Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build - FINISHED! Page 3

Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Great job so far. I built one but since I have no lighting experience mine's static and has since gone to one of my brothers. I plan to get another kit next year to build for myself.

Thanks! I hadn't had any lighting experience for models before I started on this either, although I have always been a bit of a nerd and so have done my fair share of soldering. It's not hard to be honest, just remember which wire is positive and which one's negative and off you go.

Those SMDs were a new experience, let me tell you! Lots of burnt fingers in the creation of this thing :) Also, I've never played with fibre optics before. Those are fun!
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Lighting effects are really cool.
Now you are the expert of this tech.
Can't wait see her finished.

katsu
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Lighting effects are really cool.
Now you are the expert of this tech.
Can't wait see her finished.

Thanks so much! The compliment means a lot coming from you, Katsu-san. I've been following your Planet Explorer build and it's just fantastic work.

In terms of finishing her, I'm really hoping I can get her done by the end of the year. Once I've got to the paint stage I think she'll go quite quickly. That was certainly my experience on the saucer.

I can't imagine building a model without lights now, it really makes all the difference :)

Hugh
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Update: Lots of filling and sanding and masking going on on the engineering hull, and I've begun light-blocking and assembling the nacelles. The Bussard domes have been dipped in future tinted with Tamiya Smoke - I'm going with the "dark dome and blue light" look. None of this is terribly interesting so I haven't been photographing it much, but I'll have a picture update soon.

What has been slightly more interesting has been mounting and lighting ParaGrafix Bussard rotors, and their motors. 4 3mm blue LEDs are mounted as close to the centre of each Bussard as possible, and scuffed up with 180 grit sand paper. The mounting plates are painted flat white in the centre, fading to flat black at the outside, and a disc of frosted clear plastic is glued to the smaller ring of the Paragrafix part. It diffuses the light enough in person to give a reasonable illusion of some sort of glowing energy source behind the rotors (if you don't look too closely.

The motors are 12V 80rpm geared miniature ones from Amazon. Most of their weight is actually supported on the brass tube that passes through the Bussard mounting plate, but they're supported by a cage made of 2mm brass tubing, 1mm styrene, and epoxy. I'll further brace these against the inside of the nacelles once fitted in place.

Video!

 
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Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Happy new year everyone! I hope all those celebrating had a good break.

I didn't get any where near as much done over the holiday as I'd have liked, but there has been more work on the nacelles. Nacelles are lightblocked, and the clear parts fitted. The four clear windows at the bottom of the nacelles are a very tight fit, and have a groove moulded into them to grip the main styrene parts. I didn't notice this until I'd precariously glued in two of them, so had to unglue them, clean them up (I was using micro krystal klear, which dries quite slowly), and refit them. No harm done, and they're much more secure now.

The bussard domes (with their rotor, LED and motor assembleys) are epoxied in place into the nacelle shells - I don't want any movement here.

In order to wire them up, the mounted half of each nacelle was attached to the pylons (which already had the wires running through them). Once all the internal lighting was in place, the other half was attached with a mixture of micro krystal klear for the clear parts, epoxy for the bussard dome assembley, and good old Extra Thin styrene cement for everything else. Milliput 2-part epoxy putty was used to make a small fillet blending the pylon into the nacelle (as seen on the CG model), which adds some support. 1mm fiber optics provide the flood lights down the pylons.

Pictures!

4-Photo 04-01-2015 16 42 07.jpg5-Photo 04-01-2015 17 57 16.jpg2-Photo 03-01-2015 17 57 29.jpg6-Photo 04-01-2015 17 57 38.jpg8-Photo 04-01-2015 19 01 52.jpg
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Well, it's been a while, but progress continues. I've been priming, sanding, and priming again on the engineering hull and nacelles, and have spent the past few evenings getting some paint down on the engineering hull section (I prefer to tackle things in sections)

First, a coat of medium grey, and then masking with Orbital Drydock's excellent masking set. I have to say, the way these have been designed to conform to the contours of the hull is great, they're really easy to use:

1-Photo 05-02-2015 00 32 26.jpg

After this went on, a coat of 75% grey, 25% white went down, followed by the same mix with a little silver blended in for some metallic textures. This was done using some of the additional hull detail panels provided in the masking set.

After removing the masks (but leaving the sunburst-type thing masks on the strongback on - these are covering up some ocean grey), another texture coat of 50:50 white/grey went down using some more of the hull detail panels, and then a final 25:75 texture coat on top of that. All the masks were then removed and a blending coat of the 25:75 was added to tie it all together and reduce the contrast, giving me this:

3-Photo 06-02-2015 00 11 25.jpg

...and because I'm a sap, here she is with the lights off again:

2-Photo 06-02-2015 00 10 58.jpg

Next up, pylons and nacelles, then it's clear coat, decals, and it'll be time to attach the saucer (which I am quite excited about)!
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Hugh, this is looking awesome!!

