# Building the AMT TOS Enterprise with lights



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Since I finished the old 1/650 Klingon Battle Cruiser, I figured I will tackle the Enterprise kit next.

This one will also have LED lighting added. Nothing "fancy" just some simple lights in the saucer and bridge, and some flickering LEDs in the warp engine bussards. Some tests with flashing red and orange LEDS give a good result and the whole lighting set up only costs about $12. 

The main hull parts have horrible fit and require a lot of putty and sanding. This is the result of one sanding session. I can foresee at least one more go-round with putty to smooth things out. The hull is really roomy and I decided to assemble and the hull now. If you look carefully, you can see I opened up the back of the sockets for the engine struts so that I can thread wires into the hull and down into the model's base. Likewise I cut a big slot into the neck for the saucer wiring. 



Likewise the saucer needs a slot cut for the LED wires to go down into the hull. The original AMT kit had such a slot, but it has long since been deleted.



I drilled out the saucer rim port holes. The rectangular windows look tough to cut out so I will just use decals for them. I am not interested in really correcting things, just making a cool kit.



The shuttle bay area after an initial round of sanding. Oddly the original AMT kit had the beacon light dome on the back, but it has since been removed from the mold. At one time I was thinking of making the beacon the model's on/off switch for the lighting.


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

Looks good so far! I've got my own lighted build languishing for too long; I have to build my own electronics board for the lighting effects. At least there's LEDs now for window lighting; something that in years past just wasn't available.


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## davejames (Jul 18, 2009)

Looking good! As horribly inaccurate as that model is, I still have fond memories of building it as a kid, and was kinda thinking of buying another one myself. Just for old time's sake.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The thing with the AMT kit is that accurate or not it still looks quite nice. I am not overly fussy with "accuracy" when it comes to fictional subjects and kits based on filming miniatures. The AMT kit itself was used in at least one TV episode anyway as the Constellation. 

I wish AMT still had it out as a regular kit. The only one they sell now is the glow version (which costs more). No need to spend an extra $10 for glow when you are going to paint it, and glow plastic is usually kinda funky to work with. The glow kit still has a huge decal sheet though. 

I got some more sanding done on the secondary hull... it looks much better now.


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## crowe-t (Jul 30, 2010)

Great start so far! I'm looking forward to seeing the nacelle domes lit up.

I really like the old AMT kits and even without corrections the AMT 18" Enterprise still looks like the Enterprise. As you said it was used as the Constellation. In fact the original AMT kit was also used as the Enterprise in the episode The Trouble with Tribbles.

Here is a picture showing the AMT 'Studio Model'


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## swhite228 (Dec 31, 2003)

djnick66 said:


> I wish AMT still had it out as a regular kit. The only one they sell now is the glow version (which costs more). No need to spend an extra $10 for glow when you are going to paint it, and glow plastic is usually kinda funky to work with. The glow kit still has a huge decal sheet though.
> 
> I got some more sanding done on the secondary hull... it looks much better now.


The new version of this kit is back to grey plastic and has a small Botney Bay model in it replacing the Tholian ships according to reports.


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

The kit that they'll be repopping with the Botany Bay is the 1/1000 scale kit.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

swhite228 said:


> The new version of this kit is back to grey plastic and has a small Botney Bay model in it replacing the Tholian ships according to reports.


No its not that is the 1/1000 Polar Lights snap together kit not the old AMT 1/650 kit. The 1/650 kit was out in a tin box issue and then a regular box about 5 years ago, but has been discontinued to be replaced by the glow Tholian Web Enterprise/Defiant kit.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I decided to try to open up the rectangular windows. This was actually relatively easy, although the plastic is massively thick. The work looks a bit rough in the photo but it is blown up much much larger than actual size. The windows are only about 1/16" wide. I like the effect so much I will try to open up the rest of them on the saucer and around the bridge. 



I reenforced the inside of the secondary hull with some plastic strips and a lot of CA glue. It shouldn't come apart. Likewise, the seam down the top and around where the warp engine supports fit was flooded with CA glue and accelerator spray.



