Old posting 2009 When I first returned to this hobby, I visited a number of modular railroad displays. As I began to formulate some ideas that I did not see on many, or any occasions, two came to mind...as a diorama or modular section. I also thought these might be 'educational' to both kids and some adults. (There are a lot of folks that have no idea of where our electrical power comes from) Power Plant Scene A coal fired power plant with coal piles outside. Maybe a newer style turbine addition being added to one section. Across the river a newer nuclear plant under construction with all the attendant construction cranes and flatcar loads of transformers, etc. Plus bridges over the river, and spur tracks, etc. Saturn V Launch Scene I don't ever recall seeing such a scene. My interest grew from both growing up in that era and the lack of kids knowledge about it , (and some pics of liquid oxygen cars I'd seen). So I asked myself , "how did they get the liquid oxygen fuel into the Kennedy Center for the Saturn V moon rocket?". Turns out Florida East Coast RR was on some sort of managed strike at the time, so most of the fuel arrived by truck to be stored in big tanks under ground. WELL, how about if we play with that history a bit and have fuel arrive by rail! ...the new transport age being assisted by the old transport age of railroad. Liquid oxygen cars bringing in the fuel for the Saturn rocket. And in a newer vein the solid rocket boosters being brought in for the Space Shuttle Rocket. Lots of switcher action with special NASA switchers, BIG models, etc. Can you imagine the look in kids eyes when they saw a 5.5 foot high rocket (Saturn V in HO scale) on a diorama/module. Might make them want to learn more about this great accomplishment in our history, and consider science futures. Only liquid Ox cars I ever saw were made in brass...and very expensive. I found that the 62 Athearn tank car was almost exactly the right size to kitbash...never finished, but started on two. (BTW, I have a sheet of printed plans I could send to anyone interested...or maybe I could post them over on a separate thread since they are 47 years old, Oct 1963
When I first returned to this hobby, I visited a number of modular railroad displays. As I began to formulate some ideas that I did not see on many, or any occasions, two came to mind...as a diorama or modular section. I also thought these might be 'educational' to both kids and some adults. (There are a lot of folks that have no idea of where our electrical power comes from) Power Plant Scene A coal fired power plant with coal piles outside. Maybe a newer style turbine addition being added to one section. Across the river a newer nuclear plant under construction with all the attendant construction cranes and flatcar loads of transformers, etc. Plus bridges over the river, and spur tracks, etc. Saturn V Launch Scene I don't ever recall seeing such a scene. My interest grew from both growing up in that era and the lack of kids knowledge about it , (and some pics of liquid oxygen cars I'd seen). So I asked myself , "how did they get the liquid oxygen fuel into the Kennedy Center for the Saturn V moon rocket?". Turns out Florida East Coast RR was on some sort of managed strike at the time, so most of the fuel arrived by truck to be stored in big tanks under ground. WELL, how about if we play with that history a bit and have fuel arrive by rail! ...the new transport age being assisted by the old transport age of railroad. Liquid oxygen cars bringing in the fuel for the Saturn rocket. And in a newer vein the solid rocket boosters being brought in for the Space Shuttle Rocket. Lots of switcher action with special NASA switchers, BIG models, etc. Can you imagine the look in kids eyes when they saw a 5.5 foot high rocket (Saturn V in HO scale) on a diorama/module. Might make them want to learn more about this great accomplishment in our history, and consider science futures. Only liquid Ox cars I ever saw were made in brass...and very expensive. I found that the 62 Athearn tank car was almost exactly the right size to kitbash...never finished, but started on two. (BTW, I have a sheet of printed plans I could send to anyone interested...or maybe I could post them over on a separate thread since they are 47 years old, Oct 1963
Brian
My Layout Plan
Interesting new Plan Consideration
I take it you know there is a 1/96 scale model of the Apollo launch stack, and a source on eBay who sells a scale tower kit to fit it...
i say you combine the space-exploration and nuclear aspects and build a working scale model of an Orion booster. (Mike Lehman will tell you how it works if you need...)
About a year ago in I believe Shreveport was probably the biggest crawler crane I have ever seen! It was actually more like a crawler crane with a tower crane on the two booms! Someday it'd be nice to model something like that...
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
I have never seen a Saturn V rocket scene, but that is too new for the STRATTON GILLETTE anyway.
.
How about a Roswell Space Vehicle Recovery Scene? That fits in my time period.
This scene is on the Pasco County Club's Modular HO Layout.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Roswell scene,...that's funny :)
Can you imagine the look in kids eyes when they saw a 5.5 foot high rocket (Saturn V in HO scale) on a diorama/module. Might make them want to learn more about this great accomplishment in our history, and consider science futures, .... something we need more of in our future
railandsail Can you imagine the look in kids eyes when they saw a 5.5 foot high rocket (Saturn V in HO scale) on a diorama/module. Might make them want to learn more about this great accomplishment in our history, and consider science futures, .... something we need more of in our future
yes I remember they sold plastic models about that size growing up.
Joe Staten Island West
Saturn V stack is only four feet tall in HO scale. The Launch Umbilical Tower would be a hair over five.
The super huge lift vehicles are strange. They're both huge and small at the same time.
NittanyLion Saturn V stack is only four feet tall in HO scale. The Launch Umbilical Tower would be a hair over five. The super huge lift vehicles are strange. They're both huge and small at the same time.
