Building the AMT Refit Enterprise by Don Matthys part 6

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INSTALLING WIRES, LIGHTS, L.E.D.S AND ELECTRONICS

Power Connection:

First feature to get installed is the power jack and plug. This is located at the bottom of the Engineering hull, at the spot where the kit model base is located. This spot must be reinforced to withstand the stresses of Earths gravity where a new display stand made of brass tube with a power plug (male) mounted on the end.

To reinforce the connection point I resorted to using 1/8th inch sheet plastic. I thermal formed it by placing a 1″ x 1 1/2″ piece of styrene plastic on the top of a 2″ dia. cylinder like a small bottle. I place both in the oven and set the temperature at 250 degrees. When it started to soften and bend over the bottle I remove the soft plastic from the oven and pressed it to conform over the desired connection area. The paint on the kit hull was scraped away to allow for a strong bond for gluing. The piece came up close to the Botanical Garden Windows and it was filed and sanded flat *

*Note: I will attempt later to scratch build garden details on the inside of the model.

Parts Used:

  • Coaxial DC Power Jack , 5.5mm O.D. , 2.1mm I.D. Radio Shack #274-1563A
  • Coaxial DC Power Plug , 5.5mm O.D. , 2.1mm I.D. Radio Shack #274-1569A

For appearance purposes I wanted the Power Jack to fit well into the hull. A 15/32 hole was opened up. The plastic reinforcement piece was then positioned in place and the its hole was marked an opened to a diameter of 13/32″

Note: The location of this power connection point is where a Navigational Strobe flashing light is located on the USS Enterprise. Any other modeler who wishes to construct an TMP Enterprise with a different display mounting system and operating lights should take this fact into account should they wish to build and display the model in another manner.

Finally on the connection point I positioned all the components described below:

  • Engineering Hull Port
  • Engineering Hull Starboard
  • Reinforcement piece
  • Power Jack Plug fastened in place with nut , finger tight

I fitted dry them all it all into place. Then liberally used styrene cement and glued the reinforcement part to the Starboard Hull bare styrene plastic piece. Then clamped it and set aside to dry. No cement was applied to the to the port Engineering Hull. That comes later after the electronics is in place and final assembly

Note: Cement used is Testers Model Masters liquid cement # 8872 the squeeze bottle with needle applicator.

Nacelle Lighting

Ribbon cable wires will route the power and operating light features through out the ship. 6 wires will run up through each of the two Warp Nacelle Pylons to power the LightSheet, lamps, LEDs and Navigation strobes LEDs. Six wires will also run up through the connecting dorsal to power the Nav strobe located aft of the bridge dome and the lamp power and flashing running lights circuit board.

The Inboard Flux Chiller Grill clear blue resin replacement parts was glued in next. I usec superglue. The LightSheet module is located and super glued to the right hull just forward of the flasher. When I first turned it on the LightSheet module gives off a small high frequncy whine. The LightSheet itself is quite bright through the clear blue resin grills. I then darkened it with Tamiya clear blue airbrushed on the inside of the nacelle grill area.

The LightSheet was secured up against the new clear resin grills with black electrical tape. All bare wire and solder points wher taped over as well.

*Small T-1 type 1/8″ ( 3mm) LEDs, are small but 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.

The Navigation Strobe LED Flasher circuit board was glued to the right side aft of the Engineering Hull.

Lamps installed in the Warp Nacelles will illuminate the Thruster and Spot Lights. the thruster located aft, was lit with a 6 volt Lamp located inside the Outboard Nacelle kit parts #22 and #24. This area was previously opened up and filled with clear resin. Epoxy Putty is used to secure it and to block light in the interior.

The spot lights on the front where made with two 1 1/2 inch fiber optic strands (.050 dia) . The lamp was located in a 1/2 inch long aluminum tube with the fiber optic ends stuck in with epoxy putty. The other ends of the fiber optic stick out of the Nacelle spotlight holes.

All subassemblies are fit together but still unglued. Then a test was made with current applied. Results: Worked very well.

Engineering Hull Lighting

Aft Engineering Hull: A lamp was placed in the vicinity of the Shuttle Bay Doors near the alignment pin. This lamp will illuminate the “steady on” Navigation light located on the end of a raised rib on the top with a .040 fiber optic will be placed to shine through.

It will also illuminate the Shuttle Bay Control Room. This area was thinned with a Dremal cutter burr. No cutting away open of the kit hull was done. In theory the kits un-opaqued plastic will let the light shine through. On the outside of this area the plastic kit will first be painted with a transparent red. The Control room window will then be cut as a mask with the appropriate shapes, masked with a ‘friskit’ as indicated by the plans and opaqued with black, then a primer, then with finished coats of paint. When the friscut masked is removed the windows will glow red.

The lamp will also serve as the source of the Navigation Light located at the bottom of the Engineering Hull on a fabricated by plans raised area. A .040 Fiber Optic strand will run up to close to the lamp to illuminate it, and the Lamp will also flood the aft area of the Engineering Hull to illuminate the ports and windows of the hull.

Connecting Dorsal Lighting

My next task was to prepare the two Connecting Dorsal parts before gluing to the to the Engineering Hull (as a separated unit.) First the fiber optics (.060 dia) are pointed all towards the Engineering Hull extending about a 1/2 inch beyond the kit parts. They will pick up the light illuminated by a flood lamp to be located in the front central area of the Engineering Hull. I heat the Fiber Optic strand and bend it at a 90 degree angle. And then superglue it in the hole.

A flood light that points upwards in lighting of the exterior surface was located by the plans on the horizontal level. Particular attention was made that these two fiber optic strands(.050) to be connected very close to the lamp located forward to take advantage of the brilliance of the lamp. The two strands located on both sides of the Connecting Dorsal should shine upward on the Connecting Dorsal. These spot lights should shine up the Connecting Dorsal.

Finally in this phase I glued the Connecting Dorsal, kit parts # 8 and #9 to the engineering hull sides. Clamped them firmly in place. Doing this at this time will save time and frustration of the fit and putty filling problems in the front of the Engineering Hull. A problem I have encountered before with this kit time and time again.

Then comes part 7