Aztek Dummy Update 6/14/19 - it's the big one!!!

A little light house keeping and then we jump in head first to the biggest project yet.
13 years in the making...

[@tmseh]

Looks like I picked the wrong night to stop watching KZbin! Congratulations on the wins.

[@sciwolf359]

POD should have won Gold. It’s amazing!

[@johnpatrickfay5288]

Congratulations sir, must have been a heavy weekend for you. Your Eva pod was a Gold in my book.

[@mikegilliam]

Wow, I can't believe the EVA Pod didn't take a gold! What's wrong with those judges? To me it's the most awesome kit I've ever seen especially with the video screens. Simon Mercs posted his Wonderfest video which I watched and it includes you and your kits. There were some nice kits there for sure. The Big E is going to be something special Lou! I remember you showed me that kit when I came over for a visit. I can't wait to see it all come together. I'm already waiting for the next update! :)

[@markmcdonald1704]

I love it be looking forward to updates. I hope that this isn't the last model we watch you build. I have so enjoyed watching your builds. Keep on modelin.

[@veedubb67]

Weather Vane - What a great idea!

[@3ccdmike]

😮 that is crazy Lou ! You got this.

[@cwam1701e]

Disco night on the Enterprise - a whole new world of possibilities!! This is going to be a great build - looking forward to following your progress.

[@MichaelRyanCovert]

Goodness, what a kit!! How much did this bugger cost back when it was released?

[@ShawnMcClureModeler]

Really cool project.

[@DeadAzCustoms]

Amazing old man, I'm 54 and the enterprise was one of my first, can't wait! I'm positive you'll inspire the next generation.

[@billybobbarklow8289]

Yes, Lou, it seems like forever I've been wanting to see this project come to life. But you've always kept my attention focused on your weekly vids. WOW, this will be a GOLD for next year. Looking great so far........... Once all those widows are drilled and filled, I will seem like a cake walk. Eagerly awaiting next week's installment on your "Enterprising Venture" Build on Brother. 😎

[@nicholasdickens2801]

I am looking forward to this build. I can only think about how great this build will be. ♥️

[@telerulz]

Damn!!!... Big kit. 😳

[@karlkeys6348]

Congratulations on your wins! I have never been to Wonderfest but my brother has been going for years. I have been watching your videos for awhile now and must say I am in awe of your work sir!! You truly are a master of the craft! Keep up the great videos and I can’t wait to see the big E completed!

[@WaybackTECH]

I got a kick out of the model of TOS Enterprise firing on Discovery on display @ Wonderfest. This will be something to behold when it is complete and lit up.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

The Enterprise gets it's first retrofit! An exciting project, i never realized a kit like this existed.

[@YdnarLah37]

I'm envisioning teeny tinny little film gels behind each of those windows with scenes from the show.

[@johngrubb1590]

THAT IS ONE HELL OF A KIT. looking good so far & wonderfest grand job.

[@mantismodels1207]

Wow Lou! Congrats on Your wins at Wonderfest. Can't wait to see You tackle this behemoth of a kit. Its gonna be so cool when You finish it.

[@ChisWest]

Way to go Lou, THe Big E is just the ticket and you are in your prime. I have enjoyed all of your posts and look foreword to the next ones.

[@Briandoesit]

Congrats on the awards. I'm glad to hear you're starting to feel better. This build is going to be exciting. Old school fiberglass body is pretty cool.

[@InterstellarModeler]

wow...this is amazing Lou

[@davidowen2923]

So excited to see this completed Lou. Trek and Star Wars are my favourites

[@johntakacs9441]

Great job at Wonderfest! Your work inspires me every single video! Can't wait to see the next installment on this massive endeavor!

[@kurk1701a]

Congrats on your awards well earned for all your hard work and effort. I can hardly wait for the build series proper to start. Oh you have started cool, looking good , the wire connection point at the dish end could still be used as is buy using other connection points in the different areas in the ship to tie all the like circuits together and then take them to the central connection point so you can add the remote control circuit to that to operate the ships lighting. A vacum cleaner would help keep the fiberglass residue contained and not airborne to settle elswear.

[@tachi98lep]

Who will win: the Enterprise or Lou? This looks like a great project and it will look awesome when complete. Good Luck and happy modeling!

[@MiniModelPaint]

This is such an exciting project, Lou! As you said - a little different to the classic AMT kit we all know and love... Have you looked into UV-cured clear resin? I wonder if that would speed up your window production - especially on the curved hull sections. Can’t wait until next week’s update!

