Brilliant! That lighting kit is excellent so far; I love the blue lighting down the inside of the nacelles.... apparently that was the original intention, but budgetary/technical difficulties stopped it being a thing, so, Yay! It looks amazing... how a Federation starship should look! I'm catching up on your videos having recently found them, and have been a lifelong Trek fan... from the mid 60s onwards.... ;-)
That is awesome. I remember back in "67" I had one of the original models of the Enterprise that came with some small incandescent lamps that lit up the nacelles and the top of the bridge. The lenses that covered the lamps were green and it had an external switch to light it up. Since it was glued together once you installed the lights, if they burned out, you didn't have much choice but to try to open it. I don't know what happened to that model and I've tried to find another one, but to no avail.
Also put a DC motor controller so you can adjust blade spin speed from 0 to full on, additional $5 for the circuit, controls both motors and the brightness of the LEDs behind blades.
Wow! I didn't have to wait long... The Bussard light sequence looks screen accurate to me. And the "Christmas Lights" make it look even better than the MR version I had. I like the frosted clear dome, myself. Once you frost that inner dome and diffuse the lights on the blue warp effects, it'll look great!
Off topic from the lighting kit... I haven't built one of these 1/350 kits yet. Do the nacelle pylons need extra support (metal rods, etc.) to prevent sagging over time?
I got an Enterprise model kit when I was a kid when the show was on TV for the first time. It was nothing like this. This would have been awesome back then.
Very nice. As for the blue light on the warp engines, I think I have read that Gene Roddenberry wanted to do that but it was not possible due to budget. So, I guess you can think of it as how it was meant to be.
EXCELLENT TUTORIAL ...I put that in caps to emphasize how much I liked your video. I suspect that you skim through a lot of the commrents but I hope you will read the whole thing... I wish I could afford to have someone build a 350 scale Enterprise. I envy modelers like yourself who are able to do fine detail work; unfortunately, I can't because I am legally blind (20/400 left eye 20/200 right), which makes it very difficult for me to paint and apply decals (I have tried several times and I've always ended up being frustrated with the results). I've always felt intimidated by the LED lighting too but your video was very helpful. I really appreciated the time you took to explain and show how to do it. Very cool. BTW: I rarely bother to leave comments but I felt like it deserved it. Thank you again Side Note: It is much easier for me to correspond via Facebook Messenger (which is easier to see). With that said, I would like to invite you to say hello (I realize you probably won't but I thought it wouldn't hurt to mention it). Have a nice day
Not to get nit picky but I don't know why the trend started to light the grills on the sides of the engines. They did not light up on the show. It looks weird to light them. I know there was a theory that the original MIGHT have had those lit but wasn't because of budget but I really think that if those were intended to light up, they would have lit them. That's like adding a bunch of lights to the main deflector "because the newer ships deflectors light up so they probably intended the original to light up but didn't because of the budget". It's silly and I think it started because someone on RUclips built one with the grills lit up to make theirs different from everybody else's. Also, bussard is pronounced "Bus-erd", not "Bus-Ard". Even Scotty, in one of the episodes pronounces it "Bus-erd". Okay, I'm off my soapbox now! 😁
Where do the clear blue strips come from on the sides of the nacelles? My light kit didn't have them. What is the part number of the polar lights kit that you are using? Please help. I think this ship looks so cool with the blue on it. Thanks.
Just getting back into my enterprise builds after a few years. I like the red coloring on the cap. My question is, since I don't do my own airbrushing, how can I get the red frosted look? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
I'm a new with the lighting kits. When you plug it in to check the motor and lights, what do you plug it in to? How do you keep from blowing out the lights and motor?
When he frosts the Bussard collector domes at about 8:30, how does he do that? "hair spray" is the thing that springs to my mind, but I'm sure that's a crazy answer. :D
How did you frost the plastic parts? Did you just used dullcote lacquer clear paint? I never understood how you can frost plastic outside that possible method. If you use a better method, PLEASE share. Thanks.
I think their designers are smashing it with this. But how will the durability be to run at long intervals? What's the heat output on those motors after an hour, 2 hours, or longer of continuous operation? I like to leave my models running for hours at night and this proved to be a disaster on one. This looks like the nacelle may have enough interior volume to dissipate more motor heat though. Thanks.
