How to Print & Assemble The DRAGON-MS

Firstly, I would like to give my special thanks to Trevor Pages from Tesla Owners Online for the amazing review on YouTube about this model – very detail and informative! Please watch his video below if you want some more hints and tips to get this model printed successfully on your 3D printers! If you would like to subscribe to his YouTube channel, please click on this link.

Most of the STL files are really straight forward to print. All you need to do is load them into your slicer software (I use Cura), select your desirable settings (e.g. layer height, infill percentage, etc.) and slice the parts. I used 0.4mm nozzle (0.2mm layer height) to print most parts and 0.25mm nozzle (0.1mm layer height) to print small parts (e.g. pins, washers, links, etc.)

Please note: I already saved the STL for each part in the orientation I printed them on my FDM printer. Hence, when you load the STL in your slicer software, you don’t need to orientate them again, unless you want to try to print them in a different orientation.

So now you’ve got all your parts printed? Great! Let’s assemble the model! I’ll take you through the assembly process step by step but before that, you need to purchase some items:

• 5mm dia x 3mm thick N42 Neodymium magnets (LINK) | Qty: 50-off
• 10mm dia x 2mm thick N42 Neodymium magnets (LINK) | Qty: 12-off
• Super glue (LINK) | Qty: 1 bottle

Parts required (refer to the photos below):

• 3x Link (a)
• 2x Apin (b)
• 1x Bpin (c)
• 2x Cpin (d)
• 1x Large Washer (e)
• 1x Small Washer (f)
• 1x Short Dowel (g)
• 1x Long Dowel (h)
• 1x Nose Cone (i)
• 1x Body (j)

Assembly process:

1. Assemble the Hinge
2. Connect the Hinge with the Body and Nose Cone

Please note: All parts in STEP 1 should be fitted together without any super glue. Some parts are quite small so I suggest you use a pair of tweezers to handle them.

Parts required (refer to the photos below):

• 1x Sub-assembly from STEP 1 (a)
• 4x Window (b)
• 1x DracoFrontLeft (c)
• 1x DracoFrontRight (d)
• 1x DracoRearLeft (e)
• 1x DracoRearRight (f)
• 2x SideDraco (g)
• 1x Entry Hatch (h)
• 8x Magnets (5mm dia x 3mm thick) (highlighted in RED)

Assembly process:

1. Press fit 6 magnets into their locations on the Body and 2 magnets into their location on the Entry Hatch (use super glue if needed)
2. Press fit the Windows and Draco’s into their locations on the Body (use super glue if needed)
3. Assemble the Entry Hatch to the Body.

Please note: If you have inserted the magnets correctly at this point, you should now be able to ‘hang’ the Entry Hatch

Parts required (refer to the photos below):

• 1x Floor (a)
• 1x Floor Step (b)
• 4x Seat (c)
• 4x Footbar (d)
• 1x LH Seat Support (e)
• 1x Center Seat Support (f)
• 1x RH Seat Support (g)
• 1x Monitor (h)
• 1x Monitor Stand (i)

Assembly process:

1. Glue the Seats and Footbars together (place the Seat on the Footbar and slide it until the back of the Seat touches the ‘stop’ on the Footbar)
2. Glue the Monitor and Monitor Stand together (use the slot on the Monitor for alignment)
3. Glue the Floor and Floor Step together
4. Slide Seat/Footbar sub-assemblies into Seat Supports (LH, RH & Centre) (Hint: Put some duct tape around the cylindrical section of the Seat Supports to adjust clearance between this and the hole on the Footbar)
5. Press fit Monitor/Monitor Stand into Floor (Hint: use glue if you want this part to be fixed permanently. Alternatively, to make it tightly fitted but still removable, use some duct tape on the bottom section of the Monitor Stand to fine-tune the clearance between this part and its locating hole on the Floor)
6. Press fit Seat/Footbar/Seat Support sub-assemblies into Floor (again, use duct tape to adjust clearance if needed)

Parts required (refer to the photos below):

• 1x INTERIOR sub-assembly from STEP 3 (a)
• 1x Heat Shield with Pods (b)
• 4x SuperDraco (c)
• 1x Panel (d)
• 16x Magnets (5mm dia x 3mm thick) (highlighted in RED)

Assembly process:

1. Press fit 6 magnets (5mm dia x 3mm thick) to the underside of the Floor (if strong magnets are used, you can reduce the number of magnets)
2. Press fit 10 magnets (5mm dia x 3mm thick) to the top face of the ‘Heat Shield with Pods’ – ensure that these magnets are fitted correctly so they attract the ones previously fitted on the Body (at STEP 2) AND the Floor
3. Press fit the 4 SuperDraco’s and Panel into the ‘Heat Shield with Pods’
4. Finally, insert the INTERIOR sub-assembly (from STEP 3) onto the ‘Heat Shield with Pods

