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Ever since I got my 21309 Saturn V, I thought it would be cool to have a model of the launch tower to go with it. Well, it may be a long time before I get a chance at building this model for real, but I have completed the digital design! If anyone is interested, an LDD file is available from my bricksafe page: https://www.bricksafe.com/pages/NathanR/real-space/apollo-lut Original first post: Ever since I got my 21309 Saturn V, I thought it would be cool to have a model of the launch tower to go with it. I'm clearly not the only one because a similar model recently reached 10k votes on Lego Ideas - however, I'm impatient and so I decided to start building my own. I've been working in LDD due to a lack of physical bricks, and the first (very rough) sketch model is complete: The Saturn V rocket was launched from the Mobile Launch Platform (MLP, nothing to do with ponies...), a two story structure on which the rocket was constructed and fuelled. It measured 169x135 feet, or 56x46 studs at 1:110 scale, and also carried a 380 ft tall launch umbilical tower (LUT). The tower featured nine arms that provided electricity and other services to various parts of the rocket, and swung away just a fraction of a second before it blasted off. The rocket did not stand on the engine nozzles, but was instead suspended over a single exhaust vent measuring 45x45 feet. This should be 15x15 studs but I've gone with 14x14 studs for ease of building: I'm particularly proud of the design of the hold down arms: These four clamps held the rocket down until all five engines were confirmed to be running at full power, at which point they retracted behind heat-proof shields and allowed the Saturn V to soar skywards. Three additional holddown arms were located around the pad and have yet to be modelled. I'll add details once I have the core structure sorted. The base of the MLP uses 1x4x6 door frames like the version that was on Lego Ideas - an inspired choice which I've temporarily copied here (I'm actively trying to avoid looking at the Ideas model so I don't copy it), but I'm toying with 1x1x5 bricks to represent the support columns instead. I could really use some help and advice with this model though. How do I make it structurally sound? The MLP is a glorified box with a hole in it, but I've never built anything this big before and I'm not sure how to link together the baseplates. I had a few ideas for some internal supports: Do you think these would be strong enough? Should the outer wall be thicker? Should I criss-cross the entire hollow space with brick beams? How do I strike a good balance between strength and low parts count? You can view larger pictures and find the LDD file on bricksafe. If there's interest I'll make instructions available when the model is complete. Any advice or constructive feedback would be much appreciated!!
