PURCHASED:
061130

BEGUN:
061130

COMPLETE:
March 2009

VIDEO LOG updated 081130


Part1 Overview 7 min
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeUbwV6eFGM



CONSTRUCTION LOG



061126
I was looking for the old 1701 and happened across this girl. Not a single other person bid on it. I got it for $9.99, $19 shipped. I hoped to get it last week at best, but with Thanksgiving messing everything up, it should be here Monday.


061129
It got here Friday, but because our shop was closed, it arrived Monday. It'll go together fast once painted. No lights or drilling for this one, a simple paint job and stickers.


061214.23
Primed camo gray last night w/ touchups this morning. I need to get refs from' Galileo 7' for the interior. I cut the side hatchway for full interior viewing as I'm going to glue the top down.

061215.23
I scrubbed through' G-7' for references and got 66 pictures of interior and exterior from all angles. Whittled those away to a dozen or so.  They will be posted here. You can also go to Youtube and search for 'Trek vfx reels'.  You'll find all the new effect shots, inc. all shots of Gal from whichever episodes she was in.

The nacelles are now together, I'll need to patch and sand those some. No more assembly to do until the painting occurs.

External accuracy: 1.5 / 5
The 'waterline' is simply wrong.  The entire rear of the ship is, essentially, completely wrong.

Internal accuracy .5 / 5
While it does indeed have the correct number of seats, and there is an internal back section blocked by a door, other than that...

I'm going to tackle accuratizing the interior.
Seats = wrong base structure.
Walls = missing control panels @ every seat.
Flight controls = wrong and missing.
Ceiling = wrong.
Simply wrong.

To be fair, the internal shots were done on a different set than the external full scale set. That is to say that, like a Tardis, the shuttle is bigger inside than outside. Not by much in this case, but just enough.

AMT had offered to finance the full scale version for the show, so that they could market the kit. It was done half--assed.

Perhaps this kit was the mockup they sold Paramount on, then they actually built the full size set, realized how much more was needed, figured that recasting the kit was a loss and marketed it as is.  It looked good to me way back in '75. Thirty years later, not so good as you can perhaps tell...

I'll need to buy some sheet plastic and look for oddities to mod into place, especially the flight controls.

I should also watch Court Martial for the Kirk/Menendez shots. I'm trying to think of any other significant shuttle episodes... Immunity Syndrome...

The Remastered Series offers an intriguing dllemma: do I trust the new CG models and paint schemes done at higher resolution and cleaned plates? Or do i guess what's there and not there from the original tv copies? Perhaps a mix of both. Examine the new cg models and verify as best as possible with the original footage.


061218.
Now that I'm thinking of it, Gal is a prime candidate for EL strips! Actually, an EL sheet. Approximately 4 x 2 inches should do it.

This can be wired to the back compartment and down through the far side in the shell and out to a power supply. Don't know if I'll bother with a switch, just keep it on all the time. The current draw is negligible and the panels never heat, so there is no danger in that regard.

Anyway, that's a thought for another day.

I've drawn some diagrams for the accuratization of the pieces. I'll have to scan them and include them here.


070216
Purchased an EL Panel on ebay today. It should be here in another week.  It's prewired for 12v.  So I just gotta find a power converter. Still don't know about a switch or not.


070222.15
The EL Panel arrived today.  I plugged it in and I am psyched!  This one component will add massive realism to the piece!  I encourage all out there to get an EL panel for this kit!  As long as you haven't glued the top down, you can mod away! 

I'll post some ship ref's here next time so that you can see the ceiling details.

The 4x2 inch size is a tad big, but EL panels can be cut to any shape, so there's no problem.  I wanna skip the other kits I'm working on and go right back to this one, but it'll have to wait another couple weeks as I have to accuratize anyway...

And as I have to run wire out of the ship, I figured it needs some kind of base to go on. Rather than do some exotic and unnaturally tight diorama, I've got a slab just big enough to suggest a hangar deck.  I painted that a basic gray this morning and will do some detailing later and then detail that procedure on its' own diorama page.

I am looking to run the wires through the back compartment, down the inner pylon, through the starboard nacelle and into the base so that nothing should be visible. Wicked!


