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Old 11-16-2010, 09:02 AM
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Contour 1/24

You've probably run across the model of the Comet Nucleus Tour spacecraft that is (was?) available on the web. Unfortunately, it lacks a lot of detail for someone who wants to represent parts in more realistic detail.
Combing through the Yahoo Space Modelers group archives and a cache of reference photos of my own, I made an attempt to give this spacecraft a little more justice. Scott Brotherton, a member over there, shared with me the files he had created of the nine solar panels to use in his scratchbuild model, so I can't take credit for the graphics on the panels (which is excellent).
As you may know, the real article was destroyed in 2002 after it fired its solid rocket motor and was never heard from again.
The real thing:



The model:











Sans CRISP imager (just a hole in the bus right now), an umbilical panel or so that I drew after I built the first draft, and the solid rocket motor nozzle. I'd really like to make the motor removable to show some detail, but it requires a lot of conic sections that I haven't had much opportunity to draw yet. Same with the imager -- it really needs a complex shape but I haven't decided what will provide it realistically yet. Still, it's a start toward what I intended to do with the panels long ago when Mr. Brotherton shared them with me. (His model, pics of which are in the Yahoo group's photo archive, is much better.) :D
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Old 11-16-2010, 10:19 AM
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Nice ?start? Already looks pretty good to me.

Conics are a bit tedious - the parts layout as much as the calculations - but you can get there. Is the motor anything special or just a STAR-can?

Yogi
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Old 11-16-2010, 07:24 PM
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Very, very nice work. A little foil, and it would be hard to distinguish from the actual spacecraft.
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Old 11-16-2010, 09:11 PM
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I'm hoping to get some foil on the final version. Rolo candies come with a lot of gold foil, which will probably meet my purposes well, and give me an excuse to eat candy. ("It's for R&D!")
Motor is listed as a STAR 30BP. Pretty standard, so it shouldn't be terribly hard to do. It'll be the first time I've drawn conics designed to attach to each other sequentially though. Last time I did it I was using regular drafting tools with pencil and paper.



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Old 11-17-2010, 10:21 PM
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At this scale, looks like you could use two conics and a disk on both ends of a central cylinder and a nozzle - from the pix looks like you'd need the lower mounting band and struts, too.
Draw out the profile on top of your scaled diagram/photo to get the needed diameters, fire up the cone-o-matic and you should have no problems.
Yogi
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Old 11-27-2010, 02:01 PM
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contour upgrade

I attempted this model once and I agree it didn't look great. I used some aluminum foil I spray painted gold to try and add some more detail but met with some difficulty as it tears easily. Your rendition JP looks fantasitc. I really like how the antenna's came out and the detail on the panels is very cool. Two Thumbs Up!!!


last build: 1/32 V2
current build: none, home for the holidays
next build: redo of my Goddard L10 rocket in a larger scale
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Old 03-14-2011, 08:59 AM
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It's okay to resurrect old threads if they belong to you...

Pardon the return of an old thread. There's no sense in starting a new one for the same model, really.
I work very sloowwlllyyy sometimes. This means that projects get dropped, then picked up for a while, and finally finished much later. What can I say? I have the attention span of a toddler.
Anyway...
I'm actually nearly finished with this one now. I've already redrawn the thruster pods to sit closer to the body, adjusted the HGA, and given the final coloring to the SRM (the first draft was white -- why waste ink on a prototype? Actually, it turned out fine on the first try, I think).
This is the current iteration. Still lacking the corrected parts I mentioned above and two instruments, which I am still playing with.









And, the Star 30 SRM is removable for display



I was working on making one of the panels on the Whipple shield removable, and creating some interior detail of the shield. I don't know if I will continue with it, but this was one test fitting to try out some ideas.



I'm going to finish this one up and submit some pictures and the completed version of the model parts to the designer of the solar panels and see if he would agree to release it as a free model for the masses. I wouldn't feel right giving this away without his approval.
Another weekend begins tomorrow (I work non-traditional "weeks" at my job), so Pathfinder will be finished up and this one will edge closer as well. (I may actually finish a model! )
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Old 03-15-2011, 01:43 AM
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The overall shape looks easy enough. The trick in this one really hides in the detailing. An that looks pretty nice so far. I also like the removable motor a lot. I'd give the solar panels a couple of layers of clear gloss paint. It gives them a lot of depth and realism.

What's your special interest in this one?
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Old 03-15-2011, 08:08 AM
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Really nice! Another one on the list for our astronomical enthusiasts.

Yogi
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Old 03-15-2011, 12:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paper Kosmonaut View Post
What's your special interest in this one?
I like obscure topics, especially when it's something I can build. I especially like some of the less-modeled spacecraft, things that people don't see a lot of builds of. Thus, my Pathfinder shuttle model, Ulysses, and CONTOUR.
I remember following this one back in the early 2000s, before it was launched, and I remember the disappointment I felt when it was lost. I don't know why it fascinates me so much, but I do remember being someone unenthusiastic about the paper model that was available, just because the actual probe was so detailed, and the old model basically stopped at the bus.
Years later, while perusing the Yahoo space modeler's group, I saw a model that Scott Brotherton had built, and was particularly impressed with the detail on his solar panels. I sent him a message asking how he did it, and he replied that they were paper, drawn out in a graphics program and printed just like a card model. He offered to share the panels with me, and I took him up on the offer.
I thought about it for a while, and realized that the panels were literally made for a paper model, and that maybe I could do the probe some justice. So here I am.

Honestly, I should ask for help on the last instrument that is preventing me from finishing this one. I am having trouble deciding how to represent the shape of the imager cover, at the top of the bus below the sunshade.









I am still thinking about how to do that best.
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