Ranger 7's last moments
 

It seems I am on a new roll again. Yippee!
I started a new build, this time it's Ranger 7. The good old probe that flew to the Moon bravely transmitting images until it crashed on the surface.

I took Yogi's model as a starting point for the basic shapes and further used different types of paper. I redid the camera opening in the tower. It was upside down. I scratchbuilt the interior of the camera housing and took a blunt needle to make rivets in the metallic paper that makes up the tower part. I really liked the outcome. Next up were the lighter riveted bands the tower bears around its hull. Same method, thinner and lighter paper. The top of the tower also was further detailed and coloured bronze.

The main bus was made from scratch, using the one from Yogi's model as a guideline. As usual, the model will be displayed on a rod, so the bus was made with an inbuilt brass tube.

Next were the solar panels. The underside was kind of ribbed, structured and had a big reinforcement bulkhead on the inside of it. I made something out of thick grey paper with a mesh tape glued over it. It normally is used to plaster flush the seams between plasterboards. I painted the stuff anthracite (picture shows a test) and added some paper strips to give it a nice frame. The front side of the solar panels is made from blue metallic paper I often use for solar arrays. Carved in to give it structure and a thick glob of clear gloss acrylic on top. That's the score now. Tomorrow there'll be more.

Lookin' real fine!
I completely enjoyed building Yogi's model.
Looks great using the metallic material.

Yes, I read the thread; you did a great job. And Yogi's model is nice indeed. It is just that my problem is that I like to go insane on detail in scales that are too small...

Great job, with good description of the process and the photos. Nice use of the dry wall tape. Have to file that one in my memory bank for future use.

Ah, dry wall tape. That's how you call it. Sometimes it's a bit of a struggle to find the right words for stuff I even don't know the Dutch name for! Hahaha!

Yeah, it was just there when I was rummaging in the store room in my girlfriend's house. I thought of using it in this build. I first wanted to use the stuff used in screen doors but I couldn't find it.

And you sleep when?

VERY nice model, and even more great modeling ideas. Can't wait to see it all put together.

You'r really on a roll, cranking them out. A really nice build, excellent effect with the pin and the dry wall tape. More tricks to tuck away in the memory banks.

Nicely done. I (finally) did the correction to the TV aperature and replaced the file in the downloads with a corrected one.
Yogi (slow - not steady - but who's racing ...)

I am finished with the Ranger but it is too late to post some pictures today. So, first thing tomorrow I'll post the results.

Finished!
 

Well, today I did the rest. First all the instrument packs around the hexagon. I used Yogi's boxes as a template and put foil around them. Next the four small crane-like structures on the hexagon for keeping the solar panels up in the launch phase. In a lot of pictures I saw some kind of wires from these "cranes" to the arrays, so I decided to do that too. I think it was part of the system to lower them - close to the main bus there are pusher pistons (spring induced) to push the PVA's down and the wires keep them perpendicular to the body while the probe was still attached to the Agena. At least that's what I think.

The PVA's themselves came out very nice, too. The tubing structure underneath the hexagon was a little tricky but I managed to get it just about right. The PVA's went on without any problem and then I started carefully cutting out the HGA. I used the dry wall tape again for the mesh structure of the dish. It is a bit crude compared to the fine mesh the original has but it shows the suggestion of it.

Then it was adding those aforementioned wires to the "cranes" and the PVA's. (stiffened wire with CA and cut in the desired length) The diorama display already was made when I was doing the paper maché work on the Sno Cat (found in the Civilian Wheels forum here) while I had no idea yet what to put above it. (-; I had loads of paper maché left from that project so I moulded some literally out of this world landscapes for forthcoming stuff.

What else is there to say than that I hope you enjoy the result! Thanks to Yogi for the basic shapes I could do a fairly decent job on this little shiny winged organ pipe.