11-01-2012, 08:02 AM
Hey Everyone!
This month was not a good month for productivity, I ran into a very nasty problem with the Hanger Decks... All three of them actually. While they were in storage the very ends of the flight decks started to warp (no pun intended) upwards. I finally realized there was no chance of getting these pieces to fit into the model properly, so I was going to have to re-do all 3 flight deck pieces. Apparently the resin I used, which was supposed to be a very hard and durable resin, was not as hard and durable as was promised, So I had to cut off all of the flight deck pieces and use what I originally wanted to use in the first place but was afraid that the paint would not adhere to it very well, and that is pieces of window quality plexi-glass. I first had to trace the old piece shapes onto the plexi then cut them and reshape them until they fit perfect inside the models. Then I wanted to add some more detailing to the flight deck namely, more and clearer landing and take off lines along with parking position lines for the work bees. The best way to do this was to first mask off the areas where the chase lighting effects would go, then spray the entire top of the deck piece flat black to make sure no stray lighting would come through the deck. Then I sprayed the same entire pieces yellow so I could mask off the lines I wanted on the deck. I didn't want to do this the other way around because I was afraid the masks might peal off some of the deck paint. Anyway it was easier to cut small strips of masking tape and get all of the yellow lines nice and straight. Then I sprayed the flight deck Intermediate Blue. Then removed all of the masks and finally sprayed the entire deck pieces with gloss cote. This gives the deck a nice sheen to it. Check out the pics in the November update page and you'll see what I mean.
After this huge delay I started adding the porthole glass which for the most part is .005" clear styrene #9005 and then the exterior lighting and wiring for the secondary hull. This proved to be quite a challenge because the Engineering hull comes pre-assembled and if you have large hands, it can be quite cumbersome getting all of these LEDs in there. Plus there is the matter of getting all of the spot lights aimed properly, then carefully putting the hanger deck piece inside without bumping anything. I have several Lighting TEST pics in this update and from what I'm seeing it looks pretty good so far and I can move onto the Deflector Dish lighting and start on some of the saucer lighting.
Also in this update I've been able to add one of the botany decks inside the engineering hull. This deck will be lit with some EL lighting. I really like the effect this stuff does on a piece like this. It lights the deck up very evenly rather than the sharp light points that an LED gives off. It was also a challenge to get this deck into the hull. It can not be done assembled. I had to first put the lower half in first, then the top piece. They are both very tricky to get in there. The corners of the pieces had to be fed up into the dorsal (Thank goodned it was hallow otherwise I would've really been stuck) then slowly turned so that the pieces were parallel to each other then one more 90 deg turn to make them fit into thier final postion.
Just one more note: Because of the redoing of the flight deck pieces, I was only able to accomplish all of these updates on only one of the models, so I will need to repeat these on two more of the kits and portions of this on the Reliant model. I apologize for this mess up, but sometimes these things happen, but actually I'm kinda glad it did because I like how the flight decks look much better than I did before. Well that's it for this update. Please feel free to make comments! See you in 1 month!
Mark
http://www.NemVia.com
This month was not a good month for productivity, I ran into a very nasty problem with the Hanger Decks... All three of them actually. While they were in storage the very ends of the flight decks started to warp (no pun intended) upwards. I finally realized there was no chance of getting these pieces to fit into the model properly, so I was going to have to re-do all 3 flight deck pieces. Apparently the resin I used, which was supposed to be a very hard and durable resin, was not as hard and durable as was promised, So I had to cut off all of the flight deck pieces and use what I originally wanted to use in the first place but was afraid that the paint would not adhere to it very well, and that is pieces of window quality plexi-glass. I first had to trace the old piece shapes onto the plexi then cut them and reshape them until they fit perfect inside the models. Then I wanted to add some more detailing to the flight deck namely, more and clearer landing and take off lines along with parking position lines for the work bees. The best way to do this was to first mask off the areas where the chase lighting effects would go, then spray the entire top of the deck piece flat black to make sure no stray lighting would come through the deck. Then I sprayed the same entire pieces yellow so I could mask off the lines I wanted on the deck. I didn't want to do this the other way around because I was afraid the masks might peal off some of the deck paint. Anyway it was easier to cut small strips of masking tape and get all of the yellow lines nice and straight. Then I sprayed the flight deck Intermediate Blue. Then removed all of the masks and finally sprayed the entire deck pieces with gloss cote. This gives the deck a nice sheen to it. Check out the pics in the November update page and you'll see what I mean.
After this huge delay I started adding the porthole glass which for the most part is .005" clear styrene #9005 and then the exterior lighting and wiring for the secondary hull. This proved to be quite a challenge because the Engineering hull comes pre-assembled and if you have large hands, it can be quite cumbersome getting all of these LEDs in there. Plus there is the matter of getting all of the spot lights aimed properly, then carefully putting the hanger deck piece inside without bumping anything. I have several Lighting TEST pics in this update and from what I'm seeing it looks pretty good so far and I can move onto the Deflector Dish lighting and start on some of the saucer lighting.
Also in this update I've been able to add one of the botany decks inside the engineering hull. This deck will be lit with some EL lighting. I really like the effect this stuff does on a piece like this. It lights the deck up very evenly rather than the sharp light points that an LED gives off. It was also a challenge to get this deck into the hull. It can not be done assembled. I had to first put the lower half in first, then the top piece. They are both very tricky to get in there. The corners of the pieces had to be fed up into the dorsal (Thank goodned it was hallow otherwise I would've really been stuck) then slowly turned so that the pieces were parallel to each other then one more 90 deg turn to make them fit into thier final postion.
Just one more note: Because of the redoing of the flight deck pieces, I was only able to accomplish all of these updates on only one of the models, so I will need to repeat these on two more of the kits and portions of this on the Reliant model. I apologize for this mess up, but sometimes these things happen, but actually I'm kinda glad it did because I like how the flight decks look much better than I did before. Well that's it for this update. Please feel free to make comments! See you in 1 month!
Mark
http://www.NemVia.com
"... once it's activated, there's no way to stop it!" - Scotty - DMa