# Total Noob Builds 1/350 TOS Enterprise



## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I'm a total novice at modelling. A few months ago I put together my first complete model (by complete I mean with paint, decals, and weathering effects): a Master Grade Gundam Tallgeese I. Came out pretty well so I decided to up my game in a fit of grandeur, alcohol, and serotonin reuptake inhibitors. This should be good for a laugh, right? But I'm doing unexpectedly well so far. I figure I can post my successes and mistakes, and run ideas passed the knowledgeable folks here whom I've grown to respect through lurking and asking minor questions in other threads.

My first triumph: The bridge. I masked off the transparent part where the consoles and screens went and primered the top and bottom with Transstar 2in1. I left the chairs and second tier bare primer and painted the rest with Tayima paints and a toothpick. I then painted photoetch parts, glued them in with kristal klear and then added the decals. Light leaks were handled with black paint. I'm a little miffed the photoetch doesn't cover the entire main view screen panel. I decided not to use the photoetch railing, but I'm thinking about painting the bits between where the rails would be grey to make it look like it's got gaps.


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## fire91bird (Feb 3, 2008)

Looks pretty good for anybody, let alone a "noob".


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

What a noob. An awesome noob! Very sharp work, sir!


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## Nova Mike (Apr 26, 2009)

Very nice looking so far, keep up the good work. :thumbsup:


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

That looks a helluva lot better than mine does! Nice job. :thumbsup:


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Thank you guys. High praise. I gave the kid the opaque part to play with and this is what she came up with in tempera paint. Actually looks pretty faithful to the show's lighting scheme


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Nice!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

How do you define 'noob'? Surely not like this...


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Looking good! More pictures! :thumbsup:


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

> How do you define 'noob'? Surely not like this...


Well, like I said, I've only completed one model - paint and all - in my life before this and it was a snap-together. When I was a kid I used to put together models, but I was scared to death of painting them after a big spill on my ATM Refit so I had a ton of bare white and grey plastic around my room. If I'm at all successful it's going to be due to carefully reading everything on this board and others. I do have a background in fine arts, but mostly digital, not hands on.

Here's the Galileo shuttle. I primed and airbrushed the whole thing what will be the big E's hull color (2 part Tamiya sky gray and 1 part flat white) and brush painted the underside and nacelles. I glued the two halves of the hull together and tried the fuse and sand technique for removing the seam. It's still a little visible. I cut the empty bits of the nacelle struts out with an exacto.

I didn't realize there was a decal for the rear engine so I painted it too. That part looks ok from far away, but doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. The decals for this thing are amazingly detailed. I placed them with water and a vinegar over brush.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

BTW, the more I look at the Galileo the more I get the feeling she's related to Blinky, the three eyed fish.


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Mark, you must have a microscopic vision and certainly extremely firm hands to achieve this degree of accuracy in painting something so tiny.

Congratulations and keep posting, please. This will be a great thread to follow.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I'm pretty far along now, it's just been a matter of taking the pictures. I'm not the kind who can record every brush stroke. Here you can see the inside of the lower half of the saucer. I couldn't find a good position to screw in the PCB without blocking windows and allowing the impulse light cables to reach so I just glued it in the best place I could figure with 10 minute epoxy.










I'm really anxious about light blocking, especially after seeing a number of builds on flickr fail at it. I resolved to handle it before closing up as options are more limited after that. I primed the insides of the hull with Transstar until I couldn't see even a glimmer of a flashlight pressed against the outside coming through. I laid down black after that and then white. I noticed the neck leaked light when attached so I covered the neck hole with electric tape. 

I cut all the windows down with a dremel disc so they would sit as flush with the hull as possible. I decided to go with the clear windows only as they had the best gloss sheen. I sanded them down on the inside to frost them and painted the unlit ones black. Paint wasn't enough, though, so I taped them as well. I used Kristal Klear to glue the windows in and also to seal the edges of the tape.

Wires were glued into place with hot glue. I soldered the wires into the lights instead of using the clips. I didn't bother insulating them since I don't think anything in there is going to one day accidentally bridge the connections. YOLO!










Here's the inside of the top of the saucer. I got lots of light leaks when I glued the deck 2/3 part in so I sealed it with Perfect Plastic Putty and then painted it with some extra gun metal I had laying around. In fact, I used gun metal on a lot of little spots that were leaking. It seems to work better with less coats than black.










Lastly I didn't like how the deck 2/3 was connecting to the saucer. It grooved inward at some spots. PPP was used to fill it in - thanks trekriffic for cluing me into this product. It's good to have a putty you can use with your fingers.

Here you can also see me dealing with another quality problem. The port holes on the 2/3 deck are not round. Many were completely oblong. I put a toothpick in the holes and covered the surrounding area with putty and then sanded it down. Took 3 tries in some cases.

Since I'm getting to the point of masking windows I'm wondering what a good method would be to mask the red bridge lights and the blinkers on the bottom of the saucer that have to go in before sealing. I have Orbital Drydock's masks, but they don't include a solution for this. What did you guys do?


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## stryker (May 29, 2012)

Mark, since I finished up my saucer not long ago here are a few tips -
I used a piece of auto masking tape (3M type) or Tamiya tape, cut a small square and press it over the light. I use a plastic pen cap to press at the base. Use a new blade and cut around the base of the light. Presto, mask for your light. If you do get any over spray on the clear, you can use a tooth pick to remove any spots. I would also recommend painting the upper and lower saucer first before you glue, then you are just dealing with painting the seam instead of the whole saucer.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Stryker, sounds like a good idea. Will this work on the bridge lights too? They're so small!


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## stryker (May 29, 2012)

You mean the red lights on the side of the B/C Deck? I wouldn't install those until you have finished painting but if you have already installed, you can warp a small piece of tape around each light and us a plastic pen cap to mold the tape around the light. Also consider before you seal up the saucer, a mistake I made, was not replacing the red and green navigation lights with LEDs. If you use the red and green lens caps the lights are very weak. Wish I would have replaced mine.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I find the colored plastic too dark. I like a washed out look so I'm using the clear parts colored with marker on only one side. It's only half as saturated. My only worry with masking the lights is not getting paint on the area around the lights. There's no way I can think of to touch that up without a mess.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Try liquid masking - you can use a small paintbrush or toothpick to apply.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Liquid mask looks like a good solution. It would also help with other parts I haven't figured out yet like the elevator behind the bridge or the silver around the aft blinkers.

Edit: Just bought some.


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## colhero (May 18, 2006)

Yeh, "noob" - right! I sense a hustler in the pool hall... That Bridge is super-excellent - nailed the colors!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

For masking off those little red bridge dome lights nothing works better than liquid mask. One thing though, if you go that route you want to make sure the mask doesn't get on the surrounding hull.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

I wanted to cast my vote for splitting the saucer flasher LED into two separate LED's for the top and bottom on each side of the saucer. Just split the negative and positive wires into two leads using the lighting kit harness so you basically have a parallel circuit. No need to add resistors either.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Trekriffic, thanks for the advice. I tested the dome lights and they look alright to me so far. I'm not anxious to add more complexity to this thing yet, but there is still time before sealing the saucer.

I've completed all the work on the secondary hull's insides. All the same priming and painting as the saucer has been done as well as sealing the windows I want black. I've done something I haven't seen anyone else do: paint some of the windows orange like the one in the neck. I've based my reasoning on this and this picture that show these windows as orange as the neck one. I've test lit it and it looks great. I like the visual diversity. I'm really really torn about coloring the rear window green like kdaracal did. I like it a lot. I've written Gary Kerr about the official word on window colors but have yet to hear back.










To anyone as paranoid about light sealing this thing as me, take notice of the green highlights in the photo. These trenches need to be primed and painted or you will have light bleeding through the seams. This is the case with the neck and nacelle parts that have the same interlocking trenches.









I've done a dry assembly of all the secondary hull parts and lights including the hangar deck. I'm having my own unique troubles making it come together at the top seam, but I have some ideas. One thing that troubles me is there seems to be no way to light the green/red/green spine lights since a wire runs directly under it. Am I wrong about that?

You'll notice some putty on the bottom part of the hull. Too late I found deep sink marks that line up with the internal structural supports. I'd have asked for replacements but I've done too much work on these to toss them out.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> I've done a dry assembly of all the secondary hull parts and lights including the hangar deck. I'm having my own unique troubles making it come together at the top seam, but I have some ideas. One thing that troubles me is there seems to be no way to light the green/red/green spine lights since a wire runs directly under it. Am I wrong about that?


