Gern's Pegasus Mercury 9

[yak face]

Maybe the building is in the distance..... :tears-of-joy:

It will be when that rocket fires up!!

[Fernando N]

Neat modifications to the control tower Dave:thumb2:

[papa 695]

Just seen this one Dave, great idea ad start.

[Mini Me]

Nice progress Dave. Rick H.

[john i am]

Nice one Dave great work so far. You have my full attention as I'm sure I have the exact same kit buried away somewhere in the stash.

[Gern]

Three days! Three days I've spent carefully scratching machinery for the workshops and stuff for the control room ... and how much of it can you see? Naff all! That's how much you can see! To be fair though, the figures I've put in the control room are too tall, so they can't see out unless they're sitting down and I ain't given 'em no seats! At least the outside looks better for some additions. Not sure what I'm going to do with the rather silly refuelling thingies provided in the kit, they may get used for something but it won't include the fuel line - read electrical cable - supplied.

I've put a couple of pics propped up so you can see that I have put something inside - even if you can't see what they are.

Got to do some detail painting of the outside bits, and I've missed a bit with the main colour, but I'm going to start on the rocket - at least all the bits on that are big enough to see.

[Mini Me]

Nice detailing Dave, even if you can't see it with the block house in place.....at least us small scalers know it's there. Looking forward to the Rocket assembly....I'm sure you have a few tricks up your sleeve. PCO sir.
Rick H.

[Gern]

I'm sure you have a few tricks up your sleeve. PCO sir.
Rick H.

I hope so Rick!

There's a small rocket pod which attaches to the top of the main booster rocket. 7 parts OK? Two fuselage halves, three fins, entry hatch and jet nozzle right? Easy peasy so no need to consult the instructions right? Less than 30 minutes it's all done, although I may drill out the cockpit windows (they're small anough to fill with Kristal Klear so no need to cut clear plastic).



Compared to the building (the gap around the entry hatch is meant to be there although it's really big. I'll probably fill it with white putty).



Here's the rub. For some completely obscure reason, the locating tabs on the fins are all moulded at different angles, one straight, one left and one right. You can just about see it here



Of course, what that means is that it won't simp[ly sit in place on to of the main booster 'cos the angled tabs won't fit into the angled slots! I've had to use a bit of white tak to hold this roughly in place so you can see the problem



Only the Gods know why Pegasus did something so stupidly complicated. Three fins, three straight locating tabs and no problems - the thing would just drop into place. The way they've done it means you have to fit the fins simultaneously into both the small rocket and the booster - that's a real fiddly proposition given the sheer size of the thing, plus it puts restrictions on how you can paint it.

Now one of the tricks I gotta learn is how to fix this!:astonished::tired::sad::confounded: At the moment I'm thinking I'll have to remove the angled tabs, which will probably mean I gotta glue the pod into place - unless ....

[scottie3158]

This is something different I will tag along.

[Gern]

I've had a thunk about fixing the problem and come up with an idea. This one's not half-a***d like I had for my Transit. Oh no. This one's waaayyy out there with the fairies - I think I've got all the bits I need so here goes ....

[Mini Me]

Whatever it is Dave I'm sure it will turn out great!
Rick H.

[Tim Marlow]

Looks a bit Flash Gordon doesn’t it....fun build though...

[Gern]

I TOLD you I was out playing with the fairies! Instead of a five minute fix removing the fixing tabs ....

The small rocket pod is the real payload for the main booster to put into orbit. Once in orbit, the booster separates and returns to Earth while the pod goes on its mission to wherever. Obviously, once it has returned to Earth, it needs to be re-attached to the booster. It can't just land back on top of it so it lands elsewhere at the spaceport. So how does it get back to the booster?

Easy - it gets a ride on a tractor (it's lifted on there by a small crane which alas, is too far away for me to photograph!):





Lots left to do to finish the underside and some sort of clamps to the top.

So then, how does it get back to the top of the booster?

Again, easy. It gets hoisted up there by a gantry crane





Lots left to finish on the tower and only a few bits of the jib done.

Another three, maybe four days should see this done. Then I can start work on the base.

For the sceptics out there, just remember that the whole Saturn V rocket was moved by tractor to the launch tower so a teeny little pod like this is no problem. Equally, the Saturn V had a launch tower right next to it when it took off, so there's no reason for this one not to have one!

If this doesn't work out, I'll be going back to the five-minute fix OK? .... and you'll hear me crying from just about everywhere you guys live!

[Gern]

Ooops! I forgot. The tower will be about 20" high which should easily be enough to raise the pod high enough.

[Mini Me]

Nice going Dave...........always knew you had it in you!!
Rick H.