Fits over Fit

Time to mask the roll pattern and other details. First step is laying out the roll pattern: determining where on the S-IC and on the S-II the different things are black (and silver), and what portions of the S-IVB are black. Apogee supplies a template for masking the the S-II/S-IVB transition: it has cut-outs that fit over the S-II retro-rockets on the transition, helping position it nicely.

One problem: the template doesn’t fit.

The cut-outs don’t line up with the retro-rockets.

I would think that Apogee’s quality control would find things like this. I wouldn’t think there would be this much variation in the diamter of the finished rocket: there mis-alignment is about 3.5-4mm, which is about the width of the retro-rockets.  I think I have a way to work around this, though it’s not trivial, since this template is used for outlining the retro-rocket cut-outs in the roll pattern, marking the division between the black and white areas on those sectors that are half black and half white, and marking the divisions between the sectors. But, with enough futzing around (something like: figure out exactly what’s black, mark the cut-outs for the retro-rockets on the black areas, use two of the cut-outs in the template to position and mark the sector divisions, then enlarge the cut-outs so I can position the wrap to mark the half-and-half sector divisions), I think it can work.

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