If you want to light those spine lights you pretty much have to reroute your wiring so the trench isn't filled with the wires for the hangar control room lights. When I lit my hangar bay I replaced the kit harness wires with 30 AWG Kynar wires which is very thin. Others have used magnet wire. I carved two shallow, narrow channels out in the clear plastic ceiling to run the booth wires sideways from just behind where the rectanglar LED (note: that rectangular LED won't sit low enough in the control room part over the doors unless you grind it thinner by quite a bit on the top and bottom with a file and/or sanding stick) rests in front of the bay's arch. The wires solder to the LED's legs (cut them as short as possible) then run at a 90 degree angle thru the slots to intersect with the channels underneath the horizontal support beams on either side of the middle slot. For the center ceiling channel I installed SMD (surface mount) LEDs in parallel with the 30 AWG wires running along the edges of the slot and out the back wall of the bay. The Kynar wire is thin enough not to intefere with illumnation. The LEDs face downward into the bay for overhead lighting but there's enough light if you position them correctly to light the spine lights. I needed to thin the hulll plastic a bit at the rear of the bay and shave down the LED mounting ears on the clear plastic back wall of the bay before I could get them to fit. I also had to grind the sides of the LEDs on the back wall. I had to shave off the plastic backing plate of the window inserts too on the sides of the bay so the inserts are flush to the hull on the inside. Even then I still had a narrow (1/64"?) opening along the top of the secondary hull that I had to fill with putty.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> Trekriffic, thanks for the advice. I tested the dome lights and they look alright to me so far. I'm not anxious to add more complexity to this thing yet, but there is still time before sealing the saucer.
> 
> I've completed all the work on the secondary hull's insides. All the same priming and painting as the saucer has been done as well as sealing the windows I want black. I've done something I haven't seen anyone else do: paint some of the windows orange like the one in the neck. I've based my reasoning on this and this picture that show these windows as orange as the neck one. I've test lit it and it looks great. I like the visual diversity. I'm really really torn about coloring the rear window green like kdaracal did. I like it a lot. I've written Gary Kerr about the official word on window colors but have yet to hear back.
> 
> ...


Hi, I'm wondering if another fix for the light bleed in those seams would be to apply some putty on the outside of the ships seamline after you have joined both halves together? Followed by any primer touch up needed.

That is unless you have already applied the final finish to your ship before assembly.
Nice work on your build by the way.:thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

spocks beard said:


> Hi, I'm wondering if another fix for the light bleed in those seams would be to apply some putty on the outside of the ships seamline after you have joined both halves together? Followed by any primer touch up needed.
> 
> That is unless you have already applied the final finish to your ship before assembly.
> Nice work on your build by the way.:thumbsup:


That's what I did. Leaving the slots painted presents a problem with getting the glue to stick. Be it CA or regular Testors tube glue. I masked over the slots wherever glue would go when I sprayed the inside surfaces so they had no paint in them. Then I puttied with Tamiya (for maximum strength) and AVES Apoxy Sculpt putties. I addressed light leaks with flat black Testors enamel painting atop the seams before I primed second time. That got rid of any light leaks.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Well, if the light bleed fix using putty is good enough for Trekkriffic..Then i guess it is good enough for me then.

Sorry, Not to hi jack this thread but i have a quick question.

I plan on wiring my kit for lights as well and have been dry fitting various parts while waiting for my primer and paints to arrive, And my hanger deck seems to fit the secondary hull section with no problems that some of the modelers have had when joining the two halves together.

Is this actually due to the wiring installed to the hanger deck making for too tight of a fit? What is a good fix?


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I did mask the outer rise of the trench, so there is as much bare plastic to put glue as the saucer rim. Its just the inside of the trench that's painted. I won't have any trouble with assembly due to it.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> I did mask the outer rise of the trench, so there is as much bare plastic to put glue as the saucer rim. Its just the inside of the trench that's painted. I won't have any trouble with assembly due to it.


AAAAAAHHHHHhhhhhhh! Clever boy! :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

spocks beard said:


> I plan on wiring my kit for lights as well and have been dry fitting various parts while waiting for my primer and paints to arrive, And my hanger deck seems to fit the secondary hull section with no problems that some of the modelers have had when joining the two halves together.
> 
> Is this actually due to the wiring installed to the hanger deck making for too tight of a fit? What is a good fix?


In a word... yes! I posted my solution in post 4694023 but here are some links to WIP pics in my Flickr! album you may find useful... or not...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8978649341/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/296074...ww.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8979844272/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8978649101/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8978648855/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8982460436/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8982460436/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8982460436/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8981267999/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8982460084/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8982460084/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9009154319/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9010336440/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9009153775/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9009153775/

This is how the hull seam looked after painting and weathering:


IMG_5120 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Well, here comes my big noob error. I just blew all the upper hanger bay leds by futzing with smaller gauge wires. Accidentally plugged "Q" into a 12v port. They all flashed and died. Anyone know what the specs are on these?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> Well, here comes my big noob error. I just blew all the upper hanger bay leds by futzing with smaller gauge wires. Accidentally plugged "Q" into a 12v port. They all flashed and died. Anyone know what the specs are on these?


The 12V ports are only for use with the lighting strips. The other ports are rated for up to 5V I think. The LEDs are usually rated for between 2 and 3V. If you are running 12V thru a paralled circuit each LED would need a 470 ohm resistor. For 12V thru a series circuit, 2 LED's would need one 330 ohm resistor, for 3 in series you'd need a 150 ohm resistor. 4 in series would need a 1 ohm resistor. The gauge of wire shouldn't have caused the LEDs to blow. From the instructions it appears the "Q" harness has three LEDs wired in parralel so, yeah, plugging them into a 12V socket would blow them.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

It was the voltage from the wrong port that blew them. They are definitely dead. There's three on that chain. Two cylindrical and one flat square one. I'm looking at two options for these on ebay. Mouser and Jameco just don't have them. Here for the round ones and here for the flat.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Don't feel too bad... I have been modelling for 40 years and still do stuff like that when it comes to wiring and electric/electronic stuff...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> It was the voltage from the wrong port that blew them. They are definitely dead. There's three on that chain. Two cylindrical and one flat square one. I'm looking at two options for these on ebay. Mouser and Jameco just don't have them. Here for the round ones and here for the flat.


Lighthouse LEDs has them pre-wired in 3 sizes:

http://lighthouseleds.com/pre-wired-leds-1/12-volt-v-pre-wired-leds/12v-leds-3mm-pre-wired.html

Although it sounds like you are planning to just replace the burned out LEDs with new ones and reuse the harness. 

I don't see any square/rectanghular ones though on their site.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I think this is a good opportunity. I'll replace the round lights with the same thing, but in place of the square one I'll put 3 squares. One behind the hanger for the back windows that are way underlit, one for right under the spine lights, and one in the window right above the hangar doors. I just hope it doesn't draw too much power (Plugging R as it was dimmed down Q by about a third. I may even remove the light supports for the R lights and replace those bulbs with flat ones so there will be more clearance back there. I'm going to have 50 of them. Why not try it?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> I think this is a good opportunity. I'll replace the round lights with the same thing, but in place of the square one I'll put 3 squares. One behind the hanger for the back windows that are way underlit, one for right under the spine lights, and one in the window right above the hangar doors. I just hope it doesn't draw too much power (Plugging R as it was dimmed down Q by about a third. I may even remove the light supports for the R lights and replace those bulbs with flat ones so there will be more clearance back there. I'm going to have 50 of them. Why not try it?


I think you'll run into clearance issues with putting one of those square LEDs under the spine lights unless you carve out a large chunk of the hull under the spine or the ceiling of the hangar bay. Also I think those ports only have so much amperage so tacking 2 more square LEDs onto the harness may dim them considerably. Still, you can always wire it up outside the model first and see how dim it gets. For my money, SMD LED's are the way to go for the ceiling lights; and you can order them with wires already soldered to them if that's too much of a challenge for you.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Looks like today isn't a total bust. With a little sound proofing knowledge from my PC building days I found a way to half the noise from the bussard motors. Silicon has always been the material of choice for killing vibrations in fans, replacing screws that held them to the chassis. With this in mind I dremelled out a larger hole in the motor fitting, smeared some silicon caulk around the motor, and pushed it in. After letting it dry for a while I tested it against a motor held in directly against the styrene. Much quieter. As if it wasn't mounted at all. I put in some in the back as well to keep it stable.


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## stryker (May 29, 2012)

Great tip, thanks Mark. I will use it on my build :thumbsup:


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Hey, Trekriffic, how did you light seal the bay doors when you insert the extra piece? I just cut my closed bay down to fit about as well as I think I am capable.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> Hey, Trekriffic, how did you light seal the bay doors when you insert the extra piece? I just cut my closed bay down to fit about as well as I think I am capable.


