3... 2... 1... Blast off!! Scale Felt Model of the Space Shuttle (image heavy)

[gschnebly]

I decided to create a to scale felt model of the Space Shuttle! Everything is made of felt. The pieces are created from rolled felt cylinders and then those are covered with the exterior felt detail. I used those sheets of craft felt you get at the craft store and white Elmer's glue.

There are three parts to this model. First is the big orange thing which is the external fuel tank. On either side of the fuel tank is the rocket boosters. Each rocket booster has a propulsion system at its base. All of the detail on the fuel tank and rocket boosters is inlaid so nothing sticks out where it shouldn’t. Each rocket is approximately 1” wide and the fuel tank is a little over 1.5” wide. When connected they stand 9” tall.

The third part is the orbiter. This was probably the most time consuming piece to make. It is 6.5” long, 3” tall (including the tail rudder), and has a wing span of almost 4”. Again its made totally of felt. There are three engine nozzles on the back, as well as two smaller maneuvering nozzles near the rudder. The detailing on the rudder is also inlaid so it wouldn’t be all bumpy. I added a little American flag detail to one wing and USA to the other. I didn’t want to use embroidery (I though it might detract from the whole felt thing) so the letters and flag are made from thin strips of felt.

All pieces can be detached from each other, like the real deal.

Thanks for looking at my entry! I also posted more pictures on my blog if you want to see them!






p.s. The last two pictures are my actual shuttle in the sky! I love how it looks out there! I will post more pictures in this thread if you want me to! If you want to know more about it, just ask and I will do my best to answer your questions!

[Sewsew-a-Gogo]

Oh my gosh!!  That's amazing! 

[aschnebly]

You did such a good job, I am so impressed!  I can't believe it is totally felt!

[linzo]

amazing I absolutely love that... and it is so acurate... when I saw it I cried out "Oh my god" to which the boy replied... "Lindsey you are such a dork"
dork or not... that just plain rocks!!!!

[HaughtyWench]

I'm in awe of your attention to detail. Wow.

[coral]

holy shit that's amazing!!   

[WIPs]

That looks so perfect. It's amazing! Gosh, it's going to be so hard voting.

[KatherineEmma]

WOW. That looks extremely well made. Awesome job. 

[Keptastic]

Oh My Word!     That is incredible!!  That makes me want to vote for you, and I'm even  in the challenge!  Fantastic job!

[sparklypants]

ooooh thats quite technical and very nice!

[staciart]

holy crap! you are AMAZING! Just brilliant, I tell you! whoohoooooo!

[tamagotchi]

I had to hit "this rocks"!  I am completely blown away by the detail on this.  It must have taken you forever!

[retroeva]

Thats so neat! How did you shape all the parts? Did you use toilet paper rolls or something like that?

[trinashere]

Great job! It looks so realistic!

[inle_rah]

That is very cool.  Great job!

[gschnebly]

Thats so neat! How did you shape all the parts? Did you use toilet paper rolls or something like that?

The parts are shaped by rolling the felt into cylinders. I used a bubble tea straw (just what happened to be laying around the house) as the base support to help start the roll. Then I glued the felt to itself as you continue to roll it up. Once you're done you can slide out the straw if you want because the felt itself is pretty sturdy.

[smashergrl]

 

WOW!!   There aren't enough words to describe how absolutely awesome your shuttle is!!!!!!!!  It ROCKS my wists!!

[mandasbrighteyes]

i love this you did awesome

[loves2experiment]

It's wonderful!  Well done!  Love the details!!

[pookieb]

wow!

[southern5footer]

AWESOME! I love this. Creative idea with great execution.

[Miranda26]

Wow, thats totally great!

[Miss*Laurence]

Love the pictures in the sky, you really have to look closely to see if it's real!! Brilliant!

[Hope.]

I think this is the greatest thing I have ever seen on craftster. I love it! well done!

[kirsa]

I love how all the details are inlaid rather than just glued on top.  It looks really nice!

[MariskaLovesCrafts]

great work!

[artzy_fartzy68]

That is SO incredible!!! good job!

[gschnebly]

Thanks everyone for your great compliments! 

[The Izz]

Un-freak'in-believable!!!

So beautiful and accurate! I find it so hard to get felt to curve and to make edges smooth and your ship is such a good example of both!

Nice work! This Rocks!

[gm4style]

ABSO-FU@&-ING-LUTLY AMAZING!!!!!!! 

[ritathepita]

wow that is soooo cool!!!

[rusewcrazy]

I always wanted to be an astronaut so I think this is awesome!

[Knit_core]

Holy Crap!

[Tangerine_Dreams]

I commented on your blog but thought I'd reply here too! 

That is totally awesome.  I showed it to Dh and he LOVED it!  Of course, he's biased.  He's an engineer that works on the External Tank.   

Great job!

[gschnebly]

Thanks for your comments, I saw your post on my blog! I am totally jealous of Dh. My dream is to someday see a space shuttle launch... Hopefully I will get to soon!  Thanks again!

[neosynthesis]

wow, that looks fantastic!

[ryangoff]

The action shots are fabulous. Next up are the astronauts.

[gentle.thorns]

This is awesome! I want one!