Great video. Which is the latest Polar Express model that's available? Is it the POL993M? Which version are you building in this video? ALSO: I have one of the versions that still has the grid lines. If I purchase the smooth saucer addition, will all remaining parts be compatible, including the mka048 light kit?
I think it's bs that they only include the clear parts in that kit. I got the original one for 100 bucks if I recall maybe 125 and I got a paragrafix set for the warp nacelles and impulse engines And complete weathering decals. The only thing of real value in that kit is the motors. If I can find those I'm building another one.
The 11 foot studio model also had pieces of mirror glued behind the lights on the dome, on the back plate. That may give you more light refraction in the dome if you recreate that in your nacelle dome plates.
Leds don't throw light in all directions. You would have to have more of them, facing "backward" somehow before they would reflect off of something shiny on the back plate.
@@MarksUselessChannel No, they scattered the light inside the dome and reflected it. just enough to make a more random effect on the frosted domes. I have a photo of the front end of the nacelle with the mirror bits glued in place around the motor shaft, but I have no way to post it here.
Pretty cool. They must have improved the motors since the original issue. Those were loud (the gearing I mean) these I couldn't hear at all. Are they quiet in person?
Just got going on this kit and mostly love it.. Disappointed there aren't blue grills in the light kit rather than just clear ones.. but what irks me 100% is the power supply I got was rotted out and failed while testing lights... luckily had one on my record player that works till I buy a new dedicated.. but what REALLY PEEVES ME OFF is those quick connects for the LED strips DO NOT WORK correctly... They either flicker constantly or they outright fail.. requiring a lot of jostling to even get the lights on.. but it happens randomly... had to completely rip my saucer back open after a ton of work to seal it up properly (mine had a huge lip on the port edge) and cut out those god forsaken connectors and solder everything together.. 100% no troubles anymore... thankfully my motors and PCB's all work, have read people had issues with those.. Incredibly disappointed in this one.. the K'T'Inga and Discoprice kits worked flawlessly.. but this one.. for being "improved" it needed a lot more QA
This looks cool, but I think it would be even cooler to not paint the clear parts blue, but frosted white, and then put a strip of addressable RGB lights in there. This way you can change the colour to whatever you want, and you can even animate it. Do you have links to the model and light kit you used?
I think the inside lighting on the nacelles, was seen on the Defiant in ST: Enterprise, iinto mirror darkly pt 1 and 2. Now rd2 needs to make a lighting kit for the refit
I used some of the Aztec Dummy vinyl sets, so the bars in my bussard collectors are vinyl strips. I'm glad I did because it seems to me that the motors run rather fast, spoiling the effect. I removed every other strip and the effect is much better so far as I'm concerned. I had hoped the motors in the new kit would have been slowed down some, but this doesn't seem to be the case.
I wonder if I did something to make it spin too fast. In the video above I was testing it with a different power supply than the one in the kit. I didn’t want to have to wire it through the circuit boards for this test. I wonder if my supply was making it spin too fast
@ Gary Whitfield that is a good idea 👍🏾 but I think amazon.com sale slower motors 2 for $14 I'm going to try both methods to see which one looks the best👍🏾
@@theensignschair How small are they? You would need to fit one in each nacelle or you will presumably dim the LEDs in each nacelle if not the whole model.
The kit (before taxes and shipping) runs $135, the lighting kit is $200 (before taxes & shipping) at $65.00 more than the kit...that's WAY to Steep. You can get all the LEDs and LED Tape for less than $25 (if you look around), a small spool of 22 gauge Red & Black wire for $9, and if you need a small soldering iron for as little as $16 (if you plan or would like to light other kits) a good little soldering station for $30 so one could light their kit for between $50 and $65. And If you don't know how to solder RUclips has some great Tutorial on soldering. The New Lighting kit is not worth the cost, unless you don't mind paying 67.5% ($200) more than your kit cost by all means buy this kit. But, if your on a budget (as a lot of us are these days) save $135. As Mr. Spock would say "There are always alternatives" from The Galileo Seven ST:TOS - Be Healthy and Be Safe.