The front of the secondary hull fits rather well. It is just placed in position here, until after I get the lighting wired up. Then, the only work I will need to do is putty the three short seams on the square side and bottom extensions. As you see it now, the hull has been puttied and sanded down twice. It is pretty smooth now and is good enough for me. I use Tamiya Basic (Grey) Putty and it works quite well and feathers nicely into the plastic.



So far things have gone well. I got all this done in two afternoons work.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

If you are looking for a way to mount a switch in the model consider using small rheostat switch. I used one in my 18 inch build. I mounted it in the front of the secondary hull and used epoxy to glue a tube to the wheel of the switch. The tube attached to the shaft of the deflector dish which was allowed to rotate. I wired the common wire to the center terminal and had one wire attached to each of the two outside terminals to power two circuits-one for the lights in the shute launch bay and one for the bussard motors. Anyway, not to steal your thread but you might consider using one of these little plastic rheostat switches like you can find at Radio Shack.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Actually that is a good idea and similar to what I had thought about originally. I was going to attach the sensor dish shaft to the front of the pre-assembled push button switch I have. I also thought of putting a cam on the end of the sensor dish shaft so that I could turn it and push the switch. 

But, while there is room inside for the watch battery and switch, there is not a great way to make anything removable for access. The way the kit was changed results in seams on the sides of the sensor dish housing that I need to putty and fill. There won't be any removable parts or access to the interior of the secondary hull. Now, too, I plan on using two wiring harnesses and switches; one for the constant lights and one for the blinking engine lights. Since the model really needs a base anyway, its simple enough to run the wires out of the hull into the stand. I did think of making the rear engine caps removable and putting the switches there but then I have to do more wiring to route everything back up into the engine tubes.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Glad to see you are planning not to use a watch battery inside the model. With the number of LEDs you'd need to light up a model this size I don't think watch batteries are a good idea. They just can't give you the amperage you need. You'd only be able to operate the lights for a few minutes or so before needing a new battery. I know this because I have 4 watch batteries (they are the kind you get at the Dollar Store for the cheap booklights they sell) inside my 1/1000 Enterprise. I'm only powering 3 LEDs but the batteries dim noticeably after about 5 minutes of operation.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The LED harness sets I bought run off a large "watch" battery. It's actually much larger than what I have seen in a watch. It's about the size of two nickels stacked together. The instructions say you can run up to 10 LEDs off one battery. I will have my lights divided up into two groups too, so I will have two batteries and switches.

Run time is not a huge issue as I don't turn my models on much or leave them on. They just sit in a case or shelf and if someone comes over I can switch it on/off. I think I have probably had my Klingon Cruiser on for all of two minutes in a two week time period, if that. 

Man the engine pods in the AMT kit DO NOT FIT. All of the locating tabs (added or changed at some point by AMT) need to go. Even then, the thin cross section is hard to align and get half way straight. I can see a lot of putty needed here. Fortunately I am able to glue the halves together, putty and sand everything smooth, then feed wires down through the hollowed out support arms. This alleviates having to build the wiring/lighting into the warp engines and having it get in the way during all the sanding.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I cut out two more clusters of windows in the primary hull that AMT did not include.



To cut out the windows below the bridge, i made a simple plastic jig so I could drill my pilot holes at the same height. It was just a strip of plastic cut to about the mid height of the windows, and with a notch to rest the drill bit in. 



I found cutting out the rectangular windows to be fairly easy, albeit time consuming. I can do about 10 in an hour while watching TV. Fortunately I just have four more to do on the top of the saucer.


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## GT350R_Modeler (Sep 6, 2005)

Looks great!


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## beeblebrox (Jul 30, 2003)

djnick66 said:


>


oh no. gridlines


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Yeah the grid lines are there. I am not going to worry much. I did look for my compass cutter today to see about rescribing them, but I can't find it. I don't feel like buying another one just to do this. Nor do I feel like using the grid line decal that is out there. So they may just stay. I could tone them down a bit with a light sanding, though. I will worry about those later. 

I just want a fun build. Its bad enough with all of the sanding needed just to get the basic kit parts together. I don't want to make this into some hassle or chore. In the end it will just sit on a shelf anyway, so if it looks good to me, I am happy.

