Viking Lander Leg Animation

This video shows a digital 3D model of the Viking '75 Mars Lander's core body and landing legs, illustrating the operation of leg mechanisms. The model is a work in progress being created with the SketchUp software. The SketchUp model file is available via DropBox at http://tinyurl.com/viking3dmodel

A summary of the Viking missions can be found on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_...

An album of 2D detail renderings of the model seen in the video, as it grows, is available at http://tinyurl.com/viking3d

The Keyframe Animation plug-in for SketchUp was very useful in creating the motion within the SketchUp application.
http://regularpolygon.org/keyframe-an...

My great thanks to the Viking Mars Missions Education and Preservation Project, who have provided me access to original materials:
http://www.thevikingpreservationproje...
  / vikingmarsmission  
  / marsvikingteam  

Here are albums of additional reference material I have collected in recent years:

Flight Capsule 3 in Seattle Museum of Flight (756 photos): http://tinyurl.com/vikingfc3
Dimensioned diagrams of the FC3 lander: http://tinyurl.com/vikingmeasurefc3

PTC Lander at Smithsonian NASM (466 photos): http://tinyurl.com/vikingptc

Lander at Virginia Air and Space Center (622 photos): http://tinyurl.com/vikingvasc
Dimensioned diagrams of the VASC’s lander: http://tinyurl.com/vikingmeasurevasc

Lander at California Science Center (138 photos): http://tinyurl.com/vikingcsc
Dimensioned diagrams of the CSC's lander: http://tinyurl.com/vikingmeasurecsc

Misc diagrams, unusual photos (over 350 images): http://tinyurl.com/vikingdiagrams
Body assembly blueprints: http://tinyurl.com/vikingblueprints

Collector Head Shroud Unit at NASA LaRC (99 photos): http://tinyurl.com/vikingchsu
Biology instrument at Cleveland MoNH (36 photos): http://tinyurl.com/vikingbio
Meteorology Sensor Assembly in Seattle (60 photos): http://tinyurl.com/vikingmsa
Tape Recorder in Seattle (53 photos): http://tinyurl.com/vikingtr
Meteorology Electronics Assembly in Portland (22 photos): http://tinyurl.com/vikingmea
High Gain Antenna photos and measurements (96 images): http://tinyurl.com/vikinghga