Parts required (refer to the photos below):

• 1x Soft Capture Ring (a)
• 6x Linear Actuator (b)
• 1x Sliding Ring (c)
• 1x Seal (d)
• 1x Hard Capture System (e)
• 1x Top Hatch (f)
• 1x Roof (g)
• 1x TopDraco (h)

Assembly process:

1. Glue Soft Capture Ring, 6-off Linear Actuators and Sliding Ring together to create the ‘Soft Capture System’
2. Press fit Top Hatch and Seal into Hard Capture System
3. Press fit Hard Capture System into Roof (ensure that the ‘data & power plug’ and ‘data & power socket’ on both sides of the Hard Capture System are pushed all the way into their slots on the Roof)
4. Press fit Top Draco into Roof (from underneath) (Fun fact: These thrusters on the top of the spacecraft are used to abort docking with the ISS whilst the SuperDraco engines you assembled at STEP 4 are used for launch abort)
5. Slide ‘Soft Capture System’ into Hard Capture System. There’s a really cool video on YouTube explains how the Docking Mechanism works – I recommend you to watch via this link

Parts required (refer to the photos below):

• 1x ‘Ceiling’ sub-assembly from STEP 5 (a)
• 1x INTERIOR sub-assembly from STEP 4 (b)
• 1x EXTERIOR sub-assembly from STEP 2 (c)
• 1x Nose Ring (d)

Assembly process:

1. Cut open the Nose Ring at the marked location
2. Assemble the EXTERIOR sub-assembly (STEP 2) to INTERIOR sub-assembly (STEP 4) (Note: the magnets on these two sub-assemblies should hold them together without having to use any glue)
3. Press fit Nose Ring and ‘Ceiling’ sub-assembly onto the sub-assembly above – no glue is needed

Parts required (refer to the photos below):

• 1x Trunk (a)*
• 1x Secret Compartment (b)
• 8x Magnets (5mm dia x 3mm thick) (highlighted in RED)
• 8x Magnets (10mm dia x 2mm thick) (highlighted in ORANGE)

(*) Please note: I printed both halves of the Trunk together on an dual-extrusion printer (Ultimaker S5). If you don’t have a dual-extrusion printer, you can either (1) print the whole Trunk in one colour (use the Trunk (1-piece) STL) and paint half of it with another colour OR (2) print two halves separately in two colours and glue them together. In this case, you’ll have Trunk_Front (a1) and Trunk_Rear (a2)

Assembly process:

1. Glue 4 magnets (5mm dia x 3mm thick) into the 4 holes located on the chamfer of the Secret Compartment
2. Glue 4 magnets (5mm dia x 3mm thick) into the 4 holes located on the chamfer inside the Trunk
3. Glue 8 magnets (10mm dia x 2mm thick) in 4 stacks of 2 into the 4 holes located inside the Secret Compartment (ensure that these magnets attract the ones previously fitted on the Heat Shield at STEP 4 when you put the bottom face of these two parts against each other)

How does the Secret Compartment work?

When the Secret Compartment is fitted into the Trunk, spin the bottom of this part until the 4 magnets located on its chamfer aligned with those located on the chamfer inside the Trunk. The Secret Compartment is now ‘locked’ and its bottom face flushes with the bottom face of the Trunk – making it impossible to open unless you know how!

To ‘unlock’ the Secret Compartment: Use the bottom of the Heat Shield – place the Heat Shield directly on the Secret Compartment (make sure that the bottom faces of these two parts are in contact. Slightly rotate the Heat Shield until you feel the magnets are aligned with those on the Secret Compartment. Now, hold the Heat Shield steadily and pull it away from the Trunk, the Secret Compartment will come out.

Parts required (refer to the photos below):

• 1x Trunk from STEP 7 (a)
• 1x Pressurised Crew Module from STEP 6 (b)
• 1x Latch (c)
• 8x Magnets (10mm dia x 2mm thick) (highlighted in ORANGE)
• 2x Astronauts (d)
• 1x Model Stand

Assembly process:

1. Glue 4 magnets (10mm dia x 2mm thick) into the 4 holes located on the top face of the Trunk
2. Glue 4 magnets (10mm dia x 2mm thick) into the 4 holes located on the bottom face of the Heat Shield (ensure that these magnets are installed correctly so that they attract the ones on the bottom face of the Trunk)
3. Place the Pressurised Crew Module on the Trunk, the magnets on both parts should hold these two sections together
4. Press fit the Latch into the Trunk (this can be super-glue to the Trunk if you want)
5. Place astronauts next to the model
6. Place the model on the Model Stand (if needed)