danimalmagic Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 (edited) Hi all, it’s been a while since I posted last but with good reason, for the last 14 weeks I have been working at this 1/350 Diorama and it has been quite a challenge but it is now finally done. The basics of the project were a bespoke internally lighted back box with a star field effect, 2 x 1/350 Klingon Birds of Prey (KBOP’s) and of course the rather huge 1/350 Enterprise Re Fit with a shuttle coming into land. I started out with the Back Box, this is made from 2 sheets of Aluminium Sheet 2.5mm thick x 610mm wide x 2250mm long separated with an internal wooden frame to create the cavity for the lighting. I needed redundancy here so 2 x SMD Light Strips have been used, in the even one fails the DC supply jack can just be switched to the back-up rig. On top of this I have designed the ships so that they be removed from the Light Box at any time and the front of the Light box can be removed if it is ever required to change both LED strips. This was the initial test of the light box, I have drilled various size holes and some have coloured clear filters on the inside so some of the starts are different colours, red, Blue etc. Next up was the two KBOP, I have used varying lighting kits over the years and I tend to use Starling Technologies now whenever possible. He does a plug and play set for the KBOP which has really good light effects and a sound card with optional remote control FOB. I needed both KBOP to work off one remote FOB and after a few chats with Stan at Starling Technologies he had a simple solution for this, both kits are basically pre wired plug and play, there is some minimal soldering needed but for the most part they are ready to go, awesome. Lots of paint filters, washes and dry brushing to make the KBOP look a bit rusty and beaten up. First test of lights and RC.https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hDspaNRG39XQxzk- Next up was by far the biggest task, the Enterprise, I have built one of these before and lighting a kit adds all sorts of issues. To make the build as expedient as possible I used the pre wired Trek Modeller Kit as this quite simply saves a massive amount of time in wiring and soldering, the kit was excellent but had one snag no working weapons, sounds effects and RC Unit. I needed sounds and effects to match the KBOP’s to create the battle effects so it was back to Stan at Starling. The easiest way around this was to install Stans Gen 3 Re Fit kit in the saucer and use that to just supply the 4 x working Lasers, the Photon Torpedo Launchers the Sound effects, Lighting effects for the Shuttle Bay,Impulse Engines, linked Impulse Crystal, Impulse Engines and the Warp Nacelles. This would basically also give me some additional lighting redundancy but is primarily for the various light and sound effects, the Trek Modeller kit would supply the internally lighting and Shuttle Bay etc.Shuttle Bay LIghtshttps://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hEdZoTmC8el1bxolEnterprise Weapons Testhttps://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hEvPRvxIhK8ZkajM The Astek decals for the Kit are a nice touch, very thin and delicate much like Cartograf quality just much bigger, the standard kit decals had some issues with breaking up, I had to get some spares from Polar Lights. My advice to anyone who builds this kit cover the standard kit decals with Microscale Liquid Decal Film first, it will save you some grief, I got the tip off a friend and it worked really well. I have had this issues with most of the standard Polar Lights kit decals i have used. With that all done it was just getting it all connected and mounted then final testing. Lights of and action.https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hXOtNvsAOUFmlMNg I know its not everybody's favourite subject but i have to say i enjoyed this project. Thanks for Looking Danny Edited January 29, 2019 by danimalmagic 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rwa66 Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 Looks great Danny, I particularly like the starfield diorama with the saturn like planet. Good job. Regards Richard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danimalmagic Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 13 hours ago, Rwa66 said: Looks great Danny, I particularly like the starfield diorama with the saturn like planet. Good job. Regards Richard Thanks Richard, i was tempted to add some white speckles to give that milky way effect you see at night but decided i was pushing my luck and it would be best left well alone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tank1812 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 That is some good looking Star Wars models Danny. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimme Shelter Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 smashing work and I am not a Trekie. I love the pair of KBOP - I have a very vague memory of building a ERTL or AMT kit of these years ago - possibly around 1991 ish. great diorama work too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumblestripe Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Love it, great idea, well executed. Top work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) Great work on everything ! On 1/30/2019 at 6:18 AM, Tank1812 said: That is some good looking Star Wars models Danny. I think you meant Star Trek ? 😉 Edited January 31, 2019 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carts Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Looks fantastic! Excellent work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danimalmagic Posted January 31, 2019 Author Share Posted January 31, 2019 (edited) On 1/30/2019 at 12:18 PM, Tank1812 said: That is some good looking Star Wars models Danny. Ryan Behave!!😀 Edited January 31, 2019 by danimalmagic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danimalmagic Posted January 31, 2019 Author Share Posted January 31, 2019 14 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Great work on everything ! I think you meant Star Trek ? Ryan is new here, if you ignore him he may go away😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockpopandchips Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 WOW that some great looking work on all of it, next one you do your going to have make things move... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danimalmagic Posted February 1, 2019 Author Share Posted February 1, 2019 20 hours ago, rockpopandchips said: WOW that some great looking work on all of it, next one you do your going to have make things move... Never again😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Callahan Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 wowwwwwwwwwwwwww very very impressive work, excellent and fantastic idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now