Cool/Interesting/Funny Fanatic/Geek Movie/TV/'other' Collectible Stuff

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Got the secondary hull glued together and putty in the seams.

So, probably tomorrow I'll have to decide between these to options for the fantail:



Leaning towards the one on the left, it looks better in the dark, it's the one in the previous picture I posted...  The one on the right does look a bit better in normal room light.  Choices, choices....

[MartyS (Gromit)]

That's looking amazing.  I recently built the Enterprise Space Seed kit but would love to tackle that large scale kit.  Sadly, limited space currently forbids it.

I picked up one of those a while back, it's what made me want the big lighted one, I didn't do much with it as far as painting, just the highlights and decals.  And the seams are pretty bad.   I do want to paint the little Botany Bay, don't know why they made it in red plastic.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Had to get some copper paint for the deflector dish, so also picked up some styrene rod to put behind the pylon grills, but not sure the look will be worth all the work it will take to put them in:



Going to try a few different spacings to see if some look better than others, and maybe painting the background black will help them stand out.

Found a little push on, push off switch that I can mount next to the support rod, with a little hole drilled in the bottom of the model I'll be able to turn the bussard collector motors on and off with a paper clip.

Might have the fantail done enough tonight to get some pictures.

Oh, and something had to go wrong, after gluing the secondary hull together all the lights were working, after a day of working on the seams one side of my custom bay lights went out.  Oh well, at least the other side is on, and one side lights up the top enough to light up the bay and the little red and green outside lights.  It just looks wierd if you look in from below and see the top of the bay with one side much brighter than the other.

[LucasM]

A shame about the lights going out on half after being solidified together.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Yeah, I thought that side didn't look as bright, should have replaced them the moment I thought that.  It really doesn't hurt the look, only noticeable if you put your eye right up to the bay doors and look at the roof of the bay.

Looks like 3 is the magic number for the pipes I'm adding, 3 pipes spaced 3mm apart:



I'm working on some other pictures I took of the finished fantail, will post those if I get them done tonight.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Big pictures of the stern:

Spoiler

[MartyS (Gromit)]

This evenings saga was electrifying...

Realized the hole for the switch in the lamp stand was way too close to the top, so any switch I put in would prevent the rod that holds the model from going all the way in...  So, fairly simple solution, flip that section of the stand around, that puts the switch a bit low but not that bad, it's about half way up the stand.

Then went to add the connectors so I can remove the model from the stand, the gap between the printed circuit board and the area where the wire comes into the model was way too small for anything but really thin wire.  So had to really carefully get an exacto blade in there to cut a notch for the wire.

Then the wire I used was a little too fat and the solder joints at the connector were too big to avoid shorting out inside the tube.  So out with that wire in with different wire...

Once that was all done I got brave and glued the saucer section to the secondary hull.  Scary stuff....

Lots more pictures:

Spoiler

The notch I had to cut, and the little switch that will turn the motors on and off using a paper clip through a little hole in the bottom.


The connectors.

The connectors connected.


The stand with working switch.


The model so far lit up.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Rainy crappy weather, so an inside day for building....

Pylons dry fit to test the look of the pipes, I was thinking of adding extra pipes or half pipes (it's crazy the tiny stuff you can buy at the hobby shop, made for model railroad nuts enthusiasts) on the edges, but I think they would blend in with the hull color and ruin the look of the middle pipes.

Still going back and forth on the color for the sides of the impulse engines, hull color or dark grey?  The flat area will remain the color it is now, but I'm really stuck deciding what to do about the sides.  That part of the studio model changed quite often during the run of the show, so it really is a matter of taste...

As usual, big pictures:

Spoiler

[LucasM]

Rainy crappy weather, so an inside day for building....

Pylons dry fit to test the look of the pipes, I was thinking of adding extra pipes or half pipes....

Were there really that many skateboarders on the Enterprise?

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Rainy crappy weather, so an inside day for building....

Pylons dry fit to test the look of the pipes, I was thinking of adding extra pipes or half pipes....

Were there really that many skateboarders on the Enterprise?

Well, there was a bowling alley in the fantail according to some of the blueprints, so anything is possible. 

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I forgot about Riley mentioning the bowling alley.  In the 1973 blueprints it's full size with like 10 lanes and seating for 60, bowling must make a huge comeback in the future...

Well, almost done.  I had put string in to pull the wires for the nacelles through the pylons, didn't go as well as I planned, the string got in with the mess of wires in there already.  So, with the pylons already glued to the secondary hull I had to tie the string to the wire, push the wire down the pylon until I could see it and the string, then use a piece of wire with a hook bent onto the end to pull the string straight out through the web of wires, then use the string to pull the bussard collector wire out.

The long decal on the port side nacelle wouldn't move after putting it down, so it's slightly lower than it should be.  The other side went on fine and I could make small adjustments...

Glad I put the switch in to turn off the bussard motors, they are really loud, I put some foam in around them but it didn't help much to tone them down.

Took some video but it came out terrible, I'll see if nero can clean it up.  Thought it was because there wasn't enough light but even re-shooting with more  the video looks bad.  I'll have to see if there are some settings that have reset or changed, it's like there's too much compression or something making the video blotchy.

So it's all together, just some seam work left on the connections to the secondary hull, and a lot more decals, and the nacelles are not glued yet.  That will be last, it will have to sit upside down for a few days so the nacelles stay straight.


But it isn't going to look much different than this:

[LucasM]

Looks really nice!

[Johnny Unusual]

For those into Hollywood collectables, including a big David Hasslehoff model...
http://www.avclub.com/article/buy-lifelike-model-david-hasselhoff-or-other-insan-202797

[MartyS (Gromit)]

All the bottom decals are done, went on fairly easily, took a while to figure out exactly where to put those red lines on the saucer.  With them on it's a little easier to spot the error with the 3 round lights on each side, but not unless you really know what to look for...

She's starting to look like the Enterprise:





The decals on the nacelles have to go on before you put them on the pylons, since they go under the edges of the pylons, so that is one place I won't be able to fill, sand, and paint after gluing.

Still working on the bottom pylon seams so no more decals until that is done.  The giant registry number decal on the top of the saucer should be fun, hope it doesn't stick before I can get it in exactly the right place.  I'm hoping I can get enough water down first so it can float for a while, but it's a lot of area to cover...

[Bob]

You must dust that very carefully in the future