Re: Leif Ericson Galactic Cruiser
Updates from yesterday and today...
I finished painting the scout ship and decided to go with a paint scheme very similar to what modelnutz used for his resin kit.
It's so simlar it's almost identical but I really liked the look of his Vega shuttle.
Hopefully he won't mind, after all, imitation IS the greatest form of flattery right?
Anyway, after the paint dried I added some decals from my leftover decal stash to go along with the window decals from the kit.
I used a nail set to punch out some tiny round black decals for the four portholes (two per side) on the rear of the pilots cabin:
Scout Ship Window Decals by
trekriffic, on Flickr
[h=2]
I also used some of the leftover decals to represent the open landing gear wells in the underside of the scout:[/h]
Scout Ship Decals by
trekriffic, on Flickr
The finished scout prior to gettign a rub down with Tamiya silver and gunmetal pastel chalks:
IMG_2251_zps7314f8f2 by
trekriffic, on Flickr
Today I gave it a shot of Glosscote to seal the decals:
IMG_2398 by
trekriffic, on Flickr
I decided I wanted to be able to turn off the lights in the hangar bay while having the lights in the neck and engines still lit so I canabilized a dollar store booklight for a micro slide switch.
This will allow me to create a separate circuit just for the landing lights and any sidewall and control tower window lights in the hangar.
I cut a slot and installed it in the stern hull bulkhead.
At some point before final paint I'll fashion a slide cover to disguise it better:
Launch Bay Light Switch by
trekriffic, on Flickr
For lighting the neck I used a high brightness (7000 mcd) white LED from Radio Shack.
I installed it facing dead forward mounted in the reflector from that same dollar store booklight.
I soldered a 220 ohm 1/4 watt resistor to the negative leg. :
Main LED by
trekriffic, on Flickr
A test in my darkened downstairs bathroom proved that this one LED is sufficient to light up all the windows in the neck, the command tower, and the phaser projector in the nose.
Pretty awesome IIDSSM!
I thought I might have to add one more near the front but nope, not necessary.
The further along I go with this build the more ideas I get.
One idea actually stemmed from a 3-D mesh Craig Fey did of his interpretation of the Leif:
Craig Frey-SSC_Leif_Ericson by
trekriffic, on Flickr
He added what I would call "impulse engines" to the stern and I thought this looked fantastic!
So I just had to do it for my build; however, my engines would be blue rather than yellow...
Looking thru my greebly box I found some transparent blue window inserts I'd saved from some empty Glide dental floss dispensers:
Using Found Objects by
trekriffic, on Flickr
I also use the small plastic hubs that the floss wraps around for making shrouds for my LEDs but that's another story.
Anyway, I gave these transparent blue bits of plastic a rough cut using an xacto razor saw blade:
Razor Saw Cutting by
trekriffic, on Flickr
Then I filed and sanded them to final shape and placed them on the hull just for ducks, They looked pretty good I thought:
Impulse Engines Covers Test Fit by
trekriffic, on Flickr
Tracing the shape of the inserts onto Tamiya tape I used them as a guide to drill several pilot holes thru the plastic afterwhich I cut the plastic out with a #11 blade:
Drilling Impulse Engine Vent Openings by
trekriffic, on Flickr
The holes after cleanup with a half round needle file file and my xacto knife:
Stern Impulse Engine Vents Opened by
trekriffic, on Flickr
The blue inserts were given a light sanding with a fine sanding stick to make them somewhat more opaque then glued into the openings with Elmers white glue. The fit was perfect. No light leaks so no puttying required. This was accomplished thru extensive test fitting while I shaped the holes until the pieces slid in nice and snug.
Here's where I started getting real creative. I'd bought some mesh brass photo-etch years ago before my local HobbyTown USA closed...
Brass Screen by
trekriffic, on Flickr
...and it was just laying around looking meshy and taunting me until I could finally find the right use for it and that time was now! I trimmed two quarter round pieces from the sheet and glued them inside the hull behind the blue impulse engine vents:
PE Screen by
trekriffic, on Flickr
Next thing I'll do is install two blue LEDs to light up the impulse engines.
By the way, those Trek purists who may take exception to me calling them "impulse" engines should recall that Matt Jefferies himself designed this ship and, aside from that, the instruction sheet itself makes reference to the nose-firing phaser projector so the Star Trek connection has been well established by now.
Next up I install the hangar bay and doors in the upper hull and run fiber to the landing lights. Then I'll finish up the wiring and seal the hull.
As always, thanks for reading!
Launch Bay Masking by trekriffic, on Flickr
Main Lanch Bay Doors by trekriffic, on Flickr
Detailing of Doors by trekriffic, on Flickr
Bay Doors Painted by trekriffic, on Flickr
