Galileo Spacecraft

The Galileo spacecraft is one of the more challenging of the kit models I've built, mainly due to to the small size of the parts and the fact that most of them were black.  This was constructed from a kit purchased from Space Craft International.

The folding antenna dish was particularly challenging, as it is rather thin paper and must be folded and glued precisely for it to keep its circular shape.  It was not possible to fold the paper mesh in such as way as to mimic the improper unfolding of the antenna that happened with the real Galileo.

A number of the parts were labeled with bright white letters that would be visible after the model was completed, so I used a black Sharpie marker to make them a little less conspicuous.

I estimate that this model took a total of 20 hours, not including the drying time after assembly of many of the sub-sections.

Attaching the boom on this model was not easy.  It is rather heavy compared to the rest of the model, and is designed to be held in place by an open-joint hinge and a small damper.  I reinforced these with some heavy glue, and let it dry horizontally between multiple coats.