Polar Lights 1:350 Scale Star Trek Starship Enterprise, Part 13, Completed!

Well, I do still need to add an on/off button to the base, but I'm calling this done anyway. Who doesn't love the USS Enterprise! 

The hull color is Tamiya's AS-32. It's a very close to the color of the studio model. The "real" Enterprise may be a hair greener, and touch lighter. Some people swear AS-32 is dead on right. I have my doubts, but it is very close.

I used five cans of Tamiya spray for the basic hull alone. Or was it six, I may have lost track of one. It is also covered with a gloss clear, decals, more gloss clear, and finally a matte finish. I used Krylon clears, and a lot of them; at least two cans. 

I'm happy with the way the bridge turned out. I really toned down the lighting. I like it this way more than the bright light the lighting kit would have resulted in out of the box.

I would have liked to have found a way to do a better job on the consoles and the main view screen, but at the end of the day you can't see in there real clearly anyway.

The prominent windows on the upper decks may be the best I did, thankfully.

The engine effect (which can't be shown in a still photo of course) is striking. It really looks very much like the on screen effect. Which perhaps is not surpricing since it works almost exactly the same way. Yes, I have the sound of electric motors.

This Polar Lights kit is very well designed and made. But it is surprisingly challenging, not due to complexity, detail or part count, but simply due to its sheer size. You need serious space, and a lot of planning to get this together smoothly. 

Thankfully there's a lot of resources that help. I highly recommend the videos, on YouTube, by Trekworks.

I opted for a closed shuttle bay. I think I will build the shuttle bay interior though as a separate model.

In the television series the impulse engines were never shown lighted. They are black on the studio model. I used amber lighting here, not terribly bright, just enough.

I've lost track of how much of this thing I didn't even glue. The pieces are very big, thick, heavy and tight fitting. Many times I dry fit something only to realize I'd risk damage trying to take it off again for glue. Many parts are fine just pressed into place. They're not going anywhere.

I've never had the urge to build a model more than once, but this experience has me thinking about it. There's quite a few things I found good ways of doing as I went along. With a second run at it I could do significantly better. It's not that it isn't perfect. It's more like I now see simple things I could have done that would have made a huge difference.

* The windows could be more consistent. Where they turned out well they are flush and perfectly opaque. On others I got an air bubble in the resin, or didn't get them flush, or the finish is off.

* The overall paint is not as good as it could be. I should have done one more round of sanding and gone through another can of paint (which I didn't have, so I was just being impatient).

* There's a couple areas that could use more LEDs, and a couple that need less. After seeing all assembled I have a far better idea about the lighting.

* Seam lines turned out 95% good, but there's a couple small spots I missed just by oversight.

* I worked too hard on those vent details on the insides of the engine and the effect I was hoping for really isn't there. I can already think of much better ways to do that area.

With a model this large a funny thing happens. The slight problems become all but invisible. Just the same, as I say, it would not be hard at all to improve it. 

This was a fun project. it's a great kit and I am so glad they went with this large scale! It completely suits the subject and makes for a striking display. I only wish I could show it off in person more. Photos just don't do it justice.

I am barely old enough to remember watching Star Trek with my Dad in the original prime time run. My Dad loved the show, and I think that may be a big reason the series had a lasting impact on me.  

Take a look at the album with all the photos of this Enterprise:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9spxyJYc98oydR347

See all the posts for this project here.

Polar Lights 1:350 Scale Star Trek Starship Enterprise, Part 12

Here's the first complete, everything-connected lighting test prior to final assembly. It works!

I put on, and sealed, all the markings except the strips on the engines. I want to be able to look at the thing fully assembled to be sure I get them straight.

A decale was provided for a dark panel below the front of the engines. Unfortunately, it goes under the detail parts there, as well as slightly under the pylons. I tried to slip it under there but it was hopeless. I'll just have to do without that.

I would have been nice if that had been noted someplace.

Assembled, final decals applied, and everything still works.

