# Thanks to Paulbo and Tenacontrols!



## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Just finished this build over on the AST forum. It's the 1/1000 scale Reliant kit built as the USS Saratoga. I want to thank ParaGrafix for making a really great photo-etch set for this kit and to Tenacontrols for building a nav/flasher board tiny enough to fit inside the saucer. 

IMG_9091 by trekriffic, on Flickr

IMG_9135 by trekriffic, on Flickr

IMG_9156 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## StarCruiser (Sep 28, 1999)

Woah... Looks better than most of the old AMT 1/537th builds I've seen!


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

Spectacular!


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

Excellent.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Gotta say, that's some damn impressive lighting in such a small kit! Well done all around!


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Wait -- what?? That's 1/1000? 

Amazing! :thumbsup:

("Raytheon effect" for the primary hull spotlight?)


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Holy mackerel!!!


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## spock62 (Aug 13, 2003)

Wouldn't have guessed it being 1/1000. One of the best I've seen! :thumbsup:


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## Spockr (Sep 14, 2009)

Stellar work! Agree with the others that is better looking than some of 1/537 builds I've seen. And its hard to go wrong with Paul and Ralph's products!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Thanks for the compliments everyone. It means a lot coming from such great modellers as yourselves. 

SteveR,

Yes. I used the Raytheon Effect for the upper saucer registry spotlight. I also used it for the lower registry, both behind and in front of the lower sensor array, and for the registry on both sides at the rear of the nacelles. I even used it for the pennants on the lower pylons although it is much fainter due to only having dimmer ambient lighting from above and below available inside the pylons. It was my first time trying the Effect and I had to be careful not to run any wires over the spotlight zones or they'd have cast shadows onto the spots from inside. I was pretty happy with how the spots turned out considering I was a Raytheon Effect virgin. 

More images:

IMG_9044 by trekriffic, on Flickr

IMG_9081 by trekriffic, on Flickr

IMG_9126 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Just for fun... a composite using the whale probe from ST IV...

Probe by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Double post.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

To my eye, that's a good Raytheon effect: sharp edges near the light and on the sides, but a bit softer on the edge farthest from the light source. On some other builds, the far edge is a bit too hard, but yours looks pretty good!
... and yours is hotter at the source, rather than even throughout. That really helps sell it. :thumbsup:


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## larskseme (Sep 2, 2014)

This is really beautiful. This is really unbelievable to be this detailed at this scale. 

I do have two questions, if you don't mind: after you drill out the various windows, do you cover them with canopy glue or clear epoxy, or do you just leave them "open?

Also, would you mind telling a bit more about the lighting set up? What do you use for the basic interior lights (i.e. the saucer edge)?

Thanks!


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

Very nicely done!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

SteveR said:


> To my eye, that's a good Raytheon effect: sharp edges near the light and on the sides, but a bit softer on the edge farthest from the light source. On some other builds, the far edge is a bit too hard, but yours looks pretty good!
> ... and yours is hotter at the source, rather than even throughout. That really helps sell it. :thumbsup:


Thanks Steve. I sanded the edges of the zones inside the model near the front edge to try and get that softer effect you mention and I mounted 3mm white LEDs on both the upper and lower saucer right at the front of BC deck and the lower sensor array to create the hot zones close in to what would be perceived as the external light source if there was one.

IMG_9142 by trekriffic, on Flickr

IMG_9173 by trekriffic, on Flickr

IMG_9148 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

larskseme said:


> This is really beautiful. This is really unbelievable to be this detailed at this scale.
> 
> I do have two questions, if you don't mind: after you drill out the various windows, do you cover them with canopy glue or clear epoxy, or do you just leave them "open?
> 
> ...


I used LED strip lighting I got from Modelers' Brand for the nacelles and saucer window lighting, the Ultra-Smooth tape seen here:
http://modelersbrand.com/html/item_pages/ledtape/ledtape_ultra.html

Nacelle Light Test by trekriffic, on Flickr

UltraSmooth LED tape wiring by trekriffic, on Flickr

Diffuser and transparent blue film for nacelle grill lighting:
Nacelle Grill Lighting Components by trekriffic, on Flickr

I was able to get a nice even glow along the length of the warp grills using this LED tape, the diffuser panel (made from translucent milk jug type material) and the blue transparent film. I used white LEDs since I needed the white light to spill over into the front and back of the nacelles for illuminating the 4 white and one blue tinted fiber in the front of each nacelle and the Raytheon effect in the rear:

