# My 1/350 TOS big E



## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Question for all those that have built it:

Did you connect the neck to the saucer section first or the secondary hull?

I'm thinking the seam on the saucer section side is going to be the hardest to work on so am leaning towards doing that first. But the seam to the secondary hull is more visible......

Going to be a while before I get to that point but thought I'd ask now.

Got the seam around the saucer section 98% done last night.

Plan to start the hangar bay tonight. Going to build the opaque one and experiment with that first, then build the clear one.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I connected the neck to the saucer and the pylons to the secondary hull before priming and painting. After I got all the little details right I put the saucer on the SHull and then the engines on the pylons.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

I connected the dorsal to the secondary hull first but I don't think it matters too much.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Think I'll go with neck to saucer first, other thing better about that is fishing the wire down through will be easier.

Some quick images of my nearly done saucer section.
Ignore the color, the flash of the little camera makes it look way more blue than it does in room lighting.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Cool. Nice job on the rim seam. Your images are reminiscent of the blue tint we saw in some of the original series scenes.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Decided instead of starting the hangar bay I'd do something easy and work on the nacelles. Going with the plastic grill inserts painted silver instead of the photo etch. No matter what I try the plastic looks better.

If I was lighting the nacelles I'd probably try more ways of getting it to work, but even when I get a small section of the photo etch to look silver while still having holes it doesn't look any better than the plastic.

The pylon grills painted fairly easily, but not these nacelle grills...

Never even considered lighting the nacelles, it just looks wrong to me. Oddly a little red glow in the impulse engines doesn't seem wrong even though it was never there on the show.

I want to put a switch to turn the motors off when the lights are on, still thinking about how to do that. Run wires all the way out or try to put the switch in the secondary hull somewhere. Could do a rod that simulates the tractor beam, connected to a push pull switch. But I'll probably just go with a 2 way switch in the stand. Then I'll need a 4 pin connector to make it removable.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Made an adapter to attach the rod from the model to the lamp stand:










I'll find out if I got the measurements right when I get home...

That is a strange size rod they use, not quite 15/64ths and not a normal metric size either at 5.84 mm. At least it made it easy to drill out the hole, since a 15/64ths bit is just slightly bigger.

Edit: And it works!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> Decided instead of starting the hangar bay I'd do something easy and work on the nacelles. Going with the plastic grill inserts painted silver instead of the photo etch. No matter what I try the plastic looks better.
> 
> If I was lighting the nacelles I'd probably try more ways of getting it to work, but even when I get a small section of the photo etch to look silver while still having holes it doesn't look any better than the plastic.
> 
> ...


I put a switch in the base for lights and a separate one for the motors. I used a 4 pin Mimi-DIN plug on the base support tube and a matching jack in the model. I found the mini-DINS at Fry's Electronics. 


IMG_4062 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_4061 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_4051 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_4359 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_4801 by trekriffic, on Flickr

I painted the support tube and braces dark blue as an homage to the original shooting stand. The spotlights were my own creation.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

You posted that at the exact time I added the stand picture below...

I had seen some pictures of your connector, but not that last one with the epoxy (assuming the white stuff is epoxy). I suppose that makes it pretty strong.

I was just thinking I could use one of the little round windows on the side, leave it open to push a paper clip through to turn a push on/off type switch.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> You posted that at the exact time I added the stand picture below...
> 
> I had seen some pictures of your connector, but not that last one with the epoxy (assuming the white stuff is epoxy). I suppose that makes it pretty strong.
> 
> I was just thinking I could use one of the little round windows on the side, leave it open to push a paper clip through to turn a push on/off type switch.


That would work. There is also a tiny hole between the impulse engine vents on the saucer. I drilled it out and I put a pushbuttom switch behind it to operate the impulse engine lights but if you ran one of the wires feeding your motors up the dorsal to the switch and back down again you could stick a toothpick or paper clip into that ready-made hole. I found the pushbutton switch inside a Dollar Tree (a local dollar store) booklight. It was the perfect fit for the inside cavity of the impulse engine deck:


IMG_4637 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_4642 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_4645 by trekriffic, on Flickr

By the way, that white stuff you see on the wires in my previous post is just AVES Apoxy Sculpt.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

I watched so many build videos I didn't realize you did both the connector and the mini-switch.

Dry fit of what I have done so far:










Guess I need to mask off and paint the ends of the nacelle tubes grey to match the rings behind the bussard collectors, pretty sure the entire recessed area needs to be grey. I glued the 3 parts onto the collectors but not the tube, still need some magnets or something to hold them on a little tighter. I've got some strong little magnets out of old RC helicopter motors that should work...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

One thing I forgot to mention, if you decide to install a 4-pin jack like I did you'll need to make taller brakets for the circuit board to slide into and clear the the wires soldered into the top of the jack. I just glued new brackets made from .040 styrene sheet right to the sides of the molded brackets using CA. The new slots were about a half inch higher than before:


IMG_4056 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I wish I could have done that. I hate that the ship is semi permanently on the stand. But I didn't think I could do that kind of surgery. I thought of just using pin connectors without the entire jack, but I didn't think it and whatever insulation I would have needed would have fit in the tube.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Trying to think if I'd ever need to remove the metal tube from the model?
If not, with the stand I'm using I've got plenty of room to put the connector on the other end of the rod. 

I just checked and with a little shaving of the corners I can fit a micro deans connector through the hole plus a wire at the same time. So I could have 2 of them with enough slack so one could go through at a time. So the model could be removed from the stand but the rod would have to stay attached to it.

That will also give me the option of putting different resistors or a pot down in the stand to lower the speed of the motors.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Trekkriffic said:


> I put a switch in the base for lights and a separate one for the motors. I used a 4 pin Mimi-DIN plug on the base support tube and a matching jack in the model. I found the mini-DINS at Fry's Electronics.
> 
> 
> IMG_4062 by trekriffic, on Flickr
> ...


Is the ship stable with this type of connector? I built a TOS E with a 25-pin connector (I always have my boards external to the model for easy access if anything goes wrong) way back when and it wasn't very solid; it rocked around a little bit. I'm going to have quite a few wires for my 1:350 TOS E model since I'm using my own circuit, so I was just going to glue a slightly bigger tube to the secondary hull, but being able to take it off would be cool.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

RossW said:


> Is the ship stable with this type of connector? I built a TOS E with a 25-pin connector (I always have my boards external to the model for easy access if anything goes wrong) way back when and it wasn't very solid; it rocked around a little bit. I'm going to have quite a few wires for my 1:350 TOS E model since I'm using my own circuit, so I was just going to glue a slightly bigger tube to the secondary hull, but being able to take it off would be cool.


It does rock back and forth a bit so not as solid as having it permanently mounted to the stand tube. I ended up having to epoxy a lead weight into the front of the secondary hull to get it to sit level. That's just the price I was willing to pay to have it be removeable and not have a long tube sticking out the bottom. Perhaps a short tube (maybe 3/4" long?) that slid down over the mounting tube in the base would have been the way to go to help stabilize it more; in fact, I think you can see something like that in profile shots of the original 33" model.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Been going through more of the pictures I took last night when it was dry fit together, this one is came out kinda cool except for the noise level:


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Trekkriffic said:


> It does rock back and forth a bit so not as solid as having it permanently mounted to the stand tube. I ended up having to epoxy a lead weight into the front of the secondary hull to get it to sit level. That's just the price I was willing to pay to have it be removeable and not have a long tube sticking out the bottom. Perhaps a short tube (maybe 3/4" long?) that slid down over the mounting tube in the base would have been the way to go to help stabilize it more; in fact, I think you can see something like that in profile shots of the original 33" model.


That might work. I still might have too many wires, though.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Guess I have to get started on the shuttle bay...

The opaque one I put together for testing fits into the hull just fine with one layer of light mask paint and the plastic inserts for the hull windows. But it is slightly tighter than when there was no paint at all... So, that means no paint on the outside of the bay parts or any more layers to light block.....

Going to try doing all the painting of the bay on the inside, put down a few layers of dark gray for light blocking and normal color on top of that. Got it put together with tape now and putting the first layer on the inside, then I'll take it apart and can tell where the seams should be...

The hull might be an issue, I do need more light blocking in that area....

Oh, and I know the shuttle is a smaller scale than the rest but when you put them next to the nacelles the nacelles look huge. 

(Still have some touch ups to do on the nacelles)


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Mixed up some just slightly off white paint for the shuttle, picture makes it whiter than it is. I figure in the dim LED lighting in the bay it will look closer to the correct color, didn't want it to blend in too much by starting out too gray.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

I think this is as good as I'm going to get the shuttle bay.
At this point every time I try a touch up I make some other area worse....










Now to attach the LEDs and see if it still fits, I expect to have to grind down the side LEDs.
Already redid the wiring for the top LEDs to get rid of the extra pairs of wires, should help those fit better.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Yep. I think I'd call it good Marty.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Picture of what I've ended up doing for the bay lighting.
One of the LEDs that go in the "V" was flakey, would go on and off if you moved the leads. Besides, no matter where I put the things in the V they didn't seem to do much, so went with SMDs shining down the Vs.

Had to dremel out the top grove so the wire had enough room, probably needs a little more, or I'll just switch to thinner wire.

What a pain this thing is....


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

I went with 28 gauge wires in the center ceiling slot. Those kit wires are just too thick. Also, did you file down the thickness of the rectangular LED that sits over the doors? I had to do that to to allow the control booth enough room to slide in between the cowling and the top of the doors. The R2 lighting kit suggests removing the floor of the control booth to accomodate the thickness of the LED but I thought that would look a little strange.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Trekkriffic said:


> I went with 28 gauge wires in the center ceiling slot. Those kit wires are just too thick. Also, did you file down the thickness of the rectangular LED that sits over the doors? I had to do that to to allow the control booth enough room to slide in between the cowling and the top of the doors. The R2 lighting kit suggests removing the floor of the control booth to accomodate the thickness of the LED but I thought that would look a little strange.


You were able to sand down that rectangular LED that much? I cut out a rectangle in the clear part for the LED, Looking at how far the LED stood over the top of the part I couldn't see sanding it down that much. It's pretty well hidden up there, some micro krystal klear should fill any visible holes.

Also the top of the doors will need a little shaving, they are pressing into the LED.

I removed the shrink tubing from one side of the LED and that might do it without needing to replace the wires, only one side needed for protection and everything else it will be near is plastic... But I still might put magnet wire there so there is more room for light get up to the top of the bay.

Still not real happy with the lighting on the top of the bay. Even after painting the bottom side of the V grove gloss white.

Seriously thinking of putting 6 SMD LEDs in series (3 on each side in the V) and connecting them to 12V....


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> You were able to sand down that rectangular LED that much?


Yes. I was able to remove about a third of the thickness. You can see how thin I got it in this image:


IMG_4404 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

That's some impressive work getting the LED that thin without damaging it.

I've decided to do all custom lighting for the top and back. The way I was planning on positioning the strip lights in the secondary hull means I'd need extra light for the back wall windows anyway. So, 3 SMDs on each side in the V grove facing up, probably 3 arranged on the back to light up the back and the top, and 1 or 2 to replace the rectangular one.

So time to start micro soldering.... Fortunately I'm way better at that than micro-painting. 

Also been working on the front round "porthole" in the saucer section, hard to get a thin enough layer of paint on the white plastic, I think the best I'll probably end up with is a faint ring of light that can only be seen in the dark. But I have a few more ideas to try out before giving up...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> Also been working on the front round "porthole" in the saucer section, hard to get a thin enough layer of paint on the white plastic, I think the best I'll probably end up with is a faint ring of light that can only be seen in the dark. But I have a few more ideas to try out before giving up...



My bow top port is hull colored but allows a faint glow to show thru when the lights are on in the dark.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Trekkriffic said:


> My bow top port is hull colored but allows a faint glow to show thru when the lights are on in the dark.


I just did mine last night. Used the clear insert and then glued a thin bit of white sheet styrene over it on the inside. Sprayed some Tamiya XF-12 in thin coats over the sheet styrene until it covered the lights almost completely, but not quite. Once I spray the hull colour on the outer surface, it should look OK.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

After considerable swearing this is my final bay lighting setup:










Need to hook in a variable resistor and find the value that gives just the right light and then put that value in, at 12V it lights up the top a little too much. For the Neck lighting I found 50 ohms toned the 2 strips down to a good level.

The one SMD for the sensor dome and back window should work well with it angled down slightly, when the little rods are painted the different colors they should be visible in the white dome.

Maybe in a week I'll be nearing final assembly...


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Decided to take the closed bay doors and make my own open version, giving a better base for the top part. And I like the thicker doors better any way, they should be thicker when retracted. Going to glue some sprue plastic onto the back of the cut out part of the doors so that can be placed in and it will stand on it's own.










Needed a 500 ohm resister to get the new lighting toned down to a proper level.

Thinking of not gluing down the shuttle craft, will be nice to be able to move it around or take it out.

Long exposure macros sure make the paint look worse than it does to the naked eye.


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

Nice!


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Starting to paint the secondary hull.

What color do most people paint the dark "ring" at the front?

It looks in most studio pictures to be the same color as the pylon grills:


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## Trek Ace (Jul 8, 2001)

It's not a solid color. It is weathering.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Yup.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

To me it looks like the leading edges of those 2 rings were painted dark and then "weathering" was applied. 

Still doesn't answer the question of what color to use.

So hard to tell what was done knowing it would show up on film and what was left "as is" because they knew it wouldn't show up...


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## Hunk A Junk (Jan 28, 2013)

The ring should be the hull color. Weathering it to look darker is optional.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

I'd use the same warm-toned colour as used on the top of the primary hull.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

My current thinking is to just use uncut JN gray on the leading edges, should be darker without much change in color.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Got my bussard collector wiring sorted out. Using sections of multicolored ribbon cable, fits perfectly in the channel in the pylons.










Just had the idea of using a 3 way switch in the stand, that way I'll only need 3 wires going into the model. Can wire it up so center position is off, up has 12V going to both lights and motors, down had 12V going to the lighting systems only.


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

MartyS said:


> Got my bussard collector wiring sorted out. Using sections of multicolored ribbon cable, fits perfectly in the channel in the pylons.
> 
> 
> 
> Just had the idea of using a 3 way switch in the stand, that way I'll only need 3 wires going into the model. Can wire it up so center position is off, up has 12V going to both lights and motors, down had 12V going to the lighting systems only.


Out of curiosity , did you reverse the polarities on one of the motors to get it going in the opposite direction from the other motor? And how did you do this?
Thanks,
-Jim


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

JGG1701 said:


> Out of curiosity , did you reverse the polarities on one of the motors to get it going in the opposite direction from the other motor? And how did you do this?
> Thanks,
> -Jim


Actually, the kit has them wired up with right and left labels on the motors. So I didn't have to do anything. Although one of them had a badly frayed connection to one of the motor terminals so I re-soldered that one.

I'm assuming this is a new thing they are doing, since the instructions and older pictures I've seen do not show the plugs on the wires attached to the motors.

This made it really easy to redo the wiring, just remove the wire with the socket from the light board and connect it to my wire.

Edit: For a general answer to your question: A DC motor will reverse direction if you simply reverse the wires. I hope they picked motors that will last just as long going the opposite direction from the labels, some motors do have brushes set up to work better in one direction...


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Thinking of doing something like this with the pylon grills, have to do something to "personalize" my model:










Those are bits of cat5 wire in there, so need to find something that size that is easier to keep straight...

Checking my local Hobbytown USA website and they have 0.035 styrene rod in stock, that would do it. 7 of them with 6 spaces of 0.040 would fill the vent area... hmmmm....


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Is there ribbon cable that's thin enough?


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

MartyS said:


> Actually, the kit has them wired up with right and left labels on the motors. So I didn't have to do anything. Although one of them had a badly frayed connection to one of the motor terminals so I re-soldered that one.


Okay so they are marked left & right.
Is that looking from the front of the Enterprise?
Thanks,
-Jim


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

SteveR said:


> Is there ribbon cable that's thin enough?


I thought about that, I threw out all my old floppy drive ribbon cables just a few months ago, but might have some hidden somewhere....


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

JGG1701 said:


> Okay so they are marked left & right.
> Is that looking from the front of the Enterprise?


No, in my kit it was the right and left side of the model.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

MartyS said:


> I thought about that, I threw out all my old floppy drive ribbon cables just a few months ago, but might have some hidden somewhere....


… or you could use Evergreen corrugated siding.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

SteveR said:


> … or you could use Evergreen corrugated siding.


If I'm going to make a trip to the Hobbytown store I'd go with the rod. I think some spaces between the "pipes" will look better than stacked close. Although I did find some old ribbon cable so can test that out also.

Just measured a paper clip, I'll have to test that out when I get home, a walk over to Deals to get paper clips would be easier than a trip to Hobbytown.

I'll have to make a template to hold the rods in place while gluing, and so each vent box looks the same.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> If I'm going to make a trip to the Hobbytown store I'd go with the rod. I think some spaces between the "pipes" will look better than stacked close. Although I did find some old ribbon cable so can test that out also.
> 
> Just measured a paper clip, I'll have to test that out when I get home, a walk over to Deals to get paper clips would be easier than a trip to Hobbytown.
> 
> I'll have to make a template to hold the rods in place while gluing, and so each vent box looks the same.