The fit on these parts is extremely tight. I did not glue the pylons to the engines, nor the saucer section to the neck of the hull. Once I started dry fitting these I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to get them out again to put glue on.

I'll do one more concluding post on this project when I get some good final photos taken. I also need to do more with the base. It's needs an on/off button at the very least.

See all the posts for this project here.

Polar Lights 1:350 Scale Star Trek Starship Enterprise, Part 11

Hull assembled, the lighting still works!

I had some light leaking issues with the blacked out windows - not nearly black enough. They seemed OK, but with all the final light in there after assembly of the two halves, it leaks. 

I reached inside with a long stick to apply some metal tape. It actually wasn't as hard to fix as I thought it might be.

There's a tricky bit of light leak around the shuttle bay doors and that upper window that is common on this kit. It is very hard to reach. I used a very fine brush and ran a thick craft paint along to seam down in there. The grey color I used does not match the hull color but it's not wildly off. Down in there you can't tell. I dusted it with a blast of the hull grey (Tamiya AS-32) and the problem is solved.

I used warm white for the windows, but a cool white, extra bright, LED for the ion pod (I think it's called?) on the side here. The brighter, larger, cooler light blinks.

Decals...

Inexplicably, the kit is missing a couple detail decals for the underside of the saucer. Oh well.

More decals...

I found all the decals so far to go on easily. They're good quality, I had no problems with them.

See all the posts for this project here.

Polar Lights 1:350 Scale Star Trek Starship Enterprise, Part 10

 

I am very pleased with the way the windows and the lighting turned out on the bridge and upper decks. The U/V resin is really the way to go. I did however experiment with different ways of using the resin as the model went on. Naturally, some of my windows are better than others of course. But these turned out great.

I also deviated quite a bit from the lighting kit design for these upper desks. I lit the two red lights with two tiny SMDs tucked up there and heavily light blocked the bridge from these lights on the sides. The light for the bridge and the windows is entirely from the lower saucer lights. No additional LEDs are needed here in my opinion.

Light blocking the upper edge of the bridge unit, and the instruments was very tricky. It's too easy to get way too much light in spots, unevenly. It just took going over and over it with various methods from thick black craft paint to metal tape to translucent tissue paper.

The saucer halves went together pretty well. These huge parts were flat and true. However, all the way around, my upper half was a hair smaller than the lower half, leaving quite a step at the seam to remove.

You can never have enough clamps.

Assembled, the next day after drying, and the lighting all still works! 

You have to test, retest and test again at every step. You don't want to get a bunch of work done and find a wire has broken.

And exactly that actually that happened to me after taking these photos. I had to reach inside the top center, under the bridge assembly, and fix a wire on the control board.

On the main hull I used U/V transparent tape on the outside and filled the windows with resin from inside. I didn't use the clear plastic glass.

Good method for the windows, but the tape pulled off some paint. Starting over on paint jobs in the story of my life with models.

I'm doing the rear shuttle bay closed. To do this I used the bay parts with the sides cut away so that lighting would be easier. 

I was leaning toward not doing to the whole lighted shuttle bay, even though it is a great detail. Then I read that there is an interesting scale mismatch in the kit that goes back to the original television production.

It seems the sets and models built for the shuttle bay were out of scale with the star ship over all, significantly so. In order to create the shuttle bay assembly, the kit designers used a scale a full 2/3 of the 1:350 scale of the ship. The PE kit includes figures 2/3 smaller than the figures provided for windows elsewhere (I didn't use any of these my windows are opaque). This scale difference made uo my mind - closed bay doors it is. 

The fit of the two halves is good along the bottom, good enough alone the top.

Here are the halves with all the wiring and the wiring into the shuttle bay module.

This is another area where I deviated from the lighting kit. I wish I had deviated even more. In hindsight it does not need the furthest rear LED segment as those windows are blacked out. It also needs additional light up front where some structural elements restrict light to a couple windows. Live and learn.

See all the posts for this project here.