JNordgren42 Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 I'm almost a year into one of my bucket list builds, the 1/350 Polar Lights U.S.S. Enterprise Refit from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I'm going all out on this build with aftermarket photo etch, resin, and home brewed 3D printed upgrade parts as well as a home brew lighting system based around a beefy Adafruit Grand Central M4 Arduino board and addressable RGB LEDs. At this point I've made good progress on the individual lighting components with lots of tests and proof of concepts, but I've yet to integrate the full system in either wiring or programming. I have also made good progress on the interior spaces, the arboretum and shuttle bay is nearly complete and I'm working on the officer's lounge below and behind the bridge. I've also done a lot of work on the lighting concept for the numerous porthole windows, I'm using Neopixel RGBW LEDs with custom designed and 3D printed light pipes. Each "room" on the interior has its own LED and I can set the lighting parameters individually as well as program special effects animations (like a red alert mode where the lights pulse red). Also on the plan is a full 5 color iridescent paint scheme that will be as close as possible to the beautiful and unique filming model. All of the parts arrayed and the primary and secondary hulls test fit before beginning the project in earnest. There is apparently a lot of variation in fit depending on when exactly individual kits were produced. Thankfully, I got a really good copy and there are very few fit issues. Shuttle bay assembly and lighting test. Light test of the 3D printed turbolift tubes for the shuttle bay. I also designed and printed some cargo containers. They still need to be cleaned up and painted, but they add some interest to the cargo bay floor. They'll be difficult to see, but I'll know they're there. Shuttle bay cocooned in painters tape and LEDs. There are 17 Neopixel RGBW LEDs just for this part. Arboretum. I extensively modified this part, grinding off the cartoonish tree, bench, and bridge details, as well as grinding down the stream bed. I built up the grass areas with putty, used some various Woodland Scenics diorama foliage, filled in the stream with clear resin and added photo etched details (benches and bulkhead walls). I also cut out the bulkheads and added backlights to the view screens. Warp nacelle lighting test. I used some diffusion material from a dead LED TV to make sure the lighting is nice and even. It looks a little mottled here because it's running an random idle animation I'm testing that varies the brightness in a random water like pattern. The LED strip and diffuser inside the nacelle. Test of the warp nacelle reaction control thrusters. I carved out a tiny sliver of the TV diffuser to provide even lighting to all 4 emitters from a single SMD LED. Test of a concept to provide lighting to the shuttles in the bay without having to hard wire them. I carefully bent an induction coil to fit the underside of the deck and placed a tiny inductive LED in the shuttle. The final shuttle will be light blocked and painted and just the areas that need to be lit will shine through. Test of the main navigational deflector lighting. It's using another RGBW LED and can shift between the amber low power mode and the blue high power mode. Self illumination spotlight testing. I used a 2mm tower LED and put a small piece of aluminum tube over it to control the shape and throw of the light. I'll sand the tube down flush on the exterior on the final version. Test of the porthole lighting and light pipes. The 3D printed light pipes are sanded smooth and polished on the exterior to get rid of any print lines and then covered with bare metal foil for light blocking and to increase internal reflections. This allows me to keep the light were it needs to be as well as control each group of portholes individually. Close up of the arboretum testing out the view screen lighting. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamsuperdan Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 This is very cool. I've wanted to try some sci-fi builds for quite some time now. This makes me want to do it even more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNordgren42 Posted August 22 Author Share Posted August 22 5 minutes ago, iamsuperdan said: This is very cool. I've wanted to try some sci-fi builds for quite some time now. This makes me want to do it even more. Thanks! This is definitely an advanced build and I'm really stretching my skills. It's the first kit I've done lighting on and the first time I've done anything with Arduino or addressable LEDs. I'd say if you want to get your feet wet in sci-fi start with some of the Bandai Star Wars options. Their kits area all immaculately engineered and executed and can produce amazing results. Some of the newer Round 2 Star Trek offerings are very nice as well. People speak pretty highly of the 1/1000 Discovery Enterprise (although I haven't seen it in person or built it). The older Star Trek kits can be hit or miss, with some of them being nice and some of them being complete nightmares (the 1/537 Refit Enterprise is particularly horribad). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bh1701 Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 That's absolutely amazing! Wish I had some of your skills. Adding LED lighting on my Galileo 7 shuttlecraft was pushing my skills to the limit for me! Bart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeSchumacher Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 Wow! Some amazing work going on there. ?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBorg Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 Quite impressive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteski Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 That is some amazing modeling and electronics work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNordgren42 Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 20 hours ago, bh1701 said: That's absolutely amazing! Wish I had some of your skills. Adding LED lighting on my Galileo 7 shuttlecraft was pushing my skills to the limit for me! Bart Thanks! I'm really pushing myself on this one. It's the first model I've done lighting on and me being me, I had to not just roll my own, but go completely overboard. ? I'm having to learn a lot of new skills, and I've gotten a lot of help from various Arduino and modeling communities and I'm taking it slowly. 19 hours ago, SpikeSchumacher said: Wow! Some amazing work going on there. ?? 12 hours ago, iBorg said: Quite impressive. 12 hours ago, peteski said: That is some amazing modeling and electronics work! Thanks everyone! I appreciate the kind words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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