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| Im going to try to provide here some of the construction techniques and
detail fo building the fixed service structure here. I am going to break this
down by level of the FSS and then additional sections for the supporting
equipment and all that stuff attached to the FSS. One thing that comes in handy is that the FSS originated from the old LUT from the Apollo program. It was shortened quire a bit but the basic metalwork of each level remains. There are a lot of details out there that can be used for basic metalwork details from other groups such as apollosaturn.com and savethelut.org. I have gone thru them and included some of the details I used in my construction here. |
| FSS Levels |
| The fixed service structure consists of 12 levels that allow access to the various levels of the orbiter. The metal used for the construction was taken from the old Apollo Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT). Each level of the FSS is 20' high and is 40'x40', except for the first level which is 27'. Usually when people talk about the FSS they refer to the elevation for the level instead of a floor number. I will continue to use the elevation reference. |
 Click for full size image |
| FSS Main Vertical Box Beams |
| The FSS is constructed using a Box Beam at each corner. The Beams are
24" square. All the way up to the 187' level where they change to 20"
I-Beams for a little over one level and then down to 12" I-Beams for the
top two levels. When I made my model I oversized these beams. I wasn't sure that that the scaled beams would support the weight of the structure. I made them 36" which scaled to 1/2" beams. I used ABS plastic from plastruct.com instead of styrene to help in the support. They dont look to oversized when you add all the details to the FSS. |
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| FSS Typical Floor Plan |
| Below is a typical floor plan from the Apollo LUT. It gives you the basic dimensions that can be used in building a shuttle FSS. The main items on each level are the elevator shafts and the up and down staircases and the vertical cable trays. |
 Click for full size image |
| FSS Typical Handrails |
| Below is a typical handrail detail. Railings are typically 38" high. |
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| FSS Typical Staiway |
| Below is a typical stairway detail. |
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| FSS Typical Staiway Floorplan |
| Below is a typical stairway floorplan detail. |
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| FSS Typical Staiway Landing |
| Below is a typical stairway landing detail. |
 Click for full size image |
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