Spring Cleaning - with an AT-AT!

There was further significant progress on the model of the shuttle – the side pocket panels with the mechanism for folding stabiliser fins are finished, and so is another difficult element: the outer paneling of the rear engines. This is complicated because it is not only curved along the full length like the side fairings, but the two curvatures meeting at right angles also merge without edges.

To achieve this, I cut a LEGO parabolic mirror in half in the diameter of the side pockets, and then glued each half with its semi-circular edge flush with a side pocket. The curvature of the cut edge created by the bisection now describes the curvature of the rear engine cowling. In the middle between the two half parabolic mirrors I glued another wider element of thick plastic cardboard with the same width and curvature to stabilise the fairing to be attached.

I cut the fairing with the elongated cut-outs for the thrusters out of thin plastic cardboard, manually curved it a little, and then glued it flush over the curvatures of the cut edges of the halved parabolic mirrors and the equally curved support element in the middle. I then applied a thin coat of super glue to the thin plastic cardboard inside and out to stiffen it. After this had hardened, the protruding adhesive edge of the thin plastic cardboard on the two parabolic mirrors was sanded down so that there was a seamless and evenly curved transition from the plastic of the half parabolic mirrors into the plastic cardboard. Irregularities in the surface, which inevitably occurred during construction, were filled with Spruegoo (cast frame residue dissolved in very thin plastic glue) and also sanded down. There was a little filling and a lot of sanding – first with slightly coarser sanding sticks, and then with finer ones.

I sprayed the result with a thin layer of matt white in order to get a matt surface of the same colour, on which it was easier to see disturbing irregularities. These were then filled and/or sanded again, and finally sprayed again with a thin matt white for inspection.

A fixture for the display stand was also installed, as well as the mechanism by which the two outer stabiliser fins can be moved simultaneously at any time and both will always be in the same position.

Also, the passenger cabin now got enclosed.