A2597

Gather round and let me tell you a tale of a childhood memory and how Master Replica's shipping fees have cost me countless hours and far more money than they ever asked on a pursuit of obtaining the Enterprise D.

See, when I was a kid I had the 1990s die cast Enterprise D. Loved that thing, but lost it ages and ages ago. It wasn't terribly detailed, and I got the itch to replace it.
So, to Master Replica's I went. $33? Ehh...it's a splurge, but I'll do it. But then the shipping...$30 to ship a $33 item? Now that's insulting. So insulting that I refused and began to look at other options, and that led me to the readily available 1:2500 scale Enterprise D.

But alas, I had also seen all those beautiful 1:1400 scale models lit up, and knew I wanted a lit model. Lacking the space for a 1:1400 scale however, this leaves me with lighting the 1:2500 scale. On my first foray into model building...oh. And I want effects. Specifically, I want warp and impulse engines and navigation lights. The Arduino is programmed with FastLED (Which...also a first, I've never programed an Arduino before!) and have addressable LED strips and fairy lights all set.

So yes, I've now bought a $25 model, two addressable LED strands, an arduino, a low speed rechargeable dremal that won't melt the plastic, 0.5mm wire that could fit in the pylons, and will also need to buy aftermarket decals since the included ones are too high contrast an blue.... all over $30 shipping fees. I see no flaw in this logic. LOL

I've been hesitant to post, and updates will be infrequent as my schedule only allows a few minutes here and there to work on it. But I have reached a milestone I am proud of. Both Nacelles are lit. I dremeled the wire channels out of the pylons, and thinned the plastic on the bussard collectors and nacelles. Then two coats of primer in and out for light blocking, and some sloppy white paint on the inside for bouncing the light inside the nacelle. (I saw no need for this to be tidy, object was thick white coat, and no one will see it, please don't see this as indicative of how I will paint the exterior, as I'll be airbrushing that). It's quite cramped inside the nacelle, but it's working!

Next up, deflector dish and lower hull lights, then saucer lights and I can move on to light blocking the seams and the first coat of paint!
(Windows will be drilled out after decals)