So are these pipes going to be running underneath the PE grills or in place of them?


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Trekkriffic said:


> So are these pipes going to be running underneath the PE grills or in place of them?


Under.

See the test image I posted a few posts back with some cat5 wire in there, I think it should look nice with some pipes behind the grills.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> Under.
> 
> See the test image I posted a few posts back with some cat5 wire in there, I think it should look nice with some pipes behind the grills.


Ahhhhhhh... cool then.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

The fantail lights have been driving me crazy, got some colored PVC sheet that didn't work out for the red and green (too dark), it did work well for the yellow. 

Tried the colored micro krystal klear trick but didn't like that.

So, just got out the dremel and shaped some red and green rectangles from the extra colored parts in the lighting kit, I think that plastic will work well.

So, I'll be using the opaque part with the lights drilled out and colored plastic inserted. Saves having to go crazy light blocking the clear and still needing to figure out how to color the clear areas...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> The fantail lights have been driving me crazy, got some colored PVC sheet that didn't work out for the red and green (too dark), it did work well for the yellow.
> 
> Tried the colored micro krystal klear trick but didn't like that.
> 
> ...


I just used ModelMaster Turn Signal Amber from the bottle, and Transparent Candy Apple Red, and Transparent Green decanted and brushed on from spray cans.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Coloured Sharpie markers worked perfectly for me:


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

The sharpie thing was what I was going to try. Guess I still am, going to paint the clear part and see how it looks. I like the look of the lighting using the colored plastic inserts, but it's hard to get nice crisp corners on them.

If I started over I could probably do better. I'd make longer inserts, leave them sticking out, paint, then sand down so everything is flush.

Here's what it looks like with the inserts (camera blows out the yellow a bit):


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

*AWESOME!!!*:thumbsup:
-Jim


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

Looks good!


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Choices, choices, probably tomorrow I'll be installing one of these:









The one with the plastic inserts looks better in the dark, the one with sharpie painted windows looks slightly better in bright light.....

And I ended up only putting 2 strips of 3 LEDs on each side in the secondary hull, placed a little differently than the instructions, still might need to add resistors to tone them down, I knew 3 strips on each side would be way too much. I guess if using the white windows it would be OK to use 6.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Well, I guess something had to go wrong, one of my custom LED strings on top of the hanger bay went out. It was working after I glued the hull together, but after working on the seams and doing some painting they died...

The other side is fine and provides plenty of light for the bay, so it's not a big problem. It only looks strange when looking at the top of the bay with one side bright and the other side dim.

Think I'm going to leave the gap between the hangar bay deck and the hull, if it was a real clam-shell door there would have to be a grove there for it to ride on...

And I went with the part with the plastic inserts for the fantail lights, the way it catches the LED light made that one the winner.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Had to get some copper paint anyway (was going to leave the bare copper plastic for the deflector dish but there are mold lines), so went to the hobby store and also got some styrene rod to put under the pylon grills.

The only way they show up at all is if you leave them white, and then I'm not sure the look is worth all the effort it will take to install them.

This is a test of one section, there would be no little white spacers if I end up doing it.









I guess since the wire I was using before wasn't straight it showed up better, crossing the lines of holes.

I'll try some other configurations, maybe one on each side and 2 spaced out in the center will show up better...

Found a little push on, push off switch, mounting it facing down next to the support rod, will drill a tiny hole so push a paper clip in to turn the bussard collector motors on and off.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

The rods are an interesting look. I like it. Where did you get the idea?


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Mark2000 said:


> The rods are an interesting look. I like it. Where did you get the idea?


Wanted to do something other than glue the photo etch onto something flat, at some point I was looking at cutout images and thought there probably would be pipes back there, if the grills were vents of some kind.

Looks like 3 is the magic number, 3 pipes spaced 3 mm apart:










Tomorrow some sanding and paint touch ups and then I have to think of how to glue the grills on permanently using only the edges......

Picture of the stern, pretty much done:


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## Kremin (Sep 26, 2012)

>


That's a pretty awesome look


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

Yeah, 3 seems the perfect number. That's a very nice customization. :thumbsup:


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Looking good! :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

That turned out nice with the grates!


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Thanks for the positive comments folks.

When they are done I'll try to get some better pictures, but it's really something that has to be seen in person because even small changes in your angle of view changes the look, so it has a nice effect as you move around.

FYI: Those are 0.035 inch styrene rods spaced 3 mm apart on center. The opening is 12 mm wide so simple division by 4. I made a little jig out of credit card plastic to hold the rods in place and to make all the openings look the same.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> I made a little* jig *out of credit card plastic to hold the rods in place and to make all the openings look the same.


*That's what I call...*


getting-jiggy-with-it by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

This evenings saga was electrifying...

Realized the hole for the switch in the lamp stand was way too close to the top, so any switch I put in would prevent the rod that holds the model from going all the way in... So, fairly simple solution, flip that section of the stand around, that puts the switch a bit low but not that bad, it's about half way up the stand.

Then went to add the micro deans connectors so I can remove the model from the stand, the gap between the printed circuit board and the area where the wire comes into the model was way too small for anything but really thin wire. So had to really carefully get an exacto blade in there to cut a notch for the wire. 

Then the wire I used was a little too fat and the solder joints at the connector were too big to avoid shorting out inside the tube. So out with that wire and in with different wire...

Once that was all done I got brave and glued the saucer section to the secondary hull. Scary stuff....

Lots more pictures:


The notch I had to cut, and the little switch that will turn the motors on and off using a paper clip through a little hole in the bottom.









The connectors (micro deans with the corners shaved down so they fit through hole in the lamp stand).









