1600 lighting RBOP

[MSgtUSAFRet]

mophius,

This is looking good!

Only read about them.
Putting them into practice is another matter. Which I am now learning.

Pointers are all good though. And I will also scour the other sections for threads containing lighting tips. Protector comes to mind first off.

Thanks! I am honored! As you followed along in my Protector thread, you know I made plenty of mistakes so just be careful to do the fixes and not make my mistakes!

I also have a thread here of my 650 TOS RBoP build, my first lighting project, and, due to the photobucket (may they burn in Hades with EA games) money grab, I am trying to fix the broken pic links; but that will take some time.

While it may seem you are drowning in tips at the moment, I have a few more:

1. In my TOS RBoP build, I hadn't played with Fiber Optic (FO) yet and went with a different solution. I drilled and cut the holes in the hull and then covered the holes from the interior with a thin (0.010mm) piece of styrene. This helped to diffuse the light from the LED, reduced hotspots and created, IMHO, an even glow for the windows. Of course, I used Micro Industries Krystal Klear on the exterior opening of the windows to seal the holes.

2. If you already have round LEDs (5mm or 3mm) and would rather not wait for the flat LEDs, you can modify the round ones to shape; as long as you don't perforate (reduce the surrounding acrylic) all the way through to the diode. As you may have seen on the Protector, I had to extensively modify and shape the LEDs (3mm) I placed in the wings in order to get the seams to close. This also has the added benefit in that the shaping of the LED helps to further diffuse the light - less hotspots.

I'm very interested to see what you are gonna do with this build!

Stay with it! It will look awesome!

Steve

[mophius]

Ok, I have stuck, or am in the process of sticking the two halves together. Today and yesterday i have been putting, soldering, the wires in place and have put the two feed wires through the existing stand hole.

Both the nacelles and the main window LED (yes, only one) light up when powered up.

I am going to risk not doing an LED sustained burn for the fact that this is an expendable model and I have a few more to retry if this goes awry.

Tomorrow I will continue glueing the wings together as they are splayed due to the wires going through there. I will then fill any gaps that are left over and I need to sand the bussards to let a little more light through.

For those in the know, this and other projects, have given me a little respite from reality recently and I feel I am focusing a little better on things. The end of next week will be the turning point in my focus again for a while.

I hope I can continue with this until I have seen it completed sometime in the next couple of weeks.

[MSgtUSAFRet]

Ok, I have stuck, or am in the process of sticking the two halves together. Today and yesterday i have been putting, soldering, the wires in place and have put the two feed wires through the existing stand hole.

Both the nacelles and the main window LED (yes, only one) light up when powered up.

I am going to risk not doing an LED sustained burn for the fact that this is an expendable model and I have a few more to retry if this goes awry.

Tomorrow I will continue glueing the wings together as they are splayed due to the wires going through there. I will then fill any gaps that are left over and I need to sand the bussards to let a little more light through.

For those in the know, this and other projects, have given me a little respite from reality recently and I feel I am focusing a little better on things. The end of next week will be the turning point in my focus again for a while.

I hope I can continue with this until I have seen it completed sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Yeah, I was gonna recommend a light burn-in, but it's an expendable model, so...

The other thing is, I thought it was kinda a rule here, pictures or it didn't happen!

Besides, I can only read pictures!

Keep going, Mo! Sorry to hear about your concentration issues.

Steve

[mophius]

Ok, I have stuck, or am in the process of sticking the two halves together. Today and yesterday i have been putting, soldering, the wires in place and have put the two feed wires through the existing stand hole.

Both the nacelles and the main window LED (yes, only one) light up when powered up.

I am going to risk not doing an LED sustained burn for the fact that this is an expendable model and I have a few more to retry if this goes awry.

Tomorrow I will continue glueing the wings together as they are splayed due to the wires going through there. I will then fill any gaps that are left over and I need to sand the bussards to let a little more light through.

For those in the know, this and other projects, have given me a little respite from reality recently and I feel I am focusing a little better on things. The end of next week will be the turning point in my focus again for a while.

I hope I can continue with this until I have seen it completed sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Yeah, I was gonna recommend a light burn-in, but it's an expendable model, so...

The other thing is, I thought it was kinda a rule here, pictures or it didn't happen!

Besides, I can only read pictures!

Keep going, Mo! Sorry to hear about your concentration issues.

Steve

Ok ok here is just some basic togetherness pics.
I still have to prime, fill and sand over and over.
There is quite a step from the bottom to the top on the underside.

[Tesral]

That's the three ship set, No?

[mophius]

That's the three ship set, No?

That's right the old, original set

[Tesral]

That's the three ship set, No?

That's right the old, original set

I still have bits and pieces of some of them around here...somewhere.

[mophius]

Moving on and I have some colour on the primer now.
I went with Tamiya AS-16 as I have done a silver version in the 2500 scale. Until I get the nacelles and decals on I won't be able to tell if I made the right choice.
It does sort of look OK compared to the poor video quality of the TOS series that I remember. It has been a while since I watched any of the TOS series.

There are a few high points on the bottom where I have puttied the joins. I don't know if the quality of the pics will let you see that. The bussard collectors will need a bit of work due to me being overzealous with the light block black inside the model and the joins are not great overall. I may just slap some Putty on and sand then put a light coat of a light green on just to cover.

The whole exercise was to see if I could light the model so the proof will be in the FO and the nacelle tips in the end. What I do with the nacelle tips will not affect the LED's inside. As long as they light up enough to make a different then that will be satisfactory.

All I need now is,
Decals
Necelle tips
nacelle rears (silver paint)
chop FO
stand with brass tube for wires

[Tesral]

You never got that good a look at the RBOP in show. And it only lasted one shoot. That is why the Romulans suddenly had a thing with the Klingons. No money to rebuild the Romulan ship.

As a result references for the model are sparse. A few test stills taken at the time.

Watching the build, it is fun.

[mophius]

I hope I can do the nacelles a little justice then