1/32nd von Braun/Disney Cargo Rocket with 3rd Stage

A Report To the Cabal:

In the initial Report I had gone as far as to fit a paper cutout of the proposed 3rd stage engine detailing to the ass-end of a Cargo Rocket streamlined fairing (an old model rocket nose-cone pressed into service, provided by Dennis Rodgick). That work below, As you can see, I had arrayed several prints taken off the Disney DVD release of the three Tomorrowland shows. Note that the same rocket motor (with variances between the Cargo version and the two manned versions) is used for orbital insertion, orbital changes, and lunar trips.

Seems to me the real-world equivalent to this fictional motor would be the workhorse of the 60's and 70's, the AGENA motor. First developed to scoot CORONA payloads into, on, and out of orbit and later to send heavy packages on to interplanetary missions, the AGENA motor was designed at about the same time, as the Disney 3rd stage motor.

Like the AGENA motor, the Disney 3rd stage motor used room-temperature hypergolic fuels, featured multiple start/stop capability, and was qualified for use on manned missions. A reliable, robust, pump-fed, gimbal equipped 'space tug.' So, seeing the many parallels between the Disney motor and the real AGENA, I've been doing my best to get detailed information on the AGENA in hopes that study of that motors hardware will help me 'flesh out' details that should be on the Disney motor, but were not owing to simplicities of the type of cartoon illustration used as well as the uncritical eye of the motion picture cameras used to film the actual miniatures failed to capture all detail.

The search for detailed looks at the AGENA motor continue. But enough dope has been gotten to initiate the mockup of the Disney motor. here goes: You can see that I've substituted the paper cutout of the motor with a three-dimensional representation of the Disney 3rd stage motor. Next to it is the smaller scale Strombecher/Glenco RM-1 moon rocket engine, used to help me get the proportions right. This work is only a mockup, used to size and reposition items till they look to be as represented in the cartoon illustrations and on the big effects miniature of the RM-1 used for filming of the 'Tomorrow the Moon' episode.

The materials used are Renshape 40 for the engine, turbo-pumps, and tank-top/ firewall; Renshape 20 for the two cylindrical inert gas containers (used for tank pressurization); various diameters of polyurethane sprue and vent gates for the fuel and oxidizer piping, and brass wire for the engine mount struts.

The 1/32 scale mockup of the 3rd stage motor next to the smaller scale version of this thing from the Strombecher kit of the RM-1 (the lunar survey craft). I've noticed that the unmanned Cargo Rocket 3rd stage motor has additional boxes near the outrigger attitude/vernier rockets (not yet represented on the mockup).

Both the outboard rocket motors and boxes were needed aboard the unmanned vehicles (dry and wet cargo types) as they did not have onboard attitude control gyroscopes as do the two manned craft. One is left to assume that the outboard boxes contained batteries, radio receiver, inertial platform, autopilot, and main engine and attitude motor controllers.

In all versions of this engine the motor is swung on its gimbal through two linear actuators - I'm assuming, for simplicities sake, these actuators are of the electrical-mechanical (worm gear or ball-and-screwl) type. It's clear that the two outboard attitude control/vernier motors are positioned by a pinion and spur gear segment arrangement, those actuators would be electrically driven as well.

The fuel and oxidizer pipes coming out from the tank-top (the hemispherical terminus of the 3rd stage tank structure) route inboard to their respective centrifugal pump, and from there to the main rocket motor. Note that these lines also extend outboard into blank flanges. On the RM-1 version these fuel/oxider pipe extensions matted with the external tank toroid distribution manifolds -explosive bolts likely would be used to sever the manifold-to-motor fuel/oxider connections as the expended outboard tanks were jetisoned during the earth-orbitcapture maneuver. There had to be incorporated a stop-valve within each length of pipe extension, though these items are not seen in either cartoon or miniature.

I assuem that these line extensions would be seen also on the wet version of the un-manned supply 3rd stage, providing a means of off-loading the liquid cargo. There were no line extensions on the dry-cargo version or the manned orbital craft.