USS Enterprise (2009) (Revell) review and build

wannab, thanks for the hint! I'll have a look there!

Orbital Drydock, thanks for the explanation! Do you think it would be a good idea to connect all LEDs to transistors so that the current doesn't run through the IC's, or is this ok?

I'm also wondering if I should place the whole blinker circuit directly inside the base and not in the model itself. There's not a lot of space inside the model and putting the circuit into it on a board would probably make lightning more difficult. Plus if some components other than the LEDs and their resistors fail, I could replace them more easily...
 
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Yes a Kelvin would be very nice. I'd definitely buy it. As well as the new Klingon ships... uh... did I really say this? I promised not to spoil... sorry guys ;-)

I started building the kit by drilling the impulse engines and some windows on the back of the saucer:

Ent_STID_Rev_build_001.JPG

Next will be to correct the small inaccuracies near the deflector.
 
I just used a 0.5 mm electrical drill and helt him a bit angled, following the ellipticity of the imprints. For the half holes near the borders, I drilled from the back and used a knife to get through from the front. A bit filing, sanding and cleaning up and it's done.

Here is an updated lightning/modification schema, look at the red fields to see the inaccuracies I found:
modifications.jpg
 
thorst said:
wannab, thaks for the hint! I'll have a look there!

Orbital Drydock, thanks for the explanation! Do you think it would be a good idea to connect all LEDs to transistors so that the current doesn't run through the IC's, or is this ok?

I'm also wondering if I should place the whole blinker circuit directly inside the base and not in the model itself. There's not a lot of space inside the model and putting the circuit into it on a board would probably make lightning more difficult. Plus if some components other than the LEDs and their resistors fail, I could replace them more easily...
Click to expand...

yes, most definitely use transistors anything NPN that can handle the current load of your circuit should work fine. CD4017 chips can only handle 15ma per output(1 led).

If possible, I always put electronics in the base. Leds & resistors are pretty solid & usually the last to fail, but I don't trust IC's from china anymore.

To keep the number of wires down, I'll run 1 common ground into the model & hook everything inside to a ground bus. That way you don't have to run a ground for each lighting circuit e.g. nav, strobe, warp, interior, impulse. All of those can be connected to a common ground bus inside the model. Then only positive leads & 1 ground are run to the outside. Make sure the ground bus is of a large enough gauge to handle the whole models circuit. Your positive leads only need to be large enough for their individual circuits.
 
Orbital Drydock said:
Always put a .01uf capacitor between the pos & neg terminals to make the circuit stable.
Click to expand...

May I ask why is it necessary?

Orbital Drydock said:
yes, most definitely use transistors anything NPN that can handle the current load of your circuit should work fine. CD4017 chips can only handle 15ma per output(1 led).
Click to expand...

Thank you for the explanation!

I've updated the circuit schematic, here is it, and it works just fine, standing in front of the keyboard as I write. I experimented with capacitors for the flashing and fading effect, but I wasn't satisfied. Probably I'll leave it just as it is now, if there are no errors in it.

beacon_circuit.jpg

And your idea of the common ground is just what I will do here, I already have a 4-pin plug connector which will support the model.

Thank you for all the help!

Thorsten
 
thorst said:
May I ask why is it necessary?



Thank you for the explanation!

I've updated the circuit schematic, here is it, and it works just fine, standing in front of the keyboard as I write. I experimented with capacitors for the flashing and fading effect, but I wasn't satisfied. Probably I'll leave it just as it is now, if there are no errors in it.



And your idea of the common ground is just what I will do here, I already have a 4-pin plug connector which will support the model.

Thank you for all the help!

Thorsten
Click to expand...

