Polar Lights 1:350 Enterprise Refit - Part 17 - Saucer!

Today, we revisit the Saucer, working on the lower sensor dome as well as the impulse deck.

[@JimPaulJr]

Coming along very nicely Matt. On my models with my circuit boards, I put my boards in the base so if I ever need to replace them I just lay the model on its side and I get access to the circuit boards. I take it you are talking about the clear chiller grills. I painted mine black on the outsides and did no painting on the inside as I used blue led tape so that gives them the color. I mounted them on the top edge so you don't get any hot spots. After I had no light bleed through the clear plastic, I gave them a light over spray with Testors purple spray to give them that color that you see on photos of the studio model when they are not lit. After they were all painted up since the narrow grooves are where the light passes through, I made a little tool the same width as the grooves and was able to scrape the paint out with no damage to them. Afterwards I gave them a coat of Testors dullcoat and they looked great.I didn't have to do any masking by doing it this way other than on the back where they don't get lit up the full length. I did a bunch of videos on my refit recently with different room lighting so you might be able to see how they turned out.

[@mattsmodelshop]

That actually sounds like a great idea for the chiller grills! I may give that a shot. The first time I did them, I butchered them pretty nicely. I'd like to do a much better job this time. My skills have improved tenfold since then, so hopefully I can win this time. For me, it's a toss up putting the boards in the base vs. the saucer. If you put them in the base, you have to run a bunch of wires up the pole and into the model, where if you put it in the saucer, you usually need minimal wiring to go in. I guess it's a matter of 'how much are you willing to gamble?' In my experience, the arduino has been pretty reliable, but you're right, they can fail. We'll see how this goes. Remember, this build was going for 'ease of build'. Maybe not the best way, but more like just trying to make something you can put on the shelf and be proud of.

[@neilfsmith]

Glad to see this continuing! Thanks Matt!

[@mattsmodelshop]

I refuse to let it kill me! Actually, work has been kicking my rear, and that's really the only reason this has slowed down so much. I'm going to try to get some of it done this weekend. I'm really really close to closing the saucer!

[@jameshalse1132]

Hi thanks for insight ,lighting my kit at present and you're approach on under dome section has helped as all you're build is helping I have leds and only a basic pdf on alterations on kit so winging a lot from previous voyager build ,keep trekkie jim uk

[@mattsmodelshop]

Thanks for watching! I'm glad the video series helped in a small way for you. Keep cracking on!

[@gearhead762]

looking great so far Matt!

[@mattsmodelshop]

Thanks! I really appreciate it. And don't worry... there's more coming. Life keeps getting in the way of my fun!

[@stevethefishdotnet]

I suck. I lost track of this build after the 5th video or so. I need to go back and catch up! So if I don't care about changing colors, not all those wires will be necessary, right? I'm pretty stoked about the upcoming K'Tinga.

[@mattsmodelshop]

You lost track??!! I am shocked that you wouldn't keep up on such a high quality production such as this! :-D Yeah, not all the wires are necessary. And yes, it starts to look a bit like a rats nest, no matter how careful you are. Trust me, when you're doing it, it all makes sense. As far as not changing colors, that's how I did it with my 537. I just lit the deflector and crystal blue and didn't worry about the warp engines. It didn't have chiller grills, and the solution was to order aftermarket ones and cut out the nacelles. I just painted them gunmetal and said it was in impulse mode. It looks great! I'm only adding the extra modes so that it can be displayed in two ways instead of one. It just makes it a little more interesting. As far as the two modes go, you just install a switch in the base and run a power wire to it from the main power coming in. Then you have one side of the switch do warp effects and the other do impulse. You can flip between the two easily that way. You then just run the wires up and treat them like the power wires for any of the affected lights. It works really well. I really want to finish this build and get on to other things. I don't have a lot left, actually. It's about 60% complete, I'd say, possibly more. There'll probably be 10 more parts or so. I try to keep them short so as not to be boring! :-D

[@stevethefishdotnet]

I saw someone used a chip and something else to do a fader so that a switch would fade the LED between amber and blue. That would be cool to learn how to do. I only have the 537 Enterprise and I think I might only just have the blinking nav lights and strobes going and not fiddle with any switches. Still considering it. As far as video length goes, you'd be surprised at now non-boring that can be. Actually, I wanted to see how you connected the lights to the bottom sensor array, but you skipped over that. People often appreciate longer, more explanatory videos I've find. My own build videos have become longer and longer as a result.

[@mattsmodelshop]

You can easily do the fader for the deflector with the arduino. I've actually got one set up in my other build I've got going (that I'll finish sometime in the far future!). The lower sensor array really wasn't that bad. In a proper build, I would have used SMDs and lit each port individually, just by gluing each of the SMDs directly to the emitter. Since I used 3mm ones, all I did was hot glue them down to the inside of the sensor dome and had them sorta aim out the emitters. That worked pretty good, actually. It was actually one of those times when you get to building, and you forget that you're supposed to be filming this stuff! I forgot to pull out the camera and show it. I'll remember next time!