True, but that's four or five feet starting at the floor. Put such a thing on even low benchwork and it tops out at eight or nine feet. Ceiling height in a tall room; too high for most basements.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
railandsailCan you imagine the look in kids eyes when they saw a 5.5 foot high rocket (Saturn V in HO scale) on a diorama/module
Kinda the look I'm gong for with my Rock Ridge Railroad in the Redwoods. I figure they should be plus feet high. I'm probably going to limit them to 2 feet.
The Rock Ridge Credo:
Small trains, Big trees.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Cape Canaveral is at sea level so I guess you could put it on the floor. Just kidding. But a scaled down version might work. When I was a kid in the 1970s I had an Apollo model which was close to HO scale. It might have been slightly smaller like 1/90. It had the capsule, the lunar lander and the stage the lunar lander was stored in. You could use something like that an not have all the stages. Another thought is that the space shuttle might be an idea because it wasn’t nearly as tall.
Been so long ago I've forgotten were I came up with that +5' figure for the Atlas Saturn V rocket. I think there was a model of this rocket that was somewhat close to HO scale, but long out of production at the time I was thinking of it originally, and certainly now. But a tall cylindrical rocket like that shouldn't be that difficult to model.
As far as ceiling heights I figure it should make a nice 'module' for the train shows circuit.
I once had the occasion to visit the old storage building for the Air & Space museum out in suburban MD. In that 'mess of stuff' I spotted a metal model of the the test stand utilized down in Alabama for the original testing of those BIG rocket engines on that Saturn V. It looked to be made of brass, and was in a sorry state of neglect and needing repair. But it appeared to be HO scale. I kept wondering how I might ever fanagle that item from them.
If you decide to make a Crawler Transporter, which I'm sure you would want in order to move your launch platform around the layout, be sure to plan on a sound decoder for it.
Loksound already has you covered since it is powered by a pair of Alco 251-C diesels:
Alco_Nasa by Edmund, on Flickr
That's the 251 on the left
Cheers, Ed
gmpullmanThat's the 251 on the left Whistling
Oh OK! Now I see it. Missed it the first second and third times.
Mike.
My You Tube
NASA should give me a call. We need to repower that beast with a pair of top-of-the-line QSK95 Tier 4 engines.
Didn't think the rocket itself was going to be that difficult to model, but the support tower itself was going to be a bear.
Scale size, the Saturn V and the crawler will pretty much fill your shed. I know the Lego Saturn V I put together is over 3' tall and it's much smalelr than HO scale. It's a HUGE piece of machinery - and yet the crawler is even BIGGER.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
@Randy,I had no ideas about putting such a scene in my shed layout. Just though it might be an interesting diorama for a module set up at train shows, open houses, etc
rrinker Scale size, the Saturn V and the crawler will pretty much fill your shed. I know the Lego Saturn V I put together is over 3' tall and it's much smalelr than HO scale. It's a HUGE piece of machinery - and yet the crawler is even BIGGER. --Randy
Crawler isn't much larger than a two sheets of good old letter paper. "Only" 18x15 or so.
The major rub I see is that the pad itself is monstrous. A rail served fueling complex at a launch facility would be...gigantic, even if its just a handful of cars at a time.
This sounds counter-intituitive, but all the moving objects you'd have in a Saturn V launch module would be on par with things we already build models of without really batting an eye (although they are often centerpieces). Big roundhouses, ore docks, any sort of ship at a pier, all that stuff is the same size or bigger.
I found a model on eBay: Revell Apollo Saturn V, 1:96 scale Rocket Model Kit. It is 114cm high. That is 45 inches.
If you scratchbuilt the assembly building or the launch pad it would make a very nice display for a show.
Delivering Cyrogenic Fuels to Rocket Launch SitesInteresting discussion I just ran across, and with photos, and even a particular site in the world where the rocket fuels are delivered by railcar https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/9110/how-are-cryogenic-rocket-propellants-delivered-to-the-launch-pad
I need to come back and look more closely when I have a bit more time.
I do seem to recall seeing a a few Liquid Oxygen tanks like this at the Cape,...oops, can't post them on this site initially
Similar theme appears years ago in MR, the railroad was used to move elements of an array of radio telescopes.
Just ran across this model about as close to HO scale as I think there was,...1/72 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...oop_bw_c_x_2_w Dragon Models Saturn V with Skylab (1/72 Scale) The 1/72 scale plastic kit of a Saturn V rocket (Item No.11017) created a huge buzz among space aficionados! Even in miniature form, it was absolutely enormous as the completed model stood an unbelievable 1.5m tall. It was highly praised for its level of detail too. As the longest, heaviest and most powerful rocket ever produced, the original Saturn V stood 110.6m high and had a diameter of 10.1m. The Saturn V was at the heart of NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs. The Saturn V's last ever use was the launch of Skylab (mission SL-1) on 14 May 1973, where the upper stage was replaced to accommodate this early space station. Owners of Dragon's Saturn V rocket will cause jaws to drop, while the finished model will without fail draw gasps of astonishment from onlookers! This is the second monstrous 1/72 scale kit of this rocket type and it comes with brand new tooling. The most obvious difference is the upper stage, which employed an S-IVB stage from a Saturn IB rocket. What's especially significant about that this part is that half of it is made of transparent plastic to allow viewers to see Skylab nestled neatly inside. All relevant details are carefully reproduced on the two rocket stages and Skylab and the model comes with accurate and large decals to provide relevant markings. This Saturn V kit will be a centerpiece of any space fan's collection and as such it comes with a stable circular base to allow it to stand stably on the floor.
Some other discussions and photos of trains at the Cape
http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?20815-NASA-Railroad/page2