Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

I hear the Badger is the model used to paint the TMP Enterprise. Exactly which model airbrush I can't say for sure, but it was a Badger.

Are you talking about the Jeffries Station?

I usually use Easy-Off oven cleaner. It has never failed to remove paint for me.

Well, it's not the colors I painted over that the problem(I painted over a darker grey and it turned out lighter than the can color).

Okay, I got a couple of cans of MM spraypaints and made sure that the colors on the lids, wrapper, and hobby shop labels matched the color I desired. But when I got the model painted, there was a sharp contrast in colors from what I bought to what the color ended up looking like. Now, I don't mind i...

Would you be able to draw up the circuit I want for free? I'm a bit strapped for cash right now.

I'm thinking at this point, a micro controller is your best bet. The fade effect can be simulated with a PWM output, most of the chips will have one pin configurable as a dedicated PWM function. And the code can be written so that at the peak it activates another pin for some amount of time, howeve...

So if I understand this right, I hook up the Schmitt Trigger to the fader, and the flash circuit to the Trigger, making sure that the capacitor for the fader is larger than the one in the flash circuit so it has time to recharge before the plasma-weapon light gets to full brightness?

The last time I used bulbs was in a Star Destroyer(I actually used a 1/32" drill bit for the "windows". . .it made the room look like a disco hall). Now the only place I used bulbs is in places where you have to have the "incandescent" look, because those specialty LEDs with...

[-o< Thank you!

Now that would be useful for things like saucer section windows on Federation ships.

Sparky wrote:Yes something with diodes or zener diodes, I'll have to hunt around for the diagrams

You found them yet? Just curious. . .I'd like to use something like this in my Bird of Prey, but I didn't want to pay big money for a kit when I could build one myself.

I was actually talking about brushing CA over it to harden it. The wire will be stretched across a gap between two ships(A Constitution-class saucer and a Klingon D-7 battlecruiser) and I was going to use the CA to harden the wire so it wouldn't sag over time.

Perhaps I could brush clear resin over it? Or CA glue. Would that interfere with the EL operation?

Maybe. I thought it might have a brighter glow so that the color spills onto the model brightly.

Would this work? I'd like to simulate a phaser attack by stretching EL wire from the Federation ship to the attacker and I think EL Wire would work, provided I put some kind of paint or other detail to make it more "3-D".

Are you talking about the TOS Enterprise, Sparky? Because he'se referring to the Enterprise 1701-E. Would it be possible to use those circuits I mentioned to get the effect he's talking about, i.e. a swirling vortex of red energy?

Well first, which kit are you talking about? Second, how extensive a lighting system are we talking about here? You could just do the engines and running lights, or are you talking about windows, blinkers, chasers, warp engines, the whole schebang, y'know? Third, there's several LED calculators on t...

For the running lights I'll probably put in the full 20 mA, since they have to shine through the hull(You never see them on the studio model like you do with the Enterprise, so I figure if they do have anti-collision lights they are some sort of EL paint; I'm trying to replicate that by drilling the...

I wired up the plasma torpedo circuit this evening and everything works. The LED assembly will be mounted in a light box and that mounted on the aperature. It should look believable when finished. I'm going to order the LEDs and other components tommorrow and they should be here next week. Then I ca...

Perhaps you could use those little circuits in another thread in this forum entitled "cheap fade circuit?" that Zog drew up. They involve a single LED, diode, and capacitor. If you use differring capacitances for each LED you can get a pretty random pattern after several "generations&...

Hey, that's a cool little circuit there, Sparky! Thanks for the link! I have a question: Could I hook up a flash circuit(like in camera flashes; I have a disposeable camera that has one I could use) to the LED that triggers when the LED is at full brightness, to simulate TMP era torpedo launchers? I...

Well, since there are absolutely no greeblies on this ship whatsoever I'll put them on the inside of the model. The top dome lifts off and there is a light-blocking layer below that, like a double hull on a submarine. The light-blocking layer will contain the switches, have the toggles of the switch...

Had some time this afternoon and drew a new plan . A few things about this one: The circuit diagram had too many LEDs on the string for the amount of voltage I am going to use, so I split a few of them up into different strings. The chaser circuit in the old plan had the activation switch on the wro...

Hmm. In that case I'll break down the strings into four or five per string for the regular colors and about two or three for the whites and blues. If you want I can e-mail the full scale plan to you or draw a new one. I do have a breadboard so I can try different LED combinations and use digital met...

I was thinking of getting the 5mm whites and blues from All Electronics since they are having a sale of Whites $0.65 and Blues $0.55. Are there any sources with cheap 3mm whites? They are $2.85 a piece from AE and it would be nice to get some cheaper than that. Also AE has another sale on multi-colo...

Hmm. So I should do as follows: Running lights(space) : String1 Green 3mm LEDs String2 Red 3mm LEDs String3 Yellow 3mm LEDs Running lights(atmo.) : String1 Green 3mm LEDs String2 Red 3mm LEDs String3 Yellow 3mm LEDs Etc. . . I would then have all 3mms and 5mms on individual strings, right? And each ...

Okay, this ship I'm building is going to be the ulitmate Romulan Bird of Prey, and I made a short list of all the features it will contain: Landing bays (2) Functioning Landing gear (3) Running lights (space) Running lights (Atmosphere) Impulse engines with variable color and intensity Warp engines ...

How big is this part you intend to make? How much weight it'll have to support? By rotary tool you mean a Dremel? The brass pieces you're welding, are they tubes/rods or sheet? I believe you can get a pretty stiff and light hollow structure using sheet metal (if you use folds as much as you can, le...

I have been working on a skeleton of a 'mech for quite some time and have gotten tired of soldering countless pieces of brass together, so I've decided to machine a solid block of some sort of reasonably strong material into a hollow leg shape that is reasonably strong, lightweight, and easily machi...