TOS AMT Model build

Discussion in 'Fan Art' started by circusdog, Jul 18, 2011.

  1. circusdog

    circusdog Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Well, I bought a model to get a better feel for my AutoDesk Inventor experiment. Here it is so far (don't mind the messy bench):
    [​IMG]

    I was wondering what to put under the clear primary hull domes. After all, they are clear. I thought about just painting the area black or blue, but that seemed the easy way out.

    So I am starting this thread to see what suggestions you all might have.

    Thanks!
     
  2. Psion

    Psion Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well ... since it's your time and not mine, I suggest building a 1/700 scale bridge, richly detailed with etched brass parts and fiber-optic lighting.

    Actually, I'd say just frost the lens and make sure it's lit evenly from within. Sometimes simple is classy.
     
  3. circusdog

    circusdog Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    :rofl:! One of my thoughts was to use a picture of the bridge, reduced to fit, like a decal.
    May be too late for the lights. ;) Mmmm, frosting, :drool:
     
  4. Psion

    Psion Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    One of my builds when I was a teenager featured a carefully-drawn top-down view of the bridge based on the FJ Tech Manual. It wasn't a fantastic piece of artwork, but my biggest complaint wasn't the execution, but how two-dimensional it looked. I was never satisfied with the result. If it's too late for lighting, why not try a small, phosphorescent disc. You could "charge" it to glow for a few minutes after exposure, or use a UVA source to make it look like it's glowing.

    In fact, you could lay down a variety of fluorescent colors to light them under a black light, then mask windows and running lights, and coat the rest of the hull of the ship in a UV blocker. When the masks are removed and a UV source is supplied, you'll see only the windows and lights lit up. Of course, navigational strobes won't blink ... unless you're careful with your UV sources and have a blinking narrow beam focused on those with a steady-on source aimed at others.

    Then there's polarizing film ... a few years ago, I toyed with the idea of handing out sheets of paper with "blinking" lights on the surface for a bit of futuristic ambiance in a role-playing game I was running. I thought it might be possible to lay down fluorescent ink on a page, then cover selected areas with a polarizing film and shine a strong UVA source through a second, rotating polarizing film down onto the playing area. The idea being that the sheets would glow like a CRT over most of their surface, but the polarized areas would blink on and off. A neat little magic trick. I abandoned the idea because my early research indicated that polarizing film blocks something like 92% of UVA, meaning I'd have to have a super, super bright UV source to make effects light up through two layers of film. I don't think there's any way around this, but if anyone makes polarizing film that is transparent to UVA, you could possibly use this to make stuff "blink" on your model. It would be even better if you could get transparent polarizing paint, but I doubt there is such a thing.

    And since we're already taking a long walk off a short pier with some of these ideas, I wonder if one could make a small, white-light hologram of a bridge to stick in the available space. Of course, now you'd have to invest around a thousand dollars in holographic film, a decent HeNe or YAG laser, the laser's power supply, but when you're done, anyone looking into the bridge of your AMT model will actually see a 3D view of the ship's bridge! In a yellowish green tint, of course.

    Gosh, this is so much easier when I don't have to actually do the work! I think I'm finally seeing the allure of management!
     
  5. Cary L. Brown

    Cary L. Brown Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Of course, since the AMT kit is remarkably inaccurate (close enough to be "fun" but by no means "right"), you can do pretty much whatever you wish.

    The original-series model simply has a frosted glass dome (I always thought it looked like part of a lamp cover, actually). When I built my AMT kit, I just wet-sanded this with fine-grit sandpaper and then coated it with Testors "Dullcote." It was close enough, I think.

    Today, I don't think I could be satisfied with anything less than a little bridge miniature inside, though. It doesn't have to be "perfect" and it can be made from just a few bits of plastic.

    Say, a tube (probably one of those tubes they put M&Ms in?) with flat panels inside, evenly space (perhaps painted or decorated with decals?) on a laminated sheet-plastic base.

    Now for the BIG E coming from "Round2," I'm gonna have a serious bridge interior there... but that bridge is about the size of a silver dollar isn't it? More detail... a captain's chair, a helm console, etc, etc. I hope most of that is provided in-kit, but if not, it shouldn't be too hard to finish it off.

    I expect a photoetch set to make it a near-perfect bridge replica, actually. Most of the bridge can be done, pretty easily, with a combination of two molded parts and several photoetch panels... not counting chairs, obviously (which could probably also be photoetch?)
     
  6. circusdog

    circusdog Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Yes, not very satisfying.
    If I don't glue down the dome, I could catch a firefly and put him in there. Maybe dress him in a little gold shirt. But if I frost the dome, all you would see is the light anyway.
    SPF 85 or so?
    I love it!
    You don't have pointy hair, do you?
     
  7. circusdog

    circusdog Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    At least it was cheap. $17 for the model, another $30 (so far) for paint and glue. It is really too small to do anything impressive.
    That's an easy out, probably my end solution. Flat white inside the dome and done.
    Really? Not familiar with those.
    Maybe a quarter.

    I remember building plastic planes that had some molded detail under the clear canopy. But that was usually a pilot in a small confined space. This area represents probably more than 100 sq. ft.
     
  8. circusdog

    circusdog Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Not even! It measures 5/8".
     
  9. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    A bit smaller than a dime, actually.

    If you're willing to spend another 30 bucks plus shipping, Monsters in Motion sells a photoetched detail set for the AMT original-series Enterprise, which includes a tiny bridge.
     
  10. Cary L. Brown

    Cary L. Brown Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    You guys missed my point... I was talking about the size of the bridge in the new Round 2 model.
     
  11. circusdog

    circusdog Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    D'oh! (slaps head)
     
  12. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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