1/1000 NCC-1701 Refit - deflector dish colour?

[Raven Morpheus]

Hey all

I'm about to start work on my 1/1000 NCC-1701 Refit (well tomorrow (Sunday) actually), and I'll be lighting it up with a kit kindly made for me by our fellow Britmodeller madmonk of tirydiummodels.co.uk.

I've worked out how to paint the flux chiller grilles like the studio model so they light up with a blue glow but look dark (a kind of dark violet) when unlit...

...however I'm a little stuck on how to achieve the deflector dish colouring? It's the last piece of the puzzle I need to get my head around.

When not lit it's kind of a smokey dark grey. Then when it's lit it's blue (in most of the films, I believe it starts a kind of diffused bronze colour then goes blue) with the raised lines being black (or dark blue). In both states it's got those dark lines (like the marks on an analogue clock/watch face).

The kit madmonk made up for me has a blue LED for the deflector dish, so the blue glow is not a problem, but I have no idea how to make it work with a dark/smoke coloured clear piece because obviously that will change the colour of the blue glow, won't it?

I'm thinking use Tamiya Smoke but last time I tried that, on my WIP 1/43 X-Wing's canopy, it didn't work too well because you could hardly see it had any smoke colour, and I had to mix in some opaque paint to achieve the sort of effect I wanted (although I might have overdone it)...

Would anyone here have any other ideas on how to paint the clear part to achieve the desired effect?

Is it actually the case that they used 2 different models and I won't be able to achieve that lighting effect?

Unfortunately I also have no idea how to change the engineering hull stripe and insignia from red to green back to red like in TMP...

Example screengrab (TMP) of the deflector dish off state -

Example screengrab (TWOK) of the deflector dish on state -

TIA

Edited July 30, 2016 by Raven Morpheus

[Raven Morpheus]

Found my answer. Apparently according to Boyd of Youtube channel Trekworks the studio model has the deflector dish painted a very light grey/off white on the back. I guess the dark area on it in the film is just down to lighting on set...

[Madmonk]

The other alternative is to give it a couple of coats matt varnish on the inside as this will help diffuse the light too.

I would also still give the outside a coat of smoke just to highlight the detail.

[Raven Morpheus]

To begin with I'm going to test on some clear styrene that I bought a while back (and have used on my WIP X-Wing's engines for diffusing the LEDs). I'm slightly hesitant about painting the parts in case they don't turn out too well, at least until I have the correct process nailed - I don't want to ruin them whilst trying to get the right look, as I probably can't get spares and don't really want to have to buy a new kit. I get the feeling Polar Lights/Round2 are no longer popping this kit (or any Star Trek kit, given their recent website "refresh" and lack of "buy now" links) and it's £20 to £30 a time on most sites!!

I did note in your notes for the lights you made for me that you mention matt varnishing the clear pieces.

Also, as I've seen it done recently (the results, not the method) on the same 1/1000 kit as I have, I've been procrastinating over adding (non-flashing) lighting for the nav (green and red SMDs in the saucer)/strobe lights and also lighting up the windows (thus drilling them all out) but I can't seem to get my head around a) how to do it all, given my use of a 3v battery source, I'm assuming that adding more LEDs to the lighting kit isn't going to work very well, and b ) how to get the windows in the neck to be lit (I can just about get my head around how to light them in the saucer and engineering hull (although with the battery holder and switch in the engineering hull there might not be enough room) - I have considered using either fibre optics strands pushed through the windows and cut flush with the hull, or putting an 0805 SMD or two in there to light up multiple sections of windows)...

The more I look at this kit (I didn't actually start it on Sunday like I planned to), and consider lighting it, the more it starts to look like a major (wiring/drilling, exercise in patience) project.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Raven Morpheus