Building the Kepler Spacecraft

Building the Kepler Spacecraft

If you're a fan of the Kepler spacecraft like me, then why not adorn your house/desk/bathroom with a model of the planet hunting machine. The files needed for 3D printing can be found from this github link. If you don't have a 3D printer, then you can probably find a 3D Hub in your area. Below is the process I went through to create the final model. Click on any of the pictures below to see the larger version.

This is the Kepler image I used as my reference for the final color palette.

The first step is to remove any obstructions from your workspace.

These are the five 3D printed pieces. If you try to put the pieces together you'll notice they are a VERY tight fit and in fact may not go together at all. The piece on the far left is the display stand, which we'll deal with last.

A hobby knife is needed to get rid of residual support structures and generally make the pieces fit together. I especially had a lot of flash material in the photometer tube. How much of this work you need to do will depend on your printer, and also patience.

Once we're happy the pieces actually fit together, it's time to prime the pieces for painting. I used white primer for this step.

For the chosen color palette, I used the shown four sprays of Silver, Metallic Gold, Arctic Blue Metallic, and Flat Black.

... and some other pieces for touching up the rough edges.

Use Flat Black to spray the inside and tops of the photometer and sun shade.

I then used black hobby paint to get the places the spray didn't reach ...

... then glued the photometer and sun shade pieces together.

Prop the assembled photometer pieces up so that the sun shade is flush with the spray surface, then use Gold Metallic to cover the outside of the photometer. It's extremely important that a tub of Double Fudge Chocolate icecream is used for this step.

Metallic paints can take a while to dry properly, so go do something productive for an hour.

Once the Metallic Gold is dry, you may need to touch up the black inside the photometer again

For the photometer side panel, we need to paint with a metallic silver by hand.

Now we can use our silver spray to coat the solar array and the base of the spacecraft. For the solar array, we only need to spray the inside.

Once the pieces are dry, remove the spacecraft base and turn over the solar array. Use the Arctic Blue Metallic to coat the outside of the solar array.

Excluding the display stand, you should now have three pieces that look like this.

The solar array has a complicated criss-cross pattern of silver lines. How elaborate you get with this step is up to you, but I chose to hand-paint in the main lines using silver paint.

After your artistic efforts have dried, you can now glue the solar array to the photometer tube.

The spacecraft base has a lot of support structure produced during printing, so you may need to clean up the inside so that the photometer fits on properly.

Glue the spacecraft base to the photometer, paying attention to the side instrumentation so that it's oriented correctly.

We now have all the main pieces assembled.

So far so good!

Finally, the display stand. The base of the spacecraft is a VERY TIGHT fit to the stand and I had to hack away with my hobby knife quite a lot to get everything to fit. I used the Flat Black to coat the stand.

I realized at the end that something was missing: a display case. I ordered a custom size 8"H x 5"W x5"L case from shopPOPdisplays. Now the model will be forever protected from the elements!

	This is the Kepler image I used as my reference for the final color palette.
	The first step is to remove any obstructions from your workspace.
	These are the five 3D printed pieces. If you try to put the pieces together you'll notice they are a VERY tight fit and in fact may not go together at all. The piece on the far left is the display stand, which we'll deal with last.
	A hobby knife is needed to get rid of residual support structures and generally make the pieces fit together. I especially had a lot of flash material in the photometer tube. How much of this work you need to do will depend on your printer, and also patience.
	Once we're happy the pieces actually fit together, it's time to prime the pieces for painting. I used white primer for this step.
	For the chosen color palette, I used the shown four sprays of Silver, Metallic Gold, Arctic Blue Metallic, and Flat Black.
	... and some other pieces for touching up the rough edges.
	Use Flat Black to spray the inside and tops of the photometer and sun shade.
	I then used black hobby paint to get the places the spray didn't reach ...
	... then glued the photometer and sun shade pieces together.
	Prop the assembled photometer pieces up so that the sun shade is flush with the spray surface, then use Gold Metallic to cover the outside of the photometer. It's extremely important that a tub of Double Fudge Chocolate icecream is used for this step.
	Metallic paints can take a while to dry properly, so go do something productive for an hour.
	Once the Metallic Gold is dry, you may need to touch up the black inside the photometer again
	For the photometer side panel, we need to paint with a metallic silver by hand.
	Now we can use our silver spray to coat the solar array and the base of the spacecraft. For the solar array, we only need to spray the inside.
	Once the pieces are dry, remove the spacecraft base and turn over the solar array. Use the Arctic Blue Metallic to coat the outside of the solar array.
	Excluding the display stand, you should now have three pieces that look like this.
	The solar array has a complicated criss-cross pattern of silver lines. How elaborate you get with this step is up to you, but I chose to hand-paint in the main lines using silver paint.
	After your artistic efforts have dried, you can now glue the solar array to the photometer tube.
	The spacecraft base has a lot of support structure produced during printing, so you may need to clean up the inside so that the photometer fits on properly.
	Glue the spacecraft base to the photometer, paying attention to the side instrumentation so that it's oriented correctly.
	We now have all the main pieces assembled.
	So far so good!
	Finally, the display stand. The base of the spacecraft is a VERY TIGHT fit to the stand and I had to hack away with my hobby knife quite a lot to get everything to fit. I used the Flat Black to coat the stand.
	I realized at the end that something was missing: a display case. I ordered a custom size 8"H x 5"W x5"L case from shopPOPdisplays. Now the model will be forever protected from the elements!