# NX-01 build



## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

I have both the PL Refit and the NX-01 to build. Since soooooo many people are building the Refit, I thought I'd show something different and build the NX-01 to show to everybody. Here's the progress so far...


























The last pic is a little fuzzy cause I'm excited about our one cat. She's having kittens right now. So my hand is shaking quite a bit. On the plus side, you can see the window openings. I'm gonna get the LEDs to light this big girl up, but so far I'm just gluing the windows and the clear parts in place. The wiring will be coming soon.


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

Cool, have fun with it. That was the first kit I ever lit. It was a LOT of work, especially with the four-tone aztec scheme I painted on it, but it's rewarding. Enjoy, and keep us posted!


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## JeffG (May 10, 2004)

Most of the attention is usually focused on the other versions of the Enterprise-which is cool, but this ship seems often overlooked. I've always thought that this is also a great design and in fact wished that Enterprise had hung around a little longer-they were just starting to get their legs as a show.


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## GT350R_Modeler (Sep 6, 2005)

Good so far...Keep the updates coming!


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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

zenomorp, all I can say is......WOW!!!!!!!!!!

How did you get the lights for the launch bays to work? They look so small on the kit. Are thise fiber optics?


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## GT350R_Modeler (Sep 6, 2005)

vaderknight said:


> zenomorp, all I can say is......WOW!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> How did you get the lights for the launch bays to work? They look so small on the kit. Are thise fiber optics?


I used 3mm LEDs and dremmeled them down to a "round" point and they fit quite nicely. They may not look pretty, but they work...


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## mikephys (Mar 16, 2005)

I too am in the middle of an epic NX-01 build. Mine stalled out when the school year started. (You will probably tick me off by making me wish I had learned from your cool build before starting.) 
(Zenomorp: Very awesome lighting effects!)
Please keep the progress pics coming!!


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## GT350R_Modeler (Sep 6, 2005)

mikephys said:


> I too am in the middle of an epic NX-01 build. Mine stalled out when the school year started. (You will probably tick me off by making me wish I had learned from your cool build before starting.)
> (Zenomorp: Very awesome lighting effects!)
> Please keep the progress pics coming!!


I do not want to hijack Vaderknight's thread, so I'll just post the online album of pics and you can go through them. Thanks for the kind words. 

http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m202/zenomorp/NX-01 Build/


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## F91 (Mar 3, 2002)




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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

Oh, I won't be upset by anything you post here, zenomorp. I need the feedback to make my kit as good as yours. OK, almost as good as yours.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

One tip I got a while back for lighting ship.

Flat white does a much better job of scattering the lights inside the hull than silver or foil.

That's something I plan on doing when I try another big NX-01 (probably turn the first attempt into a wrecked NX-02 someday).


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

justinleighty said:


> Cool, have fun with it. That was the first kit I ever lit. It was a LOT of work, especially with the four-tone aztec scheme I painted on it, but it's rewarding. Enjoy, and keep us posted!


Hey Justin, loved those decals you made up for the 1/1000 kit:


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## F91 (Mar 3, 2002)

Here's a few pics and tips from my NX01 build-

http://groups.msn.com/AURORAMODELS/polarlightsnx01.msnw


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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

I have most of the small pieces and most of the windows in place. I've also started to put the saucer walls in place and get some wiring done. Still a long way to go, but I'm having fun.


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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

Just another small update.










Where did you get your flasher circuit for your ship, F91? That's one of the many things I need to get still for this build.


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## KUROK (Feb 2, 2004)

Great pics!

Hey is that a latch-hook rug project on the wall there?


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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

Yes it is, KUROK. I made it myself. One of my other hobbies that I do. I have 5 of them I'm working on right now.


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## F91 (Mar 3, 2002)

The flashers were just a cheap flasher from allelectronics.com ( 3.50$?)but the bussards actually rotate and I got that circuit from jwjr, who is a member on this board. I diffused the bussard effect with wadded up Saran wrap and the effect was pretty darn cool.


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

Trekkriffic said:


> Hey Justin, loved those decals you made up for the 1/1000 kit:


Thanks! The best part of doing those is seeing people post their ships with the decals. It's gratifying to see something I started as a project for myself benefit others in the hobby. Your ship looks good!

Vaderknight,

Looking good so far. Keep the pics coming!


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## bigdaddydaveh (Jul 20, 2007)

Where can one purchase those decals?


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

bigdaddydaveh said:


> Where can one purchase those decals?


The Starship Modeler store: 
www.starshipmodeler.biz/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=598 
Sorry to hijack the thread, Vaderknight! Any new progress pics? How's the lighting going?

By the way, don't make the mistake I did and use an insufficient stand. Use one you KNOW will support the model and the wiring.


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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

How dare you hijack this thread?!?!?!

APRIL FOOLS!!! 

But seriously, folks, I have a few more small LEDs to install. Then I gotta order some larger 5mm white, 5mm red, and 3mm and 5mm blue LEDs. I'm also gonna try to salvage the flasher circuit I bought last year from jwrjr for my failed Refit build. I plan to install the flasher inside the saucer underside, right behind the clear dome piece.

As for the stand, I don't know how sturdy the kit stand is, but I'll try it out for now. If that diesn't work, I have a brain fart planned out and I'll make a wood stand with dowel rods for the support arms.


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

The kit stand doesn't hold up so well over time. The plastic inserts at the end of the rods are suceptible to breakage. I'd suggest that if you use them, break off the tabs and drill down, then insert metal replacements (I used brass tube). That should make for a much more sturdy attachment point.


