Star Trek Into Darkness U.S.S. Enterprise Model Kit

[Trekwars fan 82]

Nacelle Video

 

[DanielB]

Did you frost your domes at all? In your video the blades almost have the illusion of spinning themselves, which is nice. However, in this video, the blades don't look like they are spinning at all.

Into Darkness Nacelle Test - YouTube

I was just wondering what you might have done differently to get that spinning look.

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

Hey DanielB, yes I did frost them using Rustoleum frosted glass spray paint. However it wasn't my first idea. I had seen a few modelers paint the bussards collecters with a shade of transparent blue and I first attempted to do the same with a 3oz. can of Testors transparent blue. After 3 failed attempts and cleanings, the plastic started to fog up so I frosted it anyway. I'm sure that had I been successful with the transparent blue the look would have been crisper and less faded, but overall I quite pleased with it.

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

Also I used a low-temp glue to secure the spinner blade to the circuit board.

 

[Thestig604]

Looks like you nailed the look of the Nacelles. The spinning look (however you got it) looks great.

If you are looking for a clear blue alternate, try the Tamiya TS-72, which I have seen good results from.

 

[Creative Models]

Nice project. We are currently building a 350th scale Polar light kit. Using the Trek molder light kit and also the Paragrafix photo-etch. We added about 20 extra lights to make ship really jump. It is looking good. Have fun. Brian

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

Hey Thestig, thanks for the heads up on the Tamiya products. I just got hip to it in the last few months. Modelers cant stop complemeting their quality, so I've started picking a few cans of their primer at my local Hobby Lobby. I just googled and bookmarked their USA site, so I'll do a little window shopping later.

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

Thanks. I have a 350 enterprise with the photoetch sitting in my closet now, but I dont think I'll be building it anytime soon. I forgot what a beast that ship is. I hope I do a better job on this jj enterprise build than I did on my last one.

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

Sorry I haven't had much to post lately. Been really busy with the holidays ramping up. And I wanted to save up on some of the documentation for slow periods like this. Anyway, the next completed photoetch section is the bridge. I regret that I couldn't detail it as much as I wanted to, due to my lack of modeling skill or the size of the photoetch, or both. But here it is.

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

I know it's been a long while since I've posted any progress, so here's an update. My build won't be so detailed as far as 100% accuracy is concerned, so I'll be taking some liberties. I'll be using the light kit from Evan's Lighting, a pole stand from Trekmodeler, a spare base from the 1:350 Enterprise Refit, and aztec decals for the 1:537 refit from Acreation Models. I know this sounds like a strange amalgam but it's going to work, trust me.

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

The next step in my process was to make the small changes to the kit for the bridge, bridge spine, engines, and b/c deck.







Then I completed the bridge and shuttlebay subassemblies and frosted the bridge sidewindows and nacelle caps. My only regret was that the ship and photoetch wasn't bigger so that I could add more detail.

 

[DanielB]

That bridge looks awesome. How did you do the chairs and consoles?

 

[brandomack]

I'm impressed. Good work!

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

I used a very small piece of Evergreen strip styrene for the console base, and 0.3 mm Plastruct sheet styrene for the console and the chairs.

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

Next step I took was to finish applying the photoetch pieces, except for the impulse engine. Drilling the holes with a pin vise gives a really good effect on its own. I applied the field sensors to both sides of the secondary hull and around the deflector dish and I also finished the nacelle spinners, securing them to the spinner board with a low-temp glue.

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

The first area of the ship I decided to work on are the warp nacelles. The board for the spinners were already wired so it was left up to me to figure out how I was going to arrange the lighting inside including the navs. My original intent was to included the navs at the very back tips of the warp nacelles(on the top and bottom) using the fiber optics that came with the kit, which I was able to achieve. But since this was my first time using them, I made some small errors installing them that caused me to scrap the idea all together because I had already sealed the nacelles. But before I get into the complicated details of that, I went about the business of assembling the nacelle pieces together, puttying and sanding some areas and drilling hole where the pylon floodlights would go.







Then I glued the inboard nacelle half to the inner part of the pylons, which would allow me to just put the outboard nacelle half in place once the wiring was done. Afterwards, I started light blocking this and other parts of the ship using basic black spray paint as a base then using Rust-oleum bright coat metallic finish, which serves a dual purpose as a light block and helps bounce the light from the LEDs around the ship.




Also, I wanted to note that I only used CA glue to secure the nacelle half to the pylon. After allowing a few days for the glue to settle, I haven't had any trouble with nacelle droop, which tends to be a problem when assembling some Star Trek ships.

 

[Trekwars fan 82]

Next, I carved out a small opening between the brackets used to secure the nacelle to the pylons and allow wires to pass thru and created a third passageway, which allowed me to run the nacelle spinner, nav and constant lighting wiring thru the pylons to the rest of the ship. Then I frosted, masked and light blocked the bussard collectors. I used the Aztec Dummy set to mask off the clear parts. Afterwards, I secured the collectors to the nacelles with CA glue and after letting the glue settle, I installed the spinner board with the nacelles blades attached.