1/350 NX-01, yet another build but dont get too excited!

OK, Its been a while but here we go. Apart from some of the electronics there hasnt been much progress because i kept wondering whether or not to put her together before i started painting the detail. I decided i needed try for an Aztec Pattern of some kind so had to figure how i was going to do that without spending any more money! I downloaded a set of Aztec Patterns but cutting them out by hand onto frisket was becoming a real pain so i decided to see what the wife had in her craft room that could help, i found these two little machines!



The Cricut is an electronic die cutting machine, convert the Aztec Masks jpegs to .SVG, import them into some software and set to cut, well if it had really been that easy i wouldn't be as behind as i am but you get the idea. You end up, eventually with these.





Check that they fit loosely, trim with a scalpel and then find this machine!



The Xyron coats the back pf the paper with an even spread of glue which means they can go directly onto the model, a bit like frisket but much easier. Positioning was a little difficult but i got there in the end.







Once they are in position, get on with the masking:



Spray with Gunmetal on top of that rattle can aluminium.





and Voila!





There is an issue now in that i used some vaseline to cover the windows that would appear under the Aztec Pattern, as you can see that didn't go as to plan as it could have so i will need to do some tidying up there somehow but i am in a much better place than i was and i learnt some more skills. What more could i ask for.

Any comments always greatly appreciated. Thanks for following the build, apologies for the delay!
 
This is the 'finished upper saucer section. it is not as good as it looks and there are some issues with the paint i used being removed by the masking i had. I may re-apply he masks and do it again or i might just leave it and try and add some weathering to highlight the issues. Im happy with it but it is a lot of work with the Cricut and the Xyron to get everything right. I'm better prepared for the Ent C and the Ent A refit i still have on the shelf though.

 
I think it looks pretty cool. You could always weather it like you said, though it looks like only a couple of touchups would be needed at all. Nice work!
 
Kind words, thanks very much. The other issue i have is that the set of masks i downloaded dont have all of the Aztec Patterns on, ill have to 'ad lib' those areas that i do not have masks for!
 
Whilst sorting out some more Aztec stuff last night i discovered the flasher circuits for the Nav lights etc has gone down. At least i discovered it before i put the damn thing together but best get the soldering iron back out before i finally assemble the old girl.
 
I was just talking to a guy today about how I was scared to death that an led would go out after I had everything sealed up and filled on my 1701-D. I don't think I could handle it, ha ha!
 
Just a couple more general progress pics, i'm hoping to get the remainder of that outer rim done this evening. Fingers Crossed!



 
Here you can see the lower saucer section completed as far as painting goes. Not screen accurate i know but i wanted to add my own take her. You can also see the various tools i used to create the masks and the state of my workbench! All going well for now but i have the electronics to sort out as i blew a circuit and i also need to sort the drive section out. Ill get there eventually!











 
and to think, my wife has all of that cricut stuff just lying around... must look into this. did not know i could program the thing, is it hard to do so?
 
Cricut withdrew the rights for third party software to access the machine a few years ago. If you can get hold of Sure Cuts a lot v 1.4or below then the drivers are still there and it will work. Its a bit fiddly and a lot of trial and error but it works as you can see. I think the NX-01 Aztec is particularly difficult because it doesn't run up and down the model but around the sides,that makes scaling a bit difficult. As you can see the effect is OK though. I think it will have lots of uses as i make different models and find different uses for it.
 
yeah just found that out, bombarded my poor wife with questions when she got home. she did say that she knows of a new cricut that will allow a person to print/cut their own designs, apparently this new cricut will come with pc/mac software to be able to draw out and transfer to the cricut. sounds awesome to me.
also, great to see you building again peach!!
 
Thanks Metal, i have looked at the new Cricut too, will have to see when it it comes out in March. I can think of a lot of uses for this method and the templates are so well cut when delivered from the machine. I'm going to have fun with this that's for sure. Ive got this NX-01 to finish, 3 more in boxes and one more on the way so plenty of models to do this year. It's the Xyron that makes the difference because the Cricut wasn't good at cutting frisket, the Xyron just coats plain paper with adhesive and makes life very easy! :)
 
No more on the model as such but i have done some more work on the lighting circuits. Im using a 12v circuit for the main LED strip lights in the saucer. This is the first time i have tried using the Arduino system and amusing that for a 5v circuit to mange the nav and anti collision lights. I used an Arduino UNO to programme an ATTiny85 chip that will run the Navs at 1 sec flash rates and the anti collision at 1/2 sec flash rates. This was far easier than i imagined it would be and with the ATTinys at £5 for 10 inc ZIF sockets you cant go wrong. Here's a series of pics of how it sort of goes.

Here's the Arduino



The ATTiny85 and the shield it sits in.







A couple of very badly focused of the chip on a breadboard for testing.





The programming setup



Im going to use this board to mount the chip and get that fixed inside the base i have yet to build!



Hers the ATTiny in it's ZIF socket



And a video that sort of shows it working.



This is a nice way for even an electronics numpty like me to create these effects. Its great, have a go because overall its cheaper than the custom built lighting kits if you already have the LEDs etc. Thanks for keeping up with, the very slow, build.
 
Now all have to do is get all of those wires in there. To be hionest once i cut themall back and group them correctly for connection it shouldn't be as bad as it might look here.









 
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