The Apollo Education Experience Project

CM Interior – Part 7

Now that I’ve determined how I’m going to make the doors, I have a number of other doors to make. The CM had a lot of little nooks and crannies that were used to store and stow stuff, and all were covered with doors of various sizes. Because of the way I build the structure for the Lower Equipment Bay, there are a few doors that I can’t model, but those will be covered with something else so it won’t matter much.

I started with the doors in the Left Hand Equipment Bay (LHEB) for the large compartment used to store the astronauts’ food (officially “L3”). I made this the same way that I made the door for B8, just larger. Actually, I made two of these, since L3 is large and has two doors.

One of the two doors for compartment L3, assembled and clamped for the glue to set.
(Photo: The Apollo Education Experience Project)

Most of the doors are assembled in the same way, so I’ll spare you the repetition. But some doors have something different about them, so I’ll cover those differences. One such difference is the door for R6, over on the Right-Hand Equipment Bay (RHEB). While many of the doors are attached to the structure or one of the closeout panels, I needed to build a separate support frame for this door. There are a couple more like this as well.

The frame fits into a tight spot in the RHEB, just to the left of one of the breaker panels, and up against the curved, angled wall of the CM. Getting the geometry of the top part of the frame was a bit challenging, but I finally got a decent fit. I then cut out an opening, drilled mounting holes for the frame and the door hinge, painted it, and mounted a magnetic latch.

Finished frame for door R6, ready for installing into the CM and mounting the door.
(Photo: The Apollo Education Experience Project)

I installed the frame in place, then mounted the door. I glued the catch plate for the magnetic latch to the inside of the door and aligned the latch for a snug closure. Then I mounted the doors for compartments R8 and R10 onto the RHEB.

Doors for compartments R6, R8, and R10 mounted in the RHEB of the CM.
(Photo: The Apollo Education Experience Project)

I moved to the other side of the CM and mounted the two doors for compartment L3 (the food compartment) onto the LHEB.

Double doors for compartment L3 mounted in the LHEB of the CM.
(Photo: The Apollo Education Experience Project)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *