Rendered with Kerkythea Echo Boost Edition v2.5.2 Windows 64bit (Metropolis-BPL) | 8:45' (i7-4770K 3.50ghz)
The challenge in this model was to mimic 3dsMax's Soft Selection option. Which I could get a good result by using Wings3D's Magnet option.
The video showing the process can be found here: Wings3d: John Malcolm's Interlocked Star Nest [3dsmax]