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U.S.S.
ENTERPRISE - N.C.C. 1701
Polar Lights - 1:1000 Build between March and April 2005 |
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| This document shows my very first model kit for eight years. For the first time I used an airbrush and electronics. So this report could be helpful for people who, as well as me, is taking contact with this activity for the first time. I like Star Trektm very much so I choose the original Enterprise to start. The lighting will be spinning lights in the Bussard collectors, yellow light in the bottom of the nacelles, position blinking lights in the top of the saucer and inner light in the main and secondary hull. 1st day My kit has finally arrived. I bought it by eBay (the closer Sci-Fi store is about 80 Km from my home) and it always takes a while. I have arrived home before my wife, so the first thing I do is tidy up the house, wash the dishes and so on. Now my conscience is relaxed and I can start working. With this kit it is possible to build three different ships, as everybody knows. I decided to build the one from the first season (round nacelles bottom, etc.), so the first thing I do is to separate the parts I am going to use from the rest. I have two nacelles types and that is great because with the pair I do not want I can do some training for the electronics. After I got the pieces I sand every sharp or rest from the plastic trees. The kit looks good, but a big copyright from Polar Lights must be removed from the bottom of the saucer. Tomorrow I'm going to buy putty to smooth the V pylons. To finish the day, I apply the light stopper inside the kit.
2nd day Today I arrived late from work and I am very tired. I decided to start the lighting of the nacelles. I will attach a timer chip inside each nacelle. It will give a spinning effect of the Bussard collector. In this collector there is place to add a round circuit board with 4 LEDs (3 mm). It will be two red and two yellow situated alternatively. When connected to the chip (CMSO 4060) they will blink consecutively, first the red ones and later the yellow ones. It will be possible to choose the blinking frequency via a variable resistor. The chip will be soldered to a circuit board. Using the same board it is possible to give light for a LED that I want to put in the bottom of the nacelles. I draw the designed circuit on a virgin board (board with a layer of cupper). The lines and dots must be done with a permanent marker (water resistant). After cutting off the round board I put it into an Iron Chloride (III) solution. The iron (III) is an oxidant cation and it oxidizes the cupper from the board from cupper (0) to cupper (II) cation, which is soluble in water. At the same time the iron (III) is reduced to iron (II). All the process is known as Red-Ox reaction. Al the cupper from the board will react unless it is lined with the permanent marker. Chemistry is useful (sometimes). Today I have only done one of the round board circuits, tomorrow more.
3rd day Today it is an easy day. I finished the other round circuit board. In this one I have not been able to draw the correct circuit into the board and I fixed doing some connections via cable. It is pretty difficult to do exactly the same twice... While the circuit was in the FeCl3 bath, the base coat has been applied to the kit. Once everything is ready, the LEDs have been soldered to the circuit. I have a large experience in soldering and I still find very useful the soldering paste. Applied with a small brush on the surfaces to be soldered it helps a lot.
4th day More electronics for today. I draw the circuit board for the chip and other elements. I got the idea of using this chip from the article of Clyde Jones available on http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/cj_blink.htm I strong recommend to read this article for a deeper understanding of this device. I follow the same procedure as yesterday and I still have time for soldering the components on the board and have it a try... and it works!!!. In the article of Clyde Jones it is mentioned to use a 470 K Ohms resistor attached to the chip. With this resistor I did not find any good combination to simulate the spinning effect. So I changed this resistor for a variable one (up to 0.5 M Ohm) and varying the resistance it is possible to vary the frequency. I finally have chosen to attach the spinning LEDs to the pins 5 and 6 of the chip (the polarity does not matter, because it is switching between pins and therefore we have the spinning effect). For the frequency I choose a resistance of 66 K Ohm. Pictures of the day:
5th day Today I am going to fix the circuit inside the nacelles. Before I do so I want to make up a little bit the clear part, the Bussard collectors. These clear parts are really clear, transparent. If I leave it so we will see the LEDs from the outside, which won't look very nice. So I take a motor tool and sand the clear part from inside. It makes a diffuse effect that will look much better. After this is done, I do several attempts to fix the board inside the nacelle. Of course it doesn't fit at once and the motor tool is used again to make the board a bit smaller. It is also necessary to remove some snap pins from both halves of the nacelles. I'm a bit afraid to do so, but it is important to remind that this kit was though to be a Snap Together kit, which finally will not be, I will glue as usual. So I do it and at the end everything fits. After a try to see if the pylons still fit and to draw where the guides for the power wires will be done. I go to sleep.
6th day I started removing the material of the V pylons to do the guides. The only cable available at this moment in my usual electronic store is 1 mm thick, so the guides must be relatively deep. And so I do. The wires are fixed to the V with epoxy glue and when it becomes more or less dry the two V are also glued. I let it drying and later on putty is applied to smooth the V system. The next step is to fix the pylons and the nacelles together. This is supposed to be done when both halves of the nacelles are already fixed, but in my case I fixed the corresponding half of the nacelle and then I fix the other half. In this way I can glue the pylon and the nacelle for the inner side and the bond becomes much stronger. And then I let it drying overnight.
