posted 03-17-2006 07:32 PM               

The leg is PVC pipe with a wooden dowel inserted into it to allow attachment to the base.The foot pad is a modified top to a Rubbermaid container. The ladder is all aluminum, with the tubing coming from the local hobbies shop (they use it for RC models). They Mylar came from one of those "space blankets".

I do actually intend to complete the forward landing gear assembly (I have the plans on order from RealSpace models) including the front porch and adding the plaque on the leg of the LM. It will look like you took a slice of the front of the LM and have everything from the inboard edge of the porch forward. I have various shades of gold Mylar and plan on getting the colors close to the real deal.I would then like to have the other Dragon model called Buck and modify it with the EVA models decals to have the Neil Armstrong markings. With all of that complete I would set up the LM on a lunar landscape (about 2'x2') with Buzz coming down the ladder in one of the classical photo positions with Neil standing back taking the photo. Ambitious project, but doable, this was just my proof of concept start.

posted 03-18-2006 08:16 PM               

The descent stage of the LM does not require great finesse as you get to cover it with wrinkled Mylar.

If you add in the hours of researching the size and shape of everything plus the time trying to figure out just what would work (I spent a couple of hours in the department store just trying to get something for the foot pad, turns out that it was here at home all along, while putting away dishes I realized that the 6" diameter Rubbermaid lid I was holding would work once it was timed then wrapped in Mylar).

The ladder as I said was the hard part, it took about 5 hours to put together. I had some scrap 0.050" 2024-T3 aluminum (I thought I would add the actual material specs here in case someone would like to try and build this and has access to aerospace materials) sheared into 0.30" strips approx 13" long. I also obtained some discarded MS20470-3AD button head rivets that were about 0.50" long.

I took the strips one at a time and clamped them in a vice and carefully bent them down to get the correct angle, I then strapped them together and drill them for the riser spacing. The ends of the strips were timed to the correct length.

The aluminum strips and rivets have a protective alodine coating that is greenish gold color so that was removed with 0000 steel wool. I the glued the rivets into the strips (using brushed on crazy glue) so that the shank of the rivets protruded out and would act as the pin for the riser.

The rivet had to be 3/32" diameter so that the head would produce the desired result (i.e. to look like the button head faster that is on the real thing). With the shank at 3/32 diameter and the tubing at 3/16" inside diameter I had a loose fit that obviously would not take glue. What I did next took the majority of the time.

I cut 1/8" and 5/32" diameter tubing into short lengths. The 1/8" diameter tubing would fit over the rivet shank, the 5/32" diameter tube would fit over that and then the 3/16" step riser would fit snug, all of this glued together with the crazy glue.

The thing that was tough was every time you cut this thin tubing it would leave a burr that had to be filed off each or else they would not slide over each other, it was very laborious. The second from the top riser had to be carefully bent to curve around the leg and the top riser just passed through a hole drilled it the leg.

I fitted the hollow PVC pipe with a wooden dowel so that it would take screws easier.

The base is a board wrapped like a Christmas package with black Mylar. Once the leg and pad were wrapped with Mylar I drilled for and then attached the leg to the pad with a screw through the base. The ladder is attached by the tube the top riser and a screw through the second from the bottom riser (that screw gets covered with a piece of silver Mylar so you can't see it).

posted 04-23-2006 09:34 PM               

Or maybe one could put together a diorama based on this scene - LM leg without the ladder... but then you'd have to come up with the lunar surface.

posted 04-24-2006 01:14 PM               

It's when you see the size of one LM leg that you realize how big a 1/6 scale LM would be!