AMT Klingon Bird of Prey 1:350 Questions.

jamstraz

jamstraz

Active Member
I have seen several builds where the side guns are hollowed out for fiber but I can't for the life of me figure out how to do that with my pin vise. The drill isn't nearly as long and no videos explain how they did it. The piece is a long tube...short of cutting it off into two pieces and reattaching (which will look awful) I am at a loss unless they had a very long pin vise bit

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Honestly the easiest way is to replace the barrel with tubing, cut the existing part so you have the "bracketing" and drill the bracketing to accept the new barrels... then you can feed the fiber through. Its not for the faint hearted. Alternatively you could try to scratchbuild the part using the original as a guide or - cast it in clear and paint it up removing the need to insert fiber... But I'm not really sure why you'd want to put fiber there... it did not exist on the studio model and the movie shots were purely sfx... seems like too much trouble for little effect to me... but those are the techniques I'd try if I were to go that route.

good luck,
Jedi Dade
 
Jedi Dade said:
Honestly the easiest way is to replace the barrel with tubing, cut the existing part so you have the "bracketing" and drill the bracketing to accept the new barrels... then you can feed the fiber through. Its not for the faint hearted. Alternatively you could try to scratchbuild the part using the original as a guide or - cast it in clear and paint it up removing the need to insert fiber... But I'm not really sure why you'd want to put fiber there... it did not exist on the studio model and the movie shots were purely sfx... seems like too much trouble for little effect to me... but those are the techniques I'd try if I were to go that route.

good luck,
Jedi Dade
Click to expand...
I have an obsession with lights....
 
What about using blue LED’s or LED strips? You might want sand the inside of the clear nacelle parts and do some diffusion like cotton balls and or milk jug plastic laid on top of the strips. Trek works glow looks pretty even so he must have brushed or sprayed with transparent blue.nice work.
 
The chiller grills should appear copper when powered down. Trekworks has a later video, that I couldn't find, where he sprayed the grills with a light mist of copper. It was light enough to allow the blue LEDs to show through.

I think that video was a segment of one of his live Model Shop shows, so hard to find without watching through them all.
 
robn1 said:
The chiller grills should appear copper when powered down. Trekworks has a later video, that I couldn't find, where he sprayed the grills with a light mist of copper. It was light enough to allow the blue LEDs to show through.

I think that video was a segment of one of his live Model Shop shows, so hard to find without watching through them all.
Click to expand...

A light copper overspray. Nice idea and he executed it well.
 
S
jamstraz said:
Specifically I was looking for the refit Enterprise nacelle blue resin pieces
The kit I have is the 1991 AMT refit Enterprise (non smooth). The nacelles are all white plastic. No clear.
Click to expand...
So I have to buy blue transparent styrene and draw lines on it basically
 
jamstraz said:
Specifically I was looking for the refit Enterprise nacelle blue resin pieces
The kit I have is the 1991 AMT refit Enterprise (non smooth). The nacelles are all white plastic. No clear.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I somehow thought it was the 1701D. For the old refit the light might show through the plastic well enough, if not then you'll have to cut the grills out. Clear blue plastic, or clear with Tamiya clear blue paint, will work.

Or do a search on Ebay for DLM parts, there may be someone looking to sell a set.
 
robn1 said:
Sorry, I somehow thought it was the 1701D. For the old refit the light might show through the plastic well enough, if not then you'll have to cut the grills out. Clear blue plastic, or clear with Tamiya clear blue paint, will work.

Or do a search on Ebay for DLM parts, there may be someone looking to sell a set.
Click to expand...
I've checked eBay although not today. No dice on any. :'(
 
jamstraz said:
S
So I have to buy blue transparent styrene and draw lines on it basically
Click to expand...
IIRC those are 1/2 round strips. really the best way would be to cast it up in clear. it "should" be a fairly easy mold, and might be a really good exercise in learning how to mold and cast.

build up a wall of clay around the grills and fill it with rtv, then use that as a mold to fill with clear resin, cut the original grills out and you should be good to go. I'd spray the inside with clear blue, and the "seams between the ribs with black... but that's just me.

If you're going to be obsessive with models and lighting areas that are opaque on the current kit you really need to know how to cast basic stuff or you'll drive yourself nuts with results that aren't as good as you want.

Jedi Dade
 
Jedi Dade said:
IIRC those are 1/2 round strips. really the best way would be to cast it up in clear. it "should" be a fairly easy mold, and might be a really good exercise in learning how to mold and cast.

build up a wall of clay around the grills and fill it with rtv, then use that as a mold to fill with clear resin, cut the original grills out and you should be good to go. I'd spray the inside with clear blue, and the "seams between the ribs with black... but that's just me.

If you're going to be obsessive with models and lighting areas that are opaque on the current kit you really need to know how to cast basic stuff or you'll drive yourself nuts with results that aren't as good as you want.

Jedi Dade
Click to expand...
 
...I don't even think I understood that. I'm thinking I make the walls like a ring (albeit ovoid) around the nacelle grill, then fill with with...whatever rtv is...and then I need clear resin to cast it in the mold made by the rtv stuff...
 
So mold making can be done a bunch of different ways. The most common is using a silicon rubber (RTV amongst other names) This is done by encasing the subject to be molded in the rubber to get a impression of the peice. The resulting mold is then used to pour a liquid resin into it, and letting it harden resulting in a duplicate of the original part. In this case I was suggesting only molding a peice of the engines - around the grills but making a small wall of clay around the grills so that you could pour the rubber only around the grills since that's all you care about anyway. Cast a replica of the grills using a clear resin. Then trim that part so that its the correct size, cut the original out and replacing it with your clear casting. if you go to the smooth-on site ( they sell casting supplies) they have tutorials on how to do it... and if you call them will recommend the right stuff to use. large scale casting can get pretty expensive, but small stuff can be pretty reasonable.

www.smooth-on.com

Mold Making & Casting Materials | Rubbers, Plastics, Foams & More!

Smooth-On manufactures industry-leading two-component materials such as silicone, urethane rubber, urethane plastic, urethane foam, epoxy resin, epoxy coatings and adhesives.
www.smooth-on.com www.smooth-on.com

Jedi Dade
 
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