When I sliced the center section out of the closed bay door part I fitted it to the open door part to see how big the gaps were. Basically I needed to replace the material cut away by my razor saw which was the recessed material between the door pie slices. Based on where I could see light bleeding thru I placed the sliced middle door section down edgewise on a piece of thin sheet styrene and traced the profile onto the sheet. Then I cut out an arc not quite as thick as the doors and glued it to the edge of the open door part pie slice setting it back a bit to the depth of the groove between the door panels. i had to do some tweaking and adjusting but eventually I got a tight enough fit so no light shined thru from the bay. The top of the center section will slide in underneath the control room over the doors first and then you press the doors in from the bottom; if the fit is tight enough the doors should stay in place. If not brush some future acrylic floor finish on the edges of the door panels to give them a little stickiness. Oh, one other thing, if you use the open door part you'll want to reduce the thickness of the center section from the closed door part to match the thinner open door part. I used a round router bit on my dremel to remove a lot of the plastic on the inside of the doors before finishing up with sandpaper and sanding sticks.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

That is a lot of work. My hat is off to you. I have a little bit of uneven crack between the pieces. I'm wondering if putting a thin piece of flocking paper around the edge, just sticking out .5 of a millimeter would do the trick as well. I like the idea of the polish to keep the edges a bit sticky. I would hate to have it keep falling out. There's another neurosis I don't need.

BTW, I just confirmation from Gary that the aft most rectangular window on the secondary hull is indeed the green one.


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Thanks for this thread, Mark. A lot of quite useful data to my library on "how to build an 1/350 enterprise". :thumbsup:

Are you going to leave your pictures in your images data base site (e.g. photobucket, flickr, etc.) for ever (next 3 years ) or should I download them preventively.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Ha, Fernando. They'll be up for as long as I have Flickr. I can't tell you how long that will be. Glad to be of service.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Last night I decided to work on the bussard lights a bit. I added some smashed up mirror bits from a cheap compact. I chose this, not because it's the best solution, but because it was used in the actual filming model and I wanted that nod in there.

Make sure to put your mirror in two plastic bags before hitting them. One bag will break open. I sanded the orange bulbs which really made a difference in light dispersal and its reflection in the mirrors. I didn't sand the smaller bulbs because they are just the size of the hole and don't need their light spread out. Plus, they're brighter unsanded.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Today was both productive and heart breaking. The time was finally right to seal up the saucer. The actual gluing went well, however my upper saucer seemed too small all the way around and I was left with about a millimeter of underbite along the rim. I handled it by putting PPP all the way around from the edge to the seam. You'll note I also puttied out the grid lines on the landing legs. I know they are on the shooting model, but they look odd to me.










After sanding it down (which, after looking at the macro I need to do more of) I scribed the grid lines back on.










The heart break came as I was removing the spring clips holding the saucer together while the glue dried. my hand slipped with one of them and it clamped right down on the lower blinking light. Broke it out of its glue and now its rattling around in there, never to be seen again. The only thing I can figure to do is buy that part from R2, cut the boarder off of it, and gingerly glue it in from the outside.

I am sad.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

If you can hear the part rattling around you might try tilting the saucer to see if it might fall out of the slot for the dorsal. It's worth s shot but IIRC the saucer has radial walls inside that might prevent the loose part from reaching the slot. Failing that If it were me I'd pop the saucer open, reglue the dome (you may want to consider using 2-part epoxy), then glue the saucer back together again. Another option is to slice an opening into the side of the saucer where the blinkers sit; cut a rectangle using the gridlines as a cutting guide. You can do it with an exacto saw and scribing tool to make a neat cut. Fix the dome and frame the opening with styrene strip on the inside. Then glue the panel back in place, putty, sand, and call it good. You can do amazing things with putty and sandpaper. It would drive me nuts having something rattling around inside so don't be sad... FIX IT!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Dude, we all go through this. That which does not kill your build only makes it stronger.:thumbsup:


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## barrydancer (Aug 28, 2009)

Trekkriffic said:


> It would drive me nuts having something rattling around inside so don't be sad... FIX IT!


Heh. If you've ever built the 1/350 Refit, there's a small circular hole in the middle of the deflector housing. I'm assuming for lighting purposes. Turns out it's the exact right size to shove a toothpick into, as I discovered after my three year old shoved a toothpick into it. Now, every time I pick up the secondary hull I hear it rattling around in there. :drunk:


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Trekriffic, I wish you lived next door. Could I send this to you?


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## stryker (May 29, 2012)

$6.00 gets you up to 5 small pieces from Round 2 delivered to your door. Yup, join the piece in the TOS saucer club  shaking the saucer just made me more mad at myself. I haven't joined Barry's club yet...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

I'm a member of the saucer rattle club too. Happened with my 1/1000 TOS production Enterprise. I discovered a crack in the lower saucer dome after sealing up the saucer halves. Ended up grinding it out and replacing it with the pilot dome. The dremel bit melted the original dome's plastic; however, and it fell into the interior without my notice and became lodged inside the saucer which would have been fine except that, later on after I had glued in the new dome, it came loose and started rattling around. I considered leaving well enough alone but IT TASKED ME! IT TASKED ME! So I ended up removing a squarish section of the saucer in front of the B-C deck teardrop so I could reach the blob with tweezers. After that I framed the opening with Evergreen strips to give me something to glue to and reattached the panel I had cut out. After puttying with AVES Apoxy Sculpt followed by Tamiya Basic surface filler putty, sanding, lightblocking, and applying primer it looked as good as before. Check out this pic taken after I did the weathering; can you see where I performed the surgery?











I recommend getting yourself some AVES Apoxy Sculpt if you don't have some already. You can do wonderful things with it. Starship Modeler sells it in their store.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I did some late night soldering. Decided to replace the LEDs on the bussard lights with colored ones for the smaller bulbs (red, green, and blue). I replaced the colored bulbs with clear ones. I think its a brighter effect now. I'll post a video at some point.










While I was at it I removed the plug to the motors since I'll be powering them from the empty 12V port on the main board through a potentiometer. I replaced the plugs with LED bulbs, one green and one red. I taped up the resistor so you can't see it, but it's 1/2 watt 330ohm 5%(orange orange brown gold). I've already drilled the nacelle light hole all the way through. Just need to light block the back now. Also need to glue the back LEDs to the PCB so they don't touch the motor.


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Trekkriffic said:


> If you can hear the part rattling around you might try tilting the saucer to see if it might fall out of the slot for the dorsal. It's worth s shot but IIRC the saucer has radial walls inside that might prevent the loose part from reaching the slot. Failing that If it were me I'd pop the saucer open, reglue the dome (you may want to consider using 2-part epoxy), then glue the saucer back together again. *Another option is to slice an opening into the side of the saucer where the blinkers sit; cut a rectangle using the gridlines as a cutting guide. You can do it with an exacto saw and scribing tool to make a neat cut. Fix the dome and frame the opening with styrene strip on the inside. Then glue the panel back in place, putty, sand, and call it good.* You can do amazing things with putty and sandpaper. It would drive me nuts having something rattling around inside so don't be sad... FIX IT!


Mark. This is an excellent idea from Trekkriffic. If it was me I would go this way, although I have to admit that a cutting like that is almost like to cut in your own flesh. Ouch! :freak:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Fernando Mureb said:


> Mark. This is an excellent idea from Trekkriffic. If it was me I would go this way, although I have to admit that a cutting like that is almost like to cut in your own flesh. Ouch! :freak:


Yeah. The hardest part is working up the nerve to make that first cut into the model. After that, you're committed and it's easy. In this case, you only have to make three cuts along the bottom of the rim and the sides. The top of the section is just glued to the top saucer half so you can break it free easily.

When I cut into my 1/1000 Enterprise I stuck down some Dymo Label Tape to use as a guide for the panel scriber. Just lay two pieces of tape down side by side with about 1/32" or less gap in between and run your tool along the gap to start your cut:


Dymo Label Tape by trekriffic, on Flickr

Trumpeter makes the best tool I've ever had for scribing panel lines and it will make a nice clean cut. 
You just need to make several passes but you will avoid the chance of sawing thru anything (like wires) if you used an Exacto saw blade:


TrumpeterPanelScriber-vi by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

It's an excellent solution for someone who been doing this for years, but I don't have the confidence and there's too much to lose to my sloppy hands. I'm not really happy with my shuttle door cuts, but I think I can hide those or just leave the door open. The best solution for me is to just buy 2 or 3 light domes and try to get it in from the outside.

Don't hate me because I'm a coward .


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> It's an excellent solution for someone who been doing this for years, but I don't have the confidence and there's too much to lose to my sloppy hands. I'm not really happy with my shuttle door cuts, but I think I can hide those or just leave the door open. The best solution for me is to just buy 2 or 3 light domes and try to get it in from the outside.
> 
> Don't hate me because I'm a coward .


No problem man. Best to know one's own limitations and if you can live with the rattle there's no point in going to the trouble of opening the model since you can always order a new dome and shave it down to insert from the outside.