7th day Today I am going to finish the nacelles. I remove the pressure devices and everything remains at its place. So now it is putty time. I applied putty everywhere: at the bottom, the connections between parts, etc.… Sanding is also done today. Finally the Bussard collectors are painted in clear red. But the most important thing, the lighting still works. Pictures of the day:
8th day It is time to start with the main hull. It is my idea to light it up with two white 5 mm LEDs in the middle and one yellow 3 mm LED in each window on the edge of the hull. Step by step I drilled the windows in both saucers and apply white paint where the yellow LEDs are going to be. White color reflexes the light very well and black color, on the other hand, absorbs it. So with a bit of white paint the lighting is supposed to be more effective.
9th day I don't know why, but it was the wrong decision to paint and apply decals onto the nacelles. The only problem in this decision is that later on I will have to protect them when the final painting is to be done. Live and learn. When the nacelles are ready I paint the saucer (both halves) and when it is dry I put tape in the windows and filled them with epoxy resin from inside. After letting the resin dry I got very nice and transparent windows. I continue with the lighting. I tried several combinations and finally I decided no to put the yellow LEDs because the hull is not thick enough and even if I drill the hull a little bit, both halves don't fit correctly. So I add a layer of white on the entire inner surface. The blinking LEDs, green on the right and red to the left side, are attached in their holes and I leave long wires to connect them inside the secondary hull. Finally I glued both halves of the saucer and fixed with tape to keep them together overnight.
10th day Today it is going to be a long day. I started to do a similar process for the windows in the secondary hull as I did in the main hull. But I just remembered that I have extra stickers (and additional option with the kit, useful in the case that the builder doesn't like decals) and I will use them to mark where the windows will be. The windows process runs as before and when I finish with that I prepare the chip for the position lights in the main hull. I do it without circuit board to save some place and I use a 470 K Ohm resistor instead of a variable one. The chip is fixed inside the secondary hull and one 5 mm blue LED is fixed in the secondary hull connected in parallel to a 3 mm blue LED in the bottom of the ship, close to the shuttle bay. When I'm sure that everything still works I sand the main hull. The next step is to fix all the wires in the secondary hull and proceed to glue the main hull to the neck. For the nacelles power cables I arrange a cable from the bottom of the ship to the deflection dish hole. Later on I will solder these wires with the nacelles ones and then push them to the deflector dish hole. I do the same for the cables for the main hull. When all the mess of cables is more or less organized I glue the two halves of the secondary hull. After a couple of hours the saucer section is fixed with the neck. All the cables ends are in the deflector dish hole for the final connection. The cables for the main power supply is not missing and it will go out to the vessel for the same place as the stand is suppose to be. The nacelles cables are soldered and step-by-step the cable is put inside the vessel and put out for the hole. Now comes the critical moment. When I tried to fix the nacelles to the ship I realized that I fixed the nacelles in the wrong direction. So if I now fix the V, as it should be, then the Bussard collectors will be n the bottom of the ship… When I explained it to my wife she cannot help herself but start laughing and, at the moment I'm writing these lines (4 days since the accident) she is still laughing. And she is right; I was fool to don't check it twice or three times. What can I do know?? I glued as well as I can and tomorrow I will sand it and so on…
11th day The V pylon problems have been solved. Today is a putty day. I apply putty everywhere to make all the seams smooth. Unfortunately I will have to paint all the ship again and so I have a problem with the windows. But it could be worse… The final wire connection has been done and the cables have been hidden inside the hull. Everything fits.
12th day Today is finally painting day. To solve the windows problem I drill the windows again and when the paint is dry I apply the epoxy resin very carefully. The result doesn't look bad. Finally a little bit of so-called weathering is applied to give a realistic look to the model and later on the decals. It is the very first time that I use an airbrush so I'm a bit afraid to mess up the entire model. Finally it has not been bad at all. Only the glossy coat is left… !!!
13th day Today it's easy. Only some clear coat and to take some pictures. Only a nice stand is left, but I will do it next week.
Outlook If I had to do this kit again there are some things I would like to do different: I would use fiber optics for all the windows. I would do the windows at the end directly. I would also use directly the correct normal resistors for the chips in the nacelles (my electronic store is far away and I had no fun to drive). The chip for the position lights would be inside the saucer o even better I would try to control all the blinking LEDs with only one chip. I had a lot of fun with tis kit and I'm looking forward for thee Enterprise 1701-A from Polar Lights. It has been useful to get in touch with the modeling again and try an airbrush for the first time. |
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| Last updated: 11.01.2011 |
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