070224.16
The initial light test reminded me that I have to black prime the interior. I put the first coat down yesterday, a second today and now that I am writing this, I may as well paint the exterior black too.


070226.00
What was going to be a 'simple paint and decal' (famous last words, there) has become accuratizing hell!

Upon some basic research I discovered the blueprints for this lil' craft... And the difference between that and this is tremendous.

Further kit errors:
Seat poz= All wrong.
Rear inner wall poz = wrong.
Aft Outer Hull = wrong.
Aft Outer Hull Details = non-existent
Top Hull 'Wings' = wrong
Nacelles = wrong (but I think I'll leave them as is...)

Turns out that there is an accuratizing kit from 'Larson Designs' which resolves the aft exterior errors and may take care of some internal ones as well...  For $20, perhaps it would be worth it. 

Looks like I would have to slice off the entire rear quarter to fit that piece on, rather than the slice and fold method I would pursue were I I to do it myself.

More to come...


070306
Tried some wiring tricks with the EL panel, but the wall wart didn't seem to work.  I tried other components and still nothing.  So, being the genius that I am, I plugged the panel's leads straight into the wall socket.

Excited to see that the panel was flickering and the problem therefore must be the wall wart, I tried to get a constant glow on the panel.  That's when: spark, phhzzz-pop, crackle, puff-of-smoke and jets of melting plastic. There are no obvious marks on the panel to indicate a blow out... 


070610.02
Tried all 3 panels that I have and they all appear to be fine and work straight off the std. ElWire pack I've got laying around -lucky thing as I bought 2 panels w/o inverters!

Taped the ship up and began hangar bay arrangements earlier for a simultaneous build.  Some drilling will need doing on that piece as the shuttle will be lit afterall (early on, it was 'a simple paint and decal' which required the same of the hangar deck.).

I found sheets of this 'corrogated' transparent plastic. It duplicates the ceiling light panel seen in the show and most of today's flourescant bank-lamps.  So, cut that piece down to basic size (full ceiling). will then cut down to a more precise shape as things go. 

Thought I would go with some rectangular tubing to duplicate the 'window box' around the lights on the original craft. Totally unnecessary and pure decoration in this case as the El Panel is totally flat itself.  However, I will need to run some flat plastic around to simulate the window box look as the ElP has thickness and adding the corrugated plastic to that makes the whole thing odd without some trim around it.

Looks good overall.  The accuratizing kit from Larson Designs will hopefully be here.  It's going on 10 days so far. Once that's here, major work on the kit immediately ensues. 

All electronic parts are near ready.  Need to get some switches and some new pieces of  heat shrink would also be good.

The lighting strategy:
The power pack disguised as a cargo crate sitting on the flight deck with all wires straight down into the deck, gouging tunnels underneath.  The power switch will also likely be visible -something innovative in design would be nice -touch panel or something.

The power runs up thru the deck, into engine nacelle, out the top, along the strut into nearest rear body -need to examine the accuratizing kit for a precise map. 

The celing power for the ElPanel is hidden in the back room.  If the flight deck is also lit, one wide angle white led w/ clear vinyl prints for the flight controls.  This would require ultra precision x-acto work to cut out current panels and replace w/ transparencies...

The power is spliced in the back room and run along the stbd floor -as it is black as well and runs into the control panel from bottom, also black. 

Could otherwise wire through the port ceiling tube to the front, then down the inner front corner of top as it is blocked from the door view, but it could possibly be seen from stbd front window. ... Yes, that's the better way...

I may need one led for each side of controls.  Also, if the viewpods were lit, might need more; or run fiberoptics... 

Chair stations are all shutdown.  The back door is likely open for storage-boarding operations suggested in the diorama, in which case I need to create some air tanks and other minor stuff.

Don't know how to attach the upper to lower hull yet.  Should there ever be a problem, I'd hate to crazy glue it.  But that is the only way to get a full and tight seal.  There is no hiding anything on this kit...

Perhaps... A magnetic sheet, cut to the shape of the wall or the waterline paint job, and applied on the interior as the 'new' wall.

