Caracol Observatory to The Stars
$18.00 Caracol Observatory to The Stars
3D
Published 2018-08-14T08:40:35+00:00
The 'Caracol' observatory is a Mayan ruin situated in the Chichén Itzá area in Yucatán, Mexico. The name “Caracol” (snail) comes from the spiral staircase in the center of the building, that leads from the first floor to the second floor, where a small rectangular chamber with windows was located. Today, three windows still exist and help us understand why the building was created and what it was used for. Archaeologists date the final version of the Caracol to A.D. 900-1000.
The square plataform of the building is aligned with the point where the sun sets on the day of the zenith passage on May 20, whilst the stair case which is unsually rotated, faces the northern and southern extremes of Venus’s setting point on the horizon as well as identifying the position of the sun on the equinoxes.
We have added a bit of our own fantasy to the model with a huge sextant/gyroscope pieces on its top, which can be added by the modeller or simply left to show its original structure. We opened up the 'room on the top' which is where they took their alignments from, because we thought it would look better this way and users could see the inside of the turret. We were not able to show the spiral staircase inside which is a pity because it takes its name from this, but we were able to simulate the rotated front stairway pointing to venus, which we are quite happy about.
The Caracol Observatory is part of our Mesoamerican collection.
The printing of the main building is simple and should print easily on any heat-bed to scale, but preferably a 200x200mm size is required to meet the 28mm scale. This piece can be printed larger to epic scale on larger print-beds or by slicing the model up into quarters and printing each part separately. A base of the appropriate size can then be chosen or, constructed if larger is needed, to place underneath.
To print the Gyroscope part, make sure your print-bed level is optimum and print at a layer height of 15 microns or lower. The parts then need to be cleaned out and glued to the domed roof of the building. The outer gyroscope, the sextant, glues on to the domed roof brim, whilst the inner ring is glued to the top most part of the roof. It is recommended that you pin and glue the inner ring, to ensure that it will not loosen and fall.
With the inner piece of the gyroscope, it is recommended to use a small piece of wire to pin it in place with glue. You can rig it so that the wire acts like an axle piece and this will allow you to move the piece around to get the best angle before glueing it. If pinned, you may also chose not to glue it in place so that it can be used as a moving display piece.
These prints do not require any supports and print easily in PLA. Use the standard model with a low layer height of 15 microns to obtain an incredible detailed piece, but this can take over 30 hours print time, so if time is a premium to you, you are probably better off with a low resolution and a layer height of 20 to 24 microns.
| Date published | 14/08/2018 |
| Price | $18.00 |
| Dimensions | 152mmx152mmx96mm |
| Support Free | YES |