Customer build 1/350 NX-01

[SteveNeill]

Thanks so much!

Moving onto the the nacelles today I had a lot of questions about the inboard and out board nacelle lighting. As it turns out (and I though this was the case) the blue areas are broken into sections with silver between them. Something you don't see many modelers catch in there builds.

So I asked Doug today and he put the actually CGI model he made for the show in Lightwave and rendered off some super close ups of these panels. This created more work but a better more accurate model as well.

So I cut up some strips of blue painters tape and masked off the sections and sprayed the back sides flat black to block the light and on the outside I'll have to do that by hand. I'll be lucky to get this done today. But tomorrow I can put the nacelles together and light them up.

I also found out the registry light position was in the wrong spot on the model. so I filled it in and moved it to the correct location hoping a little of the fiber optic light will light up the registry.


Steve

These are new renders Doug did for me today never seen before. Enjoy. These are the real deal.

And here's some more video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcZBdlM-cxY

 

[space rat]

NICE !! What's the image inside the bussard collector?

 

[robn1]

NICE !! What's the image inside the bussard collector?

Looks like a reflection of the ship.

 

[space rat]

Never mind. Figured it out, its the reflection of th NX. VERY COOL!! Sharp eye Rob ,, Beat me to it.

 

[fraley1701]

So I asked Doug today and he put the actually CGI model he made for the show in Lightwave and rendered off some super close ups of these panels. This created more work but a better more accurate model as well.


Steve

You can't get much better source material than that! Still looking great Steve! Thanks for sharing.

Marc

 

[Jedi Dade]

Yeah - this thread should be saved forever for the reference material in it if nothing else... and there is a lot more!

Steve - I was wondering are you going to use a light difuser in the engines? if so what kind?

Thanks,
Jedi Dade

 

[SteveNeill]

There's not much room in there. It's really cramped in fact. I'm going to grind down the tips of the LEDS which really helped with the Nautilus to defuse and spread more light. LEDS are very bright but they are also very directional. I've used the frosted ones too but they don't seem to help much.

Thanks guys for the kind comments,

Steve

 

[SteveNeill]

So I ground down all the way around the the top of the LEDS and got more spread. I also added a bit of silver tape to the upper and lower portions of the nacelle in hopes of bouncing more light. I think it worked. It is much better.

In the picture the LED is only partially ground. I did end up going to the base of the LED so the whole thing is frosted.

Steve

I think you can see the difference between the straight no mod LED and the one I just started to grind.

 

[SteveNeill]

Here's a picture that shows them all ground and how much more the light is spread. My good friend Bob Martin at the Nautilus Dry Docks taught me this trick and it's a good one.

Steve

 

[brandomack]

Beautiful!

Great Job, Steve!


Brandon

 

[SteveNeill]

Thanks Brandon!

Steve

 

[SteveNeill]

Well it’s a whole model. There are still lots to do still but it’s getting there. Video tells the whole story.

I have to say that some of the engineering hull and pylons fit very poorly. The refit fit much better. I’ve had to force things close and tack it with CA then add plastic weld and clamps. Maybe it's just this kit. Some of the parts were warped. Thanks the stars it wasn't the saucer section!

Steve

YouTube - 1/350 NX-01 Build report 5

 

[fraley1701]

Here's a picture that shows them all ground and how much more the light is spread. My good friend Bob Martin at the Nautilus Dry Docks taught me this trick and it's a good one.

Steve

Nice tip! Grinding down the LED's really helps minimize the "hot spot" effect you see in many builds. The light is diffused and not so focused.

Marc

 

[KUROK]

I've got "faith of the heart" this will be a superb model!
Great job, Steve!

 

[TotalusK]

Another of my favourite Enterprises, some really nice work steve, many years ago I attempted to build Voyager with a hot glue gun and nothing else I was all so young XD You guys make it all look so easy.

 

[Jedi Dade]

I've got "faith of the heart" !

Ughhh that actually hurt


It looks great already!

Did you do anything special to assure the alignment of the engines ont he pylons? I've heard some people have issues with droop...


Waiting eagerly to see the aztec decals!

Jedi Dade

 

[SteveNeill]

Yes I did I glued them with liquid plastic weld. While still in the goo stage I made a little stand for the model and propped up the nacelles with paper cups. You can stack them and get the exact height you need. Then stuck under the nacelles. Weighted the saucer section down and went to bed.

This morning they are nearly zero to the saucer. So close it's not worth mentioning. I just hope gravity over time doesn't work on them.

TotalusK thanks believe me it's not easy. This plastic kits can be just as hard or Even worse in some cases then garage kits. They fight you plenty and screw up along the way costing you more work.

Kurok, one of the things that kept me and my wife (a huge Star Trek fan) from watching Enterprise so much was the song in the beginning. It just isn't Star Trek. I get the sentiment, but we really need an Jerry Gold Smith or James Horner score with a full orchestra. Just my opinion.

Thanks for the kind words but I just had to get that off my chest after all these years. LOL!

Steve

 

[DS Operative]

Great work as always Steve! I"m jealous of the ammount of time you have to work on models! Please forgive my ignorance, but why not use 2-3 more LED's in the nacelles to balance out any hot spots? I'm sure there is a very good reason, but I know very little about these matters.

 

[SteveNeill]

Simply because it's opening a big can of worms. It's cramped in there and I think Gary ran into the same problem. Space. Plus then you'd have more hot spots. If you really want to get rid of that you might want to try the light strips but I'm not up on that yet. Brandon is working on that so lets keep an eye on him.

Thanks though.

Well some people really ought to pay more attention. I had this part laying around. Number 37. Where does that go? Can't find it in the instructions. Then it hit me. That registry light hole in the wrong location? No. That's the hole to center part 37! You know that cartoon of the big sucker? I thought they left off those little scoop lights and scoop because of the scale. Well dummy gets it now.

So we can't just paint those little lights. Oh know so I try to drill through them and add fiber optics. It worked! Center punched them by hand with a dremel and a small bit. Talk about lucky!

Doug's renders clearly show it.

More on this later.

Steve

The fiber optics go through these holes from the back side of the hull and into the scope lights I just drilled out. This ought to add a lo to this model and it's a simple thing to do with the FOs.

 

[SteveNeill]

OK I'm happy now. Let glue the top of the saucer down.

Steve