That would not reduce the room too much inside. It could be cut to overlap so as to get magnetic adhesion, yet hide the interior seam at the least.  There is no hiding the outershell seam though. That works or doesn't. 

Granted, nothing 'bad' should happen; and there should be no need to replace the panel (which now that I think of it shouldn't be glued either, nor the flight control panel, nor, really, the transformer to the deck (is a magnet safe for that?). 

Theoretically, the Gal gets glued to the hangar deck due to electrical connection. Maybe, a power slot situ in the nacelle, so that it plugs into the deck itself...  Could also put a key in the other pylon to lock two degrees of rot down.  That's the ideal to shoot for there! 

Then I could move Gal around to sit on the riverbed by itself or even design a new landscape for it.  That could be a standard from now on for lit kits and their dioramas.  A Walker that plugged into the Hangar Deck, a shuttle into the imperial base, or landing pad or any others to come! Nice idea, that!


070611.14
The conversion parts have been sitting at the PO for the last 10 days!  I've got a mixed eval. on them.  Detailed yes.  Some parts are very crisp, some are flashy.  Someone needs to also build an interior conversion kit as well.  As it is, I will have to fake my own -esp the control deck.

Will work on this new aspect sometime soon.  Moderate surgery is required.


070626.01
The 'Moderate surgery' is largely complete.  Cut a chunk here, slice some lines there and 'done'.  I've run the roof slices half way to the front so I can angle the roofline properly, it was a straight-level run front to back -and that is simply not right.

I kept all of the walls and simply chopped the ceiling and floor out to fit. The walls are there to seal in the engine parts and give the sides a nice smooth feel that would have been difficult to replicate. The new parts are very rough on the outer walls and needed cover.

I will have to patch and sand the roof gap when I re-angle that curve downwards. Larson includes a new roof slice to add in. 

Dealing with these new parts in more detail has shown me that there's essentailly no way that I could have created these pieces myself.  I'm simply not at that level yet.

While removing some flash on the pylon I-beams, I broke the first one in half -very delicate!  I was careful from then on, but the last one also broke, so I'll need some glue there.

Next up is to black these new parts and then gray them.  Looking at the show recently made me decide to silver the exterior and then do a super light gray over that to give a metal feel to it.

The ElPanel will need trimming to fit in the new interior compartment.  These new engine parts (correctly) go to the 'hash line' AMT included to place the rear wall.  This hash line is actually the utter rear of the interior. You can safely chop out everything behind there of the floor and roof.

The interior 'back wall' goes where AMT has the rear-most seats situated.  Really poorly done, but I guess that was the overall state of kits from those days (1973, in this case).  Then shove all the seats up some.

Saw a few moments of Court Martial the other day and what I had never noticed before is that the back wall is not flat!  I had always wondered where Giamoto pulled those phasers from in G7...  The door is set slightly back with angled walls that lead quite quickly to the flat wall.  Check it out next time! 

Of course, where McCoy and Boma came from when they told Spock that they were ready to bury the dead guys, I still don't know.  There's no room back there whatsoever -nevermind a door or external hatchway! Perhaps just enough for Scotty to do that electrical discharge dance he did. Tight.

I will need to replicate some details in that back room, like O2 tanks and such.  The back wall also will need some panel details.

That's it today.  I'm resupplying some electrical equipment this weekend, so I want to get as much of this kit ready for that as I can beforehand.  It will still be some time before I actually finish this one off though.


070805.22
Did some sand and patch sometime since the last update, but don't remember when.  Still more to do on the roof there.  Spent some time on the Flight Deck, but none else on the Shuttle since the last posting.


071104
Essentially, this poor girl got knocked to the side and is awaiting the resurgence of the electronics pipeline to be finished.  The roof is looking good, but still needs some work.  Once this one gets going again, it will wrap up quickly.


081130
What's a full year between friends?  We'll see if I live to regret those poorly chosen words above.  The deck is wired up. I've gotta finsih off that roof seam, paint and decal the whole thing, do the interior details, seal it up and do the diorama part of it.

I've switched over to youtube, so check in with the video logs as well.