Yes, that's the outboard side of the nacelle. The grillwork is much more dense on that side versus the inboard side.
Looking at a youtube video of somebody with their Enterprise refit model, I think I will want to have LED's built into the base, so that you get to light the model from below. That could look awesome I think.
Looking at this still image again, I realize that the viewports here have a dark gray'ish coloring on the inside of the circular frame. The darker color seem to maybe match the dark panel line coloring.
Also, this image show, or seem to show, the panel lines nicely. The panel line seem to be equal to the dark line seen around this docking port. Also, the panel line apparently goes downward and AROUND the docking port. There seems to be a very thin line of lighting on the two sides of the docking door itself. Also, the round windows seem to have a tapered edge, which could be interesting to try replicate, assuming it would look proper for all windows. Could be tricky with such small windows.
I am curious to eventually learn if the panel lines on the Polar Lights model is a little large, or not. Panel lines that are too big or too deep, is a common type of issue with smaller scale model kits.
Hehe the multiple screw holes there seems odd though. An oversight by the director? They are very much visible, and sort of looks like they are a part of the model work, but not the design.
Hm, it sort of looks like maybe the iridescent panels have been given a scratched texture to them, or maybe the worn look is incidental.
You certainly are doing alot of research on the subject matter before you do you build. Very commendable! I have detailed files on my builds, not a refit yet, chucked full of reference material and technique ideas.
Nice work! Your research will make it easy for when I attempt mine!
Those aren't screws; they're supposed to be some form of handhold around the airlock.
Decoman, you may want to check out Boyd's Refit Enterprise build series on YouTube, some of the things you've posted about are addressed in those videos.
I can't get enough of the 1:350 Enterprise refit builds on youtube and elsewhere, so I'll take a look at that, or again maybe.
Today, I bought some large transparent plastic cups, that I can prime and test the iridescent paint on (or any combination of primer/paint/varnish). I also bought some smaller coated paper platters, which seem smooth enough to test the painting work on. No way I would buy actual plastic to test my airbrush for experimenting with coloring.
Hm, I wonder what the ideal viewing angle for the nav lights would be.
So.. if you place an led below and not inside a cavity in the plastic, the led would more or less shine in the direction of the cavity having a cylindrical shape, and the led would light up the insides of this cylindrical hole.
Something else would be, where the led was either filling the cavity, OR, going through the cavity, in which the led in the latter case would be visible 180 degrees around and more.
So.. presumbly what one would see with the led placed beneath the cavity in the plastic, is either the lit up inside of the cavity, or some combination of that and looking directly at the led.
It would matter, what direction the led was placed, as led afaik usually work like spotlights. Afaik, leds can be sanded, or sanded flat, to make the light diffuse, and maybe reshape light in ways. I've seen on somebody's refit project that the man placed one led across the top and bottom cavity openings for the nav lights, such that the led won't shine directly out of any of the two cavity holes, which is nice. Maybe a good idea, to make the led diffuse nonetheless, or maybe add some sheet of translucent material, to soften the glare from when looking directly at the led this way.
Edit: I just realized that I have been assuming that the nav light cavity openings, where just holes. So, if filled with transparent plastic, as if being a window, that transparent plastic might alter the shape of the light, if say bulging a little up from the cavity opening. Something which might perhaps look nice, as it perhaps wouldn't look the same, as if the led itself was sort of sticking out through the cavity opening, so that you maybe see more of the glow from the led itself.
Nicely packaged, and the kit box, which has a nice solid lid, is/was wrapped in thin plastic all over. Not a dent anywhere as far as I can see.
I will take some close up photos of the parts later.
Btw, I wonder now if maybe this shot from 'The Motion Picture' could be a secondary prop, and not showing the studio model of the Enterprise refit. I am guessing that it has to be, because the doors are very crisp and detailed. Making me think that this screenshot is NOT a good idea for evaluating the width and depth of the dark panel lines all over the studio model. Obviously, there was some kind of compositing going on, showing a live human being though one of the view ports, and an interior though the other view port. Or, maybe it was a 1:1 sized prop.
FIRST: As you maybe know, Polar Lights 949 does NOT contain Aztec decals. I will probably mask and airbrush that stuff myself.
A very quick weight measurement of some of the parts. There will obviously be more parts to fit onto the larger ones, so the weight would increase with those smaller parts added.
So, the saucer parts weight about 700g and the nacell parts 480g, for a slight imbalance already. Adding the "neck", the imbalance increases with an additional 130g. 830g vs 480g. The front part of the model seem nearly twice as heavy as the rear part.
Edit: I managed to screw up the weight measurement. I'll do another weight measurement later.
So this is the Polar Lights 949 kit, and I am sorry to say that the circular deflector dish clear part is blemished and I don't think anyone would wand to use that part looking that way. I expected a perfectly rounded surface, but there is a small circular pattern at the center, with some blemishes around the plastic. Hopefully, this clear part can easily be replaced with something else. It feels like the back side of the plastic can be used as a mold for a new clear part. Though, the small circular patch at the center is actually found on the backside, with the front side being nicely curved all the way. I am putting this clear part in a small bag for safe keeping.
There are 32 thin "strips" also molded into the plastic, I did not expect that as I expected to having to add those myself, which would be preferable in my case.
