Leif Ericson and UFO anyone?

Hi All, New to the RPF. Thought I would share a couple of vids I did of the re-releases of the old AMT Leif Ericson and her GITD sister the Interplanetary UFO ...First video is intended as a send up of old sci-fi flicks and the 2nd shows some of what went into building them..

A Strategic Space Command Adventure by Starlighting Projects - YouTube

Lighting the Leif Ericson and UFO Mystery Ships - YouTube

I hope you enjoy them

Regards,
MattL

Welcome aboard. That's quite a lighting project, wow! I've always like the Leif Ericson, even if the hull looks like a booze bottle

Nice Job Spockr!

I love your faucet panavise solution. Very inventive.
Are you playing with Arduinos?

Thanks,
Mike

WOW, those are some cool ships. The UFO ship have some mad electronic skills put into it.

I have the Leif Ericson in line waiting its turn on the bench and I plan on lighting it, but nothing like yours!!

Fantastic job!!

Kenny

darth_myeek said:

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Nice Job Spockr!

I love your faucet panavise solution. Very inventive.
Are you playing with Arduinos?

Thanks,
Mike

The shower head mount was a child of necessity (or maybe just creative abuse of plumbing supplies). I needed to route 30 wires from the base to the ship and also wanted the ability to position the ship in a variety of ways. I'm still searching for a better solution but it worked in a pinch. May find something at a lamp parts shop if I can find one (Lamps-R-Us?).

The circuits all use discrete analog and digital components so no Arduinos were harmed during the build of this project. The white/green oscillator was the most involved circuit believe it or not and its a custom design. I am working on a general purpose lighting board that should be completed soon.

Thanks for your interest.

Regards,
Matt

Smiling Demon said:

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WOW, those are some cool ships. The UFO ship have some mad electronic skills put into it.

I have the Leif Ericson in line waiting its turn on the bench and I plan on lighting it, but nothing like yours!!

Fantastic job!!

Kenny

Thanks for the compliment and I'm glad you liked em! The Leif Ericson is a favorite of mine since way back. Really happy it was repopped.

Lots of hours in the UFO's lighting job.

How do plan to light your Leif? Windows? Engines? other?

Regards,
Matt

I am going to just open up the windows and use the trick that Steve taught us about the acrylic and use clear lights. Then just light up the engines with the light kit that was furnished with the kit. Dont know if it had nav or strobe lights but mine probably will have. Waiting on some stuff before I start it, LEDs, Federation flasher board, window masks, etc....

Just basic stuff really. Have a couple kits ahead of it before I really get a good start on it.

Kenny

Smiling Demon said:

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I am going to just open up the windows and use the trick that Steve taught us about the acrylic and use clear lights. Then just light up the engines with the light kit that was furnished with the kit. Dont know if it had nav or strobe lights but mine probably will have. Waiting on some stuff before I start it, LEDs, Federation flasher board, window masks, etc....

Just basic stuff really. Have a couple kits ahead of it before I really get a good start on it.

Kenny

Sounds cool. Planning is everything. Not familiar with the " the trick that Steve taught us about the acrylic..." . I'm interested in knowing more about it could you point me to a thread?
Thanks,
Matt

Just check any of Steve Neill's threads. He drills out the windows, tapes over them, then applies dental acrylic from inside. Remove the tape and you have clear windows.

robn1 said:

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Just check any of Steve Neill's threads. He drills out the windows, tapes over them, then applies dental acrylic from inside. Remove the tape and you have clear windows.

Yep, that's it in a nutshell!!!

Kenny

I love me a good lighting setup and that is just perfect for the subject!

Spockr said:

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Hi Guys, I checked around a found Steve mentioning the dental acrylic but couldn't find a vid or post that talks about the specific product used or where it can be purchased... Do either of you know where to buy this stuff?
Thanks Matt

Try Burman BURMAN INDUSTRIES*::*ALGINATE & DENTAL SUPPLIES *::* DENTAL ACRYLIC POLYMERS

And here's another idea that sounds good From TrekWorks - Round 2 Models 1/537 Scale USS Reliant Model Buildup PT 7 - YouTube

I stumbled across some at a Nail supply store. I will not disclose why I was there!!

Found clear and white nail acrylic powder and the activator for about $20.


Kenny

robn1 said:

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Try Burman BURMAN INDUSTRIES*::*ALGINATE & DENTAL SUPPLIES *::* DENTAL ACRYLIC POLYMERS

And here's another idea that sounds good From TrekWorks - Round 2 Models 1/537 Scale USS Reliant Model Buildup PT 7 - YouTube

Smiling Demon said:

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I stumbled across some at a Nail supply store. I will not disclose why I was there!!

Found clear and white nail acrylic powder and the activator for about $20.


Kenny

Hi Guys,

I've tried the method Trekmodeler describes using Testors clear parts glue and got 'decent' results. I'm planning to try the Formula 560 material and see how it works. This is a pretty good way to fill windows after the model has been glued, seam cleaned, primed and painted (i.e. easy to do if it's the last step).


I'm also interested in understanding Steve Neil's approach but I can't get my head wrapped around how that works. If I it understand correctly, the process is to tape/mask the outside of the model then fill the window holes from the inside and then peel off the tape after the dental acrylic hardens.
The thing I don't get is how I'm supposed to now paint the model without covering the filled windows. AM I supposed to mask of the individual windows before painting? Do I paint over the windows then scrape off the paint (like that clear Ent-D from Round2)?

Sorry if I'm being thick but I've been trying to get down a straight forward method for doing filled windows for a while and just haven't found a way that gives me a Eureka moment...

Can you help a brother out?

Thanks,
Matt

Spockr said:

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...

The thing I don't get is how I'm supposed to now paint the model without covering the filled windows. AM I supposed to mask of the individual windows before painting? Do I paint over the windows then scrape off the paint (like that clear Ent-D from Round2)?

Sorry if I'm being thick but I've been trying to get down a straight forward method for doing filled windows for a while and just haven't found a way that gives me a Eureka moment...

Can you help a brother out?

Thanks,
Matt

I'm in a similar position, but as I contemplate lighting my 1/1000 Enterprise from Polar Lights, I've interpreted the process as:

1. Drill out holes for lighting ... making them bigger than the actual windows
2. Sand off rough edges and clean out the holes
3. Tape off the holes from the outside
4. Apply acrylic/white glue/Testors glue to each hole to fill it
5. Remove tape
6. Cut masks for each window
7. Apply masks ... carefully. Spend lots of time on this
8. Re-prime, then apply top coats
9. Remove masks
10. Apply clear coat

Step six might be a problem for me ... the masks would be very small.

I'm not sure how you'd successfully sand between coats in step 8 without dislodging the window masks.