Figure 43. Jig for assembly of individual spherical pentagons into a 15-inch-diameter 

 capsule. 



Large-scale capsules were also fabricated from undersize spherical 

 pentagons, that when assembled allowed an 0.125-inch joint space to exist 

 between individual pentagons. Since the fabrication of an assembly jig for 

 the large-scale capsule according to the same design that was used for the 

 model scale capsule would have been expensive, a simpler jig was designed 

 and built. The basic difference between the large-scale capsule jig and the 

 model jig was that the large assembly jig permitted access for the shop per- 

 sonnel to the interior of the hemisphere to make the taping of joints on the 

 interior easier. 



The large-scale capsule was assembled and bonded like the models 

 in three phases — the first two phases resulted in the assembly and bonding 

 of pentagons into two hemispheres, while the third one culminated in the 

 assembly of two hemispheres into a single sphere (Figures 46 through 50). 



73 