If you have the knowledge, you can do your engines with micro motors and led lights from China, I did my 1/350 kit for less than $20, looks as good as this kit and a lot cheaper.
Why would a model company put the blue lights in the nacelles? They were never on the TOS Enterprise. If they’re going to violate canon, why stop there? Add a third warp nacelle. That’s “cool” too.
While I like the lighting kis. I think it's really unfair to only include the clear parts on that kit. Especially for 250 bucks. The light kit ids more expensive than the model. Yet you can get the discovery one for 50 bucks. That kit was a great plug n play set but the one I got 10 years ago was 100 bucks and included paragraFix for a few details and complete weathering decal sheets! I still have the wearing decals.
I’m glad the fan blade motors are much quieter.
Brilliant! That lighting kit is excellent so far; I love the blue lighting down the inside of the nacelles.... apparently that was the original intention, but budgetary/technical difficulties stopped it being a thing, so, Yay! It looks amazing... how a Federation starship should look!
I'm catching up on your videos having recently found them, and have been a lifelong Trek fan... from the mid 60s onwards.... ;-)
That is awesome. I remember back in "67" I had one of the original models of the Enterprise that came with some small incandescent lamps that lit up the nacelles and the top of the bridge. The lenses that covered the lamps were green and it had an external switch to light it up. Since it was glued together once you installed the lights, if they burned out, you didn't have much choice but to try to open it. I don't know what happened to that model and I've tried to find another one, but to no avail.
Also put a DC motor controller so you can adjust blade spin speed from 0 to full on, additional $5 for the circuit, controls both motors and the brightness of the LEDs behind blades.
Wow! I didn't have to wait long... The Bussard light sequence looks screen accurate to me. And the "Christmas Lights" make it look even better than the MR version I had. I like the frosted clear dome, myself. Once you frost that inner dome and diffuse the lights on the blue warp effects, it'll look great!
Off topic from the lighting kit...
I haven't built one of these 1/350 kits yet. Do the nacelle pylons need extra support (metal rods, etc.) to prevent sagging over time?
Absolutely not my friend! The pylons in this kit are solid!
I got an Enterprise model kit when I was a kid when the show was on TV for the first time. It was nothing like this. This would have been awesome back then.
Very nice. As for the blue light on the warp engines, I think I have read that Gene Roddenberry wanted to do that but it was not possible due to budget. So, I guess you can think of it as how it was meant to be.
Awesome, thanks for share with us 🙂
there is a round light chaser soldering practice kit that fits the 350 tube fine, works a treat
EXCELLENT TUTORIAL
...I put that in caps to emphasize how much I liked your video.
I suspect that you skim through a lot of the commrents but I hope you will read the whole thing...
I wish I could afford to have someone build a 350 scale Enterprise.
I envy modelers like yourself who are able to do fine detail work; unfortunately, I can't because I am legally blind (20/400 left eye 20/200 right), which makes it very difficult for me to paint and apply decals (I have tried several times and I've always ended up being frustrated with the results).
I've always felt intimidated by the LED lighting too but your video was very helpful.
I really appreciated the time you took to explain and show how to do it.
Very cool.
BTW: I rarely bother to leave comments but I felt like it deserved it.
Thank you again
Side Note: It is much easier for me to correspond via Facebook Messenger (which is easier to see). With that said, I would like to invite you to say hello (I realize you probably won't but I thought it wouldn't hurt to mention it).
Have a nice day
Excellent video....really helpful. But how did you achieve that even frosting please?
The warp grilles are installed backwards here...they go in from the outside with the textured side also facing out.
Thanks! I was able to do the other side properly in the final video, I don't know why I missed that on the first one.
Not to get nit picky but I don't know why the trend started to light the grills on the sides of the engines. They did not light up on the show. It looks weird to light them. I know there was a theory that the original MIGHT have had those lit but wasn't because of budget but I really think that if those were intended to light up, they would have lit them. That's like adding a bunch of lights to the main deflector "because the newer ships deflectors light up so they probably intended the original to light up but didn't because of the budget". It's silly and I think it started because someone on RUclips built one with the grills lit up to make theirs different from everybody else's. Also, bussard is pronounced "Bus-erd", not "Bus-Ard". Even Scotty, in one of the episodes pronounces it "Bus-erd". Okay, I'm off my soapbox now! 😁
Agreed
Where do the clear blue strips come from on the sides of the nacelles? My light kit didn't have them. What is the part number of the polar lights kit that you are using? Please help. I think this ship looks so cool with the blue on it. Thanks.