[@MrChief101]

Yeesh-- The BIG ONE. Well, bate my breath. The only thing I've read about the Key Enterprise is that the pylon mount area cracked. Looking at it with new eyes (I avidly followed Key's old web site about the making of this thing) I would highly recommend you figure out a supporting device inside the hull and next to the mount shapes. Something like a piece of 1/4" acrylic cut in a shape that snuggles up to the inner hull AND lies flat to the mounting shape on the inside. Then either epoxy all around and/or add some exterior screws. if you can get the shape to mate up to the acrylic inner support-- again, with screws -- so much the better. Those nacelles could be made out of spider webs and they're still shaped just right to exert all kinds of twisting moment on the pylon base.

[@LiamDillon]

Congrats on the Wonderfest wins and good luck with the Big E!

[@GYRUSS]

Your bronze award would make a good if not very different tunic communicator.

[@joel4166]

I'm still scared to start my 1/350 This! Wowzers! kool i'm excited to this

[@scifiguy26]

Amazing👍🖖

[@adrianwelch1435]

now that's old school

[@Mu-podcast]

That is a thing of beauty. I know it's not a set scale, but eyeballing it looks somewhere in the range of 1/100. I think the warm or daylight lights look good too. These are rooms that people are in, so what lighting would they have? Are you thinking of any rooms being visible? Does the TOS ship have an arboretum? Dan

[@aztekdummy]

Well it is one half scale to the filming miniature. And basically two times the size of the 350 so 175 scale?

[@p.j.c.2.0]

OMG that one big model Lou can't wait to see it finished. By the way there do you get your rolls of vinyl tape I keep trying to find rolls like what you use but I never can seem to find anything ?

[@tonyl7418]

Lou, huge project!

[@RonTHX]

Whoa, look at the size of those intercoolers!

[@AvengerII]

I was too busy boggling at the sizes of the deflector array and nacelle endcaps! Damn, that thing's gonna be heavy when it's fully assembled. He'd better display it on the floor OR get his ceiling reinforced.

[@petergreen8674]

Congratulations on the awards, Lou, although I can't believe the judges thought the EVA pod was only worth a bronze. When you'd mentioned the 66" Enterprise in the past I just assumed it was one of Steve Neill's "Big E" kits. Didn't know there was another version out there - will be interesting to see how it goes together. So - no way to put a shuttlebay in there?

[@AvengerII]

66" would be approximately HALF Studio-Scale. I believe Steve Neill's Enterprise kit WAS Studio Scale -- 11ft, 2 in (134 inches)-- just like the Enterprise miniature hanging in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in the Washington Mall. He didn't make too many of those kits. Probably under 30. I'm guessing he made around 10, maybe 12 of them. There were "only 12 like her in the Fleet" and he would have played on that symbolism, for sure. Neither of these kits are cheap... And Polar Lights "only" charges around $130 for their ~3-ft STYRENE model. (The 1/350 Refit kit is about $40-$50 cheaper on average than the 1/350 TOS Enterprise but it was designed earlier and I think the Refit slightly more popular among Star Trek fans now. It goes back and forth in popularity. It's a safe bet that many people who have a 1/350 scale Enterprise probably have both the Refit and TOS versions.) I'm not going to even ask exact prices for the Half-Scale or Full-Scale Kits... They are in at least the low four-figure range (OVER $1500) easily. The vacuum-formed TOS Enterprise they sold at the old Viacom Store in Chicago, based off of Greg Jein's DS9 TOS Enterprise, was probably around $20,000 (inflation adjusted) and that was fully-painted (but not lit). That was about half-scale size, too. I saw it in person and it was impressive.

[@SeansModelBuilds]

@@AvengerII I have the 350 scale Refit: paid $130 Cdn for it two years ago. You are right, the 350 scale TOS kot is mpre expensive: it cost me $183 Cdn. But it was the 50th Anniversary kit: that could have had something to do with it.

[@AvengerII]

@@SeansModelBuilds I believe the TOS kit was more expensive because of development costs. The funny thing is that Master Replicas did a very nice job with their mass-market miniature and the Polar Lights/Round 2 model kit is virtually identical to the Master Replicas model replica. Boyd Crompton (sp?) at TrekWorks has a Master Replicas Enterprise miniature and a Polar Lights/Round 2 Enterprise he build as the Second Pilot version. You look at those two together and the dimensions are virtually identical. I don't know that the companies (MR and PL/R2; seems doubtful) shared any information. It seems like a lot of the information about the TOS Enterprise's model dimensions was obtained during the "restoration"/repaint for the 25th anniversary of Star Trek. The paint job was botched and they used the wrong colors and put in a lot of horrible overshading and panel lines the 11-ft model never had in the 1960s. The important good thing that came out of the 1991 exhibition repair is that detailed measurements of the 11-ft model were finally taken and they determined the length of every major component and most major angles on that original 11-ft model. Those measurements were passed on to a few people including Steve Neill and probably the PL/Round 2 TOS 1/350 development team. (Remember, the 1/350 scale is based on the theoretical size of the 1960s Enterprise which is about 950 ft length but the model kit is about 1/4 scale to the surviving hero shooting miniature from the 1960s.) I think as popular as the original Enterprise still is, PL/Round 2 might have sold quite a few more TMP Enterprise kits and been able to keep the price on that kit down. The difference was at least $40-$50 American between the kits from the last time I checked. The TMP Enterprise seems to be the most popular design of the Enterprise in general. Between the two kits, over and over again you hear that the Movie Enterprise/TMP version is the harder one to build and paint well. There was scuttle butt that the TOS 1/350 scale kit didn't sell as well as Round 2 had hoped but there's still demand for it (Boyd Crompton's built 46 of those 1/350 scale models for as many clients) so they've had three major editions (with at least 4 different box styles) at least since it was released.

