Read all the instructions and review the parts sheets before starting. Note the red stars for aligning the HGA dish, support base, and main bus with the RTG
mounting. Score all fold lines and cut out the parts.
• High Gain Antenna (HGA): overlap the HGA dish to form a shallow cone, printed side inward. Glue the top (white) and bottom (shaded) of the support base back to
back – do not glue the supporting truss pieces together yet. Roll the support base ring into a circle and glue. Bend one set of tabs inward and glue to the top (white
side) of the support base – carefully forming a circle. When dry, bend the remaining tabs inward and glue on the main dish, carefully centering the dish and aligning
the glue seam on the main dish with the wide support truss on the base. Roll and glue the feed horn into a cone and glue its small end to the blue circle in the center
of the support base. Overlap and glue the reflector to form a shallow cone and glue to the underside (non-printed side) of the reflector tripod. Color the backs of the
tripod legs black, then bend down (away from the printed side) to form the tripod. Glue one leg to the HGA dish aligned with the seam and the support base rim.
Glue the other legs to the dish symmetrically. Roll and glue the low gain antenna into a cylinder and secure to the blue circle on top of the reflector tripod. Finally,
bend the support base truss legs down at a 90 degree angle and glue the front/back layers together – this will form a stronger structure than if you glued them earlier.
• Main bus: fold and secure the sides of the bus to form a decagon. When dry, fold down the bus bottom panel and secure to close the box. Optional - Overlap and
glue the fuel tank ends to form shallow cones – printed side out. Glue one to the top of the main bus covering the printed gray circle; glue the other to the bottom of
the booster attachment truss – covering the gray circle.
• Radio-isotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) – [technique courtesy Vaughn Hoxie’s New Horizons model]: fold the RTG into pleats as indicated, apply glue to the
inside of the fins’ folds, and secure. When dry, roll into a cylinder overlapping the two end flats and secure. Attach the black disks to cap the ends, carefully
maintaining a circular cross section for the RTG body. If using light/medium card stock, do not remove the material inside the truss members to maintain strength.
– Truss: fold the large mounting truss away from the printed side and attach the wide end to the main bus placing the corners flat on the two dots on the top
surface of the bus (removing the center section of the wide end of the truss may make attachment easier). Secure the tip of the other end to the lower edge
of the main bus at the dot between bus panels 3 and 4. Bend up the magnetometer canister support that’s inside the wide end of the truss. Fold the smaller
outer mounting truss toward its printed side. Glue the center tab over the fold on the inner truss. Bend the “ears” down, then fold in and secure the tabs to
the lower section of the inner truss to hold the angle shown. Fold the triangle at the outer end of the truss upward, parallel with the sides of the main bus and
secure in position with the tab at the tip of the upper portion of the outer truss. Glue the RTG body to the end of the truss, refer to the diagram for details.
• Instruments: fold the instrument arm into a square beam and secure. Bend the two outer truss legs downward and secure to the dots on the inner edge of the top of
the main bus by panels 8 and 9. Glue the tip of the center truss member to the dot on the top of the main bus between panels 8 and 9. Secure the wide end of the
arm support to the bottom of the instrument arm and to the base of the truss arm on panel 8 to hold the arm level (or trim the arm support to fit from the instrument
arm to the edge of the main bus between panels 8 & 9 for a more robust attachment). This is simplified from the actual spacecraft structure (see spacecraft line
drawing).
– Fold the star trackers, plasma/wave, cosmic ray, charged particle, imaging, and scan platform experiments into boxes and secure. Drill out the blue circles in
the plasma/wave box to insert wires later. Roll the scan platform axle, charged particle extension, photopolarimeter, and IR telescope into cylinders and
secure. Bend down the supports on the plasma experiment. Secure the instruments to the arm as indicated. Note the dotted lines on the imaging and scan
platform boxes for alignment on the axle.
• HGA assembly: attach the HGA truss arms to the top of the main bus. The corners of the wide truss attach to the dots on panels 3 and 4, next to the RTG truss
arms. The narrow trusses attach to the inside edge of the bus (gray area) along panels 7 and 10.
• Remaining instruments: attach the plasma/wave antenna mount in the indicated position above the RTG mount – the box will overhang the edge of the bus. Insert
the wires for the antenna after the rest of the m