You can also attach the Paragrafix PE grill onto the clear part so the light can shine around it.
Just getting back into my enterprise builds after a few years. I like the red coloring on the cap. My question is, since I don't do my own airbrushing, how can I get the red frosted look? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Your right its is easy .its my first light kit. After watching you do it ,will order one now .thanks great job as always
The actual model did, in fact, have the outer domes frosted orange.
Yes the Studio filming ship domes where frosted orange with a hint of yellow
I changed mine to look more like that thanks!
I'm a new with the lighting kits. When you plug it in to check the motor and lights, what do you plug it in to? How do you keep from blowing out the lights and motor?
When he frosts the Bussard collector domes at about 8:30, how does he do that? "hair spray" is the thing that springs to my mind, but I'm sure that's a crazy answer. :D
That was excellent!
How did you frost the plastic parts? Did you just used dullcote lacquer clear paint? I never understood how you can frost plastic outside that possible method. If you use a better method, PLEASE share. Thanks.
I think their designers are smashing it with this. But how will the durability be to run at long intervals? What's the heat output on those motors after an hour, 2 hours, or longer of continuous operation? I like to leave my models running for hours at night and this proved to be a disaster on one. This looks like the nacelle may have enough interior volume to dissipate more motor heat though. Thanks.
Great video. Which is the latest Polar Express model that's available? Is it the POL993M? Which version are you building in this video? ALSO: I have one of the versions that still has the grid lines. If I purchase the smooth saucer addition, will all remaining parts be compatible, including the mka048 light kit?
New lighting kit looks great. But $200 still seems pretty steep for this.
You think it's expensive in the US? Try buying it in Europe!
Total ripoff
Not worth the cost for the New Lighting Kit.
I think it's bs that they only include the clear parts in that kit. I got the original one for 100 bucks if I recall maybe 125 and I got a paragrafix set for the warp nacelles and impulse engines And complete weathering decals. The only thing of real value in that kit is the motors. If I can find those I'm building another one.
Thanks for video. What method did you use to 'frost' the domes?
The 11 foot studio model also had pieces of mirror glued behind the lights on the dome, on the back plate. That may give you more light refraction in the dome if you recreate that in your nacelle dome plates.
Leds don't throw light in all directions. You would have to have more of them, facing "backward" somehow before they would reflect off of something shiny on the back plate.
@@MarksUselessChannel No, they scattered the light inside the dome and reflected it. just enough to make a more random effect on the frosted domes. I have a photo of the front end of the nacelle with the mirror bits glued in place around the motor shaft, but I have no way to post it here.
Could be replicated with bits of tin foil
Pretty cool. They must have improved the motors since the original issue. Those were loud (the gearing I mean) these I couldn't hear at all. Are they quiet in person?
Just got going on this kit and mostly love it.. Disappointed there aren't blue grills in the light kit rather than just clear ones.. but what irks me 100% is the power supply I got was rotted out and failed while testing lights... luckily had one on my record player that works till I buy a new dedicated.. but what REALLY PEEVES ME OFF is those quick connects for the LED strips DO NOT WORK correctly... They either flicker constantly or they outright fail.. requiring a lot of jostling to even get the lights on.. but it happens randomly... had to completely rip my saucer back open after a ton of work to seal it up properly (mine had a huge lip on the port edge) and cut out those god forsaken connectors and solder everything together.. 100% no troubles anymore...
thankfully my motors and PCB's all work, have read people had issues with those..
Incredibly disappointed in this one.. the K'T'Inga and Discoprice kits worked flawlessly.. but this one.. for being "improved" it needed a lot more QA
This looks cool, but I think it would be even cooler to not paint the clear parts blue, but frosted white, and then put a strip of addressable RGB lights in there. This way you can change the colour to whatever you want, and you can even animate it. Do you have links to the model and light kit you used?
