Building the AMT Refit Enterprise by Don Matthys part 5

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Opaque the Hulls and Warp Nacelles

Opaque the Hulls and Warp Nacelles:(Now is a good time to wash the model parts in mild detergent to remove the mold release agents and skin oils)

  • Masked these areas: Inside of inboard warp nacelle ( use pattern of grill on outside of part, trim and apply to other inboard warp nacelle part). Mask with tape inside of upper hull part to allow illuminate through styrene plastic.
  • Spray paint black the inside of the main hull parts, warp nacelles, the Bridge and connecting dorsal. Insure the sprayed areas to be opaque by holding the part up to a bright light, allow to dry.
  • Spray painted the same parts again with white or silver the next day.
  • Fill in the horizontal windows with clear urethane resins. Also the thrusters areas cut from the rear of the warp nacelles.

MAKING CLEAR WINDOWS AND PORTS

At this point the kit has been painted with a black paint to opaque the light from shining through the kit plastic and then painted again with white to maximize the reflection of light within the ship.

Once again a check of the opened up rectangular window should be made to remove any plastic debris left in these openings.

Recommended Resins: Enviro Tex or Ultra Clear (Micromark tools)

Next with a transparent ‘magic’ tape was placed on the exterior of the ship to hold the clear casting resin. The clear resin I use is “Envirotex” which is a clear two part liquid mixed together in equal parts. It is primarily used for deco-page and as a thick clear coating over wood projects. It can be found in many hobby and craft stores. A similar product called “Ultra-Glo” will work the same and available from Micro-Mark tools. Its use is touted as a clear media to cast water in model railroad dioramas. Colored transparent dyes added can change colors of the liquid polymer plastic.

MIcro Mark Tools

340 Sntder Ave.

Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922-1595

1-800-225-1066

Mix up a small batch of the resin and be careful to gently stir to avoid making air bubbles. With a toothpick pick up some of the resin and let it flow into the open window. Check to see if any air bubbles are in the cavity and if there is poke a small hole through the tape with a fresh sharp #11 Exacto blade and let the air out. Set the part aside on an even surface so the resin can harden in place. You can only do this in section as the resin will flow out and make a mess. In several hours after setting up you can fill in another section. This process may take several days.

The resin is fully cured in about 48 hours then remove the tape from the exterior and it can then be filed and sanded smooth. Furter finishing and polishing can result in a crystal clear view to the interior shoul you decide to super detail Rec Rooms and Botanical Gardens.

For the circular ports use a thick fiber optic of .060″ or 0.50″ diameter. Cut it into small 1/2 inch section and flare one end with a heat source like a soldering iron. Stick the clear piece of rod into the hole and Superglue in place on the inside of the ship. You will have a bump of clear plastic on the surface but then sand it flush with the surface of the ship.

With these procedures done, light will now emit where you want it. This procedure can be used on any spaceship that you wish to light up. You can also color the window with any of the Tamiya clear acrylic paints or darken the window light with with Tamiya Smoke window tint.

Note: Fiber Optic sources are from Plastruct


LIGHTING OVERVIEW

  • Set up your lighting system off the model on an outline of the ship on cardboard. Test ed system with all the components and lamps connected and running.
  • Small T-1 type 1/8″ LEDs, I find, are still to large and out of scale to most the Movie style starships. For a better scale appearance file away material of the LED on the top of it. To do this carefully mount the LED in a slow speed drill and run it against a file until the LED top is at least half the diameter.
  • Countersink a drill bit into the plastic (inside) to fit the outside diameter of 3mm to fit the modified T1( 3mm) LED*. Be careful not to go all the way through and test fit often.


LED FLASHERS

Suitable for simple flashing lights on spaceships, aircraft and cars.

