MY SPACEX PHOTONIC PROPULSION SPACE STATION SCRATCHBIULD: THE FIDDLEY BITS

Session 2. All my bits and bobs have arrived in the post.....

.....ice cream pen with lip balm top!

.....collapsible cup

......micro magnets and jets

.....Blast-off game half-moon and pen dome: I've attached a micro toothbrush to the dome. It makes a neat antenna don't you think. Don't tell my dentist!

....various white tubes and more magnets

and an assortment of cones and domes

So, first up, strip the pen down and clean out the balm. Yuk!

Next, the fuselage. I can't make my mind up about the blue painted one. My paint job looks pants. I'm gonna try a black Olay lid too. Olay!

eh, voila!

Back to the pen, yet further stripping down. Just how many parts does it have!

After a coat of white paint it's starting to look like the tail of the toy. I hope.

I quite like the black fuselage so I've added tail plugs to both it and the blue fuselage to give me two versions, Marks III and IV. The dark one looks like Sauron!

The blue one gets a red tiddlywink base for its pilot's dome...

...which is much plainer than the other one. I've run out of seated astronauts!

A dalek and baby stop by for a chat

The dalek suggests I place the black radar on top of the plain dome. Or you know what!

The radar is courtesy of an old Instamatic camera lens.

The radar rod parts come from the scrap box. 

. So, Mark III is now taking shape: fuselage, dome complete with spacecraft docking boom, dish and rod. The Easter bunnies are dancing with joy at my progress!

Its now Mark 4's turn.

I've attached two spaceship docking ports courtesy of a ballpoint and a Thunderbirds IR blue playing piece.

I've glued a small jet to the docking port and a red 'light' to the other side. 

I'm still unsure about the radar dish. Here's a petit one...

...and a large one, the telescopic cup!

Throwing caution to the wind and much to that Easter Bunny's horror, I've shortened the cup 'radar'and created a neck....

the whole thing getting a first blather of Humbrol metallic red paint. Still unsure about this.

As the small blue IR docking port looked slanted I've taken it off and added a stem...

...which looks better I reckon.

The final job of the night and by far the fiddliest; attaching tiny magnets to the jets. I just wouldn't have believed how strong these tiny critters are! After losing several [gulp!] and glueing one to my thumb I've managed to  attach all three. Just call me Magneto from now on! ha ha

As soon as I restock the fridge with Becks session 3 will follow soon.