posted 05-25-2008 03:58 AM
When I did a 1/144 Ares 1 over a year ago, I didn't have any actual dimensions to play with. So all I could do was get some imagery of the rocket as it looked at the time and go from there making best guesses. From there, I came up with a set of numbers I could use for that.According to my copy of "Rockets of the World" by Peter Alway, shuttle SRBs are 146.2 inches in diameter and if I read the chart right, a fueled SRB segment (two stacking segments) is 320 inches long. If you are indeed using a 4" diameter piece of PVC pipe, then the scale you are building this model to be is 1/36.55 scale. Man that is going to be a monster!
Crunching the numbers and checking the chart, The length of the cylindrical portion of a shuttle SRB from above the aft skirt to the top of the foreward segment (not including the nose cone) is 1445.14 inches long. So adding a fifth segment to that to get the length of Ares 1's first stage gives me 1765.14 inches long.
In 1/36.55 scale (assuming you aren't rounding it to say 1/36 scale), the length of the PVC tube should be at least 48.29 inches long (about four feet in length). You might want to cut it to six feet though to use it as a skeleton for stage 2.
Somebody else will need to do some number checking to see if I did my math right.
In this size, you might be able to borrow some items from model kits for it. The cone diameter of the Monogram 1/32 Apollo CSM I believe is too small to make an Orion CEV from even though the Ares 1 you want to build is a smaller scale then the Apollo kit, but the capsule shape is close enough between the two craft at least. So if you could extend it in the rear, or use it as a basis for getting a scratchbuilt cone shape right it might be worth utilizing. And items like the thruster quads on the SM could potentially be used for Orion with some modifications as well.
posted 05-21-2008 07:50 PM
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