1/4 Scale Rover Project |
1/4 Scale Rover Project |
Jan 10 2006, 01:34 PM
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#16
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2998 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
Oh, yes, I've been building plastic and cardboard-and-stick models since I was a pre-teen. I'm convinced that any child should be taught (or permitted) to build things from an early age, it teaches great hand-eye-brain coordination and a spatial sense.
I'm already having fun hammering the details out. Cut out the rough blanks for the solar panel wings and tailpiece last night. --Bill -------------------- |
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Jan 10 2006, 03:42 PM
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#17
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Member Group: Members Posts: 593 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 279 |
QUOTE (Bill Harris @ Jan 9 2006, 08:01 PM) I'll make pieces the size and shape of each group out of 1/64" plywood and glue the individual solar cells made of 1/64" ply to the groups and then glue the groups to the panel wings, thereby giving a 3-D quality to the assembly. Hi Bill! Given that the panels aren't quite rectangular, and you're considering thin plywood for the basis of these, and there's many, many of them: have you looked into CNC options for getting these cut? Or you could look into photoetching them in bulk? You'd end up with all you'd need and as accurate as you wanted, without the hassles of having to hand-form hundreds of the little bleeders. Just a thought (from a ship modeller and part-time UMSF poster). Andy |
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Jan 10 2006, 05:06 PM
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#18
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2998 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
I checked those reference dimensions that I noted in Post#1 and Post#14 against another reliable source, and the dimensions of the Warm Equipment Box and the Rover Equipment Deck accurate as stated:
WEB: 33.4"L x 21.8"W x 14.9"D RED: Based on an equilateral triangle 49.9" on a side. I'll sit down tonite and figure an accurate size for the individual solar cells. I'll bet that Helvick is correct, but I want to double-check. Andy, I am looking at options for cutting the solar cells. Cutting out 500 by hand is the Slobovian method, and gluing them into groups is going to be worse. I have an airplane model that I've got "in the works", and I could send the thin plywood panels for the solar cells off to the laser-cutter that is going to cut the wing ribs. And photo-etching is one option, too. --Bill -------------------- |
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Jan 10 2006, 06:47 PM
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#19
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
Bill:
Or, print them out and laminate them, perhaps with a couple of layers... Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Jan 10 2006, 07:51 PM
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#20
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Guests |
Please keep adding photos as You progress ... an interesting project !
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Jan 11 2006, 01:16 PM
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#21
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2998 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
I'll keep updates on this project.
BTW, in the Yahoo Group that BobShaw mentioned one current thread is modeling the New Horizons spacecraft. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/space-modelers/ --Bill -------------------- |
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Jan 11 2006, 03:26 PM
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#22
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14432 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
I'm making an NH with the HGA from Spacecraft Kits as a basis - it's totally the wrong shape though It's the thought that counts
Doug |
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Jan 11 2006, 05:51 PM
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#23
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
For its final incarnation, Bill -- you know, the one with motorized wheels and moving IDD -- might I suggest that some of the solar panels might be *real* solar panels? Charging a battery located in the WEB, that would power the wheels and the radio system you'd use to drive it...?
Heck, you could even use the LGA as the antenna for its radio system. And, of course, you need to put a few webcams onto the thing -- maybe below the deck, a couple of each facing forward and backward? And maybe, I dunno, four separate lenses on top of the PMA mast? I bet you could arrange some mirror assemblies. Now, let's talk about launch vehicles... -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Jan 11 2006, 11:08 PM
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#24
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2998 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
QUOTE For its final incarnation, Bill -- you know, the one with Yes that would be most excellent! I need to start checking around in robotics forums to see what technology is available. Here is a photo of the roughed-out RED (Rover Equipment Deck) and the solar panels. To give an idea of scale, the side panels (the "Wings") are about 16" long and 5" wide. --Bill -------------------- |
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Jan 13 2006, 02:57 AM
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#25
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2998 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
QUOTE (helvick @ Jan 9 2006, 04:57 PM) Just following up. I counted them again very carefully and now get 499. And by taking the published dimensions of the rover (1.6m x 1.2m for the deck) and doing a take off of about a dozen cells scattered around the deck I get an average width of 6.5cm and height of 4.0cm with an error of +-5%. Just a followup to Helvick's followup: measuring solar cells on images of deck pans I get 7.0 cm x 4.0cm (2.8x1.6 inches). This works out to 0.70" by 0.4" for the 1/4 scale solar cells, which is not that bad a size to work with. --Bill -------------------- |
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Jan 16 2006, 01:35 PM
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#26
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2998 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
Couple of color questions:
On the Sundial/Calibration target, what are the reflectance values of the white and two gray rings in the center of the dial face? I'm presuming 100%,50%,25% or 100%,75%,50% but I'm not really sure. I've looked for an in-depth paper on this Pancam calibration target, but can't find anything detailed. What is the color of the top of the Rover, the RED and solar panel wings? I would presume a dark gray, but calibrated images from early Sols suggest either a dark "olive" or a dark "brownish" color. --Bill -------------------- |
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Jan 16 2006, 06:08 PM
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#27
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Member Group: Members Posts: 408 Joined: 3-August 05 Member No.: 453 |
QUOTE (Bill Harris @ Jan 16 2006, 09:35 AM) Couple of color questions: On the Sundial/Calibration target, what are the reflectance values of the white and two gray rings in the center of the dial face? This link suggest 20, 40 and 60% for the gray rings: http://www.highmars.org/niac/education/mer/mer00.html Now the real question is - how will you ensure those values on your model, and perhaps more importantly, how could anybody tell? Airbag PS If you can find a "top down" picture of the target, you could just scale it as appropriate for your model and print it out perhaps? Saves a lot of work. |
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Jan 16 2006, 06:11 PM
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#28
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Member Group: Members Posts: 408 Joined: 3-August 05 Member No.: 453 |
As it happens...
http://planetary.org/mars/mer_marsdial_nyelabs.pdf I think that may work just fine for your scale model! Airbag |
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Jan 16 2006, 06:18 PM
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#29
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14432 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
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Jan 17 2006, 12:14 AM
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#30
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2998 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
Thanks a lot, I don't know why that didn't show up on my first Google search.
Those published gray values give me a good starting point. A photographic standard gray card is 50%, and I can figure out how things _ought_ to look from that point. --Bill -------------------- |
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