No prob T,
Circuit looks good! I forgot to ask you what your systems voltage is ie 12v, 9v, 5v. bc548 will work good, it can sink about 500ma at 12v, the only thing to watch out for is the base can only handle 5v, so you might need to put a resistor between the diodes & the transistor base. I hear ya on the fade, it can be tricky. I usually skip the math & trial & error the circuit swapping caps & resistors until I like the fade timing.
Common ground is the way to go! 4pin should work great, there aren't too many separate effects on this ship. I use 8-9pin on my refits, but I make almost every system switchable.
beacon.jpg
The .01uf cap balances the power. 555's & 4017's are super finicky & require very stable power to maintain timing. Power stability can be greatly affected by RF interference. Capacitors build up a charge & release it, so if the capacitor is constantly charging, it is continually releasing a stable voltage. When your power has a fluctuation the capacitor acts as a compensator to keep steady voltage to the circuit. I use filtering caps on all circuits & motors.
 
Shame on me, the story with the filtering cap was told in the electronics course I had to attend, too, but I didn't remember that...

You are right, the voltage is 9V, so I need a resistor for each transistor. But which current do I have to consider to calculate it? The Base-Emitter current seems to depend on the Collector-Emitter current (but I don't find a definitive relation), so do I have to know how many LEDs I want to drive already now?
 
thorst said:
May I ask why is it necessary?



Thank you for the explanation!

I've updated the circuit schematic, here is it, and it works just fine, standing in front of the keyboard as I write. I experimented with capacitors for the flashing and fading effect, but I wasn't satisfied. Probably I'll leave it just as it is now, if there are no errors in it.

View attachment 184909

And your idea of the common ground is just what I will do here, I already have a 4-pin plug connector which will support the model.

Thank you for all the help!

Thorsten
Click to expand...

thorst said:
Shame on me, the story with the filtering cap was told in the electronics course I had to attend, too, but I didn't remember that...

You are right, the voltage is 9V, so I need a resistor for each transistor. But which current do I have to consider to calculate it? The Base-Emitter current seems to depend on the Collector-Emitter current (but I don't find a definitive relation), so do I have to know how many LEDs I want to drive already now?
Click to expand...

No worries, that's why we're all here help, be helped, & show off toys!

Yes, 1 for each transistor. Base-Emitter current is dependent on Collector-Emitter current & there is a relation. I just don't have the math off the top of my head right now. Most important is to get the current down to 15ma & keep the power dissipation(watts) across the base low. Since your using 9v & the circuit is off more than on. You can get the base current down to 15ma with 1 resistor & shouldn't wind up with a damaging heat issue.
 
Thanks for the link portland182! But I will build it as seen in the 2009 movie, I feel the outboard scenes in that movie were a bit more impressive.

So I finally started with the modification of the two main flaws of the kit, regarding it's accuracy.

First I used the hobby knife with a fresh blade to cut the panel loose which needs to be placed deeper inside the hull:
Ent_STID_Rev_build_002.JPG
It can now simply be glued into position and framed with some plastic card. In the front, there will be windows.

Then I used the electrical drill to cut away some areas of the part behind the deflector:
Ent_STID_Rev_build_003.JPG
This will require some nasty repairing and filling, but as you can probably see in some kit review pictures, the shape of the bays which run forward is a bit off when built straight from the box, and there are only 4 instead of 8 recessed rectangles on each side. I hope that I can replicate this.

Thorsten
 
Today I sanded a lot on the modifications of yesterday, glued on the missing bits and drilled out some window/ligh holes:

Ent_STID_Rev_build_006.JPG

The part behind the deflector needs some additional filling and sanding, then I will post a picture after it got primer on.

Anyone has some ideas for the spotlights on the saucer? I don't have a good idea for them yet... on the CGI model they are very flat, but generate enormous light cones.

Thorsten
 
I'm not sure if they would fit the scale but SMD LEDs come pretty darn small, so you might be able to use those for the spotlights around the ship. Just an idea though...
 
The problem is that the light cone had to be parallel to the disc's surface, if a LED is just put through a hole it wouldn't even touch the surface. See here how it looks in the movie:

spotlight_movie_still.jpg

(Still from the DVD)

I still don't have a clue how this might be achieved other than lighting from the back. But this way no specular can be seen, and there would be no shadows from the surface detail. I'm really lost with this in the moment.

Thorsten
 
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