Had one of the worst things in electrified modeling happen when I messed up and broke the DC power jack in the underside of the secondary hull loose from inside the model when I pressed down too hard on the coaxial DC plug.
There must have been a slight misalignment between the tubing rings that connected the jack to the mounting
hole where the coaxial plug display tube plugged in.
My heart sank.
I would now have to cut open the underside and re-attach the polypropylene (or whatever that black plastic is) jack to the inside of the hull plug hole.
Using a razor saw and scribing tool I cut out a rectangular opening around the jack socket in the underside of the model.
Thank god this happened before I applied the aztec panel decals!
There it was... the power jack... ripped from its moorings and pushed down into the wiring.
The ease with which the jack broke free confirmed that I needed to come up with a better, stronger mounting point for the model.
Luckily I left enough slack in the wires to be able to pry the jack up
and out of the opening I had cut without having to remove it and re-solder the wires.
I suppose it was a good thing this happened when it did though.
The joint was weak as it turned out and, I think, would have broken at some point down the road anyway:
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USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP- Power Jack Disaster and Rework by Steve J, on Flickr
Spacer test fit for proper insertion depth using the DC power plug from the base and a spare DC power jack from my stash.
A box will be constructed around the black plastic jack for the jack in the model to glue into:
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USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP- Power Jack Disaster and Rework by Steve J, on Flickr
Rather than just gluing the old jack back to the mounting hole
like before, I decided to improve the entire power/mounting point assembly by building a box to fit around the sides of the jack.
Here is a spare jack I used to build the new super strong jack with L brackets
that will be glued to the sides of the black power jack inside the model using Plastic Surgery glue and epoxy:
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USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP- Power Jack Disaster and Rework by Steve J, on Flickr
New DC power jack mount checked for levelness on base. I also held up the model behind it and it will sit nice and level when the hull piece is glued back into the underside of the model:
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USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP- Power Jack Disaster and Rework by Steve J, on Flickr
The mounting box is completed for the power jack using styrene sheet, tubing, and AVES Apoxy Sculpt.
It will be glued up and plugged onto the power jack which is still soldered in place inside the model:
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USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP- Power Jack Disaster and Rework by Steve J, on Flickr
Muuuuch better mounting point after replacing the flimsy jack glue attachment method that broke under stress. Just a few light leaks to fill in around the hull piece I'd had to slice out to make the repair:
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USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP- Improved Mounting Point by Steve J, on Flickr
The new display mount is much sturdier. No wobble at all on the stand. Here are the unmasked impulse engines:
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USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP- Impulse Engines Unmasked by Steve J, on Flickr
So... I will need to putty and touch up paint around the seams then I will get back to the detail painting.
