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NX-01 Enterprise rebuild


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With everything and everyone home due to Corona, I figured I would repair a older model whose lights had stopped working. I ripped the ship apart and put in some 20 new LEDs, which are far brighter then the next to dead lights the ship used to have. Sometimes a rebuild is a good thing. Also saved me 100s for a factory light set and the 100 plus for buying a new model.

 

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3 hours ago, niart17 said:

I see that last pic and the first thing I think....not enough phantoms!😀

 

Seriously though, beautiful build on the Enterprise!

Thanks, I know about the poor Phantoms, only around 150 left of the 230 some odd.

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I think the NX is my favorite Enterprise, It was a time when they didn't have everything down pat and things could go wrong.  They were also more like NASA in some ways, trying to learn and being somewhat excited at things they encounter along the way.

 

I have one that I lit up but about half of the lights have died, including one of the nacelles.  What is a good source for a decent lighting kit?  I was also thinking about getting the phase cannons for one of my models.

 

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I get mine at the local surplus store. But electronic, computer parts stores also have them. Just not this month. Those stores are closed due to the pandemic. 

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I've never tried lighting anything from scratch since I wired up a couple little light bulbs to some batteries inside my first Monogram B-52D back in the 60s.  That sound a bit out of my league.

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Its actually really easy. Just had to re-learn how to solder. That was back in high school so almost 40 years ago. Still have some lights, wire and transistors ready for the next build. Just do not know what the next ship build will be.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Well, this thread certainly cost me some spare change!  I picked up the kit from Brett (Thanks again Brett 👍) and now I have pulled the 1/350 TOS kit from the stash and decided to start with that one first.   I have the Tena lighting kit on the way along with some LED ribbon lighting to cut down for the interior lights, kit was opened and all parts cleaned off and ready for pre-painting work.  Just ordered 5 cans of Tamiya Light Ghost Gray and started clearing space on my garage bench to do the spraying. 

In the meantime I'm putting the wraps on my Blue Angels Skyhawk so I can jump into these SiFy builds.  Somewhere along the way I'm going to squeeze in the NX-01 and another lighting kit.  I think these two will be a great break from all the airplanes I've been focusing on. 

I did see where one guy was building and selling Armatures for the NX-01. Basically a skeleton made up of steel rods welded together that forces the correct shape and prevents engine nacelle droop.  From doing some reading though, it sounds like it was the first production run of the NX-01 kits that had this issue.   Apparently the kit I got from Brett is the second release where they fixed this.

Problem is the guy that was building these armatures is no longer active on the website and I cannot get in touch with him.

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Right on Scott, best recommendation I can make on lighting....Keep your wires as short as possible. The first one I did there was too much material. Had to wedge it all in there and a couple lights disconnected. I also had to practice soldering as I had not done it in 40 years. But that was easy once I got the hang of it again.

 

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My real job is an electronics tech.  Soldering and running cables neatly is second nature for me.  But I'm use to much larger things like classroom lecterns.  :whistle:  A model should present a challenge!   Been watching all kinds of YouTube videos on routing and gluing down wiring with a hot glue gun and CA glue.

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