Saturn 1B scale question
 

I'm down to the short strokes on an Estes #7251 Saturn 1B. I've wrapped the SM with a Sandman silver decal, thew RCS units are on, and the umbilical tunnel of the CM is in the correct place.

What I DON'T know is: what is the correct rotational position of the SM onto the blow-molded LEM fairing? Back when the LEM fairings were just cardstock and had no real surface features it didn't really matter, but now with the surface details on the blow-molded LEM fairing I'd like to get it right for correct scaleocity(?)

Thank you!

Alway's Rockets of the World should set you straight. I'm at work or I'd look. Best I can do from here is throw a few pics of Apollo 7 at you.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/...sc-68pc-182.jpg
https://s.yimg.com/aah/mcmahanphoto...to-print-29.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e3/f9/e0/...d1ad093fb20.jpg
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/gYUA...Q9Vx/s-l400.jpg

I checked ROTW, but since all (4) quadrants aren't the same on the blow-molded LEM fairing I'm still not sure of the orientation.

Without changing the rotation of the CM/LES assembly atop the SM, I've rotated the SM to (4) different quadrants of the LEM fairing. Each of the (4) quadrants is slightly different in surface features--so which is the correct position: A, B, C, or D?

Thank you.

Ok....before I go one, I'll admit I had a rather potent Magarita so maybe I don't under stand or what but maybe these instructions might help.....?????

No, it doesn't really help but thank you. Salute!

Is the LEM shroud the same as the one on the SV? If not, never mind. If so, this still may not help!

Anyhow, I looked at photos of my Sirius 1:64 Saturn V build, and this one shows the umbilical thing lining up with a hatch thing on the LEM shroud. I don't have access to my instructions at the moment, IIRC they have fairly detailed drawings on how things line up.

Now back to my Great Lakes IPA.

How about this?

Yeah, how about that drawing I made, that is on my website? :)
http://www.georgesrockets.com/GRP/P.../Saturn-IB.html



Yes, you can tell the orientation of the CM and SM relative to the LM Shroud in that drawing, as well as roll patterns and so forth.

For goodness sake, don't use some other kit as a reference for how something should be, unless no other source exists. Some are more accurate than others, some have significant errors. Otherwise, you can blindly copy an error.

The Mercury spacecraft in the 1/35 Centuri/Estes kits, shows the "shingles" laid out in 18 radial locations. It's wrong, real thing had 24 radial locations (that is, for a given row of shingles around the capsule, spaced 24 all around, not 18).

I found that out in a very frustrating way. I wanted to "map out" as well las measure a lot of details on a real Mercury capsule in Huntsville. I used the Centuri capsule to help draw up the basic maps, with the 18 radial locations. Prepared with measuring tools, pen, notebook and pre-printed patterns to sketch in details and measurements, I got confused when I got 180 degrees around the capsule according to my drawings, but still had 3 horizontal shingle locations to go to get to the 180 degree mark on the real thing! There were two roll jets on each side, 180 apart, and were my reference points for 180 degrees. With my pre-printed patterns all screwed up due to following the kit's locations, it was a huge mess to try to get things right from that point. I did try anyway, but would have had to go back sometime to try to be sure I got it right (this was around 1984 and I did not go up to Huntsville very often. Later I tried to work out a way to actually make those shingle patterns, and my experiments failed. So I abandoned doing a scratchbuilt Mercury Redstone as a result and moved over to Jupiter-C/Juno-I.

Anyway, that attempt to map out the Mercury was a bitter pill to swallow. And my "Poster Child" for not basing a scale model, on someone ELSE's scale model. I was shocked to realize it had that error. There may be less than a dozen people in this hobby who know about that error in that capsule whose mold was made over 51 years ago.

Thank you George, that drawing is quite definitive. I also like the fin and lower shroud paint patterns, which I did manage to get right--but not on the first try.