strengthof10men
Active Member
Hi . This is the first time posting on the scale model section of therpf. I have always loved star trek and when I found out that there was a cutaway model I had to have one. I have only previously assembled models and painted them. But have never put any electronics into them. So I had to learn a little about electronics even before I started. I was coming from the no knowledge of electronics basically believing magic imps lived in my television and made the pretty pictures happen. To soldering up kit circuits.
I have seen people tackle this model on other websites. But when they have done it they complete it was a sealed model. I wanted it to still be a cutaway. With the cutaway sections able to light up when reattached.
First I need a base to put all the electronics in .
I measured the model so I roughly knew how big it would end up. Then designed my base to be slightly smaller
I wanted it to look like a combination of the arm rest from the command chair and a wall panel from the enterprise.
From the same piece of wood I needed to cut out a gasket for the lights and buttons. I then decided to replicate a comm panel for the other side of the panel
The comm panel would have a section which will light up just like the show.
I cut a hole to go behind the screen so if I decide to add sound to it in the future I can use it as a sound hole I’m using a piece of white plastic for the light. I wanted to use the original type of grill cloth for the speaker. But it was too expensive, with all the extra parts I was buying for this model I had to start keeping the price down. In stead I used perforated paper and painted it gold. The bottom of the comm is a bigger piece wood so the top can sit on top of it and create a step. Just like the show.
The buttons where ‘push to lock’ buttons I found on eBay. These weren’t my first idea for them I went through a lot of trouble to find the right type or style of buttons that the show used. Which were the switches from the inside of freezes that make the light go on and off (spoiler: the light goes off )And I also looked into how I could fake that for a cheaper price by using toggle switch boots, which are rubber protective caps to protect toggle switches from water. But in the end I decided that if I didn’t start this thing I would never get it done.
I couldn’t find the lights I wanted . So I had to make them. I poured clear resin into a water colour mixing pallet and left it over night. I then popped them out. They didn’t all work perfectly so I made more than I need so I would have options. I also needed domes for my bussard collectors so this killed two birds with one stone. I had to be sure to mix and pour the resin outside as the fumes would have been bad for me. I wanted the resin domes to be different colours but I found that by adding colour to them it altered the ratio of resin to catalyst and stropped the resin from setting so in the end I made coloured pieces of plastic so that when the light shines through them they would seem to be the correct colours from the show command chair.
I used canopy glue to glue the resin domes to the gasket because I wanted it to dry clear and not leave that frosting on the plastic that super glue does.
I then cut five rectangle out of acrylic and used a label printing machine to print out descriptions for my buttons. I stuck the labels on the acrylic and the acrylic to the gasket.
drill a hole later for the wires to come up through and a tube.
you can see it all work in the video below
USS Enterprise TOS model base - YouTube
I have seen people tackle this model on other websites. But when they have done it they complete it was a sealed model. I wanted it to still be a cutaway. With the cutaway sections able to light up when reattached.
First I need a base to put all the electronics in .
I measured the model so I roughly knew how big it would end up. Then designed my base to be slightly smaller
I wanted it to look like a combination of the arm rest from the command chair and a wall panel from the enterprise.
From the same piece of wood I needed to cut out a gasket for the lights and buttons. I then decided to replicate a comm panel for the other side of the panel
The comm panel would have a section which will light up just like the show.
I cut a hole to go behind the screen so if I decide to add sound to it in the future I can use it as a sound hole I’m using a piece of white plastic for the light. I wanted to use the original type of grill cloth for the speaker. But it was too expensive, with all the extra parts I was buying for this model I had to start keeping the price down. In stead I used perforated paper and painted it gold. The bottom of the comm is a bigger piece wood so the top can sit on top of it and create a step. Just like the show.
The buttons where ‘push to lock’ buttons I found on eBay. These weren’t my first idea for them I went through a lot of trouble to find the right type or style of buttons that the show used. Which were the switches from the inside of freezes that make the light go on and off (spoiler: the light goes off )And I also looked into how I could fake that for a cheaper price by using toggle switch boots, which are rubber protective caps to protect toggle switches from water. But in the end I decided that if I didn’t start this thing I would never get it done.
I couldn’t find the lights I wanted . So I had to make them. I poured clear resin into a water colour mixing pallet and left it over night. I then popped them out. They didn’t all work perfectly so I made more than I need so I would have options. I also needed domes for my bussard collectors so this killed two birds with one stone. I had to be sure to mix and pour the resin outside as the fumes would have been bad for me. I wanted the resin domes to be different colours but I found that by adding colour to them it altered the ratio of resin to catalyst and stropped the resin from setting so in the end I made coloured pieces of plastic so that when the light shines through them they would seem to be the correct colours from the show command chair.
I used canopy glue to glue the resin domes to the gasket because I wanted it to dry clear and not leave that frosting on the plastic that super glue does.
I then cut five rectangle out of acrylic and used a label printing machine to print out descriptions for my buttons. I stuck the labels on the acrylic and the acrylic to the gasket.
drill a hole later for the wires to come up through and a tube.
you can see it all work in the video below
USS Enterprise TOS model base - YouTube