1/350 Polar Lights Enterprise Refit - Build log

[JNordgren42]

My HDA Modelworx order arrived with a bunch of goodies!

HDA replacement bridge
HDA planetary sensor array
HDA window masks
Greenstrawberry PE set (they were out of the Paragrafix set)
Greenstrawberry officers lounge
COB led strip (warp grilles)
3mm blue LEDs (warp deflection crystals)
2x5mm rectangular LEDs (bridge & planetary array spotlights)

Arduino board and DotStar LEDs arrive tomorrow.

 

[Mr. E Man]

Are you replacing the horribly inaccurate impulse engine exhaust kit part?


E

 

[JNordgren42]

Are you replacing the horribly inaccurate impulse engine exhaust kit part?


E

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet.

 

[Djh69]

There’s also a ton of parts on Shapeways. You do know there’s prebuilt lighting setups for this kit? They have done the hard work for you and are very good. Shapeways link. Spaceways Parts by Mark2000 - Shapeways Shops

 

[edge10]

I think one could easily go bankrupt, buying upgrades for this kit.

 

[DarkMoon]

I think one could easily go bankrupt, buying upgrades for this kit.

ya i have had this kit sitting in my closet for a decade now unopened because i cannot find an affordable lighting kit. i am not building this one without lights. i do not have the time do get fancy with control boards and soldering irons.

 

[JNordgren42]

There’s also a ton of parts on Shapeways. You do know there’s prebuilt lighting setups for this kit? They have done the hard work for you and are very good. Shapeways link. Spaceways Parts by Mark2000 - Shapeways Shops

Yep, I've seen most of the Shapeways stuff and while very interesting the cost/benefit just isn't there for me. The one exception might be the rec deck, I'm not really satisfied with either of the PE options. I'm going to build up the Greenstrawberry I have, but I suspect I won't use it.

And with the lighting, none of the commercial kits do what I'm attempting here. Plus that's an aspect of the challenge that I enjoy.

 

[JNordgren42]

I think one could easily go bankrupt, buying upgrades for this kit.

Hard agree.

 

[publiusr]

It is worth the upgrades

 

[JNordgren42]

I haven't had a lot of modeling time the last several months, I've been putting a ton of work into our house and had a bout of COVID. But I have made some small progress here and there.

I just finished installing the PE parts in the shuttle bay and got some light blocking and primer on the parts.

I also wasn't happy with the kit turbolift tubes or the PE wraps, so I designed my own in Fusion, I'm getting ready to print the first test set as well as the first test light pipes for the saucer.

 

[edge10]

Looking good. I hope you can get in there to decal and/or paint.

 

[JNordgren42]

Looking good. I hope you can get in there to decal and/or paint.

Yep. It's just test fit right now. The walls aren't glued yet.

 

[JNordgren42]

I'm ready to start putting some actual color on things. I have the shuttle bay floor primed and sanded smoother than a baby's butt. It's ready for the base yellow for the stripes on the aft section, then I get to try out the first of my Mask Design set and paint the dark grey over it.

 

[JNordgren42]

The yellow is down and went on beautifully in just two coats. I'm really glad that I saw someone do the paint in this order, my natural inclination would have been to paint the deck grey first and then mask to expose the stripes. Yellow is normally such a pain in the ass to deal with and shooting the whole surface over smooth white primer should look much better with less paint build up overall.

Excuse the blurry pic, but you can see it's got a nice gloss.

 

[JNordgren42]

First mask applied and successfully sprayed. The deck and stripes came out beautifully, no paint lifting and the stripes are sharp as a knife. I really happy with how it came out.

Mask applied, I forgot to snap a pic before I weeded the mask.

Test fit with the walls.

 

[JNordgren42]

I finished spraying the base colors on the shuttle bay parts and I'm really happy with how it's turning out. I did a test fit and it's really coming together.

 

[JNordgren42]

Folks, please say a prayer to the god of modeling and 3D printing for me (based on experience, I'm pretty sure he's old school Loki), I'm printing the first test of the saucer light guides and shuttle bay turbolift shafts. I'm using a new clear resin, and I just went for it with slightly tweaked factory recommended settings (I added some additional lift height and extra light off time) and didn't run any calibration tests on it (I know, ballsy ) . I had the (hopefully) bright idea of putting a cavity in the face of the light guides, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that if the print comes out and works as intended, it will give some additional depth to the portholes. I'm hoping Loki recognizes my sheer audacity and rewards me.

Updated light guide design:

 

[JNordgren42]

I'm super chuffed right now! I got one decent set of light guides off of the printer and was able to knock up a test module to try out the lighting.

I'd say it was a very successful test!

This is straight after post-curing, no other prep, and no light blocking. I need to make some small tweaks to the light guides and my support strategy and exposure settings in the print to get cleaner pints and better yields, but it's 95% there. I plan to give all the surfaces a smooth sanding, spray each guide with gloss clear all over to improve light transmission, and then spray all of the non light conducting surfaces with Alclad chrome, followed by flat black. This should put the light exactly where I want it. I also need to start designing the guides for the rest of the ship. That's a huge task. But now that I know the idea is sound, I can move forward.

Oh and I also got a good set of turbolift shafts too! (Pic taken with UV light source because it highlights the detail).

 

[curiouslysophie]

I'm super chuffed right now! I got one decent set of light guides off of the printer and was able to knock up a test module to try out the lighting.

I'd say it was a very successful test!

This is straight after post-curing, no other prep, and no light blocking. I need to make some small tweaks to the light guides and my support strategy and exposure settings in the print to get cleaner pints and better yields, but it's 95% there. I plan to give all the surfaces a smooth sanding, spray each guide with gloss clear all over to improve light transmission, and then spray all of the non light conducting surfaces with Alclad chrome, followed by flat black. This should put the light exactly where I want it. I also need to start designing the guides for the rest of the ship. That's a huge task. But now that I know the idea is sound, I can move forward.

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Oh and I also got a good set of turbolift shafts too! (Pic taken with UV light source because it highlights the detail).
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Those Light pipes are amazing! Will you be selling the files for them?

 

[JNordgren42]

Those Light pipes are amazing! Will you be selling the files for them?

I'll almost certainly release them somehow once I've finished all of the design and tweaking. I'm not sure exactly what that will look like; whether it's files, physical prints, or via the Shapeways marketplace.

The main downside is that they're very specific to Adafruit DotStar strips and I'm not even sure if they'll work with different batches since the components and exact spacing on the strip sometimes varies.