Requirement
5. A fantasy spacecraft: a second model
Required Often forgotten
NOT A POSTSCRIPT TO REQUIREMENT 4 BUT A SEPARATE PROJECT. Research, component design, a final drawing from multiple angles and a full discussion. You determine the scale yourself, and whether it must be physically built is a question worth settling with your counselor first.
Notes and warnings
Warning. THIS IS A SECOND MODEL, AND WHETHER YOU MUST BUILD IT IS NOT CLEAR FROM THE TEXT. Requirement 4 reads like the project and requirement 5 like a postscript. It is not: it asks for research, for individual components to be designed, for a final sketch or rendered image from multiple angles, and for a full discussion of process, scale, materials, engineering and difficulties. On the build question, the requirement is genuinely ambiguous. Its opening sentence says design and build. None of its four lettered parts asks you to assemble anything, 5(c) accepts a rendered image, and 5(d) accepts digital materials. The 2025 printed book asked at 5(b) for the parts to be arranged and assembled, in those words, and the current page has replaced that with designing components. This page does not rule on it because it is your counselor's decision. ASK AT THE START: the difference between a rendered spacecraft and a built one is several weekends.
What this is made of
Where this step comes from
- Model Design and Building Merit Badge Requirements (Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-12-31), Requirement 5 · The requirement opens by asking you to design and build a fantasy spacecraft model and to determine an appropriate scale.