This circuit has as its heart, a 555 integrated circuit, (operating at DC voltages between 3 to 9 volts,) as a clock or a stable multi vibrator. In digital electronics this refers to a circuit that provides a continuous series of pulses, the frequency of which can range from one per second to over a hundred per second. The output of a clock circuit is usually in the form of a square wave. This circuit has no input signal, and in that sense it operates as an oscillator; a device that generates its own signal. When the square wave peaks or bottoms out it generates a tone or lights up a LED .

When pin 3 (the out put pin) on the 555 IC goes low (negative) the LEDs (D1 & D2) will light. (Current flows from pin 3, through R3, the two LEDs, and on to the positive power source.) When pin 3 is high (positive) the LEDs will not light. (Now the anodes and cathodes of both LEDs are high and without a difference in charge, or voltage, no current can flow.) Thus in this circuit a series of high-low-high-low… outputs on pin 3, alternately turns the LEDs on and off, on and off, ect.

The frequency of operation (flashing rate) is determined by the resistance / capacitance, or RC circuit. This circuit is made up of resistors R1 and R2 plus capacitor C1. The larger the values of resistors and capacitor, the longer it will take for C1 to charge and discharge. And it is the charging and discharging of C1 that produces the highs and lows on pin 3 of the 555 IC. Simply increasing the values of resistors will slow the flash rate.


PARTS FOR FLASHERS

  • Circuit Board (etched)
  • C-1 10uf Capacitor
  • D-1 to D-6 Light Emitting Diodes (T-1 type, 2 red Port, 2 green Starboard, 2 yellow or blue Bow) for Nav Strobes
  • Second LED board DN-1 to DN-4, 3 or 4 blues for [1] Bridge part, Warp Nacelle ends [1 each], and bottom of hull [1] possible )
  • IC1 555 Integrated Circuit
  • R1 4.7 ohm Resister
  • R2 16k ohm Resister
  • R3 220 ohm Resister *

Note:

*Nav Position resistors LED Flasher #1, use 200k ohm (Slow) R2

*Nav Strobe resisters LED Flasher #2, use 150K ohm (Faster) R2

A 6 volt, 700ma power supply was used for the entire lighting system. This is plugged into a wall socket. The power supply is then run into a wooden base that has a switch for on and off positions. The power is run up to the model through a brass tube with a power jack plug which fits into a female power jack mounted on the bottom of the model. The brass tube itself conducts the negative polarity of the power circuit.


ABOUT LIGHTSHEET:

LightSheet is used to illuminate the inside of AMTs USS Enterprises’ Warp Nacelles. The white styrene plastic is translucent enough to allow the LightSheet to shine through. The components of LightSheet for this project is two .5 x 5 inch strips and a lighting module wired parallel to the rest of my LED flashers and lamps components.

The first step in installation of LightSheet is to opaque the inside of the Warp Nacelles. Mask these areas: Inside of inboard warp nacelle, use pattern of grill on outside of part, trim and apply to other inboard warp nacelle part). Spray paint the inside of the, Warp Nacelles black. Insure the sprayed areas to be opaque by holding the part up to a bright light, allow to dry. Spray paint the same parts again with white or silver. Remove the masking tape.

Note: My model is and old smooth model Enterprise. The newly cast in clear blue resin pieces will fit into my Inboard Grill

When you install your lighting system keep all of the wiring as low as possible to the bottom of the main hull. This will clear the space for maximum interior light transmission throughout. Use Superglue to secure wires and circuit boards to the bottom of the lower hull. The LightSheet electronics Module was glued to the bottom of the Engineering Hull several inches away form the impulse engines. The wires then run out up to the Warp Nacelles through the pylons.

To place the LightSheet Strips in the model temporarily tape in place over the unpainted engine area. Solder on the leads to the wires and permanently secure with black electrical tape over the LightSheet. The outside of the Warp Nacelle can be tinted with a clear colored paint like Tamiya clear blue. Paint the raised ribs black during painting. A very realistic effect is achieved with even and cool non-lamp lighting of these areas.

Next is part 6