Subject:
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Re: Rollout of the New Space Shuttle Intrepid
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space, lugnet.build
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Date:
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Wed, 17 Jan 2001 09:32:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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260 times
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In lugnet.space, J. Spencer Rezkalla writes:
>
> Bryan Hodges wrote:
> >
> > Sweeeeeet... that is a very cool model. I hope you'll make the fuel tank
> > and booster rockets, as well as a launch pad and a maintenance rack...
>
> Not surprisingly I have thought about the above things. When you've made
> it this far, funny things pop into your head :) The orbiter itself has
> been constructed with reinforced external tank mounting points.
Suuuuuure... as long as the noose is around your neck, you might as well
jump off the horse.... right? :) I've been that far before.. but on MUCH
smaller "big" projects - big to me, I guess. :)
> There are a couple of things stopping me. First, building the orbiter
> was a bit expensive so I am not sure I am ready to ante up the funds
> necessary to do the boosters and the tank right away. The ET would have
> to be white too - I don't think you can get brown bricks in sizable
> quantities.
Actually, as I recall - the first few launches in the early 80's USED a
white tank. They stopped painting it after like launch 2 or 3 because of the
cost and weight savings, I believe. Why paint something that's going to just
be broken up into a billion bits on reentry from space? :)
> Secondly, I am not sure I can build a set of mounting
> hardware strong enough to support the weight of the orbiter when it is
> piggybacked to the tank. My guess is the shuttle weighs somewhere around
> ten pounds. Finally with the stack in an upright position, I am not sure
> how to balance it without some extra fictitious supports. AFAIK the real
> shuttle is entirely supported by its three attachment points to the tank
> and nothing else. The solid boosters are bolted to the pad to keep the
> entire stack from tumbling over.
That would definately be a LEGO engineering feat if you could figure it out..!
> As for the pad, well in proper minifig scale the shuttle crawler and
> mobile launch pad would occupy most of the area of my table. The tower
> and service structure would be even larger. That would be a colossal
> project.
Very much so! Considering the height above and below the Orbiter when at the
pad... I can't hardly fathom that many bricks.
> One thing I may attempt is to do an minifig scale version of the
> International Space Station which I would assemble in "real time" (i.e.
> a new component every couple of months instep with NASA) This would at
> least make the cost of such a project bearable since it would spread
> out over five years.
Now that's an awesome idea!
> I am already playing around with a Unity node module. The biggest
> problem with building the station is the large footprint it would
> occupy, as well as trying to figure out how to build large thin solar
> arrays that don't sag. Maybe I could cheat and use black cardboard
> instead of black lego plates.
On something like that, I think a little 'cheating' is ok. I mean, there are
some things LEGO just wasn't meant to do...
Regardless of what venture you take on next, this is a VERY impressive model.
Joel Jacobsen
http://home.columbus.rr.com/jacobsen/html/Main/lego%20creations.htm
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Rollout of the New Space Shuttle Intrepid
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| (...) Not surprisingly I have thought about the above things. When you've made it this far, funny things pop into your head :) The orbiter itself has been constructed with reinforced external tank mounting points. There are a couple of things (...) (26 years ago, 12-Jan-01, to lugnet.space, lugnet.build)
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