The connectors connected.









The stand with working switch.









The model so far lit up.


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## Wattanasiri (Aug 15, 2010)

MartyS said:


> Had to get some copper paint anyway (was going to leave the bare copper plastic for the deflector dish but there are mold lines), so went to the hobby store and also got some styrene rod to put under the pylon grills.
> 
> The only way they show up at all is if you leave them white, and then I'm not sure the look is worth all the effort it will take to install them.
> 
> ...


Very clever upgrade and quite realistic.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Pylons dry fit to test the look of the grills, was thinking about adding a pipe on each side but decided against it.

Still not sure what to do about the impulse engines. Paint the sides hull color or leave it dark. I keep flipping back and forth on it.....


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

Looking good, I love what you did with the grills!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Just lovely...


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Well, almost done. I had put string in to pull the wires for the nacelles through the pylons, didn't go as well as I planned, the string got in with the mess of wires in there already. So, with the pylons already glued to the secondary hull I had to tie the string to the wire, push the wire down the pylon until I could see it and the string, then use a piece of wire with a hook bent onto the end to pull the string straight out through the web of wires, then use the string to pull the bussard collector wire out.

The long decal on the port side nacelle wouldn't move after putting it down, so it's slightly lower than it should be. The other side went on fine and I could make small adjustments...

Glad I put the switch in to turn off the bussard motors, they are really loud, I put some foam in around them but it didn't help much to tone them down.

Took some video but it came out terrible, I'll see if nero can clean it up. Thought it was because there wasn't enough light but even re-shooting with more the video looks bad. I'll have to see if there are some settings that have reset or changed, it's like there's too much compression or something making the video blotchy.

So it's all together, just some seam work left on the connections to the secondary hull, and a lot more decals, and the nacelles are not glued yet. That will be last, after every thing else is firm and it can sit for a few days upside down...

But it isn't going to look much different than this:


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## d_jedi1 (Jan 20, 2007)

Now that is a SMOOTH, CLEAN build. It looks great!


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## ryanmohan (Mar 3, 2013)

The TOS is my next build and I've really enjoyed following your exploits with this, some great ideas.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

I've been searching for ways to move a decal, can't seem to find any...
I do have some of that testors inkjet decal paper but have never used it, could print out a few and do some testing with that...

I forgot to tell how I glued the pylon grills in. Put narrow masking tape across the center of each one, put them in place held flush with the top of the opening and used a thin wire to place micro lines of brush on CA on the edges. Let that set and then removed the tape, used the wire again to put CA where the tape was.

A little careful sanding and to touch up any brass color that came through after that I used a yellow microbrush.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Since I don't have any more work to do on the areas around the bottom decals I put them on.

She's starting to look like the Enterprise:



















The red lines do make the error in the 3 round lights a little easier to spot, but I doubt I would have been able to get the filled holes as smooth as I would like so didn't want to move them. 

Bottom of the pylons still need seam work, then the side decals can go on. Top of the pylons will not get seam work, it would mess up the decals, those things go a little under the pylons edges. Just realized the red boxes on the nacelles are a tiny bit too far forward.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Drew up a wiring diagram of how I did my bussard collectors, in case anyone wants to copy it. Only 3 strands of ribbon cable required in the struts:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Great job! But so clean! Do you plan on adding any weathering or is she supposed to looko like she's fresh out of space dock?


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

I'm not going to do any weathering. I never noticed any watching the show all these years and I'm in the camp that says no faster than light ship would have any considering the physics involved (ordinary hydrogen atoms in space would wear right through the hull in no time if allowed to hit it at many times the speed of light). And I think any battle damage would get fixed up to look as good as new, so I figure a ship like this would stay looking pristine for a long long time.

I think I've done my last sanding, unless I decide to take another stab at that front round skylight area. The rest of the decals might go on tomorrow night.

The way to do that round skylight would be some kind of dome shaped sanding disk, to wear down the center more than the edges...


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Anyone have measurements or really good drawings for where the distance marker decals go?

It was fairly easy to get out a caliper and figure out where the red lines on the saucer bottom should be but these little markers are on a cylinder, so measurements off photos are going to be off.

Got the side red strips on, and the decals above the impulse engines. For those I cut them into 2 parts each, no reason to have decal material going out to the yellow rectangle. I didn't fill in those groves so placing them independently was easy.

I did do some more work on that skylight area, got it to be a dimple but with the paint needed to make it look good only a tiny bit of light is getting through the center and a little ring around the edge, only visible in a dark room.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> Anyone have measurements or really good drawings for where the distance marker decals go?
> 
> It was fairly easy to get out a caliper and figure out where the red lines on the saucer bottom should be but these little markers are on a cylinder, so measurements off photos are going to be off.
> 
> ...


I have a pdf document I could email you which has several good closeups photos of the studio model at the Smithsonian. It's over 4MB so can't attach it to this post. And there are always the Sinclair drawings. I've never seen where any actual measurements have been posted; it just comes down to having a good eye I think.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Email sent.

Those sinclair drawings are pretty good, but those 3 lower distance markers must have moved around during the various restorations, they in a straight line if you look at pictures taken during filming.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Looks like I'll be experimenting with some thin masking tape on the model tonight trying to replicate this view:










That should get the markers in their correct positions...


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## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

Just keep in mind that they appear lined up only from that angle… but that straight line intersecting the surface of the secondary hull (which is cone shaped) actually traces out a parabola or hyperbola on the surface.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Shaw said:


> Just keep in mind that they appear lined up only from that angle… but that straight line intersecting the surface of the secondary hull (which is cone shaped) actuallytraces out a parabola or hyperbola on the surface.


Yes, I am aware of that, that's why it will take some experimenting with the actual shape to see where they should go. I can understand the one in the back being lower, but a lot of the drawings I've seen have the middle one quite a bit higher when seen from the side, not sure that will end up being the case if I can match that view I posted.