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Ditto. :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Fernando Mureb said:


> Ditto. :thumbsup:


Hah! 43 words! I should get a star for longest run-on sentence of the day!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I'm am beyond words right now. I finally got to the point where I had nowhere else to go but prime the saucer with the neck attached. I was expecting the worst and got the best. The model is nearly flawless. Just a few spots to sand and it's ready for it's final color. You can see here the putty around the tear drop has disappeared. Orbital Drydock's window masks seem to have held up well.



Here's the underside. The lines on the landing legs are pretty much gone. I think the dark paint will hide the rest so I'm leaving it be. You can see the scribing and putty work I did to the neck.



Here's a detail of the scribing. I know these lines are controversial. I actually don't believe they exist on the shooting model prior to the restoration, but I like them. I think the ship is too barren without them compared to the grid on the saucer. Since this was successful I'll be scribing lines onto the secondary hull and engines as well.



And lastly a closeup of the putty work on the edge seam. Nice and smooth. It's such a relief. I now honestly believe I can finish this thing and be happy with it. I can't sing the praises of Transstar 2-in-1 primer enough. It was recommended by Trekworks and its excellent. It goes on unforgiving - showing every mistake, pore, and scratch, but as it cures it smooths out. It almost seems intelligent seeing how it covers up blemished but leaves desired detail intact.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Looks very nice. Some n00b! 



Mark2000 said:


> Decided to replace the LEDs on the bussard lights with colored ones for the smaller bulbs (red, green, and blue).


No issues with different forward voltage of red LEDs?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

SteveR said:


> Looks very nice. Some n00b!
> 
> No issues with different forward voltage of red LEDs?


When I built mine the red LED's had a 2.1V forwarding voltage. 
The blue and green were 3V which was the same as the white LEDs. 
I couldn't use the red LED's. 
When I tried using them the other LED's wouldn't fire up. 
I'd forgottten the rule against mixing LED's with different forwading voltages in the same circuit.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I have no idea. They work just fine. Looking at the product page the max forward voltage is 1.8 which I see is lower that the other leds that clock in at 3.4. Does this mean the reds will explode at some point?


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

SteveR said:


> Looks very nice. Some n00b!
> 
> No issues with different forward voltage of red LEDs?


I was wondering the same thing. I don't mix colors just for circuit simplicity.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> I have no idea. They work just fine. Looking at the product page the max forward voltage is 1.8 which I see is lower that the other leds that clock in at 3.4. Does this mean the reds will explode at some point?


What happens is the LEDs with the lower forwarding voltage will light and the others will not.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Trekkriffic said:


> What happens is the LEDs with the lower forwarding voltage will light and the others will not.


That's not what's happening. They all fire in their random sequence. I think it may be OK because each blinker is on a different circuit. I'm a dope with a soldering iron, so I don't know why its working. I just want to be sure it continues working.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> That's not what's happening. They all fire in their random sequence. I think it may be OK because each blinker is on a different circuit. I'm a dope with a soldering iron, so I don't know why its working. I just want to be sure it continues working.


That's possible. In my case, I extended all the LED's on the circuit boards by clipping off the original short-legged white LED's and soldering new LED's with longer legs to extend them up and out of the lgiht "towers" higher into the dome. I wanted them to light up brighter that way. I soldered amber LED's to the posts for the always on LEDs which were rated at 2.1V. They lit up fine. Then I soldered the 3.1V green and blue LED's to the flasher posts and when I powered up none of the flashers worked. I ended up using white LEDs and colored LEDs all rated at 3.1V and hollowing out the colored plastic "candles" and sticking them onto the ends of the LED's.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Don't know how to post an inline video. Here's the bussard light board running. You can see the added red running light in the back.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark2000/11863120933/in/set-72157639086674506


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## stryker (May 29, 2012)

Nice work Mark, its really coming along!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I was using cling wrap to cover the wires coming out of the neck. As I was painting my base coat on the saucer primer that was on it from yesterday started flaking off on the wet paint. Disaster. I'm waiting for it all to dry so I can sand off the flakes and repaint. Sigh.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> I was using cling wrap to cover the wires coming out of the neck. As I was painting my base coat on the saucer primer that was on it from yesterday started flaking off on the wet paint. Disaster. I'm waiting for it all to dry so I can sand off the flakes and repaint. Sigh.


Ouch! Sh*t happens!


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## stryker (May 29, 2012)

What color are you using for the base coat? 

Not to worry Mark, I had just complete the saucer, was moving from the paint stand, dropped it, moved it back to the paint stand. Started the process again. Think of it as practice


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

stryker said:


> What color are you using for the base coat?


3 parts Tamiya Sky Gray to 1 part flat white. For accents I'm not sure yet. Maybe one part sky gray and one part light gray (which is not so light, frankly). I will be making the neck accent something a tad cyan.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I've completed the lighting (I hope) for the hangar.



I got the replacement bulbs in for the ones I killed, plus I added an smd led to the middle to light the spine lights. I used magnet wire for that set of lights because it fit best in the trench and also because it was easy to keep out of the way of the rear hangar windows. I'm trying to fit the hull together with no seams and with out thinning any of the model in the process.



Speaking of the rear windows, I'll be lighting those with one of the led strips that came with the kit. With the back windows all unlit like on the shooting model I figured having six strips was over kill. So I moved one to the wall in back of the hangar. Test show it looks good. I'll post pictures after I seal the secondary hull, which looks like soon.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Tada!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

I see a seam...

HAHAHAHAHA just kidding!


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Whew!!!! :thumbsup:


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Chrisisall said:


> I see a seam...
> 
> HAHAHAHAHA just kidding!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Ok. Secondary hull and engine struts sealed! Shwoo!


I really want to warn people that Orbital Drydock's window mask set is fairly incomplete. Like I said earlier there was nothing for the running lights, landing lights, or hangar overlook. I filled all those spots with liquid mask as suggested to me earlier in the thread. There also aren't masks for the engine strut windows. Nothing really fits them. On the larger ones I used two over lapping hull window masks. I know it's a freebie with the decal replacement masks which I'm sure are excellent. Just expect to have to fill in the gaps with other methods.

Those toothpicks are there for the spine lights which I'll be cutting from their main part and gluing in later. I didn't want the internal base of the part interfering with the fit/light.



My solution for a strut vent filler that would leave the photoetch grill just slightly below the surface was four stacked strips of electrical tape cut with the styrene insert as a guide. Perfect thickness and self adhesive.



Here is my putty/masking job for the front of the ship. You can just barely see the scribing I did for the hull lines. I hope they aren't too thin to be seen under the primer/paint.



I'm running into a problem with visible pores in the putty. Any tips to handle that beyond add more putty, sand, and pray?


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## stryker (May 29, 2012)

For small infractions, Mr Surface works great. Easy to blend, I use the 500. I also use canopy glue as a filler for tight spots.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Lots of work done. In fact, I think I've dealt with putty and primer for the last time. Everything is sealed and ready for a base coat.



Is there anything more satisfying than making two parts seamlessly into one? All parts took three coats with filler puttying in between. Stryker, thanks for the canopy glue tip. I used it on the seams for the intercoolers and flux chillers.



Moving on to the final paint here's my slightly unorthodox scheme. There's no way I can do paneling, but I'd like to get some different shades on different parts of the ship. I'm also going to reuse the aqua color along the neck on the mid tone areas under the nacelles as well as on the saucer's landing gear. I'd also like to make those areas a bit glossy.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Here's a question- are you enjoying this build? What I mean is, are you doing it for the fun & the result, or just the _result itself_?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> Here's a question- are you enjoying this build? What I mean is, are you doing it for the fun & the result, or just the _result itself_?


This model could be a life-changing moment in your life...


DrPhil_Alex-Wong by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Chrisisall said:


> Here's a question- are you enjoying this build? What I mean is, are you doing it for the fun & the result, or just the _result itself_?


Ha, why? Do I not look like I'm having fun?

I think I'm getting a lot of new skills out of the experience, which is fun in itself. I don't think I could pay this much attention to detail if I wasn't enjoying the process. But my main goal is the end result. I've always wanted a large, light up enterprise. It's my favorite ship. The MR E was out of the question and, frankly, doesn't look worth the price.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Mark2000 said:


> The MR E was out of the question and, frankly, doesn't look worth the price.


Not for those of us with skilz!!:thumbsup:


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I certainly don't think I would have taken the plunge into a rotary tool if I hadn't started this model. It's been very useful around the house for all kinds of jobs.


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## stryker (May 29, 2012)

Hey Mark, glad you could use the tip. Comes in handy for hard to reach places on the Mr E. Wish I could say it was mine but learned the tip from Boyd over at Trek Works.


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

Great job so far. I love the panel lines that you scribed! 

I'm still very much working on my seam blending skills...


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## Antimatter (Feb 16, 2008)

Trekkriffic said:


> This model could be a life-changing moment in your life...
> 
> 
> DrPhil_Alex-Wong by trekriffic, on Flickr


Please, no more "Dr." Phil photo's. I threw up in my mouth a little.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

harristotle said:


> Great job so far. I love the panel lines that you scribed!