Naclle Light Test With Grill In Place by trekriffic, on Flickr

Two LED strips were mounted to the upper forward part of the saucer:

Upper Hull Wiring by trekriffic, on Flickr

UltraSmooth LED Strips by trekriffic, on Flickr

And two to the lower saucer underneath where the upper saucer angled stern superstructure windows would be:

Lower Hull Window LED Light Test by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Another strip was added to the aft of the upper saucer in case the windows behind the pylons at the rear of the hull needed more light:

LED Strip Added by trekriffic, on Flickr

For the round rim windows and sensor array I used .020 fiber strands pointed at the LEDs or LED strips to catch the light. I even added some photo-etch detailing to the lower array ports:

Lower Sensor Array Detailing by trekriffic, on Flickr

You can see what a difference the fiber strands make in this photo:

Fiber Optics for Rim Windows-Comparison by trekriffic, on Flickr

The ports to the left in this image have had fibers inserted into the round ports while those to the right have not. To a certain extent each strand had to contend with wires running inside the saucer which blocked the light so I would poke the strand into the hole until I it reached far enough into the hull to catch light from one of the LED strips or regular 3mm LED. Sometimes I had to twist and turn the fiber (the fiber curved) and push fairly hard to get it over or under a wire. When the end lit up I new where to cut the strand so I'd pull it out a little ways with the ends of my fingers gripping where I needed to cut, trim it, then dob some canopy glue on the strand and push it back in flush to secure it. You may wonder why I didn't insert the fibers before gluing the hull together, which would seem to be easier, but I wanted to insert the fibers after I puttied and painted the rim and didn't want to paint over the strands or have to mask them. In retrospect I probably could have just painted over the strands and some light would still have shown thru but I was concerned it would be dimmer because of the paint layers. I could have left a short length of strand sticking out of each port to trim later after gluing the hul together and painting but I didn't want to deal with trying to trim the fiber ends flush to the hull afterwards; I've found that there's always a little remnant left sticking out and I didn't want that. As it was I was happy with the time I spent fishing the fibers around to find the best light source because it turned out well with nice, clean, flush window ports.
In the case of the slotted windows, I cut rectangular strips of .020 clear styrene to the width of the window slots and inserted them into the slots far enough inside to clear wires and catch the light like I did with the fiber optic stands. Then I dobbed on canopy glue before pushing the strip in flush to the hull and filling in any gaps at the rounded ends of the window slots (were talking really tiny gaps) with more canopy glue before wiping off the excess. 

Anyway, sorry to write a book in answer to your questions but, honestly, there's a lot more I didn't even go into. If you are interested, you can see more WIP photos in my Reliant photo album here on Flickr! That's right-Reliant. I changed the name to Saratoga near the end of the build during the decaling phase:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157649031293118/

If you want to read the actual build thread with comments from myself and other modellers you need to go over to All Scale Trek forum. 
No need to join just to view posts if you don't want to. 
Here's the link:

http://www.allscaletrek.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2288


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## larskseme (Sep 2, 2014)

Trekkriffic said:


> Anyway, sorry to write a book in answer to your questions


No, this is wonderful. I don't think I could ever pull something like this off, but the details at least allow me to daydream about how i would get it done or see what parts look realistic for me to do. Someday, I'll give something like this a try, though.

Thanks, this and the link to the other site are quite helpful -- and awe inspiring.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

larskseme said:


> No, this is wonderful. I don't think I could ever pull something like this off, but the details at least allow me to daydream about how i would get it done or see what parts look realistic for me to do. Someday, I'll give something like this a try, though.
> 
> Thanks, this and the link to the other site are quite helpful -- and awe inspiring.


You're welcome!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Here's a quick little video I uploaded today. See the flashing lights in action! Watch space collapse! And see if you can guess what the music is from in the beginning...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG5kbRCBu_w


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## wander1107 (Aug 12, 2006)

Awesome, love the lights.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

So ... tiny ...


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

What a beautiful job, as always. Makes my day when I get to check out one of your builds. Is the full build over on "the other" forum? If so I'll go check it out! I'll have to keep this raytheon affect in mind for my 1/2500 Ambassador...


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## wander1107 (Aug 12, 2006)

Awesome work


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