The glow in the dark reissue does have a smooth saucer but I was not using that particular issue of the kit.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

With the warp engines cleaned up, I am now fitting the new resin and clear plastic bussards. These are more or less a drop fit onto the kit engine tubes. It's annoying that there is a small hole in the middle of the clear dome, but that is just how it is. I am not sure yet how I want to frost or tint the domes. Apparently they were not red on the filming miniature. 



I noticed the angle on the front of the "neck" does not fit flush against the saucer bottom. This was easy to fix with a shim of Evergreen sheet styrene.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

djnick66 said:


> Yeah the grid lines are there.
> I could tone them down a bit with a light sanding, though. I will worry about those later.


You know that's what you're gonna do.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Well I bought a new compass cutter today. I found a reasonable looking X-Acto set up in the scrap booking section of Wal Mart.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I replaced the 6 raised rings with 3 engraved rings. They look rough here because I worked them a bit more to make them deeper. I will sand it all down once the putty over the 3 big dimples dries. I cut out all the lower saucer windows too



I guess I should rework the deflector dish a bit. It's pretty craptacular. If I was ambitious I would fire up the vacuuform machine and make a new one... But I think I will just work with this.


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## beeblebrox (Jul 30, 2003)

The outer ring behind the dish should be shorter than the rest. I know there's an aftermarket part for this, but it's easy enough to slice a bit off.:thumbsup:


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Yes the rings aren't great. I may/may not do a lot with those. I was going to buy a bunch of aftermarket stuff but decided not to (aside from the clear bussard caps). I figure I would rather work with the kit parts and just build it up. I think, at least on the smaller of the two TV miniatures, there are some ribbed patches on the sides of the ring housing, right before the red stripe markings. I may add those.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I CA glued my LEDs into the saucer. All of them go into the bottom half, except the one for the bridge/top deck. I took some clear styrene sheet plastic, sanded it for a frosted look, and inserted it in front of the LEDs to diffuse the light a bit.



The top LED was done in the same way. You can see a simple (sprue) support to hold the LED in place, and a disc of frosted clear plastic to diffuse the light



The Bridge with the lights turned on. I forget if this was taken before or after I added the diffuser disc. I will probably put a light coat of white over the dome too, or at least parts of it.



All of the LED wires were grouped up, soldered to single positive and negative lead wires, and the complete saucer was fitted to the neck. I sprayed a light coat of Tamiya silver on the outside as extra protection against light leaks, but also as a primer to show off areas I need to sand more.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

With the saucer finished, I tackled the warp engine lights today. My solution is simple and cheap but will look pretty good !

I bought some clear plastic domes and resin bases from DLM to replace the solid kit parts. Using those, I cut thick plastic discs to fit inside the resin base and drilled out four holes for LEDs. I can use up to 5 LEDs per engine but in the end I used 3 red ones around a central orange one. All of them flash randomly and fairly slowly. If you stare at it long enough you start to imagine a rotating pattern. It looks better than a solid light or no light, and is cheaper than buying a $80 lighting set/circuit board. I have not yet frosted and tinted the clear domes either. So, right now, the lighting effect isn't as subtle as it will be in the end. 











The plastic discs that hold the LEDs were sprayed with Testors Hugger Orange lacquer on the front, and brush painted in Floquil Old Silver on the back to prevent any light leakage from going back into the warp engine tubes.

I made a socket for the display stand post, too. Right now there is a piece of Evergreen tubing in the socket to help hold the lead out wires away from the hull.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Great works!!!


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Things are moving along nicely. I got the lights wired up through the pylons and out the bottom of the hull.

I just need to sand down some putty on the pylons and around the deflector dish housing and I can start getting the paint on !


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

More detailing before I can get her painted. But, I am almost there !



I can paint the front pieces separately from the nacelle tubes, fit the light ring, and glue in place after painting.



I did not feel like making an all new deflector dish, so I worked with the kit part. I added two rings using fine wire to the inside. Their positioning doesn't really match the miniature, but I put them where I did to hide the molded in bevels on the inside of the dish. I whittled down the antenna part to look more in scale, and reworked the mounting post.