Thanks, harristotle. I used this tool for it. I measured the distance from the end of the piece to where the line should be and marked it in several places around the circumference. Then I wrapped a piece of electrical tape around it hitting all the marks. My lines still waver a bit, but from a distance they look straight. I think the hardest part was scribing the seam putty without removing chunks. I also made a lot of mistake gouges. Thank goodness for PPP.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

It's been awhile, but I've gotten a lot done. Most of the base painting is finished. I've even got most of the panel color variations done.



Here are the engines. you can see just about ever color on the ship represented here. I mentioned in the enterprise color thread that I was considering blue. I instead went with a cool light grey for the main hull color. The nacelle end caps and inlays are a mix of sky gray, light gray, and field blue. The greenish blue on the underside is a mix sky grey, field blue, blue, white, and yellow. The intercooler highlights are white with a touch of field blue. Overall I want to give the sense of blue without being completely blue. You'll see more of that when I get the signage on. Finally got to use OD's masks. They are truly great. Easy to get on. Ultra-sharp results. Peals off with no damage.



Here is the secondary hull with the same semi random shade variation. This was tough to pin down since a little black in the hull color goes a long way. It was too contrasty originally. I took the hull color and thinned it down the a wash and sprayed it over the whole thing to tone it down.



Lastly here's the saucer being readied for it's panel tones. Curved masking is hard! You can see the same aqua marine color on the neck as on the engine undersides.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

This is the hard part...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Veeeeeery interesting. I haven't seen many of these with the hull paneling done this way.


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

I can't wait to see this finished! :thumbsup:


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## ClubTepes (Jul 31, 2002)

Mark2000 said:


> Curved masking is hard!


Use narrower tape.

If you don't have a source for narrow hobby tape, I suggest simply put a length of tape on a cutting matt or board.

Cut thin strips with a straight edge, this goes around bends and curves much easier.
Then, follow up with wider tape.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Nice work!
I didn't fully read your thread, But it looks like your'e going for the Smithsonian restored Enterprise look with all of the painted on panelling?

Very nice clean build and paint detailing.:thumbsup:


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Still a n00b?


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Thanks, spocks beard. I'm not really going for the Smithsonian as its weather is way too harsh. I'm be going more minimal on that. The different color paneling is more influenced by Jein and Eden FX's models



All the pennant work on the engines and secondary hull are done. I'm still working with the saucer paneling. No small thanks to Orbital Drydock's masks, which are so durable I was able to reapply them in a few instances where I didn't like a color and wanted to repaint.



One thing that I love about masking, besides the lack of decal borders and silvering, is the control you have over color. I really wanted to stick with that sense of blue. I wish the camera was more accurate. This is the best I could do. It's red with grey and a bit of blue.



Black with medium gray and quite a bit of blue.



Lemon yellow with a lot of white and a little gray. The right one is more accurate.



The finished product.



To get a sense of the color here's what I painted compared to the original decals.



And the secondary hull. The hull lines really came in handy for orienting the masks. I seem to have measured them out well enough that the pin stripes end and begin right where they should.

Man, this is almost done. I'm really dying to complete the saucer now. I'm just running into paint problems with shades drying incomprehensibly lighter than the color they went on (I'm used to paint getting darker). I dumped the paint and will start over again as soon as I have another bottle of sky gray (my forth).


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

Well heck, That is some NICE work there.
Noob indeed. HEHEE!

And i agree, That smithsonian refurbished Enterprise is way too weathered.
But i'm so glad she is still around after all of these years!


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## stryker (May 29, 2012)

Nice work Mark! Really like the Orbital Dry Dock masks. In the future I will use those.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

I'm impressed. Dontcha love those OD masks? She's looking great! 
I think you can drop the "noob" monniker now.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> I think you can drop the "noob" monniker now.


Oh yeah.:thumbsup:


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Fantastic work Mark. I have a question: do you apply a coat of clear finishing over the masks before applying the paint? The question is because the seams betwen colors are *SO* precise...


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

No clear coat. I wouldn't know how. It's just the masks. I did have some trouble with ragged edges and poor overlapping color, but its probably user error. They are just good masks. And they will never stick to the finish the way I've seen some Aztec Dummie ones do (although I hear he's fixed that problem).


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> No clear coat. I wouldn't know how. It's just the masks. I did have some trouble with ragged edges and poor overlapping color, but its probably user error. They are just good masks. And they will never stick to the finish the way I've seen some Aztec Dummie ones do (although I hear he's fixed that problem).


I brushed a little Future along the edge of the masks on my own big E before airbrushing. Whether that made a difference is debatable but I had zero bleed under the masks.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> I brushed a little Future along the edge of the masks on my own big E before airbrushing. Whether that made a difference is debatable but I had zero bleed under the masks.


Where exactly can you get Future? My local supermarkets & Wallyworld do not carry it...


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Maybe "Pledge with Future shine?" I hear it's the same thing.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

SteveR said:


> Maybe "Pledge with Future shine?" I hear it's the same thing.


Then say PLEDGE!!!!:lol:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> Then say PLEDGE!!!!:lol:


I got my bottle about 8 years ago when it was still called "Future". Now it's called "Pledge with Future Shine". Same stuff. It will last forever. I've still got about a third of the bottle left. It's basically clear liquid acrylic. And it smells like citrus giving your model a fresh, clean scent!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Did a bunch of photoetch work today.



I never heard of this stuff before diving into the 1/350 E, but it's pretty great. Its one of those things that shows how little details can make a big difference.



Little ducks all in a row. Painted them the dark accent color. Amazing how the tiny holes in the mesh don't get filled in. I would hate to have to poke a needle through every opening.



I painted the naked vent areas black before applying the etch.



Etch installed. Very pleased.




And here's my gorgeous little two-toned impulse engine, also with the photo etch installed. I installed the photoetch inside the part first because I wanted a visible texture on the vent. I then put in the clear part backwards with the side facing in sandpapered and painted clear orange with a little yellow tossed in.

I really wanted blue like styker's, but I didn't see his until I sealed the saucer up. Now, if I painted it clear blue the yellow LED in the R2 kit would turn it green. I'm kind of digging the dark amber look I'm getting in the picture. I'm pretty sure it won't look like that with the LED right behind it. Any ideas on how to achieve the effect? I'm thinking another layer of clear orange with some red and black mixed in?


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Chrisisall said:


> Then say PLEDGE!!!!:lol:


I took the pledge years ago!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> I'm kind of digging the dark amber look I'm getting in the picture. I'm pretty sure it won't look like that with the LED right behind it. Any ideas on how to achieve the effect? I'm thinking another layer of clear orange with some red and black mixed in?


If you are looking for a nice even glow try cutting out a rectangle from some of the thin foam packing sheet from the kit box; the stuff the clear parts came wrapped in. Make it sized to fit in behind your orangy-yellowish tinted impulse engine vent on each side. You can glue it in with white glue or use Scotch Magic tape. In fact, the frosted type of Magic Tape makes a pretty good diffuser itself. 

Here's how mine looked using the kit decals:


IMG_4650 by trekriffic, on Flickr

The decal has an oval in the center where the horizontal lines are thinner so you can't avoid a hotspot; however, I like it! I still used a diffuser or the hot spot woudl have been smaller and the area around it would have been dimmer in comparison. The diffuser spreads the light around the entire opening. 

I used white LEDs but painted then with Tamiya transpaent yellow and mounted them closer to the vents than the kit brackets allow as part of my pushbutton arrangement:


IMG_4645 by trekriffic, on Flickr

I actually built light boxes lined with reflective tape around each vent. Overkill perhaps but it made for a very sturdy assembly once glued in place:


IMG_4653 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> I got my bottle about 8 years ago when it was still called "Future". Now it's called "Pledge with Future Shine". Same stuff.


I just bought some, and now it's labelled Pledge Floor Care (multi-surface finish). Testing it now.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> I just bought some, and now it's labelled Pledge Floor Care (multi-surface finish). Testing it now.


Does it small citrusy?


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

It smells sort of sweet-citrusy. Kinda nice actually. I have to let it dry overnight to see if it's really hard & strong.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> It smells sort of sweet-citrusy. Kinda nice actually. I have to let it dry overnight to see if it's really hard & strong.


That's it. Not 100% strong citrusy but kind of sweet like you describe.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> That's it. Not 100% strong citrusy but kind of sweet like you describe.


And the guy at my model store said it would be more scratch resistant than any lacquer on his shelf.

This I gotta see.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> And the guy at my model store said it would be more scratch resistant than any lacquer on his shelf.
> 
> This I gotta see.


Actually I just went out and sniffed the bottle and it's really more of a green apple smell. Very pleasant.

Poems and songs have been written and sung about this amazing product. 