Quick question, what are you using for the mounting plug/jack?

Thanks! The connector I'm using is a 14-pin screwed DIN connector by Lumberg. I got mine from RS components here - you can probably find the same thing from Mouser or Digikey in the States. It feels really good and sturdy.
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Beautiful job - best I've seen so far on this kit. Workmanship, colors, details, painting, aztecs and lighting all top notch!
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Amazing Work! I registered myself just to post this!

Can´t wait to see new progress!
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Your lighting and painting skill are very inspiring. Keep up the great work.
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Thanks guys, but you are far too kind.

Painting on the hull continues, moving my focus onto the pylons. The process was slightly different here, because I wanted to use the pylon templates for the final, lightest layer to make the lightning bolts more prominent. To do this, I did my usual layers with some spare random hull panel templates, and then added the final layer using the proper, fitted templates:

2-Photo 16-02-2015 23 56 03.jpg

I'd already painted and masked the panels on the inner and outer edges of the pylons, but these had suffered from a bit of paint bleed so were touched up with a brush. Not the neatest job in the world, but I can live with it. After unmasking and misting over the final blending coat, the pylons are looking like this:

3-Photo 17-02-2015 01 02 52.jpg4-Photo 17-02-2015 01 03 02.jpg

More to come! Nacelles next!
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Long time, no update. I've been fairly busy with work and other commitments and so this has been going rather slow. I have a week off this week though, and it's dedicated to trying to get as close to finished as possible.

Paint is now on the nacelles, and I used the decals as templates to cut masks for the stripes and details on them. Quite a few of the Revell decals don't make any sense in the context of the movie, with some very bold stripes that I just can't see on the blu ray at all, so they're being left off.

As with the pylons, I used Orbital Drydock's masks for the final paint layer, so that the candy cane stripes on the end of the nacelles would show through. I've had some problems with paint bleed on the bussard domes, which are a bit scratched following removal with windex, nail polish remover, and a bit of judicious scraping. However, I'm hopeful that some clear coat will help with this a bit, and it's not really visible when the lights are on. Anyway, here's how she's looking now:


I have some light leaks to fix, and I'm going to try and metallic coat on the shuttle bay doors, but I'm planning to get a coat of clear on today ready for decals tomorrow. In the meantime I'm going to finalise the electronics and control programme, and start building the base.
 
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Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

So, I put on a coat of gloss on Wednesday, and completed the decals yesterday. Once I'd done that I couldn't resist fitting the saucer and seeing how she looks all together - this is the first time I'd fitted these parts, so it took a little bit of sanding in order to get the two bits to make friends. That means there's some touch up to do on the paint, and some light leaks to fix. Here's how she looks now:


...and a kinda shaky one with the ambient lights off (there are bits in this video where the camera negotiates my soldering iron and I move a bottle of acetone out of the way, so sorry!):


We're close to finished I reckon! One coat of gloss to protect the decals, then I have to decide if I'm going to put satin over the top of that. I probably will. I've got to dial in the relative brightnesses of the different lighting circuits, but that's done in software. The control board is also finished, I'll post about that and the final arduino sketch in the next day or two.

Today I started working on the base, which is going to be a big gloss black slab with a brass plaque (one came with the paragrafix PE set), which will also act as a capacitive touch sensor to switch on and cycle various modes.

Once that's​ all done, I'll take some proper photos - I can't wait!
 
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Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

As promised, here's the code for my arduino sketch in its current form. It's probably not very efficient, but it does the job. Mine is running on an arduino mega2560 clone, in order to give me enough PWM pins. The code does a few basic things:

When initially powered on, it's looking for a signal over a certain threshold from the capacitive touch sensor (the brass name plate in my case) - this threshold will vary from build to build, so there are some commented out debugging lines in there to help determine what that should be.

When it sees an input from the touch sensor, the code cycles through 3 display modes: Off, lights only, and lights and motors. The motors are a bit noisy, and I'm not going to want them running all the time when the model's on display. The rest of the code runs these lighting modes.

Here's the code:

Code:
/* Enterprise Blinkies

Flashes and fades multiple LEDs in sequence, connected to PWM pins, to emulate the strobe lights on the JJ Abrams Reboot starship enterprise.


Also controls motors for bussard collectors. Display modes cycled with capacitive touch sensor.


created 2015
by Hugh Beauchamp


This code is in the public domain


*/


// include library for capacative sensing (available from http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/CapacitiveSensor)


#include <CapacitiveSensor.h>


// configure capacitive sensor (single wire soldered to brass name plate)


CapacitiveSensor   cs_16_19 = CapacitiveSensor(16,19);        // 1 megaohm resistor between pins 16 & 19, pin 19 is sensor pin, connect wire and nameplate


// set LED pins
const int doubleblink = 10;   //double blinking strobes on pin 10
const int pulse = 2;          //pulsing light on pin 2
const int nav = 9;            //navigation lights on pin 9
const int demark = 4;         //demarkation lights on pin 4
const int saucerflood = 6;    //saucer floodlights on pin 6
const int impulse = 7;        //impulse engines on pin 7
const int interior = 11;      //interior lights on pin 11
const int flood = 8;          //flood lights on pin 8
const int engine = 3;         //main engines on pin 3
const int dish = 5;           //deflector dish on pin 5




// set motor control pins (for L293D motor driver ic)


const int bussardenable = 13;  //motor enable on pin 13
const int bussardpin1 = 20;    //control 1 on pin 20
const int bussardpin2 = 21;    //control 2 on pin 21


// set variables
int blinkstate = LOW;


long previousMillis = 0;        // stores last time LED updated


long blinkDuration = 30;    // blinking strobe on time
long blinkInterval = 120;    // blinking strobe time between short blinks
long blinkWait = 3000;        // blinking strobe time between cycles
long pulseWait = 1500;        // pulsing strobe time between cycles
long pulseSpeed = 3;        // pulsing strobe delay for each fade level. Shorter times mean a faster fade
long pulseOn = 0;               // pulsing strobe time to hold at maximum brightness
int blinkno = 0;                // blink counter stores the number of elapsed flashes


int brightness = 0;            // how bright the pulse LED is
int maxbrightness = 255;    // what the maximum brightness of the pulsing strobe is
int fadeAmount = 5;            // how many points to fade the LED by


// set lighting circuit brightnesses


int navbrightness = 4;
int demarkbrightness = 127;
int saucerfloodbrightness = 10;
int interiorbrightness = 255;
int floodbrightness = 255;
int enginebrightness = 255;
int dishbrightness = 255; 


// set impulse engine pulse maximum and minimum brightnesses and sine wave speed


int maximpulsebrightness = 255;
int minimpulsebrightness = 63;
float impulsespeed = 0.00025;


// set motor speed


int bussardspeed = 255;


// set the display mode


int modecycle = 0;


long captime = 0;
long lastcaptime = 0;


void setup() {
  
// configure pin modes
  
  pinMode (doubleblink, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (pulse, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (nav, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (demark, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (saucerflood, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (impulse, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (interior, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (flood, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (engine, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (dish, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (bussardenable, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (bussardpin1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (bussardpin2, OUTPUT);
  
// configure capacitive sensor instance
    
  cs_16_19.set_CS_AutocaL_Millis(0xFFFFFFFF);     // turn off autocalibrate
  
   Serial.begin(9600);   // serial comms for debugging capacitive sensor
}




void loop() {
  
  captime =  cs_16_19.capacitiveSensor(30);   // measure time for capacitive sensor pin to go high
  
  if (captime > 500 && lastcaptime < 500) {  // look for state change with capacitive sensor and increment display mode
    
      modecycle++;


  }
  
  if (modecycle > 2) {                    // if display mode goes above 2, reset to 0
    modecycle = 0;
}
  
  lastcaptime = captime;
  
     // Serial.println(modecycle);  // serial comms for debugging capacitive sensor
     // Serial.println(captime);
      




  
if (modecycle == 1 || modecycle == 2  ){  //lights on in mode 1 or 2
  
  static float in = 4.712;
  float out;
  
// set current time to time since sketch began running
    unsigned long currentMillis = millis();


// check if time elapsed is greater than strobe time between cycles
    if(currentMillis - previousMillis > blinkWait && blinkno == 0) {


        previousMillis = currentMillis;           // save the time the LED switched 


        blinkstate = HIGH;                        // set LED state
   
        digitalWrite(doubleblink, blinkstate);     // set the LED
    
        blinkno = blinkno + 1;                    // increment blink counter
    }
 
// check if time elapsed is greater than strobe on time
    if(currentMillis - previousMillis > blinkDuration && blinkno == 1) {
        previousMillis = currentMillis;   
        blinkstate = LOW;
        digitalWrite(doubleblink, blinkstate);
        blinkno = blinkno + 1;
    }
  
// check if time elapsed is greater than strobe interval
    if(currentMillis - previousMillis > blinkInterval && blinkno == 2) {
        previousMillis = currentMillis;   
        blinkstate = HIGH;
        digitalWrite(doubleblink, blinkstate);
        blinkno = blinkno + 1;
    }


// check if time elapsed is greater than strobe on time - might be able to reuse statement above
    if(currentMillis - previousMillis > blinkDuration && blinkno == 3) {
        previousMillis = currentMillis;   
        blinkstate = LOW;
        digitalWrite(doubleblink, blinkstate);
        blinkno = blinkno + 1;
    }
  
// check if time elapsed is greater than pulse interval  
    if(currentMillis - previousMillis > pulseWait && blinkno == 4) {
        // fade up pulse LED
        for(brightness = 0; brightness <=maxbrightness; brightness+=fadeAmount) {        
            analogWrite(pulse, brightness);                                // set pulse LED brightness
            delay (pulseSpeed);                                            // wait to see fade effect
        }
        delay (pulseOn);                                                // wait while LED is at maximum brightness
        // fade down pulse LED
        for(brightness = maxbrightness; brightness >=0; brightness-=fadeAmount) {
            analogWrite(pulse, brightness);
            delay (pulseSpeed);
        }  
        blinkno = 0;                            // reset blink counter to zero
    }
    
// write static light brightnesses


analogWrite(nav, navbrightness);
analogWrite(demark, demarkbrightness);
analogWrite(saucerflood, saucerfloodbrightness);
analogWrite(interior, interiorbrightness);
analogWrite(flood, floodbrightness);
analogWrite(engine, enginebrightness);
analogWrite(dish, dishbrightness);


// sine wave pulsing for impulse engine light


  in = in + impulsespeed;
  if (in > 10.995)
    in = 4.712;
  out = sin(in) * ((maximpulsebrightness-minimpulsebrightness)/2) + ((maximpulsebrightness+minimpulsebrightness)/2);
  analogWrite(impulse,out);


}
else {                        // turn all lights off if mode does not equal 1 or 2
analogWrite(nav, 0);
analogWrite(demark, 0);
analogWrite(saucerflood, 0);
analogWrite(interior, 0);
analogWrite(flood, 0);
analogWrite(engine, 0);
analogWrite(dish, 0);
analogWrite(doubleblink, 0);
analogWrite(pulse, 0);
analogWrite(impulse, 0);
}


  if (modecycle == 2)  {    // turn on engine motors in mode 2
analogWrite (bussardenable, bussardspeed);
digitalWrite (bussardpin1, 1);    // reverse the 1 and 0 on the bussard pins 1 & 2 to reverse the motor direction
digitalWrite (bussardpin2, 0);
  }
  else {                    // turn off the engine motors in modes 0 and 1
  analogWrite (bussardenable, 0);
  digitalWrite (bussardpin1, 0);
  digitalWrite (bussardpin2, 0);
  }


}                                                // end of loop

I've built a shield for the arduino to plug into, that basically takes the outputs from the various pins to the LED and motor driver ICs (I used 2 UDN2981AT drivers for the LEDs since I wired the ship with a common ground instead of a common supply, and a L293D motor driver), and back out to screw terminals to connect to the wires from the mounting plug. Using ICs to drive the LEDs is a lot simpler than wiring a separate transistor to drive each lighting channel. The circuit is pretty straightforward to be honest, but if people are interested I can draw it and post a diagram. This also has the resistor for the capacitive sensor circuit, which literally involves putting a resistor between two arduino pins and connecting one end to whatever you want your sensor to be. The capacitive sensor library for arduino takes care of the rest. That's the black wire going to the brass plate that you can see in the photo below:

Photo 25-04-2015 20 18 16.jpg

I've also started working on the base, but I imagine photos of me making a square box out of MDF aren't very interesting, so I haven't taken many. Here's a quick progress-to-date shot though.

Photo 25-04-2015 20 18 58 (1).jpg

That's it for now!
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

That's a great looking build. I've seen many builds that were done not so accurately, but yours is pretty damn good. Lovely.
 
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Thanks guys!

So, after mucking about with the MDF base for a good few days I decided that the look just wasn't what I wanted, so I ordered a nice bit of walnut and found a friend with a router so I could hog out the underside to mount all the electronics. Now that she's nearly finished, I'll do some proper photos with decent lighting and a decent camera, but in the meantime, here are a few iPhone snaps:

Raw walnut blank being routed out (not the neatest, but it's the underneath):

1-Photo 16-05-2015 14 45 21.jpg2-Photo 16-05-2015 15 14 52.jpg3-Photo 16-05-2015 17 22 03.jpg

Mounting post epoxied in, name plate added (it has a wire attached to it going through to the electronics cavity because it's also the capacitive on/off/mode cycle switch)

4-Photo 17-05-2015 20 54 35.jpg

WIth the ship mounted:

6-Photo 17-05-2015 21 21 33.jpg

and finally, in situ on her shelf, where she'll live. I might paint the inside of this bit of bookcase black, I'm not sure:

7-Photo 17-05-2015 21 55 27.jpg

As promised, proper pictures to come soon!
 

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Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build

Very nice overall work, I love the LightUp of bussards with motorization :thumbsup
 
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