The engine cap and dish are just sitting on the model for the photo. Overall this has been a fun project to build the kit fairly stock using just the kit parts with extra detailing. The clear engine caps are the only purchased parts since this was easier than making them myself.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Still, fantastic work!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

That's looking real good! Love the fact you are working with the kit parts. More uniquely yours that way.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

To me that is what modeling is all about. I have bought kits and decked them out with every kind of purchased accessory, but now it seems much less satisfying. I am having a lot of fun fixing stuff that I feel like fixing. Other things I ignore. The kit will still look fine. I did purchase some new decals. The old AMT ones are just pretty crappy. When I had my hobby shop I worked on projects like this just to show customers what you could do with a basic kit.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I painted the Deflector Dish and Rings wtih Tamiya Metallic Brown followed by some Clear Orange. The effect looked better than Copper or Gold. Tamiya metallics do not spray particularly well but these went on ok over a coat of Flat Black.






The overall color is a mix of Tamiya Grey Green and Gloss White. I prefer the Grey Green color to the popular IJN Grey that people use a lot. Oddly, it is another WW2 Japanese shade. It has more of a yellow-olive hue though. I sort of need to clean up my work bench...



It's hard to tell the color exactly in these photos but they are just WIP pics


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Interesting color on the deflector dish and rings. It works rather well and it's nice to see a change from the old copper color. As a kid, I always thought the deflector dish looked more red than copper so I painted my first 18" Enterprise with a red deflector dish!

The hull color choice looks good too. I like a grey-olive tone as well.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The color in person looks like a cross between Copper and Brass. I really don't like painting stuff just solid Copper... it always looks like a new penny. The Tamiya Metallic Brown is pretty much a Golden Copper shade anyway. If you just saw the cap in a box of paints you would think oh, ok that is Copper.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

My favorite part of a model - detail painting!

Since I didn't light the rear engine balls, I painted them to look like they were glowing. The clear bussard caps were frosted with Dullcoat and then tinted with Tamiya Clear Red and Clear Orange paint. You can see the grey-green hull color better here too.


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## Sparky (Feb 21, 2004)

I might have missed it in the thread, but did you reinforce the warp engine pylons at all? Your warp engines look well aligned.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

No I had thought about it but then I glued the parts together... I didn't have any particular problem with alignment. I glued the (I think) left engine in place first with CA glue. Then I glued the right one in place with good old Testors tube glue. That one I had to jiggle a little. I fixed it in place with CA glue and then puttied around the bottom a little. I must say that, for the most part, alignment between the saucer, body and warp engines was not a problem. The only change I made to the engine pylons was opening up the bottom of the mounting pegs and hull sockets so I could run my LED wires into the hull.


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## Sparky (Feb 21, 2004)

djnick66 said:


> No I had thought about it but then I glued the parts together... I didn't have any particular problem with alignment. I glued the (I think) left engine in place first with CA glue. Then I glued the right one in place with good old Testors tube glue. That one I had to jiggle a little. I fixed it in place with CA glue and then puttied around the bottom a little. I must say that, for the most part, alignment between the saucer, body and warp engines was not a problem. The only change I made to the engine pylons was opening up the bottom of the mounting pegs and hull sockets so I could run my LED wires into the hull.


Each time I built this kit (last time many moons ago) I remember having a hard time getting the warp engines aligned to my satifaction. When looking from the front I just could not get the engines to stay at the same distance above the saucer and it would drive me nuts. Otherwise, I've always enjoyed this model. Yours is looking great.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Thanks ! Maybe I was just lucky. I notice the way the engines attach is different than when I built the kit several decades ago. The molding was pretty gnarley though. The engines and their pylons were warped. I had to cut off the alignment pegs to get them together.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The last bits of painting and detailing are done. I just need to apply decals, spray on a clear flat coat, and add the deflector dish...



Spraying the molded on warp engine detail was easy... I just masked off the grills and boxes with Tamiya tape and hit them with Alclad Dark Aluminum.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Lovin' it!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Handsome!


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