I followed your first thread, since I had also bought the Polar Lights 1/350 model. For various reasons, I haven't got very far (not much farther than the painting in your first thread, lol), and don't really have a good workspace right now. Outside of some painting, about all I managed to do was gather a handful of aftermarket parts (light board, LEDs, Aztecing template, printable decals) and finished the arboretum and shuttlecraft hangar deck:

https://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d...ics/Photo1.jpg

Subscribed to the new thread, as I'm sure some of the tech is better than when I first started. Where did you manage to find the kit? The TOS Enterprise seems to be their only current 1/350 kit now.

They reissued an improved design. I got the electronics from Tenacontrols.com (haven’t received yet) I opted for the MegaBoard but you can buy individual circuits and control boards.

I’m going to add some surface mount tiny, very bright LEDs for certain floodlights. I figured out that the holes are not angled properly to throw the light correctly. You have to modify the bridge (raise it 2mm and move it forward about an 1/8” to get rid of the huge shadow the center bump causes.

The lights that light up the pylons are wrong too. They need to be redrilled at the correct angles. It’s sort of interesting to do the kit for the second time. I know where it needs work to fit together better and now have the right adhesives. DONT use CA glue on the plastic parts except for temporary bonds or to set LEDs. It becomes brittle after a few years and the bonds fail.

I still collecting paint and build supplies. All my paint was solidified. I’m also running plastic conduit inside here and there to make running wire easier. There is so much shit inside it’s really frustrating during final assembly to run the wires.

I’m also doing the five color, pearl Aztec Pattern. Don’t use the decals. They don’t last either.

Feel free to add your build pics to the thread! Nice work on the shuttle bay. That is like a model unto itself.

Out of all the Star Trek stuff I really think they fell down on the shuttle design. So lame looking tbh. But I think it's great that you're putting all this effort into something like this, I used to build all sorts of models when I was young and kinda fell out of the hobby.

This is the third model I've built since I was 12. Honestly, I need something to keep my mind off of other things....

Thought I'd post some pics of the previous build paint job and some new pics of light blocking the engine nacelles!

Super sick today. Might be pneumonia. :sadangel:

But did get some work done. Nothing like breathing paint to perk up the ol lungs!

I made some reinforcements for the dish. Did a bunch of test fitting and modifying (they put posts right where LEDs go...). Also lots of priming and light blocking.

And a bonus pic of Jess :D

That neck fits like shit balls. Lots of filing and sanding to get it right. I don’t remember this kit being so ill fitting... I guess that’s what filler is for.

I’ve been steadily at it working on the Enterprise. There is an arboretum that can be seen through the hull and I’ve put in a bunch of tiny bushes and flowering trees. (Looks like the gardener has been on vacation for a while! :rofl:)

I’ve also been working on installing a shit ton of tiny windows and doing modifications to accommodate the electronics. I’m using magnetic winding wire that is about the size of a human hair and realizing I can’t see shit.

But I’ve got the neck pretty much wired up. I put a conduit in there to make it easier to run the bundle of wires through it later (that’s the tube in the neck photo. You can see there is a lot of stuff in there to get in the way.) the red lights are photon torpedo launchers. :dance:

One thing that is very cool is the teeny tiny SMD LEDs. Super bright, the light up the dish and registry number (NCC-1701) on the top and bottom of the saucer. That’s a bandaid on my thumb. Jammed an Xacto knife into it.

I’ve spent a ton of time just soldering resistors to LEDs with leads. So many tiny LEDs...:needcoffee:

More to come!

I’d never have the patience to do that, plus I can’t really do the tiny intricate work anymore, dang essential tremor won’t allow it. Nonetheless, very nice work and I look forward to the end product

OK. This shuttle bay is going to be the end of me. I’ve painted, sanded down, painted, sanded down, X 4 on the most visible black surface (the landing deck).

Once I had it good and shiny with no scratches and finally got the ten LED sequential landing lights embedded and tested, I promptly blew them up by using the wrong test lead. In a fraction of a second, it was fried. Had to order 35 more LEDs.

So....started over again. This time I built a fixture for the LEDs ...sort of like a circuit board. This will get hot glued to the back side. There are five separate circuits so the lights will blink in rows of two in sequence.

There are also decals that go on with tiny yellow landing strips. PITA.

I also got some flickering blue LEDs for the warp cores. That should look neat. The last model had static lighting in the shuttle bay. This one will be a flashin’ And a flickerin’!

I’ve also started a plan for a base. She is coming along....only 150 hours to go.

Not sure if this is the coolest thing ever or if you're nuts.:lol:

Thanks for sharing the pics and keep up the good work.:seasix:

http://i.imgur.com/rz1POa3.png



I'm glad there are people in this world who do stuff like this
and
I'm glad I'm not one of them.

