Quest - U.S. Airlock
Quest - U.S. Airlock |
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Last updated 2 Aug 2006
Quest was launched aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-104.
Quest references (update)
When I first got the RealSpace kit, my intentionw as to use a few of the bits on my existing InterMountain Railroad model. Quest seemed like a good module to do on its own, since it's small and self-cotnained, and also has the two finishes I'd need to use: the bare metal finish adn the white insulation blanket finish.
I didn't shoot any images of the module beforehand, but here it is with the metal fisnish applied (I used Bare Metal Foil, Shiny Aluminum). I've begun to detail the module by adding trunnions and Power Grapple Data Fixtures.
This was also my first foray into the bane of any ISS modeler: little yellow handles. The yellow handles are the EVA handholds, of which there are many - each of the air tanks on Quest has 10 handles, on a piece of resin less than 1cm long! After much experimentation (on the now unused IMR kit parts), I finally decided to simulate them with short pieces of brass wire glued in place. Not perfect, but it looks close enough.
Another bane of ISS modelers: the Space Vision System targets, those white circles with black dots in the middle. They're there for the Canadarm2 to be able to figure out where it is. They would be best represented by decals, and Rick Sternbach is working on a set of them, but they haven't been released and I got tired of waiting, so I made my own versions. I can't make decals, so I used very thin plastic card, hand-turning small disks and then gluing them in place. With a dot froma permenant .05mm blac pen, they look fine.
I stillhave to add little yellow handles to the other 3 tanks, attach all the tanks, and put yet more little yellow handles on the Quest module itself. All told, this one module will have about a hundred short pieces of brass wire precision-glued in place. Did I mention that little yellow handles drive me crazy?
