SV vacu-formed wraps begin
 

I've finally mustered the courage to apply the vacu-formed wraps on the SV. I've washed and dried the wraps, and I'll start with the smallest, least-detailed wrap since I'm actually scared to death beacuse this is the first build I've done with this much acreage of vacu-formed wraps (seriously.)
I'll use the same contact cement I used successfully on the vacu-formed details of the vintage Centuri SkyLab build earlier this year: DAP Weldwood contact cement. I've pencilled the seam location and the top and bottom margins onto the BT and then bordered with tape.
Coating only about 2" at a time, I'm using a single-use flux brush to apply a super-thin coat of "snot" onto the wrap and the BT, smooth the wrap down onto the BT, and then 2 more inches, and so on until it's done.
I've now removed the margin tape and I've taped over the seam until the "snot" cures.

So far, so good. No "crazing" or softening of the wrap yet, but this was an easy one. ONLY 6 more to go---ALL of them harder. I'm pretty sure the highly-detailed interstage wrapper will be the hardest one. TBC

Contact cement is what I used on my original Centuri Saturn V back in '82.....matter of fact, the kit came with a bottle of contact cement for the job, though I do not recall the brand name.

The Centuri Saturn 1b kit also came with a bottle of contact cement for those wraps as well.

It does take some time and patience to get them on neat and in perfect alignment....may the Force be with you! ;)


Earl

Wilhold Contact Cement is what came in my old Centuri kits.

.....and, voila!

It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. Still, I much prefer the embossed paper wraps over the vacu-formed wraps. I also wonder which wraps are more true to scale, the vacu-formed or the paper?

Paper. The vacu-formed wraps are "overscaled", if there's such a word. However, from anything farther than a few arms' lengths, they look better because you can still see the corrugations.

The tbzep
 

The tbzeb knows....

Yes, the Centuri wraps 'look' nice, but actually are 'overscaled' (that sounds like a fitting word....).

However, I always felt the Estes embossed wraps were a bit 'underscaled' (another new word?) because those corrugations just about disappeared at about 2 feet back, almost.

So, possibly the 'right' scale was somewhere in between. Since the Centuri Saturn V was my first (and favorite), I've always been partial to it. But, it's not dead-on accurate.

By the same token, the Centuri 1/45 Little Joe II is a GREAT looking model, but that pre-applied chrome mylar wrap is also "overscaled" or certainly "overshiny", since those real-life corrugated aluminum skin panels on the real Little Joe II were never THAT bright and shiny. But, it makes for a nice looking model, all said and done.

Back in the day, I think the Centuri Saturn V mostly got the nod as the 'best looking' scale Saturn V between the two, accurate or not.

Earl

It's easy enough to figure out... go look at some of the Saturn V stuff I posted over in the scale section, or even the Saturn IB stuff... The measurements of the corrugations and their numbers are in there (or if not they're on my Saturn V/IB plans I got from NARTS decades ago at home but I can't reference them now.)

We're talking about corrugations that are anywhere between about 2-4 inches high (depending on their location on the vehicle and the loads they were expected to support) on a vehicle 33 feet in diameter... IOW pretty darn small, even at 1/100 scale. A two inch high corrugation at 1/100 scale would be 0.020 inch, or twenty-thousandths of an inch, which is pretty darn small and thin. Needless to say it'd be nearly invisible upon anything but almost only the closest inspection...

I used embossed scrapbooking paper on my 1/152 Saturn V scratchbuild and it looks pretty good, even though I'm sure even it's overscaled...

A certain amount of TLAR is permitted IMHO unless you're headed for the Internats...
Later! OL JR :)

Five down---two to go. TBC

Looking good! All the best with the interstage reducing wrap. Can be a little greek flat bread.