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## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

MartyS said:


> ... but a lot of the drawings I've seen have the middle one quite a bit higher when seen from the side, not sure that will end up being the case if I can match that view I posted.


Really? I've been avoiding looking at other people's drawings recently, but photos I have of the model show them about even. I was going to use the position of the planks that make up the secondary hull as a reference for most of the details in my plans. This shot from this series of images seemed like a good starting point to me.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Shaw said:


> Really? I've been avoiding looking at other people's drawings recently, but photos I have of the model show them about even. I was going to use the position of the planks that make up the secondary hull as a reference for most of the details in my plans. This shot from this series of images seemed like a good starting point to me.


Nice pics!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Oops! I just realized something... I put the marking on backwards. 102 is on the stern on my ship. Oh well...


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## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

Doing a _quick-n-dirty_ version of what I plan to do later on, this is what I get...








Here is the thing... they weren't supposed to be on the model to begin with. From what I can tell, Jefferies sent the final plans of the Enterprise to Datin without any of the hull markings on them. The drawings with the hull markings on them were drawings of an earlier version of the Enterprise... which included real world distance call outs. Datin thought those were additional markings and put them on the models, and Roddenberry (always wanting more details on the models) liked them. *MGagen* had a great overlay of the original secondary hull and a shot of the actual model illustrating this.

Given what they were originally intended for, I would guess that on the page those three markers were originally along a straight line.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

This is about as close as I can get to that image, there are some lens distortions causing slight differences.
With this I also come to the conclusion they should be in a straight line parallel to the lines created by the windows:











Side view:


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Marty, what are those? Masks?


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Mark2000 said:


> Marty, what are those? Masks?


Nope, just sharpie on masking tape.

After some fine adjustments after looking at more photos, this is where I'm putting my decals. Now just have to come up with a system to get them the same on each side, since they are visible from underneath.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Put a strip of masking tap along the tops of those placeholders shown in the previous post, put a line where each marker should go and then put another strip of tape just below it to copy the marks, with an extra mark at the front where the first sharp edge is, then measured down from some reference points and put the second piece of tape on the other side.

Put the decals on up to the tape at each mark, worked pretty well getting them the same on each side.

This is the closest I've gotten to the studio image I posted several posts back, still can't match the lens distortions but the angle is pretty close:


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Shaw said:


> Here is the thing... they weren't supposed to be on the model to begin with. From what I can tell, Jefferies sent the final plans of the Enterprise to Datin without any of the hull markings on them. The drawings with the hull markings on them were drawings of an earlier version of the Enterprise... which included real world distance call outs. Datin thought those were additional markings and put them on the models, and Roddenberry (always wanting more details on the models) liked them.



So that explains why the numbers don't match any real measurements for the ship. If you extrapolate it puts zero about where the wood ends and the cylinders behind the deflector dish begin.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Taking a break from decals to have some fun.

Now departing, shuttle craft Galileo:

































80 gauge wire is pretty easy to photoshop out, and plenty strong enough to hold that tiny shuttle.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

*Tractor beam*

I made a little tractor beam, thinking about painting it white.
The rod is pressure fit in the hole for my nacelle motor switch, pushing the tractor beam up activates the switch, spring in the switch pushes it back down:










And more fun with shuttle on a wire:


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## Nova Mike (Apr 26, 2009)

Really great build and  thanks for sharing your pics. :thumbsup:


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Big name and number decals are on, now she says enterprise. 
I painted the the tractor beam switch rod grey.
Some time this week I'll glue the nacelles on, even without glue they look pretty good, only one has a slight droop.

More pictures


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

The video cameras I have don't do too well indoors, but I got some that isn't too bad:


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## Proper2 (Dec 8, 2010)

Very nice! Both nacelles appear to be drooping but I assume this will be remedied when glued.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Proper2 said:


> Very nice! Both nacelles appear to be drooping but I assume this will be remedied when glued.


I did eventually notice that in the photos, the ship does lean forward a bit in the stand so I wasn't noticing it. I think tomorrow I'll find a place to let it sit upside down for a few days and glue them on. Also going to see if I have thin enough heat shrink to make the rod stay perfectly straight in the stand. If not some thin tape.


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## Proper2 (Dec 8, 2010)

MartyS said:


> I did eventually notice that in the photos, the ship does lean forward a bit in the stand so I wasn't noticing it. I think tomorrow I'll find a place to let it sit upside down for a few days and glue them on. Also going to see if I have thin enough heat shrink to make the rod stay perfectly straight in the stand. If not some thin tape.


Yeah, I would definitely make a point of getting those puppies level. That's my number one pet peeve with my Master Replicas E; the nacelles--and the saucer section--both are slightly drooping in opposite directions and thus the result is noticeable.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

I put my bottom saucer access panel decals on this way, following what I see in the photos taken before the last restoration. But I notice the instructions have the large and small grey rectangles with text swapped.














Proper2 said:


> Yeah, I would definitely make a point of getting those puppies level. That's my number one pet peeve with my Master Replicas E; the nacelles--and the saucer section--both are slightly drooping in opposite directions and thus the result is noticeable.


One nacelle on mine is really tight, if I push it straight it will stay that way for a while, other side is a bit more loose. Got it on it's back gluing now, will leave it until Wednesday morning.

The saucer neck was super tight on both sides to begin with, needed to sand the joints a bit just to get it together, so that shouldn't droop.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

I think I'm finally done. Only thing I might do in the future would be change the bussard motors if I see something easy to install.

Way more hours than I thought I'd put into it, and way more money than I thought with supplies ending up costing almost as much as the model kits, but I've wanted a model that looks like this since the early to mid 70s when I built tons of Star Trek models as a kid.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

site acting up at the moment, double post...


