Giving the BO a bit of a revamp based on the footage I've gathered. Not very clear footage at that, but still informative. WIP:
That notched RF netting on the side is there in multiple sources, including Progress. Did away with the older RF shield, which was probably based on the -OK one but which is clearly missing on anything after it, and added the two more modern-style ones on Plane I. Not 100% sure yet about them, especially the "lower" one. The other one it seems clear enough it's there from the way it occludes the RF netting behind it (yet to be added) even though it's pretty much invisible from any angle from above, and probably would have folded down for stowing the big Igla antenna mast, the lower one I'm less sure about, there's something there but what shape it takes isn't clear:
Almost as if it could be covered by the RF netting in a way, like forming a sort of canopy? It also seems like there's a 3rd such shield behind the other two closer to the antenna, but I'm not trusting my eyes so much there.
Other angles:
(this one is a rare view I wish I could remember where I got it from, could be a Progress from the placement of the starboard Igla antenna, based on below)
Progress:
Other miscellaneous things:
- Adjusting the colouring on the antennas, the current strong yellow was probably based on the museum -OK pieces, which are detailed but flight hardware doesn't seem to reflect this;
- Relocated and reshaped the smaller Igla TX antenna, photo evidence shows it curved, likely to conform to the BO's shape when stowed for launch. Progress' being shaped differently (straighter) might also suggest this, given its less spherical forward compartment;
- Material changes on antenna masts;
- Reshape the BO base where it attaches to the SA;
- Did away with the handrail on Plane III near the hatch;
- Will add some stuff up front on the docking ring: the current camera might move slightly off centre and be covered in thermal insulation (as on ASTP), next to it would probably have been a floodlight based on some video evidence, thus likely accounting for the two elements on the bottom on the pic below. On top there are two further elements, expectation would be one of these elements is an ion sensor, though neither two on top quite look like what on the ASTP version is documented as said ion sensor;
- With the floodlight moving forward, will probably do away with the bottom mast on the BO aft currently handling the lights, but there's some indication the top one might have still been there, if in a different location and angle;
- The antenna elements around the middle of the module need some attention: currently they're all the TV antenna type, missing the type below for radio commands link. There's also evidence there were only two elements total, not four;
- Looking into the existence of a second BO vent manifold: there still is and seems to have been one by the BO ingress hatch, but some footage could indicate another up front near the docking ring. Possibly also seen on ASTP, will also try to verify with modern Soyuz, though that's no guarantee of prior existence or lack thereof
- Finally, the RX Igla antenna (starboard): presently not relevant for Salyut 4, but I should start thinking of the eventual variant for Salyut 6+ and Almaz which retracted to provide clearance with the station (as configured on all footage above). I saw some video recently which showed it in motion but didn't save it and can't for the life of me remember what it was from. In any case, the angle between the antenna element itself and the mast is off, almost 90º based on photographs and video (also of Soyuz-T), and fully deployed it would likely look more like this rough mockup:
Edit: actually starting to wonder if the mechanism itself, that is that handle-like bit, wasn't added specifically for the retractable versions. 7K-OK just had the single mast type
visible here, for instance, but from the grand total of
one Salyut 1 era pic I have, it sort of looks like the same principle, just stowed differently.
Other than this, research slowly continues and will get to tidying up the auto modes. No promises but might bring back Igla on the next one. Based on a few bits of data now, and I'm sure I could find more especially with Salyut 6, it seems the profile indeed was a shallow intercept, from a slightly higher orbit during which Igla was switched on. I'd like to figure out a consistent way of setting this up and match up the flight plans, as they were usually pretty consistent on which orbit # they intercepted on, and designed the launch windows around that. But this puts significantly less strain on Igla and hopefully back within the limits of my implementation.
With the N1-L3 project I've figured out the whole UV coordinate move thing for the dynamic textures, so I'll also start thinking of a migration plan here, since some things like the KSU might not be perfectly set up for it. Will also eventually introduce actually emissive electroluminescent signals so they're actually visible in the dark.