The impulse exhaust clear part looks better. I expected the rear end to be flat, but they are curved on each side. I don't know what would be correct, flat or curved. Anyway I have already ordered a resin part for this area, so I probably won't be using this kit part in particular.
The torpedo bay clear part looks very good imo, crisp edges and crisp/clean detailing. Though the detailing is perhaps a little basic imho.
The two big clear parts for the inner nacelle grill looks very nice. Crisp, clean and clear all over.
Because of how important it is to have a nice smooth surface for when airbrushing, I will try to handle the parts with care, so that they don't get scratched or dented.
I put the major clear parts in their own small plastic bag for now.
Btw, overall plastic thickness for the kit seems to be about 1.8 mm.
The guiding pin holes seem to generally 2mm wide, and 3mm wide for the one big pin just behind the deflector dish on the big top/bottom part.
As for the saucer part, it sort of feels like all the plastic would be the main weight of it all even with lighting installed, which at least, if true, would make the balancing work more predictable.
My overall impression of the kit is favourable, but flawed.
Though, so far, I do find two glaring flaws, one being the clear part for the deflector dish, and then there is this part. Seems to me (haven't checked more closely on all other parts) that this one part, stands out as having sink marks, which is bad given the curved surface this part is suppose to have. This will require some careful work to get clean I am afraid. The worst part to have sink marks on. I will contact Polar Lights and ask if they can send me a new part for this one part, that would be very helpful.
Hmm, though their website says: "Note that we cannot support AMT, MPC and most Polar Lights kits manufactured prior to the fall of 2011. We do not maintain back-stock of kits that have been out of production or were manufactured by the prior companies, either RC2 or Playing Mantis/Polar Lights." Which sounds bad, as these aren't new molds. Checking now, scalemates.com lists the new mold kit as being a 2005 kit, which seem to indicate that everybody will be out of luck getting replacement parts. And ofc: "Round 2 reserves the right to modify or reject any replacement request, at our sole discretion." because they are a corporation.
I can easily fix this, but the tricky part is getting an ideal result where there is no sign at all of there being any putty work done at all.
This below is what the hangar door looks like: Apparently, the outer shape is not circular. Unsure how this shape compares to any aftermarket hangar door part.
I like how the grill part is whole, with no seam. Nice! There doesn't seem to be any more parts for this type of grille unless I am mistaken, which would make it fairly easy to add detailing with tiny strips of styrene or maybe photo etch if that part of the model has detailing inside the "grille" area there.
Decoman, very nice close up photos of the parts! What type of equipment did you use to get those shots? A SRL? Nikon? Cannon? Nice lighting too!
Sorry to read the parts weren't up to you standard - which seem to be admirably high! How do you intend to dupe the parts? What material do you have in mind to get rid of the small circular patch in the middle of the Deflector Array?
I am very interested to see what you are going to do with this kit!
Just in case I missed it, from whom did you order the aftermarket parts?
Keep going! I am enjoying the detailed analysis!
It should be possible to sand off the small circular shape at the center, because that is actually found at the back. Don't know what other modelers did. I'll go see later on to try find out what Trekworks did in his video.
As for what plastic to use, I have no idea. Because of the same same shape of the dome, I might be lucky and find some kind of plastic lying around that would be suitable. Vacuum forming comes to mind, but I don't know much about that, and that would require a mold to create the shape from.
Hmmmmm, I have some transparent sheets of styrene, perhaps there is a way to shape the plastic to the back side of the old part if I cut it loose from the framing.
The photos are taken with an older FujiFilm digital compact camera (FujiFilm FinePix JZ700) with the macro function enabled. I had to lower the camera towards the floor to avoid the glaring light from the windows. Always best used with a tripod for the sharpest images, but in daylight, you can get away with holding the camera in one hand, because the exposure time taking the photo in daytime is very short. I wouldn't trust any brand name, ever. Only a product review could be trusted, and that assuming some item was manufactured at the same place, with the same components/sub-manufacturers, for the entire duration, which is hard to learn about as a consumer.
Btw, I use the free Fusion 8 (movie compositing software) software to resize and crop the photos into manageable proportions and file sizes, while retaining the most crisp look using a less blurry filter. Adobe Photoshop has afaik limited options for doing such things.
I usually use eBay for stuff. It is a sport trying to find the best offer, or, just wait for a nice offer to come by one day.
Protip: Don't try annealing delicate photo etch parts with a flame thrower/flame torch. I have zero experience with that myself, but I am reading elsewhere that the flame might be so hot that it can in some cases burn away thin details on the photo etch sheet. I plan to cut off the parts I need to anneal, and use my electrical kitchen stove if I can figure out how other people do that. I don't want to risk bending the entire photo etch sheet, where a larger ring-like part ought to best remain flat (goes around the deflector dish). Unsure if the PE sheet will cool down into a same same flat shape as it used to be.
Tip: Don't try to snap the big long clear parts onto the white nacelle plastic, before checking to see if the pins go flush into the guide holes. On my kit, some cleaning up is required. Not much flash on the kit elsewhere.
I think the panel lines on the saucer looks ok, I may just let that stuff be as it is. I might make the airlock doors a little more deeper set into the hull, mainly to make it look ok with photo etch over the plastic, and I sort of feel the doorways are too shallow, but I haven't yet checked closely with reference photos.