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Looking at my photos I noticed my bussard collectors looked funny, then remembered I had swapped them after gluing on the 3 lower "plates" because the motors were turning the wrong way, always intending to swap the motors but forgot.

So, motors swapped, the 3 dohickeys are the same on each side now....

While the motors were out I put a few drops of tri-flow in the gearboxes, it did quiet them down some. The motors by themselves are very quiet now. Off the model the collectors are still pretty quiet, but when attached the entire model acts like a sounding board for the vibrations of the motors, with noise coming from the saucer section...

I've got an idea for a mod that might isolate the vibration from the model, and should be easy to install, if I have free time I'll make something up tomorrow or next week on my little lathe at work and see if it works.


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## Wattanasiri (Aug 15, 2010)

A very well done model


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

MartyS said:


> Looking at my photos I noticed my bussard collectors looked funny, then remembered I had swapped them after gluing on the 3 lower "plates" because the motors were turning the wrong way, always intending to swap the motors but forgot.
> 
> So, motors swapped, the 3 dohickeys are the same on each side now....
> 
> ...


I'd be very interested to see what you come up with, Marty. Please keep us posted.

Also, did you use the clear window inserts for the 4 rectangles on the top primary hull or the opaque white ones?


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

RossW said:


> Also, did you use the clear window inserts for the 4 rectangles on the top primary hull or the opaque white ones?


I used the white parts for those rectangles, and the round front one that I tried many times to paint and sand and just was unable to get much light to come through and not have a white disk when the lights were off. In hindsight I should have used clear there, to let a lot more light up through so it would shine through the paint.

I also used the white parts for the flashers on the sides of the shuttle bay, and the domes. I did clean up the clear top dome, so can swap them when ever I want.

Everywhere else I used clear, sanding the back to frost it.

I just stuck a piece of thin styrene in the middle of the secondary hull, rolled it up and then let it unroll inside. Now the windows are more evenly lit.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Beautiful work and photos. My only question is, do you plan on giving her a more matte finish? She seems a tad glossy in the photos.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

I was thinking the same thing. But she looks great!


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Trekkriffic said:


> Beautiful work and photos. My only question is, do you plan on giving her a more matte finish? She seems a tad glossy in the photos.


I've been thinking about that, but not sure what I can do since I can't spray paint in my apartment.

Any good matte finishes that go on well with a brush?

This is my idea for some isolation of the bussard motors, I've got the red pieces made, will test out first with heat shrink to attach the shaft and motor, then try soft rubber tubing if the heat shrink transfers too much vibration.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

What do the red pieces consist of? Is the shaft metal or plastic? Is the cylindrical part metal? Foam? I used silicon fuel line for my sleeve. My LHS sells it for RC aircraft.


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## Proper2 (Dec 8, 2010)

Definitely would suggest a matte spray. Do you have a balcony or patio? Or could set up a makeshift "spray booth" in your shower tub (or any room) with painters plastic--wear a mask. Or is it a legal issue where you simply aren't allowed to "spray" in your apartment. You'd be allowed to spray your hair, no?


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Trekkriffic said:


> What do the red pieces consist of? Is the shaft metal or plastic? Is the cylindrical part metal? Foam? I used silicon fuel line for my sleeve. My LHS sells it for RC aircraft.


The cylinders are plastic, I had some scrap pieces of acrylic rod so used that.

I've got some old RC Helli rotor shafts that are 2mm polished stainless, I'll cut them to size with a dremel. 

A #46 drill worked perfectly making a hole for the 2mm shaft. I'll put a little Vaseline in there but probably don't need to, polished stainless on acrylic shouldn't wear at these speeds.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Proper2 said:


> Definitely would suggest a matte spray. Do you have a balcony or patio? Or could set up a makeshift "spray booth" in your shower tub (or any room) with painters plastic--wear a mask. Or is it a legal issue where you simply aren't allowed to "spray" in your apartment. You'd be allowed to spray your hair, no?


It is a matter of no place to do it, I suppose I could set something up like you say in the tub, use the bathroom vent fan... 

I actually don't mind the shiny look, the photos make it look a little more shiny than it is in person, but it would be nice to have it a little more dull of a finish.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> It is a matter of no place to do it, I suppose I could set something up like you say in the tub, use the bathroom vent fan...
> 
> I actually don't mind the shiny look, the photos make it look a little more shiny than it is in person, but it would be nice to have it a little more dull of a finish.


The fiming miniature (if you can call an 11 foot model that) had a semi-gloss finish. So starting from a glossy finish you should only need one coat of Testors Dullcote to give you that semi-gloss look. The more coats you give it the flatter it will look of course. Testors is a synthetic lacquer but you could use an acrylic flat if you had an airbrush and the fumes would be a lot less.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

*Motor isolators.*

My motor isolators work way better than I thought they would, I was expecting maybe half as loud but it must be 1/3 or 1/4 as loud as before.

There would be plenty of ways to do this, the part that works is the silicone tubing connecting the extended shaft to the original and connecting the motor to the collector.

Got to be really careful when putting the tubing on the white gearboxes, almost had a disaster when one came off and luckily the little parts inside stayed together.

Pictures of the adapters attached.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Any chance you could record a before & after video so we can compare the sound?

Also, does the acrylic rod fit inside the plastic motor housing snugly? Why doesn't that still transmit vibration/noise?


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

RossW said:


> Any chance you could record a before & after video so we can compare the sound?


I'll see if I can do that, I'll have to set up the same as one of my earlier clips to get a good comparison.



> Also, does the acrylic rod fit inside the plastic motor housing snugly? Why doesn't that still transmit vibration/noise?


Yes, the acrylic part does fit snug, but I had to wrap a few layers of clear tape around it for it to do so, the rod was a little smaller than the hole.

