Juno (2)

This is going to take longer than I thought it would.

As I planned to take this model to a higher level of detail I could not foresee there would be this much work in it. I like it a lot though, I learn a lot and that's one of the things that keeps me going.

I decided to completely redo the solar panels. I wasn't happy with just darkening the provided ones. The real stuff is almost pitch black but it has a slight hint of red in it. All solar cells have two red corners, one row on the left, the next on the right, which gives them a very distinguishable pattern. I took on the challenge and first designed just one solar cell. Next, I put a lot of copies together in a row, picked a photograph of the panels and started counting. Rows, red lines, electrical circuitry, I guess it took me one whole day to get where I am now. From this:

to this:

with a layer of clear gloss over it, I'm sure it will look wonderful. 

Next was the engine section, of which there was none in the original model. I guess there wasn't a lot of detailed imagery around when Yogi started working on his model. Besides, I know he wanted to keep it simple. 

Only recently more and more pictures started to show up with more details and Nasa launched a site called "Eyes on the Solar System" (works fine in Safari but has a nasty glitch in FF) where one can see Juno from all angles possible, including the engine. So I started my first little steps into actually designing a part of a model. (not taken into account I sometimes have made additional stuff from already designed parts)

There I ran into a problem I still haven't solved. For a first time design it is going quite well

but my maths is, to say the least, bad. And I need some cone shaped parts. And that is not simply achieved by taking a circle and cutting and folding it into itself.

They all seem to lean a bit to one side. Still got to tackle that problem. I would really like to get Yogi involved in this thing so I sent him an email. Hopefully he responds soon.

I had some very nice distractions in modelling last weekend but I am afraid that needs to be kept secret for some time.

In the meantime while designing I wanted to get some modelling done so I made a printout of a Mil-Mi-9 and the Fakestok, all in 1/144. (reduced from 1/48) later on this week I might start on that. I also am working on a (very very badly molded) 1/72 DH-88 from Airfix. But that is polystyrene and is thus not relevant for this blog.

Hopefully next time some more progress.