The One I Have Been Waiting for

[trekriffic]

Crap. Wish I had thought of that. I'm worried about adding the paint masks to them since the MKK is slightly sticky when dry.

I didn't do any window masking. I painted the parts before gluing together then just touched up around the seams after gluing and filling. I still have a complete sheet of window masks for this model.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

I didn't do any window masking. I painted the parts before gluing together then just touched up around the seams after gluing and filling.

Gotcha. I was gonna do that but decided to partly follow how Trekworx does it.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

So I finally was about to start wiring up the model...

Only to find the main power wire marked "T" in the lighting instructions is not in the box. I have kept all wiring sealed up until I was ready to start wiring, so I KNOW I didn't lose it. It is simply not there.

I am so mad right now...

 

[urumomo]

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

And I can't just buy some wires because there is a special connector on one end I need.

Just another #&$%*!@*& display of my #&$%*@(#&$% luck. I just KNEW something was gonna screw me at some point.

 

[urumomo]

A missing kit component - which they should replace for you , you just bought it - is a lot better luck than a 737 crashing into your apartment . So there's that .
.. or being attacked by a flying alligator

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

A missing kit component - which they should replace for you , you just bought it - is a lot better luck than a 737 crashing into your apartment . So there's that .
.. or being attacked by a flying alligator

Heh.

Of course, its just the fact that I want to get moving on this thing and now I am at a standstill.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

Good news! My GF decided to open the bag with the lights as she was curious, and found the T wire was tangled up in the middle of them. The tag was folded all over itself so we couldn't see it when they were in the bag.

Building can continue!!!

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

Laugh it up fuzzball. At least I have that wire.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

FIRST LEDS WIRED UP!!! I painted the engine LEDS with orange, then the tips with red. I added some tracing paper to the inside of the exahust housing for diffusion and so you cannot see the interior.

Not the look I planned, but it looks even nicer. Not red, or orange. Kinda amber. Dig it.

 

[trekriffic]

Nice impulse engines! Man you musta been all kinds of relieved when your GF found the "T" wire.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

Nice impulse engines! Man you musta been all kinds of relieved when your GF found the "T" wire.

Oh, man oh man was I. We both assumed it was MIA, and we didn't wanna rip everything open for fear of losing stuff. But she decided to just to make sure we didn't see it. I was too mad to even look at it by that point.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

Got the wiring done on the lower saucer and just got the bridge done up. Not as bright as I'd hoped, but it kinda hides some of the naff painting.

 

[Quaralane]

Bridge is looking VERY sharp

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

All the saucer wiring is ready. But I am tired and Zoe wants to watch a couple shows we like so the joining of the saucer halves will be tomorrow.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

Bridge is looking VERY sharp

Thanks. Still not happy with it myself. Should have let my girl paint it, and regret using transparencies on the consoles. They are great for screens, but should have used decals for the controls.

I will say I am happy that my version of Trekriffic's ceiling parts does in fact provide ceiling lighting, just not as much as I wish since I couldn't get the stock LEDS up in there as much.

I decided against adding more LEDS simply cos I was afraid of screwing up wiring them up. And I need to get a new soldering iron anyhow.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

I lied... GF crashed early after we watched a Young Ones episode... so I decided to go ahead and glue the saucer together. No issues. I realized I had forgot to add some of the lenses for strobes, but I already got that worked out. No at all worried.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

The join is almost perfect on the saucer. I have to seam it obviously, but had I not had some smootzes of glue creep out that had to be scraped down(unfortunately mostly around the windows so I had to be CAREFUL) I almost think It wouldn't have needed putty. I did have to apply some force this morning to seal up the saucer around the impulse deck, but that is now sorted.

However, I have found TONS of light leak and shine through. NOT happy with that. So after putty work I plan to spray the whole thing with black, maybe two coats, and then prime and paint. I just hope the masks for the windows don't screw up the MKK.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

So decided to wire up the dorsal. And have a big problem: there are five wires marked E. Two are now in the saucer, and connect power to LED strips, which then are joined via other wires. They have little clips with hatches on em to hold the LED strips. Anyhow, I have two in the saucer, will need one each for the lights in the sec. Hull, and one for the dorsal. The one I installed in the dorsal won't work. I thought I damaged the LED strip, but it the E wire. When I use either of the other two the dorsal lights up.

So should I try to get PL to send me a new E wire, not light the dorsal, half the lighting in the 2nd hull, or what?

I just cannot win.

 

[Thereal9thdoctor]

Idea: wire all the LEDs for the 2nd. Hull on one line, bouncing from one side to the other as I go. I am not lighting the nacelle grills, so I SHOULD have enough of the inter LED wires with connectors. I just dunno if I could run all that on one line with no problems.