Polar Lights/Round 2 USS Enterprise - Space Seed Edition - Update #2

Greetings.  I was hoping to do an update sooner but the life of a freelancer can be very busy at times.  Also the Avro Arrow build is still in the ongoing state of filling, sanding and priming - and then the paint 'spider webs' and start all over...$%^&!!!  Back to this build...

The really good thing about this build is it's sort of a mini build of my 'penultimate' USS Enterprise build I will be tackling in the new year.  The wiring is much simpler but has to fit into tiny spaces.

Here's a layout of the LED's I'm putting into the model.  The upper and lower saucer have their base coat (it's a rattle can made by Valspar 'Winter Gray'.  It's very close to Testor's Gull Gray but better value for the money.)  Note I also pre-painted the inboard nacelles with the accent colour and the grill with a metalic grey.

This is a closer view of the saucer of the LEDs and matching resistors.  I'm using a 9 volts battery to power this.  Each clear LED are 3.4 volts, the little red & green LEDs are 3 volts and the larger red LED is a 5 volt flasher.

I have to admit it took me a while to have a good understanding of resistors.  Just remember 'resistance isn't futile' (I couldn't 'resist that one...lol...back to the program.)  Resistors do exactly what the name implies, it reduces the influx of electrons in the circuit so you don't burn out the circuit or in this case LEDs which use such little power.  Here's a website I often used when I first started wiring up LEDs LED series/parallel array wizard.  I have since started using an app called LEDulator available on iTunes (FREE).

The wiring is pretty simple, two circuits: a) the upper and lower domes with the clear LEDs and a 150Ω resistor. b) the flasher circuit.  The flasher circuit is a bit more complex but not really.  Through trial and error I know I calculate resistance for the 5V flasher and the two 3mm LEDs separately (since the flasher interupts the circuit, when it's off, a full 9 volts is applied to the mini LEDs so you have to account for it).

Here is the circuit in action!

Flashing circuit on breadboard

This is the exact same circuit I used on my Avro Arrow build (except I used clear bulbs).  Putting these bulbs into a 5" diameter saucer isn't exactly easy.  The clear LEDs for the bridge dome and lower sensor dome.  I didn't take any pictures of it but what I do when using the ultra bright LEDs is I put a thin coat of clear orange tint on them, this will warm them to a colour temperature similar to an incandescent bulb depending on how much you use.  It also cuts down on the intensity of the bulb as well.  For the lower dome I used green tint along the edges as the dome sometimes had a greenish tint to it. 

I use heat shrink to protect the soldered leads off of the LEDs.

Now for soldering the flashing circuit, it should have been simple but I found I burnt out the mini LEDs 3 times!! So i had to use a stronger resistor, 200Ω and it did the trick.  I used my dremel tool (cut off wheel) to trim and thin the 3mm LEDs so it would fit in the rim of the saucer.  For the flasher bulb itself I use black heat shrink on it with Tulip fabric paint to light block it so I don't see a red flasher through the clear domes.

The upper dome has red around the edges which gives the look that you are seeing into the bridge but also the bridge has red markers on both port and starboard so having red along the sides accomplishes the same thing too as the bridge is a clear part.

The 'cobwebs' come from using low temperature hot glue.


Here is the saucer test assembled...not bad but I wish I could tone down the brightness of the upper & lower domes. 

Saucer section lighting. 1/1000 scale.

With the lights off I see I need to do more light blocking along the bridge.  Not a problem.

Saucer section in the dark.

Now moving on to more lighting.  The nacelles.

I built a test of the lighting to go into the nacelles using a RGB flasher bulb with 5 fiber optics glued along the outside of it. 

The front nacelle caps (called Bussard Collectors in the Star Trek universe) on the studio model had Christmas tree bulbs arranged in a pattern of 10 around the centre of the motor turning a 12 segment fan blade.  5 bulbs blinked at random in random colours while 5 glowed in either amber or a pinkish colour.  Here's some video of it in action at 1/1000 scale (unfortunately the camera tends to over-expose and bleed the colours).

Lastly, here is the base.  I replaced the rod that came with the model with a hollow one in brass and I'm using the same switch I used in the Avro base.

Happy modelling and stay tuned for more updates!!