USS Enterprise Model Build – Part 12 – light leakage

Once the whole thing was assembled I soldered the wires from the stand onto the wires that come out of the bottom of the model and had a look at the thing in all its glory. Even with the many small imperfections the model still has (due to my lack of skills) it really looked great. I just had to add some music to this first light leakage video:

To boldly go…..
..where no man has gone before

So you might notice that there are several areas that are problematic where light is shining through where it is not supposed to:

  • At the bottom of the neck where the neck attaches to the main hull
  • On two or three areas at the top rim of the saucer
  • On both sides of the “pilons” that connect the nacelles to the main hull
  • at the back / bottom of the shuttle bay

The most glaring light leakage issues obviously where where the nacelles connect to the main hull. I had a hell of a time getting a tight and flush fit there because the circuit board for the nacelle lighting prevented me from fitting the connecting piece 100% in there they way it is supposed to.

I thought about taking the whole thing apart again and decided against it as it was so much work to get the whole thing together as it is. So I went ahead and used this “perfect plastic putty” I saw on this blog:

Perfect plastic putty – saved my life : )

The great thing about it is that it is water soluble. So I just applied very small amounts of this stuff using a toothpick (while wearing my newly acquired magnifying headset) and just wiped any excess stuff off using a wet Q-tip.

If you’re approaching 50 – you might need this:

I then just used a very small brush to carefully touch up the repaired areas. Thank god I had enough of the original hull color mix left over : ) So here are some before and after shots:

Nacelle connection leakage fixed

Front neck leakage fixed

Saucer areas fixed

I also fixed the problems at the back below the shuttle bay but forgot to take pictures.

Soooo – Since this really is my first attempt at building a model using an airbrush and adding custom lighting, I am quite satisfied. It really looks great from one or two meters away and when it will be up on the shelf I guess nobody will see the little imperfections.

If I could change one thing I would go in again and place the circuit board somewhere else so that the connection to the nacelles fits 100% perfectly. I think due to this very small gap the whole angle of the nacelles is a little bit off and it looks like the are leaning / drooping to much backwards. Or maybe it’s just me being to picky.

I think it’s just me being too picky. When I first saw some of these projects online I had serious doubts if I’d ever get this done. So I’ll just clap myself on the shoulder for now and will enjoy the model up on the shelf : )

I just hope I don’t mess up applying all the decals as there I will have to use decal softener which I also have no experience with…

So this leaves me with the following steps:

  • apply a clear coat
  • apply the decals

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