AMT U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 Refit with Lights - Album

This is, sadly, one of the last kits that Don Matthys of Don's Light and Magic cast and shipped before he passed away in November, 2019 

These panel lines have to go 

A giant tube of Bondo will do the trick 

I slopped on the Bondo with my finger. Much quicker than using a spatula. 

Sanding order: 180 grit wet with rotary followed by 400, then 1500 

This filling was about a four-hour job. It would have taken much longer without the rotary machine wet sanding 

Cutting out stock impulse deck 

Don's clear part 

Filled with Milliput 

First lighting test. Going to paint the impulse engine white for reflection 

IMPORTANT TIP: I should NOT have removed this. All I needed to do was leave it and mask it. The stock white plastic would have diffused the LED strip lights very nicely. Now I'm stuck with having to make my own diffuser and it's not as effective because it's pressed up against the LEDs and you can still detect individual lights rather than one continuous glow. 

I got a little ahead of myself by installing this airlock at this point.  

I want a little bit of diffusion so I sanded to dull 

I carefully put liquid mask in the notches around the dish. Who knows if I'll be able to get it out once it's painted. 

Trying this stuff to diffuse the lights in the warp nacelles 

That's better. 

Ready for base primer coat. 

The Bondo had shrunk and all the filled lines were showing, so I needed another round of sanding and priming 

Following another coat of black after the sanding, the lines are much less apparent now. Whew. 

One final coat of gray 

LOTS of filling and sanding to get the edge and light panels smooth. 

Wiring done, diffusing corrugated plastic installed, ready to assemble 

The fit on these nacelles is terrible. Huge gaps, warps, chunks, all manner of problems. Lots of putty and sanding around the entire assembly. 

I placed some plastic laminate in as window and then filled with Micro Kristal Clear 

Filling the outside with Micro Kristal Clear. You can see how clearly the far-right one dried. 

Light bleed check. You can see how all that sanding and filling thinned the plastic. More primer! 

Light assembly for primary hull and main deflector 

I ran a bead of opaque JB Weld quick epoxy around the light assembly to reduce light bleed 

Wire leads soldered onto a little board. 

I like to secure and strengthen them with non-conducting hot glue.  

I made a little riser out of a wooden dowel for the board to sit on. 

I used quick-setting epoxy to help me attach and square the "neck" to the primary hull. 

Success! All lights working 

At 9 volts, all the lights draw 0.35 amps. I'm no electrician but it seems OK based on my extremely limited experience. This is only the third kit I've lit.