You can tint it with inks, watercolors, or acrylics and use it to make glazes. 

It will restore clarity to clear parts and remove shallow scratches too. 

It makes a nice glossy surface for decals and, when you're done and the decals are dry, coat the decals with it; it makes a nice sealer. 

I like to brush it around the edges of tape or vinyl masks to seal the edge; any voids will be filled with Future preventing paint bleed. 

Any residue can be wiped off using a cotton swab and alcohol.

It's high gloss but let dry overnight and spray with a flat acrylic or lacquer for a semi-gloss look. More coats of flat will make the finish flatter still. 

If you are spraying lacquer over enamel or acrylic and are worried about the lacquer harming the paint use Future as a barrier layer to protect the underlying layer before you spray with lacquer.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> It's high gloss but let dry overnight and spray with a flat or semi-gloss lacquer for a duller finish.


Actually I'm testing for my new emitters, and I'd like them to be shiny... but that would work well on the body.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> Actually I'm testing for my new emitters, and I'd like them to be shiny... but that would work well on the body.


You can seal with Future, apply your flat coat(s), then go back and touch up those areas you want glossy with more Future.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> You can seal with Future, apply your flat coat(s), then go back and touch up those areas you want glossy with more Future.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Nice Scotty reference Chris! :jest:

*Kirk: My... HANDS... they're STUCK!!!
Deela: I told you it was coated in Future. And it's still TACKY!*


Wink_of_an_Eye_190 by trekriffic, on Flickr



Sorry Mark... getting a little sidetracked here. 
In "future" we'll try to stay more on topic.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Yes- back OT:



Mark2000 said:


>


Remarkable work man!:thumbsup:


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Trekriffic, thanks for the advice. I may try to stick a brush with clear orange in there to paint the LEDs. Your effect is definitely close to what I want. I'd like to go a tad darker.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Noob airbrush question alert! I often paint for short sessions of a few seconds to a minute with my paneling work and the wait for the stuff to dry before masking my next row and painting for a minute again. Rinse repeat. I'm noticing when I clean out the airbrush between sessions there's a lot of paint in there that's being wasted. Any way to prevent this? Should I just tape off the end of the airbrush with the paint bottle attached and not rinse the thing out?


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

This week has been a tough one. The saucer painting is nearly done, but for every step forward I seemed to take a step back. I hate the new masking tape I bought. It's 3M edge lock. And it really does do a better job with masking sharp edges than my old blue tape, but it leaves a lot of residue.



Here's the shading of the grid panels all finished on the top of the saucer.



And on the bottom.



Here's the top with a wash of hull color sprayed on to tone everything down. You can see all that yucky, sticky stuff if you look hard enough.



Here's a close up showing some of the wash that rubbed off with the tape residue. Grrrr!!! I had to mix colors that matched the tones in order to fix many of these panels.



Here's all the signage painted on and the impulse engine installed. I had trouble with the registry number. You might notice the first C is a little off. The mask stretched when I applied it and I didn't notice. The back of the letter was way too thick and I had to mask it and paint over it. The same happened with the first 1. It bulged on either side.



Here's the impulse engine. I puttied and painted the crest to the drive to eliminate the gap. The crest is not glued on because I forgot. I will be living my life in fear from now on.



And here is my pile of masking tape. A work of art in itself. Now, on to weathering. That rust ring is filling me with fear.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Wow. good work...


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Oh, forgot to add how I light sealed the impulse engine. I tested this before I closed up the sauced. I just lined the opening with an overlap of electrical tape.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Are you using pastel chalk for the rust ring?


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Trekkriffic said:


> Are you using pastel chalk for the rust ring?


Yes. Same for all weathering.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> Yes. Same for all weathering.


Are you applying over a flat finish?


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Yes, all the paints I've used are flat and quite rough. I'd done pastel weathering before and liked the results. And speak of the devil: I just finished the rust ring this morning.



Chalk pastel powder was scraped off the stick with an exacto knife and applied with a brush.



First I masked the area because I wanted a very sharp boundary. Yes, I know I missed an end square. I figured it out and fixed it later. Better one less than one extra.



I laid down a very light reddish brown with gray mixed in. After that I sprayed on clear matte coat.



Next was some detailing using brown, black, and dark gray. Then another coat of matte finish.



And the finished product. Looks weird all alone, but will make more sense with the over all weathering scheme.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

That looks Very good.
I actually like those panalling lines on the Enterprise saucer.. It's something differant, And gives me an idea what the Star Trek phase 2 Enterprise filming model may have looked like as i'm sure they would have added those panels to it.

Actually i didn't even notice any of the registering letters being off.
It looks fine to me.

That pile of masking tape looks about like mine.
I am using that 3M Automotive green tape, And it is the best masking tape i have ever used.

I buy these rolls of tape from the local Auto Zone outlet, And would recomend this product to anyone that wants a nice straight clean line with ZERO paint bleed.

It's the only tape i have used that has NO paint bleed what so ever.
Great work!


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Fantastic work Mark! Great idea on the paneling. :thumbsup:


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

That's is beautiful! I love the route you've taken this.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

I like the paneling but, if it were me, I'd have given it one more coat of the basecolor to tone it down just a little more; especially the rust ring. Other than that it looks great. Certainly different than anything I've seen with other builds so far.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I felt the same until I finished the weathering the ship. Now it works for me. The inspiration for the panel colors and the weathering were two sources that turned out to not actually have the features I thought I was seeing, but I liked the ideas so much I did them anyway.



The weathering was done entirely with dark gray pastels, a brush, and a q-tip. Sometimes I used the q-tip for smudging the calk out. Sometimes I wet it to pull the chalk back when I felt it was too much.



The style of weathering was inspired by this detail shot of the 11 footer. It looked to me as if each square on the grid had been worked on individually. Looking at other, color pictures of the saucer during restoration I could tell that wasn't the case, but I liked it so I went with it.



Here's a similar angle of my build touched up to look like it was shot on the same film. Seems pretty close to me. I really dig the gradations on each panel. It makes the scribed grid look less toy like to me as I always thought it was too deep and unrealistic.



My other inspiration was Jein's Tribble-ations model which, from certain angles looked like some panels of the grid were different shades than the others. Looking at other, wider shots I found this to not be the case - just a trick of the light. But the idea stuck.



Here's the underside of the saucer fully detailed. I used the same color from the neck stripe on the landing legs. I glossed all three after weathering and a splash of Testor's dull lacquer. The dome is the clear one with a spritz of white wash on the inside.



And the engines. The rear domes were heavily glossed. The white points on the intercoolers were just spritzed with gloss.



The secondary hull is my favorite part. I did it first and I think I did it the best. The different colored sections really melt together.



And finally the rear of the secondary hull. You'll notice a horrible error on the spine pinstripes. The lacquer dull coat some how made it smudge in the area between the struts like watercolor on typing paper. Didn't even see it happen. I tried painting a sharp line over it, but its still smudgy around the edges. Since the color under it is a dark color with a wash it would be hard to match so I've just let it be. I'm too scared to try sanding it. I also screwed up the shuttle bay floor decal because I added it after assembly. The left line got caught under and i needed the cut it to straighten it. The decal is so dark it shows in the outline. If anyone has any ideas how to fix these problems I'd love to consider them.

Next step is assembling all the parts. I'll be retouching the seams after than. I've lost a few parts that I just ordered from R2 friday. One of the nacelle flux constrictors, the lower dome turret, and, of course, one of the lower saucer nav lights which no longer rattles. I wonder where it's gone. I also have a neat idea for a stand I may steal from someone on another forum.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Artistry.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

That paneling looks great now that you did the rest of the weathering. Good instincts. Good finishing is a matter of instinct; it's what elevates a good technical build to the level of artistry like Chris said.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Chrisisall, you make me blush.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Finally broke out the All Clad and painted all the parts that needed to be metal. That means the engine domes are finally done.



Like Trekriffic and Trekworks I painted the inner dome transparent orange on the inside after sanding both in the inside and out. The central dot and fan blades are photoetch with white aluminum all clad. The outer dome was frosted with six layers of Testor's dullcoat. The outside was left alone as I like the glossiness.



Here they all are assembled together. I had to chisel down the length of both the inner and outer domes as they didn't initially fit, probably because of the extra thickness of the LED I added to the back of the PCB for the nav light.



Photoetch parts were also used for the engine grills. Again, painted with white aluminum. They'll be lit up.



Completed. In order to get at the motor parts in the future the dome assembly is stuck in with friction by wrapping the connector in electrical tape. I cut the alignment bumps off the main tube and glued the flux thingies on to the dome assembly so that they all slip off together.



