Voyager Spacecraft

The Voyager spacecraft was an interesting, and my very first, model to construct from paper.  It has a very basic structure, but is complicated by the instrument boom and a very large magnetometer boom.  This was constructed from a kit purchased from Space Craft International.

The science instrument boom requires careful placement to ensure it is oriented correctly.  The radio science probes, which are at right angles to each other and the magnetometer boom, are optional, but do make for an impressive model.  The copper wire was pulled tight to make it rigid, and then glued to the interior of the spacecraft main body.  Be careful with the model after this point, as the wires are sometimes hard to see and could present an eye hazard.

It was rather challenging to construct the magnetometer boom, as it is very long and with a small cross-section size.  Fortunately, it is in two parts, which are glued together after each are folded into triangles.  Even with a large amount of stiffening with multiple coats of lacquer, the boom has shown some sagging over time.  I think the only way to prevent this is to hang it such that the boom hangs directly vertical.  This would require hanging the model by the platform leg, which is not that strong; so it would require some sort of reinforcement.

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