I think the inside lighting on the nacelles, was seen on the Defiant in ST: Enterprise, iinto mirror darkly pt 1 and 2. Now rd2 needs to make a lighting kit for the refit
That’s a great point I’ll take a look at that
I used some of the Aztec Dummy vinyl sets, so the bars in my bussard collectors are vinyl strips. I'm glad I did because it seems to me that the motors run rather fast, spoiling the effect. I removed every other strip and the effect is much better so far as I'm concerned. I had hoped the motors in the new kit would have been slowed down some, but this doesn't seem to be the case.
I wonder if I did something to make it spin too fast. In the video above I was testing it with a different power supply than the one in the kit. I didn’t want to have to wire it through the circuit boards for this test. I wonder if my supply was making it spin too fast
@@OurayMountainModels Don't think so. It looks like the speed mine run at. Hence why I reduced the number of strips blocking the light.
@ Gary Whitfield that is a good idea 👍🏾 but I think amazon.com sale slower motors 2 for $14 I'm going to try both methods to see which one looks the best👍🏾
You can also step down the speed (and noise) on these using a voltage regulator!
@@theensignschair How small are they? You would need to fit one in each nacelle or you will presumably dim the LEDs in each nacelle if not the whole model.
Do anyone know where I can get a copy of that paint guide? I have 3 of the older kits without the paint guide 😢
The kit (before taxes and shipping) runs $135, the lighting kit is $200 (before taxes & shipping) at $65.00 more than the kit...that's WAY to Steep. You can get all the LEDs and LED Tape for less than $25 (if you look around), a small spool of 22 gauge Red & Black wire for $9, and if you need a small soldering iron for as little as $16 (if you plan or would like to light other kits) a good little soldering station for $30 so one could light their kit for between $50 and $65. And If you don't know how to solder RUclips has some great Tutorial on soldering. The New Lighting kit is not worth the cost, unless you don't mind paying 67.5% ($200) more than your kit cost by all means buy this kit. But, if your on a budget (as a lot of us are these days) save $135. As Mr. Spock would say "There are always alternatives" from The Galileo Seven ST:TOS - Be Healthy and Be Safe.
How much additional cost for the motors and LEDs to create the bussard lighting effect?
Where do you get the lighting kit?
Exactly what colour of grey is the hull of the Starship Enterprise (TOS), as Captain Kirk (William Shatner) commanded? And the rest of the model?
How do you frost your Bussard domes??
Is the motor more quieter. I heard the old motor were noisy. THX
I think the blue engine color would have conflicted with blue screen photography.
Excellent
How would you describe the motor noise, is it quieter than the original lighting kit?
Are you any relation to interstellar modeler? 🤔
Personally I think the red end cap looks better. I am sure it looks better in person then online. I know LED's can appear brighter online.
What blue color did you use to paint nacelle clear piece?
I'm going to presume the assembled model shouldn't be left powered ON 24/7, else things start to fail or melt, correct?
Even the real Enterprise, in its display case at the Smithsonian, is powered up only at scheduled intervals and is left off most of the day.
If you have the knowledge, you can do your engines with micro motors and led lights from China, I did my 1/350 kit for less than $20, looks as good as this kit and a lot cheaper.
Nice to see they eliminated the splice point inside the pylon!
Why would a model company put the blue lights in the nacelles? They were never on the TOS Enterprise. If they’re going to violate canon, why stop there? Add a third warp nacelle. That’s “cool” too.
I don't like orientation of your tear drop lamps.
Anyone have any idea if it's possible to run EL tape for the nacelles instead of led strip?
I just wanted to add this little note that on the later episode the back part of the nacelles were lit up as well
While I like the lighting kis. I think it's really unfair to only include the clear parts on that kit. Especially for 250 bucks. The light kit ids more expensive than the model. Yet you can get the discovery one for 50 bucks. That kit was a great plug n play set but the one I got 10 years ago was 100 bucks and included paragraFix for a few details and complete weathering decal sheets! I still have the wearing decals.
I want one, but too expensive....
like a electric shaver kkkk
Nice effect but those motors are WAY too loud and spin WAY too fast.
It doesn't look like the original footage.
$200 is to much! I can see $80. Maybe $90, but $200 is alot.
Needs slowing down