc Unconventional, Contrary and Ugly. You'll find two top views there, one of them squished (will need stretching horizontally). The squished one has some extra piping. On the side view the engine profile is not very accurate so I referred to either the photos or the maintenance manual to re-draw the engine.

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Some references:
1. HUGE COLLECTION:
NASA LLRV Lunar Lander Miscellaneous Photos page 3
2. LLRV-2 WITH FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON LLRV PROP
http://www.americanspacecraft.com/pages/lunarmod/llrv2.html
3. BIG REFERENCE PHOTOS:
Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) Photo Collection Large Image Contact Sheet
4. BLUEPRINTS (less detailed than the top/side views from the NASA doc)
Dryden Aircraft Gallery - Blueprints / Reference Images. - C4D Cafe
5. CEILING-HUNG AT DRYDEN:
Lunar Landing Training Vehicle NASA 952
6. UNCONVENTIONAL, CONTRARY AND UGLY (NASA LITERATURE) - has great engine shots; has side and top view drawings
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/LLRV_Monograph.pdf
7. PHOTO CD FROM THREE STOOGES (it says it has 24 hi-res shots - I'm planning to get this):
LLRV from Three Stooges Productions
8. CF700 ENGINE MAINTENANCE MANUAL (NO PHOTOS BUT HAS TECHNICAL DRAWINGS):
Aircraft Manuals Blueprints Aviation Publications Product List
 
Tried my hand at vacuforming the top of that gimbal attachment drum thingy.


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Just need to trim away and get the doughnut. It's too thin, though, at 0.4mm. I'll try using 0.5mm.
 
Hi joberg, EddieL, thanks, guys! Hi Alex, the gray stuff is Apoxie Sculpt. I'm not sure
I like the way it turned out though, and measurement is a bit off, so I might have the plug 3D-printed
instead.

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I'm not sure how it later became like this.
 
This calls for a scale Armstrong figure and a representation of LLRV #1 just before his 1968 incident. I imagine a diorama of Neil walking toward #1, pulling his gloves on and a checklist tucked under one elbow...
 
Hi thorst, thanks Hey P51 - that would make a nice dio!

Tried measuring/estimating the shock strut parts from some photos:
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The Tag Team photos from Chuck Holte were extremely helpful - the label says originals were from Jay Chladek. Hi Jay, wanted you to know how grateful I am.
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I will have to do the shock strut parts again as Solidworks shut down on me after running out of memory and hadn't saved my work - I'm banging my head on the wall.
 
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Well, again, a very simple project under way...NOT:eek:D You really like the challenge of building those very complicated pieces. Love the updates and all of those cool pics:cool
 

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