:lol: when I decided to build another one, I thought I was nuts too. Then as I started on it I realized something.

If I’m not working, I don’t know what to do with myself and get anxiety. So when Saturday comes, I work. And Sunday. Times 52 weeks a year. When I just can’t work any more, I drug myself to sleep to escape the anxiety. Not a healthy lifestyle.

I find when I work on the model, I relax. Same with the car but I’m just not up to the heavy work of the car.

The other benefit I’ve found is that when I go to bed, instead of figuring out work shit, I mentally engineer the project - working out the electronics, structural stuff, assembly order, etc. My mind never stops and, again, this is an escape.

I don’t think I’ll start building more models. But for now, this one is a doozy. I’m betting it takes six months.

:dance: the biggest issue is where the hell to put it when I’m done. It’s three feet long. :willy:

I know exactly what you mean. I've built a few ship models and every knot in the rigging was correct. I was learning sailing for real at the time.

There's got to be somebody somewhere with a Borg cube and barrel full of Tannerite.

Get video.

The first one was done in by a soccer ball. I may have an acrylic display made for this one. Way too much work and expense to risk it.

Years ago I had the Enterprise, Klingon battle cruiser, the bridge, and Galileo 7. Never with this kind of detail, though. I did get into WWII battleships and planes for a while and tricked them out.
I did a scene from an air battle from WWII in my bedroom when I was a kid. I used fishing line to hang them from the ceiling. I had a B17 with a ME109 and FW190 diving in on it with a Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, and P51 coming in on them. I used an awl and heated the tip to make bullet holes and had cotton sprayed with black and gray to simulate smoke.
I really got into 1/24 scale cars. Did the chrome trim, plug wires, a little custom body work. I still have some of those on display in a case in the back room.
Most of the ships and planes didn't survive. Still have a few packed away upstairs. The best ship I had was the Constitution. I did the rigging, sails, the whole bit. Took me months to build it. It survived for thirty some odd years until six months ago. Chimney flashing sprang a leak, got onto my ceiling, and caused a collapse. The Constitution was on my mantle, and falling debris did what the British couldn't. I still have her, but have not tried any repairs yet.
Hell of a job you're doing. :seasix:I don't have the eyesight anymore for the detail work. Shame, too. Got a '57 Fairlane I started but never finished.

Mega Update
 

I'm just going to upload a bunch of pictures and a video. I've been working pretty consistently and it's about the most damn frustrating project EVAR. But I knew that going in.

This thing is a beast. Either I will win or it will break me.

First up - the duel color deflector dish. When the Enterprise first fires up, the dish is amber (the photos do not reflect the actual color) then it fades to blue as the warp drives come on line. Very neat two color LED. Since I took those shots, I've cleaned up the little splines quite a bit (holy crap I almost went blind gluing all those in there.

Next shot is of a little light box. There are a few of these inside the model I've fabricated - they seal off the light so it doesn't bleed into another area. That little round port hole also has a duel color LED that is synced to the deflector. Without light boxes, the impulse engine LEDs (red) would bleed into the other and look like shit.

Wires, wires and more wires. Not sure how all of this will fit in there. May have to move the circuit board to the base.

A shot of another conduit (a red straw in this case) to route the wires through the pylons. Lot's of wires and very little space.

I've got my pearl paints - the model will first be shot in grey primer, sanded with 1500 grit, then sprayed with flat white enamel. (Inside and out. On the inside there is an additional layer of metallic silver to block the light).

Over this flat white, I'll spray white pearl over the entire thing. Then, after about 60 hours of masking, I'll start laying in a 4 color aztec pattern with gold, blue and yellow pearl. Very light and transparent. (5th color is white).

****ing bananas. But I love a challenge. I bought vinyl laser cut masks but still an insane job of masking, removing, remasking, removing, remasking - for every color. I'll post a video of the effect - it's worth the effort.

Here's a more recent video update shot tonight.

The aztec pattern masking. This guy is a master. Fast forward to the end to see the end result.


I forgot to mention. After the pearl is all shot, the entire model is sprayed with Future floor "wax". It's not wax. It's a polyurethane acrylic. It can be sprayed as is through an air brush, self levels (you could brush it if you wanted) and dries very smooth and shiny.

Then the decals are applied (there are about a million of them) using Microset to "bake" them in so they look painted. Decals look best over a very smooth surface. The Future seals the paint and gives the surface.

Now you have another problem - the model is too shiny. So the last coat is a clear matte coat over the decals and pearl. It tone's everything down so it looks more to scale.

Shiny looks like a toy. This thing is three feet long.

Man you are going all out on this thing! :Jeff '79:

Best. Thread. EVAR. :seasix: