I was  looking forward so much to put my hand on this model. I love the design of this ship despite all the threads about being "more modern looking" than the TOS Constitution Class. I didn't have in mind to buy it for my own in the near future, but I got an order from a customer in Germany who wants the NX-01 and also the Voyager. Obviously I accept the order with much pleasure...  :)

Once everything is dry, it is time to apply light-blocker. That is to say black paint on the inner side. After the light-blocker, the next step is the light-improver, that is to say white paint. This will help to reflect the light inside the ship. In that way we are able to light all this ship with only a few white LEDs.

• NX-1: What we get in this kit. A lot of stuff but poor instructions...
• NX-2: Having a bath and resting in the Dry-Dock (sorry I had to say it...)
• NX-3: Light blocker and light improver.

2^nd Step, let's put light inside:  I like to start the federation starships working-up the nacelles. These parts are, in my opinion, the most complicated, because they have so much light elements (CCFL tubes, blinking LEDs, fading LEDs, navigational lights, etc...) in a relatively small space. My plan is to lit up the Bussard collector with red LEDs and fading yellow ones, a 15 cm CCFL tube will light up the plasma flow (the blue thing), two blinking lights in the bottom and also a position light (red and green). The two blinking lights, one in the top and one in the bottom of the rear part, will be lighted with a single yellow LED and with the help of fiber optics.

The circuit to make the LEDs blink is the very same I used before (TOS Enterprise and 1701-D), but we have something new here: fading LEDs. It means that the LEDs are blinking but the brightness is slowly coming in and out. In comparison to the XXI century technology, it seems to be a very easy thing to do, right?. But it isn't that easy... I used the schematic shown in this web page. I was dealing with this stuff for two days before i make it work.

• NX-4: Here we can see the electronic circuits to make the LEDs fade. The CCFL tubes must be removed from the plastic case. We can also see the LED net for the Bussard collectors.
• NX-5: Final electronic connections and first light on test.

You can also download a pair of videos (around 3 Mb each) to see how it looks like:

• NX_one: Close look at the Bussard collector.
• NX_two: General view of the nacelle.

At this point of the building-up I see two problems, one with easy solution and another one with not so easy solution:

• Problem 1 (with easy solution): The blue light is much too blue. if you see the TV series, it is easy to see that the blue is not so bright. Solution: I have the intention to airbrush one or two layers of black paint in the clear parts so the brightness will drop down. I'm also thinking about to modify the length of the CCFL tubes wires. If I elongate them, the light should also drop down. I have to check the CCFL FAQs for this thing.
• Problem 2 (not so easy solution): The red light in the Bussard collectors is very week. In the beginning I wanted to paint the clear parts with black (clear) paint. So when the light is off it looks like the ship when it is stoped and when the light is on, the model looks like when the ship is at warp speed. The problem started when I saw and checked that the 3 mm red LEDs I fixed are not bright enough. I tried to paint the inside white, to reduce the resistor, I painted the clear parts in red, etc... it is not bright enough. I will visit the electronic store and ask them for high brightness LEDs. If I put a high brightness white LED in combination to the clear red part, then it is much too bright. A customized light-sheet would fit perfect to this problem.

I'm very glad to update the page with good news!!! Finally the solution to problem #2 was much easier as I expected. I was for shopping in the electronic store and looking for 3 mm High-brightness red LEDs. They were not available (fortunately). After thinking some minutes I took the 5 mm equivalents. Of course they could not fit in the 3 mm holes in the clear parts. I put the LED behind the clear part... the result is exactly what I was looking for. Unbelievable effect. The small   prisms in the clear part make a very nice diffusing effect. So I had a hard time reorganizing the electronic connections on the nacelles.

Due to this new brightness I was now "allowed" to remove the clear red paint and add a soft black layer. In this way the ship will look like exactly as I wished... In the episode Anomaly (3^rd season) the Enterpise is out of energy and the nacelles and Bussard collectors look dark while when the energy is On, the nacelles are blue and the Bussard collectors are red. And this is what I want.

So, after everything is reorganized I finally glued together both halves. Next step: putty and sand.

• NX-6: So here we can see how the Bussard collector are organized. The light goes through the clear part and the small prisms give a very nice effect. In this picture we can also see how the blinking position light is done. The holes on the nacelles are too small and I did not want to make the hole bigger to place a 3 mm LED because it would be too much out of scale. The problem is solved with a single on LED for the bottom and the top and some 1 mm fiber optics....
• NX-7: Final connections inside the nacelles and one of them already glued.
• NX-8: We can see here the comparison between before and after I used a 5 mm High-brightness LED. Amazing, isn't it?. We can also have a look how the Bussard collector is modified. In the right side the clear part as it comes with the kit and in the left side how it looks like after some black paint.

Putty and sanding has taken two days. Hard work. After this is done, I have organized all the wires and glued the last two pieces belonging to the nacelles. One of these pieces had a very bad fitting and a small bit of styrene was needed for a good and strong bond. The putty and sanding of these pieces will be done later on.

While the final pieces on the nacelles were drying, I started to work on the engineering section and pylons. There will be a blinking LED in the bottom of the engineering and three blue LEDs will light up the impulse engines and the middle of the section. Some FO has been used to light the positional / navigational lights. The final look is very nice (in my opinion). The next step to come is fixing the pylons to the engineering section and the the nacelles to the pylons... 

• NX-9: Final look of the smooth nacelles.
• NX-10: We can see here the styrene bit used for a good fixing and the last pieces at place.
• NX-11: Work done on the engineering section. 

After fixing the pylons to the engineering section I started working in the lower half of the saucer. There are a lot of windows to be fixed and I take patience to do it. But the worst is still waiting: the perimeter walls of the saucer. They are supposed to be easy-snap and glue: I have never experience such a bad fitting in a model. Well it wasn't nothing that will be seen or something but it pisses me off that something supposed to be easy becomes difficult. I spent more than four hours to fix this thing...  When this was ready I fixed the lower half of the engineering section to the lower half of the saucer... Next thing to do: fix the upper half of the engineering section and warp engines. I'm looking forward to do it.

• NX-12: We can see here the pylons getting glued to the engineering section and all the windows in the lower half of the saucer.
• NX-13: The walls of the saucer must be painted in black for light blocking.
• NX-14: Walls getting fixed. In the lower half of the saucer we can see the bad fitting stuff. I had to use some styrene strips to achieve a strong bond.
• NX-15: Finally saucer and engineering section meet. Every time it gets better.

To fix the upper half of the engineering section has been a nightmare. There were a lot of gaps that I had to putty and sand... Additionally the left side was specially difficult, but to make it strong I added a piece of styrene strip. The result is most satisfying and strong. When the section is ready is now time to fix the nacelles and I did it one by one. I fix the left one, I leaved for drying 24 hours and then I fixed the right one. The  left nacelle has a very bad fitting (not surprising at this point of time) and a very small contact surface with the pylon. So if I leave like that the nacelle fill fall down in short time. The first thought to fix this gap could be putty, but I used styrene strips and glue. In that way there is a very strong bond between the nacelle and the pylon. The right nacelle has a better fitting than the left one and only minor touched ups will be necessary.

• NX-16: General view of the ship. The upper half of the engineering section is getting fixed. We can also see some minor gaps after the putting process. After the paint is applied no evidence of a gap will be seen.
• NX-17: A first light test in the upper picture. The second picture shows the styrene strip I glued in order to obtain a stronger bond between both halves.
• NX-18: To fix the nacelles I left the nacelle on a box, I soldered all the wires and protected these wires with an isolating stuff (teflon tube in this case).
• NX-19: We can see here the horrible gap in the left nacelle. This gap has been corrected adding styrene strips and glue. In that way the bond is unbelievable strong.
• NX-20: Second nacelle on its way. It is looking better day by day.

Today has been an electronically day. Loads of soldering and light tests. But first of all I checked the right nacelle I glued yesterday and it turned out to be well fixed and without a big gap but only a very thin one. This gap has been fixed in first instance with styrene and glue and tomorrow I will leave it clean and smooth with putty. The next thing has been the impulse engines, there were a pair of clear parts to be added and tomorrow they will need some putty... the fitting is still not amazing.

Well and then I started doing light tests. Fortunately all the lights are still in working conditions. I fixed all the circuits and all the power wires together. To do all that work I fixed the ship in her base which I must say I really like it. All the circuits have been fixed with epoxy glue and finally I have been able to do what I planned right from the beginning: to fix all the circuits in the lower hull half, so that they will not fall because of the gravity...  Now there are only few thing to be finished and they are only white lights to illuminate the saucer, some navigational lights and some spot lights... the end is close.

• NX-21: As I said only some thin gaps. Styrene and putty will do the perfect join.
• NX-22: Impulse engines clear parts getting fixed. On the lower picture we see the first light check. Finally I had to use one inverter for each CCFL tube, but fortunately there is plenty of room.
• NX-23: Still the first light check. So far so good.
• NX-24: This is how my work bench looks like when a model is on its way.
• NX-25: Here is all already glued and still working... wow !!!

Not so many things done last three days. I have only fix the deflector dish which is, by the way, not easy. To get a better reality look, I sprayed a dull coat on the inner side, so the clear part is still clear but not transparent, it is not possible to see what is inside. The front side will be coated with liquid latex. After that I will fix it to the saucer. Why is it so?. The liquid latex will act as a mask, so I will be able to paint the ship and when finish it will be only matter to remove the latex and ready. The same technique will be applied to mask all the windows.

• NX-26: Building up of the deflector dish and dull coat.
• NX-27: Let there be light !

Finally some internal lighting is done. Fortunately and surprisingly with only 3 high-brightness white LEDs is enough to light up all the windows. The effect is very nice but the blue light from the warp nacelles doesn't allow it to be fully shown, but this problem will be solved in the painting process. In the very same working day I also try out how to set up the spot lights: the ones which illuminate the name and registry numbers... This will be difficult because no studio model of this ship has never been done. Everything is CGI. Additionally when there is a studio model, this spot light are (usually) not build in the model, but somewhere else in the studio. Consequently this effect is very difficult to achieve. The next things to be done are to set up these spots lights and all the other lights in the upper half of the saucer.

Note: The following pictures were done with my cellular phone because I left my digicam in my working place.

• NX-28: Some light working !
• NX-29: Even more light.

Some touches on the lighting has been finally done. One very important thing left was a light blocking for the blue LEDs of the deflector dish. It will block the blue light to go somewhere else. This light blocking has been done with styrene sheet and painted with flat black for a better blocking. Before to glue both halves I did a small hole on the female snap pylons. Why?. OK, let's see: these snap pylons are usually very well done, the fit is very good. If I put glue in them and I attach the male pylons, the air won't be able to go outside and the saucer half will not lay as it has to. The small hole lets the air go out and the saucer half lay perfectly on place. So after some final light tests were done I glued everything together  and with some clamps I left it curing. As usual, some fits are not OK but nothing that can't be fixed... Next step: putty and painting.

• NX-30: So this is the hole for air escaping.
• NX-31: Final look at all the electronically set.
• NX-32: Final light test before no-back glue step.
• NX-33: After the glue, on Dry Dock.

Two days has been enough for the glue to get completely dry. After removing the clamps everything remained at place. All the small gaps have been filled with white putty and smoothed with some drops of isopropanol. When all the putty was cured it was time for the primer coat. Tamiya grey works just fine for it. Before painting all the ship I took semitransparent black paint and I applied a couple of coats to the warp nacelles. It will fade a little bit down the brightness of the CCFL tubes. When this fading paint was dry I masked it with painting tape and the painting work has started. This ship has a metallic look so I took  Tamiya Gun Metal (X-10) as a base coat and Tamiya Chrome Silver (X-11) for the aztec panels. The base coat has been applied all over the ship and now it has to dry for 24 hours before to apply the aztec panels. Unfortunately the pictures do not show the real effect of the painting.

• NX-34: Putty process on it way.

• NX-35: Fading down the light of the warp nacelles.

• NX-36: Primer coat done !

• NX-37: It is much more impressive if you see her directly.

After 4 days dealing with the Frisket film, all the upper half of the saucer has been already masked. All the other parts have been masked with normal painting tape. To paint the aztec panels I took 2 parts of Tamiya Chrome Silver and three parts of flat black and all diluted with isopropanol/water (8:2). The final effect looks really nice. Next things to be done the bottom of the saucer and some minor details...

• NX-38: Before applying the paint for the aztec panels.
• NX-39: Final look... wow !

After some days out of order (my neck  was on a hell of pain and I wasn't able to move) I've been able to finish the aztecking in the bottom half of the saucer. A lot of Frisket film has been spent for this (and much more of my patience), but the result is perfect (and not only because I have done it...). The aztec panels can only be seen with the correct light, and this is the most difficult effect to achieve. Now the only thing left to do is some minor detail painting, decaling and maybe some weathering (I'm thinking in some shadows in the corners and so on). Unfortunately, during the bottom aztecking, one of the stand pylons got broken. With a little bit of scratchbuilding the pylon has been repaired without further problems.

• NX-40: Everything ready to be aztecked.
• NX-41: Final look of the bottom half of the sauce section.
• NX-42: Pylon reparation process

Easy work last hours: detailing of the surface and some weathering. This weathering is only airbrush shadowing in the saucer, pylons and nacelles. When everything has dried, a layer of Future has been applied and now the ship is ready for decal application.

• NX-43: General view of the ship already detailed and weathered.
• NX-44: Closer look.

Decal application has taken 5 days and my neck health. A lot of decals for a nice detailing. I must to say that I have never seen such a bad decals!!! Unbelievable thin and they break only to look at them. Some of them broke so badly that I had to do my own decals to replace them... But the work is worth of the result. The ship looks now very nice. Now it is only matter of dull coating.

• NX-45: Some closer looks.

• NX-46: Some more !

Future and dull top coat has been applied without problems. The stand has been painted in flat black and I have printed a decal with the NX-01 patch. I'm very satisfied with the final result.

• NX-47: General view.
• NX-48: Some details.
• NX-49: From the stern.
• NX-50: General view with lights.
• NX-51: Details.
• NX-52: More details.

So that was it.

Thanks for looking !!!