In Space 1999’s first episode “Breakaway” we see Eagles transporting nuclear waste containers in freighter or winch pods for storage on the dark side of the moon. When the nuclear material begins to become unstable, winch pods are used to distribute them to alleviate the approaching critical mass.
Here are a few of the real Nuclear Waste Canisters as seen in the episode:
Here is someone’s (sorry, I forget who. If you know, I would like to attribute it to the proper person) custom-made Freighter/Pallet pod made from parts of the Product Enterprise Eagle, to fit those models:
A couple of months back I spent some time modeling a Winch Pod and a Freighter/Pallet Pod for my 4″ Konami Eagles and also for my 10″ Dinky Eagles.
One thing I modeled was the nuclear waste container. It was a single piece, a fairly simple 3D printed cylinder, with rings and a cap. I would paint the rings and create my own water-slide decals to give them the warning label the canisters had.
You can see I found painting the black rings to be quite difficult. Getting anything consistent or even was near impossible for me. I’m not that skilled at painting models.
So I decided – hey, I have a 3D printer after all, I don’t have to print these as a single piece. In fact I can print them in two colors in their individual rings.
So I set out to break the simple model down into a base with a post (that also forms the center of the cap at the top) with two black rings, a central body section, and a cap.
Here, the first black ring is slipped on over the base post/cap:
Then the central body ring slides on:
Flanked by the top black ring:
Topped off with a white cap that snaps to the central hub:
I used clamps to hold them while the Super Glue was drying. Then I applied water-slide decals I designed and printed myself.
Here you see the painted version on the left and the printed version on the right: (I think I can probably thin out the rings a bit…)
And here is what the finished Dinky Pallet/Freighter Pod looks like:
NOTE: For anyone who buys these models from me at my shop (Fourth D) on Shapeways, you may want to print the decal sheet I created. The two links below are to PDF files you can print.
You can print them on white waterslide paper either in laser or inkjet (make sure you have the right paper and follow instructions that come with the paper) or you can print them on simple white paper and use simple glue if you like. The decal sheet has both the Konami and Dinky scaled decals. Also, the instructions for the decals (for waterslide) are available here.