So I've had a decent afternoon on the mission but it is bouncing from section to section a little... can't imagine why that would be...
Actually I'm still waiting on my replacement clear orange turning up for the Bussard collectors so it's not entirely down to the chief engineer, but I did want to move along with the build given I had a free afternoon to myself.
We start off by recovering a bit of ground that I experimented with when the LEDs first turned up - but hopefully this time with a little more logic involved
We're heading back to the saucer section - also called the primary hull...from memory alpha:
The primary hull, also known as the main section, saucer section or saucer module on some classes, was a major component of the overall hull structure of most Federation starships. The primary hull was generally located above and to the front of the secondary hull. On many Federation starships, including the Constitution-, Excelsior-, Miranda-, Nebula-, Akira-, Ambassador- and Galaxy-classes, the primary hull was usually referred to as the saucer section, because it had a roughly circular shape while the Intrepid-class starship has a diamond shaped primary hull saucer section and a Sovereign- class starship has an oval shaped primary hull saucer section, the Defiant-, Nova- and Prometheus- class starships had a triangle or a U-shaped primary hull saucer section and the Daedalus- and Olympic- class starships had a sphere shaped primary hull.
The primary hull typically contained most vital systems on board a starship, including the main bridge, computer core, captain's ready room, conference room, sickbay, science labs, Captain's quarters, crew quarters, transporter room, ten forward, mess hall, holodeck, corridor and other crew support systems. It does not generally house the warp drive or any major engineering systems, although in many cases it does contain its own impulse drive.
Ships capable of saucer separation were designed for this purpose in order to have the primary hull serve as a lifeboat for the crew in the event of catastrophic damage to the warp core or a loss of antimatter containment. It is for this reason the majority of crew comforts are nestled into the primary hull.
First up I noticed that although there is very little in the way of windows on the upper hull there are four large openings as well as the nav lights and bridge section
Fortunately these were lined up with window clusters within the lower surface so as long as I was careful in placing the LEDs the same light source should be able to light up the clusters as well as the larger opening on the upper surface
Pulling out my trusty Sharpie I then numbered where I planned to put an LED, this wasn't actually intended to necessarily be in order but as it turned out that sequence worked pretty well and this shot will help me when I've blacked out the interior!
Counting out the 14 LEDs I then threaded the string through the opening for the pylon from the engineering hull and taped them in place using masking tape. I'm planning on using insulating tape with a little CA when I come to do this for real unless anyone has any better suggestions?
Up on top the last LED on the string was poked up through and taped into the bridge section
Everything was dry fitted and a switch was thrown...
Looks good up top
Underneath
And around the edges
Ok with that done it was off to the paint shop for a layer of Ultimate black on the inside and then we'll run the same test again to see if it'll be ok with just the black or whether I'll need to add a white layer inside as well.
So... where to next...
How about the pylons...
A nacelle pylon was part of a starship or shuttlecraft's structure that supported the warp nacelles.
The nacelle pylon could be mounted on the primary or secondary hull, and housed the power transfer conduits, and turbolift shafts and/or jefferies tubes so the crew could gain access to the nacelle. The pylons' exterior could be mounted with various features such as emergency flush intakes and vents, sensor arrays, phaser arrays, deflector grids, transporter emitter, impulse engines and exterior pennants
Just the three parts here
There's a nice inviting gap at the top to take the wires from the LEDs
But nothing equivalent down the bottom end
So that was rectified with a pin vice and a drill bit of an appropriate size
And with a little tape to hold everything together we can see that the pylons section will work with the wiring running through - I don't need to worry about lighting in the pylons as the few windows in here are blacked out
With that done let's take a look at the base
The obvious issue here again is the lack of gaps in the base for the wiring so out with the pin vice to fix that - I've not decided where to exit the wiring from the side of the base as yet as the battery boxes are too bulky to fit underneath...
And once again with the base pylon assembled it's obvious that we'll need a wiring hole at the top end too
So there we go... everything's dry fitted at the moment so I'll tidy this up if necessary once it's been cemented together
Finally for this update we'll take a quick look at the secondary or engineering hull
On many Federation starships, the secondary hull (also known as the engineering hull, the engineering section, the stardrive section, or the battle section) is a major component of the overall hull structure. The secondary hull is generally located behind and below the primary hull.
The secondary hull is usually dedicated to engineering and support functions, especially in starships built after the mid-23rd century. It is the home of the warp drive, Main Engineering, and other engineering support systems. Separating these potentially dangerous systems from the majority of the crew, located in the primary hull, allows the secondary hull to be abandoned in the event of catastrophic damage to the warp core or a loss of antimatter containment.
The warp nacelles also make a direct connection to the secondary hull. Other areas typically found in the secondary hull include the shuttlebay, cargo bays, Crew quarters, corridor, transporter room and brig. The main deflector dish is usually located at the very front of the secondary hull, as are torpedo launchers.
First up I glued the interior bulkheads in place (yup actually glued something!)
Paired up the two halves of the hull and created the wiring run out of the bottom to match the one on the base
Then because I had several sub-sections all loitering on the bench I threw a quick dry assembly together to see how things were going
And that's all for this log entry
Next time around I'll take a look at the lighting plan for the engineering hull and hopefully be able to make more progress with the nacelles too.
Thanks for stopping by - live long and prosper!
we would always yell that at people who couldn't parallel park or were in the way driving
