1/1000 Polar Lights TOS Enterprise with lighting

[modelerdave]

Minor update. I got the new lights in from Evans Designs and they (a) fit great, and (b) look fantastic. I ordered the set for the other nacelle now that I know they will work.

The camera keeps blowing out the light but the effect in person is really great. the colors are pretty close to the actual studio model and the random flickering really looks good. I'll take a video once I have both assembled.

 

[edge10]

I have purchased LEDs from Evans Design many times.

What type did you go with?

 

[modelerdave]

I have purchased LEDs from Evans Design many times.

What type did you go with?

They are 1.8mm flickering LEDs in red, green, yellow, and orange. I asked Evans Designs to wire them all to a single resistor to save space and keep the resistor near the LEDs so I can tuck it away in the nacelle. It worked like a charm. I only ordered one set to see if it would fit but it's great, so a second set for the other nacelle is on the way.

 

[modelerdave]

Got a bit more work done.

This is the little bit of styrene I cut to insert the four LEDs for the Bussard collectors. Once I inserted the LEDs I super glued them to the styrene to hold them in place.

The nacelles are glued together with the lighting in place. I'm very happy with how the lighting turned out for them, especially considering it's a home-grown solution.

The seam on the nacelles. Ugh. They weren't terrible but I may be terrible at puttying and sanding. I think I finally got them to where I want them (mostly) but I also think I sanded them out of true round so I may have to reshape them a bit.

The mess of wires in the lower saucer. I did end up adding two white SMDs directly above the three little lights aiming directly down on each side of the saucer because they weren't getting enough light from reflection alone.

Light test. I will paint the bridge side lights with a dab of transparent red as a last step. I need to retest one of the solder joints but I should be able to seal the saucer halves together tonight and then work on the edge seam.

Saucer bottom. You can see the three small downward-facing portholes are now nice and bright.

And some saucer edge windows.

 

[modelerdave]

Slowly coming along.

Ugh. Saucer seam.

More ugh. Pylon seams.

After quite a bit of putty, sanding, re-priming, sanding, etc., I finally have them just about done.

Saucer is done with sanding. Tonight I am planning on adding the base coat using Tamiya's Sky Grey. Then clear coat and decals! I plan to have the saucer completely finished before final mounting on the neck.

Quick test fit. The pylon and secondary hull spine seam are going to be a pain. The pylons and nacelles are still in primer gray. The secondary hull is in what will be the final gray color.

I will also be adding one more LED into the base of the neck to light those windows. I'm concerned there's not enough reflective light from the secondary hull to light them properly.

That's it for now!

 

[modelerdave]

FINISHED.

So I decided to build a custom base out of a picture frame, sheet styrene, and plastic mirror sheets. Single on/off switch and a mounting rod.

Things I learned:

1. I still kind of suck at airbrushing and need to work on those skills.
2. The decals on this were pretty thick and hard to get looking like paint.
3. I have yet to find a gloss varnish I really like -- I used Humbrol and it was okay, but not great. In the past I've used Future and may go back to that.
4. I still haven't found a matt varnish that works worth a damn in an airbrush. I'm pretty sure it's my skills but holy crap it's hard to get a decent matt coat that doesn't look chalky and dusty. Testors in a spray can is still the best for small items for me so I may try decanting that into a cup and using it in the airbrush in the future. Anyone with suggestions/recommendations on good matt varnishes for an airbrush, please let me know! I've done all kinds of searching on different forums and YouTube and this seems to be a problem spot with a lot of people.

It's a shame the nacelle lights are so blow out. The four LEDs (red, green, yellow, orange) that flicker at variable rates look fantastic in person, but they just blow out on camera.

On to the pics!

I realize the red window is not in the correct location but the LED in the neck is right behind it and I used the red to knock down the hot spot.

 

[wayouteast]

Very nice work. Beautifully detailed, and the lighting is amazing, especially at that scale!

Just a quick suggestion for a good matte varnish that you can airbrush. Give AK Interactive's Ultra Matte varnish a try. It covers really well, only needs a light coat, is beautifully matte, and I've never had it go chalky on me.

 

[modelerdave]

Very nice work. Beautifully detailed, and the lighting is amazing, especially at that scale!

Just a quick suggestion for a good matte varnish that you can airbrush. Give AK Interactive's Ultra Matte varnish a try. It covers really well, only needs a light coat, is beautifully matte, and I've never had it go chalky on me.

I will give it a try! Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[modelerdave]

Here's a short video.

 

[JNordgren42]

Fantastic job! As far as a matte clear goes, have you tried Mr. Color lacquer? I've had really good success with it. You just have to watch your thinning ratios, air pressure, and flow control. With a little practice it lays down really well. The only down side is that since it's a lacquer, you need to make sure you've got a good respirator (the VOC's are nasty) and it's a bit more work to clean up sometimes. If you do try it, use Mr. Leveling Thinner instead of regular lacquer thinner.