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Revell USS Enterprise with lighting.


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Hi Everyone

This is one of my earlier builds that I made years ago of the original Star Trek ship and added lights to.

The electrics are quite basic but I achieved the effects that I wanted. I found it quite easy to do as there was plenty of space for the wiring, etc, and after looking on the Internet it seemed that strobe lighting had not been invented when they created the model for the series, so I just used basic Led's. There is a video that I made HERE and some pictures of how I added the lighting in the WIP forum.

Thanks for viewing.

 

Enterprise14 Enterprise15 Enterprise21 Enterprise22 Enterprise26 Enterprise32 Enterprise38 Enterprise37

 

Edited by ukmodeller
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1 hour ago, Gimme Shelter said:

looks brilliant - the ultimate classic icon of 20th Century sci-fi brought back to life very nicely

 

Thanks. Appreciate your comment.

I think everyone knows how basic the effects were on the TV show and this is what I was trying to achieve. I've seen some builds that use up-to-date effects but I think they look better on the more recent Starships.

Live Long and Prosper........

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Wow :) 

 

Great looking Enterprise as I am looking at the photos I have the Star Trek theme going through my head :P 

 

The lighting effects look amazing 

 

I am working on the same kit as we speak

 

As with yours I went the lighting route and added small PBC's that recreate the spinning effect using LEDs

 

And although all through the assembly I kept checking the lighting was working  sods law once it was fully painted one of the engines went off!!!   

 

Had to spilt open the engine nacelle and the main hull to trace and fix the fault - gutted :( 

Edited by Brewup
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2 hours ago, Brewup said:

Wow :) 

 

Great looking Enterprise as I am looking at the photos I have the Star Trek theme going through my head :P 

 

The lighting effects look amazing 

 

I am working on the same kit as we speak

 

As with yours I went the lighting route and added small PBC's that recreate the spinning effect using LEDs

 

And although all through the assembly I kept checking the lighting was working  sods law once it was fully painted one of the engines went off!!!   

 

Had to spilt open the engine nacelle and the main hull to trace and fix the fault - gutted :( 

 

Oh! Do I feel your pain.........:wall:

 

The amount of times I have checked the lighting every time I did something only to find one of the Led's shorting or not working at all and when I've checked there is absolutely no reason for the problem.

Now I just know something is going to fail on my build and when it does, I don't get so annoyed. With my HLF fire truck I actually had to hide the kit away for 2 weeks when I had a fault, after I had built it, otherwise it would have ended in tiny little pieces in the garden. :banghead:

Looking forward to seeing your finished kit shown on the forums. Anyway, keep the faith - There is pleasure found in making kits.................so I'm told :D

 

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Looks really cool.  If I were to level any criticism it would be that the marker lights on the top of the saucer are too large.  That aside, fantastic!

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On 15/07/2017 at 2:44 AM, Wm Blecky said:

Looks really cool.  If I were to level any criticism it would be that the marker lights on the top of the saucer are too large.  That aside, fantastic!

 

Thanks. Appreciate your comment.

I based the size of the Led's around the actual size of the 'fake' one's supplied with the kit. I did look at the pictures of the model that they used for the TV series and they showed the lights as being quite large and as I was trying to replicate that rather than modernising it, I decided to stick with the 3mm Led's.

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4 hours ago, SteveR said:

Very nice! I especially like what you've done with the deflector dish area :)

 

Thanks Steve. Glad that you liked the deflector dish area.

It seemed to be a very dull part of the kit and I kept looking at how I could jazz it up a little without it appearing as though I was trying to bring the kit up-to-date.

The appeal, to me, is how basic the ship was on TV and so I came up with the idea of cutting out some of that area so that I could add a light in there. I was very surprised, but happy, at the effect it created (without looking out of place). Blue seemed to be a good choice of colour rather than red or yellow.

 

I happened to look at your amazing build with the lights and was well impressed. Alas, my electronic skills are nowhere near your abilities. I especially liked the lighting effect that you achieved with your build.

:worthy:

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6 hours ago, ukmodeller said:

 

Thanks. Appreciate your comment.

I based the size of the Led's around the actual size of the 'fake' one's supplied with the kit. I did look at the pictures of the model that they used for the TV series and they showed the lights as being quite large and as I was trying to replicate that rather than modernising it, I decided to stick with the 3mm Led's.

Understand!  As I said, it is an absolutely amazing job.  Have you given thought to doing one from one of the movies?

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6 hours ago, Wm Blecky said:

Understand!  As I said, it is an absolutely amazing job.  Have you given thought to doing one from one of the movies?

 

Thanks. 

I did think about it but after seeing some of the amazing jobs that people have done on the modern kits I just didn't think that I would be able to do it justice. If I had learned all about electronics then I may have tried. I have the idea's but, sadly, lack the knowledge. On the plus side, there is so much information on the Internet nowadays to view all of the minute details.

I grew up with the original Star Trek and Dr Who and loved these as they were so basic. People had to use their skills to build the sets and props rather than rely on computers. With today's movies you never know what is skill and what is computer generated. I think it makes it more unrealistic as you know a man cannot leap from building to building wearing just a cape...........Am I showing my age or what?

 

 

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On 14/07/2017 at 2:57 PM, ukmodeller said:

 

Oh! Do I feel your pain.........:wall:

 

The amount of times I have checked the lighting every time I did something only to find one of the Led's shorting or not working at all and when I've checked there is absolutely no reason for the problem.