All the vibration isolation is due to the rubber tubing connecting the acrylic to the motor. There is probably 1/16 inch gap between the acrylic and the gearbox, so all vibration has to go through the rubber to vibrate the model. Also I use small silicone tubing to connect the motor shaft to the metal extension shaft. The fans don't grip the metal quite as good as the plastic so I've put a drop of glue in there and it's drying now.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

*noise comparison video*

Video demonstrating the drop in noise level.
I'm not sure the camera even picked up much of the motor noise with the new setup. The ears are such bad decibel meters, I'm guessing it is actually much less than 1/4 the level of before.


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## Proper2 (Dec 8, 2010)

The vid won't play. It's blank.

Never mind.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

MartyS said:


> Video demonstrating the drop in noise level.
> I'm not sure the camera even picked up much of the motor noise with the new setup. The ears are such bad decimal meters, I'm guessing it is actually much less than 1/4 the level of before.


Thanks Marty! That's quite a difference.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

My fans still spin, I half expected the glue to have run down the shafts and stuck them tight overnight. 

With the TV on in the other room I can barely hear them now, so pretty happy with the result of my mod.

Still thinking about a matte finish, I just think I'll end up ruining all my work it if I try anything with the limitations of the work spaces I have. Basically if there isn't a good finish that can be brushed on it will probably stay the way it is now.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

RossW said:


> Thanks Marty! That's quite a difference.


Wow! I thought mine were pretty quiet but those are amazingly quiet. Great job! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Trekkriffic said:


> Wow! I thought mine were pretty quiet but those are amazingly quiet. Great job! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


I was pretty shocked how well it worked.

My largest heat shrink was a little too small, so my first try was with smaller diameter but thinner tubing thinking that would be best, but needing to stretch it too much must have made it able to transfer more vibrations. This 1/2 inch ID natural rubber tubing barely has to stretch to fit over the motor and adapter, so practically no tension on it, so I guess that's why not very much audio frequency vibration get transferred. Touch the motor to the model while putting the collectors on and the sound comes back, so it really is the entire model acting as a sounding board.

The little bit of extra friction does slow down the fans (I did put some Vaseline on the metal rod), you can see that in the video with the frame rate reversing the direction, for me that's another plus, I thought they were a little too fast in the stock configuration.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

*Sound effects box for 1/350 TOS Enterprise.*

Got a project box from radio shack and put the electronics from the diamond select toy Enterprise into it. 

Pressing the Enterprise patch activates the sounds and lights. Switch on the side puts it in demo mode so you can hear Kirk call for battle stations. Little door with electrical tape hinge for the big model spare parts. LEDs on the sides of the Star Trek logo are the ones from the bussard collectors. On the sides I put some of the left over clear bussard collector plastic lights with the red and green navigational blinkers inside lighting them up.

I'll probably build a nicer box in the future but for now this will do:




















Edit: Uhggg, should have turned her around, that's the non filming side with the decal that stuck on before I could move it up a little....


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

The little compartment for bay doors and upper clear dome is a nice touch.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Well darn, broke off the little sensor thing on the bottom dome. Just barely touched it with my finger while moving the model, felt like it caught on a fingerprint.

Figured this would happen eventually but kind of bummed it happened so soon. Not having a place for the model I am having to move it around when it gets in the way...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> Well darn, broke off the little sensor thing on the bottom dome. Just barely touched it with my finger while moving the model, felt like it caught on a fingerprint.
> 
> Figured this would happen eventually but kind of bummed it happened so soon. Not having a place for the model I am having to move it around when it gets in the way...


I replaced that wee sensor shaft with brass rod on mine. I figured it would break off at some point otherwise. The brass may bend but it will never break.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Trekkriffic said:


> I replaced that wee sensor shaft with brass rod on mine. I figured it would break off at some point otherwise. The brass may bend but it will never break.


That gives me an idea, use a piece of fiber optic to replace it, flexible so it wouldn't break and can still have the little red glow at the end....


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> That gives me an idea, use a piece of fiber optic to replace it, flexible so it wouldn't break and can still have the little red glow at the end....


Yeah. And you coudl heat the end of the fiber to bloom it to make the little knob.Then paint the tip red and the rest grey.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> That gives me an idea, use a piece of fiber optic to replace it, flexible so it wouldn't break and can still have the little red glow at the end....


Yeah. And you coudl heat the end of the fiber to bloom it to make the little knob.Then paint the tip red and the rest grey. I dare say you'd have the only 350th with a glowing sensor.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Well, it was glowing red before, I used clear red on the end of the clear plastic part.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

MartyS said:


> Well, it was glowing red before, I used clear red on the end of the clear plastic part.


Oh yea... that's right. I forgot the part was clear. Carry on!


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## PixelMagic (Aug 25, 2004)

Where did you get the tubing that isolated the sound of the motors? That works great!


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

PixelMagic said:


> Where did you get the tubing that isolated the sound of the motors? That works great!


I cut pieces off random bits of tubing from my spare tubing drawer in one of the chemistry labs at work, so can't say where it was bought. I tried different sizes and that one worked the best.

I can tell from the look it's natural rubber (latex) (surgical) tubing, 1/2 inch ID, 1/8 inch thick wall. Doing a search for that should get you places to buy some.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Thought I'd share this image, the view I have to my right when I'm sitting in my recliner watching TV (well, almost, normally I don't have the bussards spinning):


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Majestic.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

She looks grand!


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Beautiful work!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

Tried playing around with a laser pointer like John P did, didn't do a star background and didn't get the laser beam to come out bright enough, but got a couple interesting composites:

This one came out the best:










This one second best (beam barely came out so had to cut and paste just the beam after increasing brightness a crazy amount, so it looks fuzzy):


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Very cool.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

I got one of those Sphero BB-8 toys.
Couldn't help but mix my franchises:










Ahhhhh, giant droid attack!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

hehheh


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