"If the wraps are aligned (as molded) and shown in the instructions, the vertical half round wood tunnels may not line up between the Inter Tank and Inter Stage vacu-form wrap locations!"
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That description is a little confusing. The dowels will line up if built as is and by the instructions, but most of the interstage wrap will end up rotated 1/4 turn to the left.
Notice the illustration below - At the bottom is a tall black rectangle, directly above it should be the white rectangle.
To fix the interstage wrap you'd have to cut off the low section down the lowest horizontal recess line. Then line up the tunnel (half round dowel) positions with the lower wrap before using the spray adhesive. Spray and glue the low, cut off section.
Spray the upper (remaining 2/3) of the wrap. Line up the umbilical connectors. The upper part of the interstage wrap will end up rotated to the right, 1/4 turn.
There was no addendum in the instructions I received.
Notice the tunnel top on the lower left. On the upper part of the wrap, the single upper tunnel should end up above and to the right of the top of the lower left side tunnel.
There was no addendum in the instructions I received. I'll be building it as is with the umbilical connections and tunnels where they are. Unless you are a true bolt counter, I doubt anybody will notice. But as it is it isn't really correct.
EDIT: Without cutting and rotating the interstage wrap - The black paint vertical band won't end up as shown in the picture shown below left. The four Ullage motors will end up a little more to the right, not as close to the edge of the vertical black bands. One of the vertical UNITED STATES decals will have to be set over to the right, to the side of an upper tunnel.
Here's a great illustration of the wrap orientation from the Apogee Saturn V instructions.
Here's the kit interstage wrap glued in place.
When setting down the wraps, sight down the tube to be sure the tunnel tops and bottoms are in line.
You may get end lifts after the wraps have been sitting for a few hours.
TIP: Sneak some CA glue and press the ends back down. Have Q-tips handy to pick up any excess glue before it dries. Pick up the excess glue, the CA will be hard to sand when it is dry and hard.
No time recorded on this post,
These are observations.
Did you trim around all those bits at the top with a hobby knife, or scissors? I found sharp scissors work pretty well on this thin plastic, but I used a hobby knife for this part.
ReplyDeleteI should have given a bit more space. I tried to trim them right up to the edges and got some jagged cuts.
Hi Daniel,
DeleteI used a X-Acto with a new #11 blade. I use my break-off blade knife 95% of the time, but this required something with more control.
I always cut the wraps wide, then trim them down after some test wraps. I got most all of them very close.
Not sure if this is the right place. The 18-and-change-inches from the bottom mark in the instruction, is this to the top of the interstage wrap? If it is the bottom, that looks like too little distance to the upper wrap. Mine has fallen about 1/16 to 1/8 below that mark and it looks high to me. Thoughts? I'm thinking a specified distance to the bottom of the interstage wrap would be best. The fin wrap has a distinct line for it's top and the intertank wrap has a distinct line to it's bottom.
ReplyDeleteHi Unknown,
DeleteI wish the positioning lines were at the bottom of the wraps. All of the lines are meant for the TOP of the corrugated areas on the wraps. The instructions aren't really clear on this. The first wrap is easily figured out, but the others - not so much.
On the interstage wrap, the top of the corrugation goes to the line. The raised tunnels at the top of the interstage wrap overhang the pencil lines at the 18 3/4" mark.
Ah...
DeleteSo it is not that my interstage wrap is too high, my intertank wrap might be too high. I put the bottom on the line... going to have to remeasure but no way I'm taking it off... or am I... I'm not at home but maybe it is OK. Just a little disconnect between the decal image on the cover v. the decal on the finished model. The box cover seems to show a lot of white space above and below the "UNITED STATES" where as holding the decal over the gap looks like less than a letter spacing above and below.