Now I just know something is going to fail on my build and when it does, I don't get so annoyed. With my HLF fire truck I actually had to hide the kit away for 2 weeks when I had a fault, after I had built it, otherwise it would have ended in tiny little pieces in the garden. :banghead:

Looking forward to seeing your finished kit shown on the forums. Anyway, keep the faith - There is pleasure found in making kits.................so I'm told :D

 

Oh yes I was at one point I was :wall: but I got there in the end and now its almost finished :) 

 

And maybe I am a glutton for punishment but I just picked up the 50th Anniversary Enterpises from a well known auction site for £25 !!!! :D

 

So I am pondering do I build both OOB or go the lighting route again(now I know the pitfalls and possible problems)

 

Although the new Enterprise looks a daunting task to light and doing he "aztec" panelling could be FUN :wall:

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20 minutes ago, Brewup said:

Oh yes I was at one point I was :wall: but I got there in the end and now its almost finished :) 

 

And maybe I am a glutton for punishment but I just picked up the 50th Anniversary Enterpises from a well known auction site for £25 !!!! :D

 

So I am pondering do I build both OOB or go the lighting route again(now I know the pitfalls and possible problems)

 

Although the new Enterprise looks a daunting task to light and doing he "aztec" panelling could be FUN :wall:

 

The Aztec panels do look amazing I must admit. Some have gone to amazing lengths doing them but I don't think I would have the patience.

I always go for the 'lights' route. The more you use lighting the better your skills get and you remember the pitfalls from previous builds.

The amount of times I have finished a build only to think of better ways that I could have done the lighting. Alas, I don't believe in building a kit more than once (unless there has been a 20 year gap, ha! ha!).

At the end of the day I always think 'Will I be able to do the kit justice?' If I can, I go for lighting.

Good luck though. Look forward to seeing the build on here.:D

 

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Good point I would probably regret later if I built them without lighting and as you said you learn something new every time

 

For example the engine effect PCB's were really tight in the nacelles ( I had to very carefully shave off 1mm on each side of the PCB) so next time I would extend the wiring to the leds and mount them in the hull :) 

 

With regards the aztec panelling I was kind of hoping there would be some after market masks but even so I cannot imagine this being an easy task to do but like you I am not sure if I have the patience either :think:

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9 hours ago, Brewup said:

Good point I would probably regret later if I built them without lighting and as you said you learn something new every time

 

For example the engine effect PCB's were really tight in the nacelles ( I had to very carefully shave off 1mm on each side of the PCB) so next time I would extend the wiring to the leds and mount them in the hull :) 

 

With regards the aztec panelling I was kind of hoping there would be some after market masks but even so I cannot imagine this being an easy task to do but like you I am not sure if I have the patience either :think:

 

Usually before I actually buy a kit I search the net for the building instructions and study them hard to see if it would be possible to fit Led's and if there is a route for the wiring. I then look for an area where I can put all of the resistors, etc, so they do not show when the build is complete. Within that area everything must fit so that all I have is the least wires needed routed to the switch panel.  That way the switch box only has to be small. If it is possible to add lights I buy the kit and then spend time rehearsing what I plan to do, before I buy any Led's that are not in my stock. Only after all that I start building. It seems to work for me and my mistakes are decreasing.

 

With regards to the Aztek paneling, I suppose you could get a picture of the effect and edit it a graphics program to make it the correct size and then get one of these companies that produce custom transfers/decals to print it out. It may cost money but would cut down on the hours spent trying to create it. Some decal soft would help to force it into any grooves, etc. 

I had a quick look on the net and found the links below. Mainly American but there must be a UK company that does them? Maybe someone on the forums would know?

 

http://www.allscaletrek.com/viewtopic.php?t=516

http://www.culttvmanshop.com/Refit-11000-Blue-A-Aztec-decals-from-Acreation-Models-_p_1362.html

http://hdamodelworx.com/AZTEC-DECAL-SET-FOR-THE-USS-ENTERPRISE-NCC-1701-D-11400-Scale-Model-Kit_p_471.html

 

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9 hours ago, ukmodeller said:

 

Usually before I actually buy a kit I search the net for the building instructions and study them hard to see if it would be possible to fit Led's and if there is a route for the wiring. I then look for an area where I can put all of the resistors, etc, so they do not show when the build is complete. Within that area everything must fit so that all I have is the least wires needed routed to the switch panel.  That way the switch box only has to be small. If it is possible to add lights I buy the kit and then spend time rehearsing what I plan to do, before I buy any Led's that are not in my stock. Only after all that I start building. It seems to work for me and my mistakes are decreasing.

 

With regards to the Aztek paneling, I suppose you could get a picture of the effect and edit it a graphics program to make it the correct size and then get one of these companies that produce custom transfers/decals to print it out. It may cost money but would cut down on the hours spent trying to create it. Some decal soft would help to force it into any grooves, etc. 

I had a quick look on the net and found the links below. Mainly American but there must be a UK company that does them? Maybe someone on the forums would know?

 

http://www.allscaletrek.com/viewtopic.php?t=516

http://www.culttvmanshop.com/Refit-11000-Blue-A-Aztec-decals-from-Acreation-Models-_p_1362.html

http://hdamodelworx.com/AZTEC-DECAL-SET-FOR-THE-USS-ENTERPRISE-NCC-1701-D-11400-Scale-Model-Kit_p_471.html

 

I pretty much do the same, look at build reviews sprue shots so get some idea of what I want and what is possible etc. 

 

I must admit with my Enterprise I did make a little more work for myself by installing 3 separate lighting circuits, the idea being I can do the "start up" sequence by switching on the interior lights then the navigation lights and finally the engines (while humming the star trek theme of course) :P 

 

And about the "aztecing" thank for the link I think more investigating is needed as anything to make this process a little easier has to be worth it :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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