DeBoers Enterprise

[NemVia]

What a month this has been! A lot of problems encountered with these builds, but eventually they were smoothed out and fixed. I've added a couple of pics for the Enterprise this month. I have to tell you it's been a tough month though. First I had problems with an order of 3mm yellow LEDs that I needed for the thruster effects. They kept sending me the wrong size and the wrong color LED which was becoming a problem and putting me seriously behind on my updating. Next I had one of the lighting circuits go out on me and it was difficult to isolate the problem, but I managed to finally find out what was going wrong with it an repaired that with no problem. I also managed to break 2 of the fluorescent tubes that light the warp engines..... GAAAAAH! Now I'm in the process of epoxying the engine halves together which is no easy task because of the nature of the epoxy and it's curing time. At first I tried to epoxy the entire engine pieces together in one shot, but found this to be way too messy and cumbersome and it left a few gaps I didn't count on. So in order to avoid the mess I decided to epoxy only small sections at a time. First, I'm epoxying the fron't and rear of the nacell then clamping those together over night to ensure agood bond. Then with 2 exacto blades I apply the epoxy to the top seam only. I use one knife to hold the seam apart then apply the epoxy with the other knife, clamp it together and let it bond over night. I repeat the same with the bottom seam. This allows me to avoid a lot of mess by doing it a little at a time. The pictures I've added show that I've used an abundance of epoxy to make sure the seam is over-filled. This will minimize the need for a whole lot of putty later on. But at least now I have the Warp nacells assembled. I will begin smoothing these out and preparing them for opaquing and their final paint job.

I really should have gone over the assembly instructions a little slower. It does say very clearly that this is not a model to be rushed or assembled in one night. Not that I've been trying to go that route, but I would have thought maybe just that tiny iota molecule sized bit of "faster" progress would help just a wee bit. Sometimes you have to step back and tack a breather or two to collect your thoughts and strength to re-group and get back into it again.... which I have.... Feel much bettrer now that I've solved a few problems.

The real problem with these kits is there are no guide tabs to line up the pieces so you have to be very careful when assembling this type of kit. I've read in other forums about those who have built these models and have had the same reaction as to the dificulty level. Some of the pieces don't line up exactly so there is some improvising to be done. I'm not complaining... Just venting. I myself can't wait to see them finished that's why I keep plugging along. Any thoughts on this are welcome. I should be ready to start putty work and a lot of sanding by the next update, then I can start opaqueing and final painting on these warp nacell pieces. See you soon!

Mark.
http://www.NemVia.com