2021 Edition 1/1000 USS Excelsior Build PT 2. - Building and lighting.

[@Airius84329]

I enjoyed watching all your review and build videos, and even used them to help me achieve my own Excelsior build. Long story short, wasn’t feeling too great about life, got Covid, and I’d stopped building my USS Reliant project for six months. Watching how easy you were able to light it, and religiously watching your reviews and tutorials, I got myself to get a bunch of raw materials and just start doing it, even if it was just a step at a time, and I might mess up. Now I happy to have my TUC version of the Excelsior on my shelf. Thank you for all your content. :)

[@stevenewman1393]

So far a very nicely well done and executed in every detail way shape and form and coming out very nicely looking so far indeed Sir!.

[@tomsamper4345]

fun painting and gave me a few ideas for some of my kits. One thing that I have considered as a solution for the top of the nacel conundrum was a technique from some old school model kits tips that I learned from a VHS tape in the days before the internet of accessable LED's, you can paint the piece with a clear color like you did and then line it with a slightly crumpled aluminum foil on the inside such that it will reflect any outward light and give you a glow. I think it would likely have an added benefit of assisting in light blocking in this scenario to give you the effect that internal lights glow along the side and there is an extra swirl of color and reflective glow above

[@markbelsom3174]

Apart from the warp nacelles the Excelsior is a completely new kit and much better then the original.

[@crazyhorsecreations1334]

Like the fact that polar lights upgraded the kit the original bridge is way to small the NX bridge is the correct size as far as drilling I found that using a small jigsaw wood saw bit taped to the hull makes an excellent guide

[@fleshanthos]

REAL Star Trek! Upvoted vid!

[@germansnowman]

I love the 1400 scale ships, but I have to say that some of the 1000 scale ships do look very nice.

[@johnblack9885]

So interesting to see all of the different builds to this kit. Some guys light it the hard way with dozens of LEDs they have to solder with resistors and a mess of wires and then there’s the simple way with LED strip lighting that looks just as good IMO. Any suggestions for where to buy strip lights?

[@carminemaio429]

It would be nice to see you doing it cheers

[@slighter]

Yeah, I was think about how to guide the drill bit. Maybe using a needle or pinvice to make little indentations before actual drilling might do the trick? I will try that out on my next build.

[@davidjames1389]

Yeah when I drilled out the lights on my 1/1000 Refit recently I found it very helpful to poke holes at the center of each one first, so the drill bit stays centered.

[@backpacker3421]

Your experience seems like mine with these Polar Lights kits. Yeah, they are an improvement... but compared to Bandai and other top notch manufacturers, they leave a LOT to be desired. The fit is merely less bad, and the engineering really makes you wonder if anybody on that team has ever built a scale model kit.

[@eugenerusselnash]

Heya! I’m Loving the Build So Far! I’m Particularly Impressed with How you dealt with the Hotspots in your Warp Nacelles. Your Technique Beats that Horrible Fibrefill Hands Down and the Lighting Channels in the Primary Cargo Bay is an Effective Solution to its Light Dispersal Issues. The Raytheon Lighting is One of the Best that I’ve Seen so Far. And You’ve Used LED Strip in a Loop so that there is no Shadowing of Any Wiring that would have otherwise been used. Impressive. There are Some Snags with this Kit. The Star Trek III NX-2000’s Docking Bay is Actually Lit Up Blue on the Inboard. There is no Glass Piece For This so I imagine that a Blue LED And Raytheon Effect Would be Used For This? Also Upon the Secondary Hull, the Warp Nacelle Pylons are Actually Moulded Back To Front? There should be Three Matter Intakes Facing Forward and Two Facing Aft. The Warp Nacelle Rails are Also Missing? Round 2 Managed not to Change this Very Essential Detail for those who really Demand a Better Model? Years Ago when I Built the Old Kit for a Customer I really went Beyond the Models Original Specifications. There was a Lot to Rectify. The Interconnected Neck and Primary Hull Base are All Wrong! Even on this New Kit, as the Base Should Be Deeper and the Lip of the Neck Thicker, More Angled and Pronounced. I have Four of these Kits, One the Enterprise-B. And Still I Feel that it will be a Hard Jaunt to Get Them where I want them to Be! I remember Drilling Out the Windows on the Old Kit. But I Sanded Out All the Inaccurate Grid Lines First. It made laying down the Templates for the Windows Much Easier. I also used a fine drill bit. I cannot remember how small but it had to be smaller than 0.5 as this would give the smaller model greater scale. I lost quite a few drill bits on that project as they were not coated or hardened back then. I didn’t use Aztec Decals for the Project as they can make the model Look too dark! I Actually Masked the Aztec Detail Myself in Fine Scale. This Gave a better contrast between all the coloured elements. I’m Looking Forward to Seeing Your Completed Build! Superb Work! Best

[@johnbockelie3899]

Glad to see that long tractor beam strip under the ship is molded on. I've got an original 1990's. Excelsior model it was torture trying to paint it on with nothing to go by.

