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 >Projects Rainy Days
Projects for rainy days and cloudy nights
There will be times where daytime construction or observing nights may be held up for any number of reasons. I prefer to use that time as constructively as possible. In surfing the net I hit upon the idea of decorating the inside of my observatory with something relevant. Model space probes...real NASA and JPL etc. A few of the real ground breakers would be nice I think, so I chose the following to build.
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Voyager, because It was one of the first to travel outside the solar system.
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Pioneer for the same reason.
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Cassini, a very high profile probe to Saturn with the Huygens probe piggy-backing to Titan.
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Galileo, for its ground breaking trip to Jupiter
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The Hubble space telescope, because of its role in bringing the REAL pictures to the attention of the public.
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The Space Shuttle Columbia, the first of the fleet.
I thought I might attach them close to the inside skin of the dome via some fishing wire or perhaps some display boxes fitted between the inside and outside skins of the observatory walls.
I made a start by downloading a paper model of Cassini from the internet and built it in a day. This one was free. There are others available for mail-order purchase from spacecraftkits.com, but they are really quite cheap! From the experience I can tell you it was well worth the effort! Very relaxing, interesting, fun and very satisfying in the end! It looks so good, even without painting. As I already had some wood glue in the shed, the most expensive thing to buy was the can of spray adhesive for $10 AU. Apart from the spray and wood glue, the whole thing cost me about $4 AU.
After completing the Cassini model their way, I cut off a few bits and replaced them with bits and pieces to make it look more authentic. It's a good thing the internet has plenty of images of this high-profile spacecraft to work from. I have done much the same with Galileo, which is also a free one off the web. Next is Pioneer!
Here's a couple of links for these type of models... you can go from there.
I purchased Voyager, the Hubble space telescope and a free Mars Polar Lander from spacecraft kits. I put them all together in less than a week. They are very good value for money and I have had heaps of fun putting them together. They also look very authentic. One satisfied space freak here!
Space Shuttle Columbia
Recently, I had some more time on my hands late at night when I couldn't make power tool noise in the shed. I found this great site, www.marscenter.it/veicol.asp?pa=605 and proceeded to print it out on A3 paper instead of the intended A4 paper, thus doubling it's size.
I don't know how you would go if you went any smaller, as some of the cuts and folds are so tiny, I had trouble at A3!
Anyway, the resulting space shuttle was heaps of fun and I also learned a fair bit about what actually goes on within the cargo bay. Making reverse and pitch thrusters also educated me as to how the craft maneuvres in space. I highly recommend attempting this model.
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