1600 lighting RBOP

[mophius]

I got myself a couple of cheap 1/1600 kits of the TOS three ship set.
I am going to try to light them starting with the Romulan BOP
Status so far is that I have drilled the windows around the command deck and deck 2 and have inserted 0.75mm fibre optic through the ports and fixed with hot glue gun. Hopefully I haven't melted the FO.
I have also wired up two green LED's for the bussard collectors in series with a resistor. Luckily for me the pylons sandwich together unlike the Cadet BOP which is solid. The small wires I have will be lost in the middle.

Next up is to light block the whole ship except the nacelle tips where i am hoping the light will just bleed through from the green LED's.
I meant to take photos earlier to show the mess it is in right now.
Currently have the command deck FO's taped together but may remove the tape and rethink how the FO's go together as there is little room inside for many LED's.

[mophius]

Pictures of the mess so far.

Just noticed there are the two windows missing from deck 2 nearer the bow.

[MadManMUC]

Hopefully I haven't melted the FO.

I've not worked with FO (yet), but everything I've read online says that hot glue is probably the safest thing to use for it.

[Tesral]

Nice start. They always look awful before they look great.

The Three ship set is so so at best. I had one at one point. The Connie was the only one I built up, until it got broken.

I'm thinking a few extra greebles and you have a Romulan battleship in 1/2500. Just an idea.

[mophius]

I need to put a launcher on the bow and some impulse engines exhausts on the rear. Then it may feel like a warship.
The nacelles are going to take a little work to get the domes and join right but I can't do that until it is togethed.

[trekriffic]

You know you could probably get away with just inserting a short length of fiber in each window port. The LED is so close by that the fiber ends inside would pick up the light just fine. No need to run a whole strand of fiber to the LED for each port.

[mophius]

You know you could probably get away with just inserting a short length of fiber in each window port. The LED is so close by that the fiber ends inside would pick up the light just fine. No need to run a whole strand of fiber to the LED for each port.

In that case I should have light blocked the hull first then run the FO's. If I have two LED's pointed to the sides from the opposite sides and one from the rear pointing forwards that should be ample.

As I said though, I do have a couple of these kits so can experiment with both options over time.

Thanks for the pointer Trekriffic.

[trekriffic]

You know you could probably get away with just inserting a short length of fiber in each window port. The LED is so close by that the fiber ends inside would pick up the light just fine. No need to run a whole strand of fiber to the LED for each port.

In that case I should have light blocked the hull first then run the FO's. If I have two LED's pointed to the sides from the opposite sides and one from the rear pointing forwards that should be ample.

As I said though, I do have a couple of these kits so can experiment with both options over time.

Thanks for the pointer Trekriffic.

The model is so small you can light the windows with one LED. I'd use a 5mm white Superbright LED that you can get from places like Radio Shack. If that won't fit go with a 3mm size, ultra bright white LED. Lighthouse LEDs carries a wide selection of flat and round top ultra bright wide angle LED's. The wide angle flat top LED would work very well for this. Light block the interior of the model with black then cover with white for even light dispersion. You can also line the flat top of the cupola (the raised housing on top) with reflective aluminum foil; it reflects the light and is good for extra light blocking; just don't cover the slanted cupola ports with foil. Position the LED so it points straight up into the cupola but not directly at any of the window ports. That way you won't see any hot spots from your windows once she's sealed up. You may already know these tricks of course.

[mophius]

Only read about them.
Putting them into practice is another matter. Which I am now learning.

Pointers are all good though. And I will also scour the other sections for threads containing lighting tips. Protector comes to mind first off.

[mophius]

Some light blocking today. And looking at it now, I think I will take Trekriffic's advice and chop the FO down short and use either 1 or 2 LED's inside the hull.

Also have the wiring made up for the nacelles ready to pop in.