Finally I painted the deflector dish with white alum and copper. I had, at one point, considered painting the dish rust color first and then using the salt trick to make the copper paint look like it was chipping and worn, but I chickened out. Its never too late to do it, I guess. Maybe I'll test it on the sprues at some point.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Very pretty. I think your Enterprise will end up being my second most favorite when you're done. Well, maybe a tie with Mark Myers' build. Unless you have a catastrophic accident at the finish line which seems unlikely.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

I tink dis guy Mark2000 iz a ringer... 

This is epic, dude.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Trekriffic, that's high praise. I think yours is one of the best builds I've seen, especially without a grid on it. I've taken a lot of hints from you.

I did a light test last night and everything worked. I don't want to post pictures yet. One thing that didn't work out at all was the spine lights. Even though I have that SMD nearly right underneath the light is not getting to it. It's kind of upsetting considering the amount of work I did to get it there.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> I did a light test last night and everything worked. I don't want to post pictures yet. One thing that didn't work out at all was the spine lights. Even though I have that SMD nearly right underneath the light is not getting to it. It's kind of upsetting considering the amount of work I did to get it there.


I think I see the problem. Your SMD LED is mounted too far back, towards the back wall. 

When I built my bay I mounted two SMD LED's forward of the tractor bean emitter housing in the center of the roof shown here:


IMG_4393 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_4390 by trekriffic, on Flickr

You can see in this image of the hull right after I glued it together and turned on the lights (and before external lightblocking) that the rearmost SMD is almost directly beneath the center of the spine lights:


IMG_4429 by trekriffic, on Flickr

Not much you can do at this point but my guess is your SMD is just a little too far back from the pic you posted on page 5:

http://flic.kr/p/jbS7xa


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Is that some kind of strip light that lights up the whole trench?


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

Mark, this is amazing! I absolutely love the style you've done this in.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> Is that some kind of strip light that lights up the whole trench?


Nope. There are just two SMD LEDs in the trench. Warm white. One near the front behind the control room dome and one just in front of the tractor beam emitter in the ceiling.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

I used 1 SMD LED in the top of the shuttle bay assembly, gouging out a trench for it to sit in:



Seems to work OK (BTW, after this photo was done I ended up removing the SMD LED under the green disc that sits under the dome. The other SMD LED which lights up the shuttle bay control room also lit this one just fine).


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

RossW said:


> I used 1 SMD LED in the top of the shuttle bay assembly, gouging out a trench for it to sit in:
> 
> 
> 
> Seems to work OK (BTW, after this photo was done I ended up removing the SMD LED under the green disc that sits under the dome. The other SMD LED which lights up the shuttle bay control room also lit this one just fine).


Looks like your single SMD is in about the same spot as my rearmost one.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Trekkriffic said:


> Looks like your single SMD is in about the same spot as my rearmost one.


Looks like it. Hopefully, the parabolic depression (painted flat white) I carved out will help light up all three bits.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

RossW said:


> Looks like it. Hopefully, the parabolic depression (painted flat white) I carved out will help light up all three bits.


I painted the ceiling and trench with acrylic white fluorescent overcoat. It helped to spread the light out more evenly and reflect light back up to the three spine lights. At least, that was my intent. On my ship the two spine lights nearest the stern light up real bright. The one closest to the bow is lit but is a little dimmer than the other two. I think if I had mounted a third SMD nearer the back wall all three lights would be equally bright.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Ah, Trekriffic, you jinxed me with that catastrophic failure comment. On putting the main PCB into the hull I seem to have damaged something to do with the back blinkers. They won't light up. I tested the lights themselves and they do work, but the ports don't. I thought maybe I had cracked the solder joints on them so I resoldered. Nothing. It could be the chip. I don't have the technical know how to figure it out.

This may be fortuitous, though. The rest of the board works fine, thank The Maker. And I've always thought if those lights had to blink out of sync with the saucer ones they ought to strobe. So RossW has been kind enough to sell me one of his very tiny strobe boards. I'm going to splice the wire for the two secondary hull window lights together to free up a port. Looking forward to it.


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

Mark2000 said:


> Ah, Trekriffic, you jinxed me with that catastrophic failure comment. On putting the main PCB into the hull I seem to have damaged something to do with the back blinkers. They won't light up. I tested the lights themselves and they do work, but the ports don't.


Same thing happened to me. :-(


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Fozzie said:


> Same thing happened to me. :-(


You're kidding? How did you do it? I was pushing the board in with not much force and I heard a crack. The lights seemed to still work fine but on the next trial they were out.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

My board had the same problem. Those stern flashers stopped working after the first test run. I ended up using a flasher Modeller's Brand Hobby Supplies sells that has about a half dozen flash rate settings. It's a PC board sealed in a vinyl sleeve about the size of a pack of chewing gum with buttons for selecting brightness and flash patterns. I cut one of the plugs from the LED harness off and soldered the leads to the flasher and spliced the wires on the other end of the flash "stick" to the LED wires in a parallel circuit and selected a rapid strobe rate. Fortunately there was plenty of room for it inside the secondary hull and the main board had spare 12V ports to plug into.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Sounds like a class action lawsuit...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> Sounds like a class action lawsuit...


Nah... I'm happier with the MBHS brand flasher than I was with the slower flash rate of the board.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

On the saucer board, the bottom 2 connectors on the right (looking at the instructions) are 12V and unused. On the secondary hull board, it looks like only the bottom right connector is unused and Mark2000 said he's already using it as a separate supply for something else (motors?). That means you'll need to cut off my connector at one end and splice them in.

Alternatively, you can splice in to the main power line connector which feeds the nacelles (two Ks connect to a J).


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I'm going to splice together the two E lines and you that extra port for your card. I think six led strips will be fine on one port.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> I'm going to splice together the two E lines and you that extra port for your card. I think six led strips will be fine on one port.


Alternatively, if you were using that single extra 12V port for the motors, instead of plugging the motors into the board you could splice the motor wires into the wires coming into the model from the display tube. So the motors would be fed directly from the 12V power supply and not plugged into the board at all. Then you could plug your strobe board into the 12V port back on the board. May be a better solution than plugging 6 strips into one port, I would be concerned about not having enough amperage. Certainly, you would want to do a dry run with the 6 strips powered up before installing them and sealing everything up if you decided to go that direction.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

So plug the motors right to the AC adapter?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> So plug the motors right to the AC adapter?


Yes. Essentially. For my own build I split the adapter power into two streams inside the base so I could switch on power to the lights or motors independently with rocker switches in the base. So I had 4 wires running up the display tube into a 4 pin Mini-DIN plug at the top. Inside the hull I soldered one set of wires to the harness that fed the board and the other wires ran back and were split left and right and soldered to wires running up the nacelles for the motors. So my nacelle pylons each had a set of wires for the motors and a set for each bussard board.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Hey, little guy. Where'd you come from? An envelope from Round 2? That was quicker than I expected.



Oh! That's where you go.



At least that's what pictures of the original model tell me.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

The ion pod!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Eject it!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Here's my no where near as good as Trekriffic's hangar door part. Everything fit fine when unpainted, but afterward the door just wouldn't squeeze in, so I had to carve out that round depression in order to clear the observation window. There was some adding and subtracting with putty as well. Here's what I got:



And here it is in place. Not too bad. I'm noticing that there's not a lot of the hangar floor poking out of the bottom. The curve of the closed doors and the open ones are just not the same. It's an imperfect fit, but it will do.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

IIRC I had the same issue getting the doors to fit under the observation booth. I only had to shave a little bit of thickness off the top of the doors to get them to fit though, not as much as you did. In fact I had to smear on a spot of sticky tac to the top of the doors to keep them from falling off the back of the ship when moving it.
Regardless of how much you had to remove, the doors look great in place. Nice work!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Trekkriffic said:


> In fact I had to smear on a spot of sticky tac to the top of the doors to keep them from falling off the back of the ship when moving it.


Mine is in pretty tight. I don't think it will fall out with normal jostling. In fact, I have to pry it a little. Thanks for the praise. I still think yours looks better.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Oh man. I am fried. I just spent an hour and a half trying to stuff the wires that go to the nacelle into the hole so I can insert the pylon. I broke a wire three times. I finally did it, cracking the bottom seam of the engine in the process only to find one of the connections broke again inside. So I had to take the whole thing apart. I have nothing to show for the evening except wanting to throw this thing at the wall. I don't know why the wire won't just go in the holes. And this is just the first nacelle.


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## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

Those parts of building are the worst. Good luck in getting it fixed!


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

I think the problem Mark2000 is the ribbed support bits on the inside of the nacelle half; I ground down some of that so I could get my 9 wires to the front of the engine (2 for the motor, 7 for the engine lights on my custom board).

Can you glue the inside nacelle half to the pylon, arrange the wires out the front, and then glue on the outboard half?


