SSC Deep Recon ship

[frank2056]

Over at BTS, Dr. Yo's build of the Dracoon/Aminga made me think that it would fit well in the Strategic Space Command universe, which includes the Leif Ericson. I'm the guy who calculated that the original LE was around 1/500 scale (and that's what Round 2 put on the box) so now it's cannon. However since the deck spacing and hatches (both in and outside of the ship) vary widely in size, anything from around 1/300 to 1/700 would work for the scale.

For the Dracoon (which I keep thinking of as "Racoon") I imagine it is an older vehicle than the LE, primarily used for solar system exploration and cargo transport.

In any case, I found that the Dracoon was quite cheap on Ebay. I bought two of the Takara/Nitto boxing of the Dracoon (listed as 1/1600 on the box). It's a fairly simple kit, but the fit is not great; hats off to the evil Dr. Yo for making the kit plastic yield to his will. I struggled (and am still struggling) with mine.

I'm building two versions: one landed, with the rear cargo hatch open and landing gears deployed and another in flight. The in-flight version is almost ready for paint. I printed larger vertical fins in ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate - basically, styrene) to make it closer to the Leif Ericson design style. I also used the exhaust from an old Testors 1/72 F-19 as the "impulse" engines:



The neck joint required extensive trimming and sanding to prevent a noticeable step. The engine pods have a gap between them and the main body that is just wide enough to call a feature, rather than poor fit:



Throughout this build, the shape of the Dracoon has reminded me of the Terran Trade Authority "Interstellar Queen" and of the "Hooded Swan" from the series by by Brian Stableford:


(artwork for both is by Angus McKie)

I added two doors for the forward landing pads (as seen on some "Interstellar Queen"/"Hooded Swan" images). Some 1/700 railing on the forward stepped area under the nose acts as a sort of intake. I filled in the step behind them to streamline the lower front fuselage. A frame from a 1/350 scale hatch on the lower rear body acts as a crew hatch. Finally, I made landing gear doors out of styrene to replace the lumps that acted as missile bays :



I have some LE engines I printed a few years ago so I placed one set (and the resin "engine inter-adapters" that I cast more than 20 years ago) on the Dracoon,; maybe it's being used as a testbed for the new LE engines:



Here's a 1/350 scale astronaut standing over the cockpit area. At this scale, the cockpit area is roughly about the size of a modern airliner's cockpit. In 1/500 it would be roomier and in 1/700 it would be a ballroom:



Here's where I am with the landed version and mocked up cargo hold:

[Andrew Gorman]

Looks good so far, and an inexpensive kit I'd never seen before!  Landed spacecraft are cool by their very nature.