These are also paralleled off the warp/torpedo line. housing tube can only be 5mm high and the l.e.d.’s have to be filed flat to clear the shoulder hull section. The shield generator lights (Figure 2) were fixed to the panels in the same way as for the torpedo tube, but the plastic l.e.d. The clear part is glued to the outside of the hull later. was paralleled off the warp l.e.d.’s and housed in an 8mm long peice of 8mm plastic pipe and fixed in place with miliput which doubled as a light stop – the whole assembly being glued into the ‘chin’. Uniformly around the emitter clear plastic peice. The led’s were mounted on the bulkhead, which was folded verticaly in the middle to about 15° – this was the best angle I found for spreading the light These were sprayed with auto chrome paint – takes a full 2 days to dry, but it gives a top quality (opaque and reflective) job. The chamber consisted of two side strips with a rear bulkhead (Figure 1) and top/bottom plates. I used 2 narrow angle led’s, but it’s good practice to close off all light sources. Next up was the construction of the warp emitter light chamber – a simple extension of the recess at the stern so that 2 led’s could be mounted and their light contained. A careful sanding (there’s a bit of surface detail especially round the ‘shoulders’) blends in the sprue to the surrounding contours, so leave the sprue spacers slightly proud on the outside. Next was cutting the windows out – they’re too thin to cut and file every one, so its the usual approach: cut out the doubles and triples then fill the individual window spacers back in with melted sprue. Wing underside red detailing was Revell 100 (matt rust). The engine baffles were sprayed auto matte black primer, drybrushed steel and later with a little rust red to give a hint of age. I undercoated everything with auto grey primer then used Revell 30 (matt mid green) for the base colour, 55 for the dark highlights around the neck and bridge and Humbrol 66 (matt olive drab) for the lighter wing highlights. To fix the wings in the correct up position another 11°-ish has to be machined off the up-option radiator baffles.Ī thorough internet and ST Encyclopedia search for colour schemes revealed that the ERTL colour list was wrong – the specified colours appeared too bright. Also at this point you have to decide whether you want the wings in down (attack) or up (cruise) mode: I chose down, because the up position is actually horizontal, which isn’t a configuration that’s seen in any of the movies. In this case, the hull top would contain all the lights and wiring, except for the chin-mounted torpedo tube – no way around it, but at least it’s only one part. I find it easier to have all (or most) on one large piece, so that I don’t end up with several loose panels attached to the power jack as the last pre-closure stage – that gets really awkward. My first move is always to identify the part that will contain most of the lights, support frame (if required) and wiring harness. With lights added and a muted, dirtied-down paint scheme, this kit is a real eye catcher and is harder to get now. Although there aren’t many parts in the kit, it does take a bit of planning to make the best of it and hopefully this review will help with the more obscure points. This was generally a good kit, with sharp detail and hardly any fitting work required except for the side strips at the neck.
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