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

I've already glued the pylons together and installed them in the SHull. My only hope is to pull the excess wires through the gap to the front of the engine like you did. But you've given me an idea to stick a drill in there and make that gap larger because it's not part of what holds the engine straight.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

So Mark2000 are you feeding the wires up the nacelle pylons into the nacelles after you've already glued the nacelle halves together? Bad idea as you've discovered. I did the reverse. When I built mine I soldered long wires to the motors and bussard board connections and left about 2 feet hanging out of the nacelles after gluing the nacelle halves together. Then after finishing up the seamwork on the nacelles I fed the wires down and out the bottom of the pylons before sliding the pylons into the nacelles. It went like duck soup!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Trekriffic, no. I enclosed the wires in the pylons before gluing. It's just a matter of stuffing the pylon wires and the engine wires into the engines.

Anyway, after a good night's sleep and a morning of calming down I seem to have succeeded. Both nacelles are in and the wiring is working. I hope that lasts. But, even though I shaved the insert, the second nacelle's seam cracked. There was almost no force involved. It's going to be really hard to match the paint on the darker panels. I'm still a bit miffed.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Glad you got it fixed!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

While waiting for RossW's blinker board I've been constructing my stand.



After a happy trip to the hardware store I picked up a 1.5" thick beam of wood and had it cut into pieces that would combine into a 8x12 frame with a central cross brace. They also found me a sheet of brushed tin coated stainless steel and told me how to cut it.



The tin was cut by scoring the sheet with a utility knife (one blade per cut) and bending it until it broke. The hole were dremeled out with a diamond tipped bit.



I had to cut out wedges and holes to fit the switch and the 1k ohm potentiometer.



And here's everything nailed together. 3M 924 transfer tape was used to stick the tin sheets on. I use it for applying leatherette to old cameras. It's remarkably strong.



I wanted to take a moment to point out the connections on the pot. I only connected the positive lines coming from the engines and going to the power board. Too late I realized I had run the negative wires through the stand for no reason. All I did was connect them together. These two points on the pot are used if you want to increase power when turning clockwise. You use the middle and right hand connectors if you want the opposite effect.



And everything together with a 8.25x12.25 piece of mirror I had cut at a shop. They drilled the hole as well.



Installing the pole support was tough. It wobbled when inserted in the wood. So I had to remove all the connectors and drill it out further. I then lined the hole with extra tin strips. Still wobbled. So I banged four nails into the groove around the pole and suddenly everything was stable.



This arrived today from plaquemaker.com. It's laser cut .25" steel.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Oops! Ran out of allowable images!



And the finished product. Can't wait for that last bit of electronics so I can finally seal her up completely.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Fantastic result so far!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Wonderful! That stand is awesome!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Uh, I gotta ask again..."NOOB"?????
No way.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> Uh, I gotta ask again..."NOOB"?????
> No way.


Certainly not a "TOTAL" one anyway!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Well, I'll tell you more noob stuff. I somehow broke the dingle off the tallywacker, or ovipositor as my friend calls it. No idea how it happened. I'm not about the order another one so I guess the ship is neutered for all time.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mark2000 said:


> Well, I'll tell you more noob stuff. I somehow broke the dingle off the tallywacker, or ovipositor as my friend calls it. No idea how it happened. I'm not about the order another one so I guess the ship is neutered for all time.


Yeah. That can happen. That's why I replaced my dingle's shaft with brass rod. My dingle is rock solid.


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

How in the... I don't want to ask.

BTW, I wanted to mention I got the idea for the base from another forum: http://danefield.com/alpha/forums/topic/14520-the-big-tos-enterprise/. The guy did a really nice job on his build. The only difference is his is mirror all the way around the sides where I used metal.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Hope the board gets there soon, Mark. And I love the laser cut sign!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

RossW said:


> Hope the board gets there soon, Mark. And I love the laser cut sign!


Yeah. That sign is neat. I'm envious!


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## ryanmohan (Mar 3, 2013)

Any sign of the board?


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

Ross's second attempt at sending the board to me was a success. Who knew Canada's Post was less reliable than China's?



Getting all those wires and the two boards into the hull was nerve wracking to say the least. After the very ginger stuffing everything still works, including Ross's board. It's really small and does the job perfectly. I recommend it to anyone even if their P ports don't break.



The deflector assembly is glued in with MKK just in case I need to access it again one day.



And the final part.

There seems to be a crack in the upper secondary hull. That'll need filling. After that I'll be posting pictures of the final product.


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## BolianAdmiral (Feb 24, 2009)

Dude, this is awesome... you are definitely not a n00b, lol... you've got some phat skillz, yo. 

Some very nice and clean work here!


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## WOI (Jun 28, 2012)

Tell me about it.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Yes. Your n00bdom is is peril.


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## Nova Designs (Oct 10, 2000)

What an impressive build! I really like your take on the paneling and weathering!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

So this build is officially done. I may one day get a new ion pod for my sensor dome and there's some stuff in the bussard blinkers that could use refining, but she is essentially complete. It was a lot of fun and wouldn't have been possible without the support and inspiration I found on this board. Here's my postmortem on the experience:



*
Bigger is Easier*

Going into this modelling thing for the first time I really thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew making something on such a large scale. I realized just recently that a big kit like this really is a beginner kit. While waiting for my flasher board I got itchy and pulled out a Subaru TX model I'd had in the closet for over 10 years. After making the big E it should have been easy. Sure, I got it done in four days, but it was grueling.

On a small model little details matter. You can pick it up and really examine it. Heck, you're supposed to. Those dashboard decals are there for a reason. The dust in the gloss finish is distracting, never mind the orange pealing. The fudged paint job in the corner is like a dent from an accident. A misplaced drop of glue can cover an enormous percentage of the model.

Meanwhile a ship made to be looked at from two feet away isn't going to show those errors. Smudged paint? Feh. Pores in the putty? Who's going to see it? Mask slightly off? It's not like that side's even going to be showing. Shame on anyone who risks knocking the thing over to look.

She's only as detailed as you want to make her. Nothing I masked off on this beast was less than an inch in size. It was relatively a piece of cake. I really believe the least advanced modeller could get good results from this kit. I'm living proof. Beefcake.

What about the shuttle and bridge you ask? I don't know. Adrenaline? I don't think I could repeat those results on a second try.

*Modelling is Hazardous *

I'm a fine arts major so I know too much about material handling. I know for a fact I've cut a few years off my life working on this thing. All those aerosols, the sanding dust, the soldering fumes. Yes, I always worked in heavily ventilated areas, and yes I had a respirator and dust masks, but a lot of times I just didn't wear them because it was a pain.

All these materials are bad for us and also bad for the planet. I feel really guilty for wasting so much of it (two and a half cans of primer, for instance. Did I really need that much or did I just not know what I was doing?). I can't see myself doing this on this kind of scale again any time soon.

*Modelling is Messy*

It's gotten to the point a number of times where the bathroom was splatted with paint and the bedroom floor was covered in tools and bits of plastic and it wasn't just the wife who complained. The kid, who was initially excited about the whole shebang, started asking when the heck I was going to be done. 

It's tough to do any project in a small apartment with no dedicated work area. It's harder when other people are getting shards of styrene stuck in the bottom of their feet.

*Modelling is Rewarding*

I don't think I've ever been happier with any project I've worked on outside my field. I look over at the big E every night before I go to bed and think "wow, I made that". The kid is super pleased. The wife has warmed up. She thinks it's gorgeous. The kids that come over ooo and aaah. So do friends of ours. Doing it yourself really makes you satisfied in a way just buying something doesn't. Plus, you get to do it your way. The MR E is fine and all, but I know I'm happier with my depiction of the ship than theirs.

I'll be starting a new thread soon with some more finished shots, some details, some composites, and other fun things I'm planning. I may even post some today if I have time.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

A truly unique build. Nothing worth having was ever done the easy way. You SHOULD be proud. 
Now get to work setting up your photo shoot. Get a white or light blue sheet to hang behind it and take some good pics. Use your fine arts skills like you did building the ship. 

Oh...by the way... I love the little buddhas.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Nice-looking bussard collectors!


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

One of the cleaner days in the "studio".


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## PixelMagic (Aug 25, 2004)

Fantastic build!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Yes, unique AND brilliant! 
Did you use some ideas from the remastered TOS series? That's what I think I'm seeing some of here.
Great job!!!!!


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

I echo the comment about your bussard collectors - your photo looks just like what I'm aiming for.

Great job on the model, Mark. BTW, did the other board ever arrive?


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## Mark2000 (Oct 13, 2013)

No, Ross, it didn't. It is a sacrifice to the postal gods.


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## PixelMagic (Aug 25, 2004)

Mark2000 said:


> No, Ross, it didn't. It is a sacrifice to the postal gods.


Newman: "Don't you find it interesting that your friend had the foresight to purchase postal insurance for your stereo? I mean parcels are rarely damaged during shipping."

Jerry: "Define 'rarely'."

Newman: "Frequently."


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Mark2000 said:


> No, Ross, it didn't. It is a sacrifice to the postal gods.


Sigh.


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