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## Lou Dalmaso (Jul 13, 2004)

^^^ on my stand, I broke off the nibs, and then sharpened the poles (like a pencil). the pointy ends, I put in the holes in the ship


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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

justinleighty said:


> The kit stand doesn't hold up so well over time. The plastic inserts at the end of the rods are suceptible to breakage.


How much time does it usually take before the inserts break?


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## ClubTepes (Jul 31, 2002)

Just remember on those NX-01 builds.......

There is an alignment problem with the kit in the fish tail area.

I suggest looking up old posts of when this kit was released to get info on the 'fixes'.

I'd hate to see anyone putting in this much effort to this kit, to 'rediscover' a problem that was previously documented and a method of correction offered,...missed.

Good luck and have fun.
I too,really enjoyed the NX-01 design.


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## GT350R_Modeler (Sep 6, 2005)

vaderknight said:


> How much time does it usually take before the inserts break?


I drilled the holes in the model a size bigger than the plastic inserts do they go right in and out with no problem.


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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

I made a video of the ship with the flasher circuit installed. The quality is very poor, but you can see the flashers and the strobe working.

http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3060169490101455550kXAAav


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

vaderknight said:


> How much time does it usually take before the inserts break?


Oh, I don't know that I could nail it down. Since I built the kit a few years ago, two of them broke. I don't know that it's necessarily age, per se, could just be movement, though my kit's not in a place where it has to be moved a lot. Suffice it to say, they're a weak point. I like the pencil sharpening idea.

The flashers look great in the video.


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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

The ship is getting done slowly. I glued the outer nacelle parts on today. However, I did make a BIG mistake on the build. Can anyone spot it?


















OK. I messed up with the connection between the pylon strut and the nacelle on the port side of the ship. So the entire nacelle is lop-sided.









I still think it'll look great when done.


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Thanks for the links.. and the link to the decal set! That's the one thing that's held me back building mine... the aztec detailing.

Are there any other pics of builds using the decal set? I imagine the decals are quite large, and was wondering how bad they might look because of the size?


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## rossjr (Jun 25, 2001)

She's coming along nicely. If you don't want to use the decals you can always use the templates. I did with both of these... I like them because you can choose the colors you want and how dramatic or subtle you want the scheme to be:


















In both cases they served me well....


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Hmmmm is this the BIG polar light Nx-10? For some reason that looks smaller in your pics...


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## Lou Dalmaso (Jul 13, 2004)

no, this is the 1000 scale kit


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Ahhh.......so the decals are for the smaller kit then.. whew! Glad I didn't order them today!


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## JeffG (May 10, 2004)

Nice job on both NX-01's here. I'm prepaired to be chased out of the room now but I'll say it anyway. Are you sitting down? Okay here goes; I actually liked Enterprise. I thought the crew was less stiff and rigid, I thought it kinda had the spirit of adventure and action sort of like TOS, I understood why the sets and tech had to look more upgraded than in the 60's show and after the initial shock I really began to like the way the little NX-01 looked, and I didn't care if it followed Trek 'canon' (a word I've had it up to my blow hole with by now)!

Anyway, fantastic modeling jobs!:thumbsup:


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Same here.. it took them a few seasons, but they finally nailed things towards the end, and we were sorry to see it go.

And I really liked the ship as well.. that's why I was hoping for some large scale nx-01 decals.. doing an intracate aztec like that is a big hurdle for me, and templates available are always far more expensive, IMHO then they should be.

Hmmm maybe someone has used templates they would resell? Once you've used them, its not like you'll reuse them again, and it's not like they cannot be reused at all.


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## rossjr (Jun 25, 2001)

I can understand your comments about the cost, it's not a decision that is easily reached. I guess I looked at from the stand point of how long would it take me to mask all of this..... It's a big time saver...

As for buying a used set, it is very difficult to remove the templates without ruining some of them, so the first hurdle is removing them without damaging them, the second is puttin them back on the sheet in the right order. Again not saying it can't be done, just that it would be challenging.

As for decals they make decals for the large NX-01 but I am not sure that they make Aztec decals for the large one. I would check Federation Models, Culttvman or Starshipmodeler. I went straight for the templates....


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## gareee (Jan 1, 1970)

Thanks. Not sure what I'll do. I REALLY wish they'd included aztec decals in with the kit. Thats why this particular kit sits unbuilt.

I just can't justify $20 or $30 for a paint job on a kit.. and that's not even for the pain job, that's just for decals so you can do the paint job. Hell, I can buy complete kits for that price.


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## rossjr (Jun 25, 2001)

Ah the joys of doing it yourself, just think of the pride you'll have....


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## vaderknight (Nov 8, 2005)

I've started to re-check my wiring before I get the 2 halves of the main hull together. Still a lot more wiring and eye-balling my wiring skills (which are highly questionable).


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## tripdeer (Mar 7, 2004)

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but this talk of stands has me thinking... has anyone mounted the large NX-01 using a single large brass tube, rather than the kit stand? If so, how has this worked out for you? Is it stable enough to do, or does it need the three contact points to remain in good condition?


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## vangajo (Jun 17, 2009)

Great work. I bought my nx-01 and refit over a year ago and never opened the box. Since then we have moved and I am ready to start building them. Still haven't started but I have picked up LED's, an airbrush, bought some aztec masks. I should be starting pretty soon. Your pictures and progress of the nx-01 have been very helpful as I have not seen too many postings on this build. Great work. I have been inspired.


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## Prince of Styrene II (Feb 28, 2000)

tripdeer said:


> Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but this talk of stands has me thinking... has anyone mounted the large NX-01 using a single large brass tube, rather than the kit stand? If so, how has this worked out for you? Is it stable enough to do, or does it need the three contact points to remain in good condition?


It's been done, I've seen it. Quite a hefty diameter rod & a real befy junction point inside the saucer, IIRC.


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