[@SeansModelBuilds]

@@AvengerII I saw the restored Enterprise in 2018, having seen it Pre-Restoration in 2013.

[@AvengerII]

@@SeansModelBuilds It looks very nice now, doesn't it? I saw it in a video online when they had the gala re-opening with the model in its place in the NASM. It looks as close as possible as they can realistically get it to the 1960s appearance again. Much, much better than the 1991 restoration. I think the nacelles have more support, too. The problem with the nacelles on the TOS Enterprise is that they're anchored on a weak point on the model right about the shuttle bay. That's NOT a good place to put any kind of weight. It's not particularly strong, not reinforced well. The attachment point of the nacelles in the Refit is much better and stronger. What tends to happen tends with the 1960s Enterprise over time is if the nacelles don't droop first (to the rear) is that the pylons will splay outward to the sides because of gravity. It happens with the plastic models and toy reproductions of the original Enterprise and from what I read it was starting to happen with the 11-ft model, too. It's nearly 60 years old. I hope it's anchored well enough and that the back isn't supporting the full weight of the nacelles.

[@timduggan1962]

Lou, near the end of the video I saw the two motors for the Bussard collectors. I've been searching the Interwebs for suitable motors for the 1:350 because I've heard that Polar Lights' motors are a bit noisy. Have any ideas?

[@Lethgar_Smith]

I saw a video where the builder wrapped the motors in a thin sheet of that foam packing material. That kind of stuff that small electronic parts are often wrapped in for shipping. He then packed the nacelles with cotton balls and it cut the sound by more than half, I'd say.

[@aztekdummy]

@@Lethgar_Smith as long as it doesn't make the heat build up, that sounds good

[@veedubb67]

So I gotta ask Lou - where ya gonna put it?

[@TwistedSisterHaratiofales]

Now I really want to start on the 1:72 Constitution.

[@redgreen09]

O M G thats nuts think at air and space musiem in DC seen two times and nun of pics came out whas the 1960s TV show ship and thoght whas big YASH well will tune in as go ALL whay tell part blank thoght forge wold stuff whas big YASH will be seen em as post em

[@SpencerWolfe]

Man, I lusted after this kit when I first heard about it. But sadly I was in college and didn't have the time or money to get one. You should definitely let Ralph have a go with the electronics, especially the bussard blinkers. Also happy that you discussed how to use the nail acrylic. What were those brass looking parts on the table?

[@flemmingchristiansen2462]

It's not ragging, it is proof that you something about what you are doing. Congratulations.

[@TheSerpent753]

is that a lifesized Captain Kirk sitting in your captain's chair? When did you get that?

[@charlesforbin6937]

O.....M.....G!

[@rapscallion3506]

You need to embrace hand sanitizer when visiting shows.... Guaranteed to combat communicable diseases... Use it often...

[@franciscovarela7127]

Congratulations on the well deserved awards. You’re going to need a bigger house to display the really big E.

[@jhunt5440]

If anyone can build this, it’s you.

[@Lethgar_Smith]

Could't the windows be simplified by just placing a piece of frosted acetate behind the window holes? When I lit my 1/535 AMT refit Enterprise back in the 90's I used pieces of blue crepe paper glued in behind the window holes because I didn't have any acetate. The effect worked quite well with just a single flashlight bulb illuminating the saucer section.

[@aztekdummy]

The goal is to mimic the look of the actual prop where the windows are flush with the hull

[@Lethgar_Smith]

@@aztekdummy I see. That surprises me. I'm a huge fan of the original filming miniature but I've only seen it once while it was still in the Smithsonian gift shop. I wonder how they made the original windows. A similar technique or could it have been carved bits of acrylic jammed into the holes?

[@aztekdummy]

@@Lethgar_Smith it was acrylic rods sanded flush with the hull

[@Lethgar_Smith]

@@aztekdummy Cool. I learned something!

[@tonyl7418]

Lou, check this out.. there are 13 episodes. Google search “Arduino for Starships-CH04-Deflector Dish Warp face effect” Amazing use of electronics, a little long winded, but well explained. Well worth the watch. Do this before you do any lighting stuff, you may get some good ideas. I already asked if he had developed a pcb, but sadly no, at this time.