[@Barbariandisks]

That aft piece is actually the aft photon launchers

[@Barbariandisks]

Also those tie cockpits are for the Excelsior refit

[@James-rn7dx]

You had the part that goes on the top of the nacelle backwards.

[@MJKToys]

The clear?

[@johnpatrickfay5288]

Still awaiting an Enterprise B

[@dboy66621]

Hi What size battery wire did you use? Awsome video!

[@spitfire1358]

What size drill bits did you use for the windows?

[@richardgrahame5408]

Enjoyed watching your build, but you have missed the green and red lights off and other lights.

[@alanwright7819]

For the life of me, I’m just not understanding how you lit the spotlights on the top and bottom of the saucer section. I didn’t see any areas that seemed capable of projecting a directional light onto the saucer surface (I hope that description makes sense).

[@RFAurora]

Do you know if there is a decal set available to make this the Enterprise B?

[@benflay6038]

Realy nice like the defused lights like the enterprise C it's always to bright I want to get the dst variant and add

[@robertjensen1094]

Just a comment for the algorithm.

[@samcoates358]

Hello my friend I have a challenge i am trying to do a 1/1000 scale uss defiant I would link to see you do a video on this to help me out and I am big fan and I have done this to the uss enterprise you did

[@secondaryadjunctofu0]

Hey what kind of drill do you use to get the windows cut out?

[@WeyounLP]

This looks wonderfull! Can you explain how the spotlight for the registry works? is it just an LED? how do you get that cone shape`?

[@slighter]

It's called reaytheon. He blocked an area of that shape with masking on the inside while painting and lightblocking the rest of it. After the removal of the tape the light shines right through the thin plastic of the kit.

[@WeyounLP]

@@slighter oh, I see! thanks

[@johnbockelie3899]

Mine would be NX-2000, the great experiment.

[@carminemaio429]

Hi just wondering how you did the flood light on the front ?

[@emperor187]

Check out the masking he did on the inside of the saucer, around the 4m mark. Commonly called raytheon lighting, it let's your light bleed through the plastic creating the effect.

[@johnbockelie3899]

He masked off the front flood light on the inside of the saucer .and painted the inside. The light will bleed through the plastic from the inside. Same with the saucer bottom for that light. Gives the impression of flood lights on the registry number when done.

[@Boneses82]

Do you fill the drilled out windows, and if so what do you use?

[@MJKToys]

He didn't - but use canopy glue or if you have it and don't want it as clear use Elmer's

[@captainlogic3173]

Where do you get your model kits? I can't find the new excelsior locally or online.

[@MJKToys]

Got it for free...

[@captainlogic3173]

Thank you I didn't know if anyone would respond

[@secondaryadjunctofu0]

I have never done lighting. Is this a good kit to start with?

[@allscaletrek]

I don't think so. I think the Enterprise from Discovery is a good one to try and light. The Voyager from Revell is good. The Enterprise C and E are good ones to light too, but you have to drill out the windows. Those kits have indents to help you drill while this kit does not.

[@johnbockelie3899]

The deal under the fan tail is a photon torpedo launcher. Rear firing.

[@cwam1701e]

I light all my builds, and I love the Excelsior but I definitely wouldn't start with it as your first lighting project. If you can bear the shape of the secondary hull, the Revell TOS kit is excellent for lighting - in fact it was designed for it and Revell have produced a version that comes with a light kit. Again, if you like that sort of thing, the Revell JJprise is also good for lighting. The key thing is to start with a kit that has the windows already drilled out, it makes lighting so much easier. Once you start having to drill out the windows yourself then it is a bit of a pain, and it is also very easy to mess it up - as AST says, even a millimetre off is noticeable in a row of windows at this scale.

[@knives1705]

I too would have envisioned the top of the nacelles is what was meant to light up. Because on the constitution class the inner and outer grills are different materials, and the outer grill that doesn’t light up matches the excelsior grills. And the inner grill that does light up seems more similar to the top of the excelsior nacelles. The voyager excelsior model is so bad - it’s a shame it set the course for how excelsior nacelles light up.

[@muursnorthwestamexem8581]

Which kits from which company is the best based off plastic quality, correct size etc

[@loopmaster_5]

What is the different between the USS-Excelsior and the USS Enterprise-B ???

[@robertjensen1438]

Just a comment for the algorithm