Return to the BUILD

“As starboard windows and lights complement their portside equivalents from the previous stage, both banks of lookouts are illuminated for the first time.“

This stage should feel very familiar as we have done all of this before.

Contents

Parts

Materials: While the window parts are plastic, the Skeletal Supports are all metal.

Build

Fitting More Battle Section Windows

As in the previous stage, I used a yellow and turquoise Sharpie brush marker to add some colors to the back of a few windows. The top row of windows was much warmer on the models, so I used yellow there. I also added more black to the dark sections to try and limit light bleed using a normal black Sharpie:

Step A

Retrieve your Battle Section Rear Neck assembly from the previous stage. Fit the Right Rear Windows into place as shown:

Adding to the Window Light Connections

Step B

Find the LED on the end of the red/blue wires of the Rear Window Light II (11E) cable. Carefully bend the leads of the LED at a 90° angle:

Fit this bent LED into this lower square recess as shown, next to the windows we just installed.

I used a tiny drop of super glue to hold these in place to take the picture. However, these lights may need to come out later, so do this at your own risk:

Fit the LED with the red/black wires on the other Rear Window Light I (11D) cable into the nearby upper square recess, as shown.

Due to the close proximity to the opposite LED, I had to bend the leads up on this LED as well to get them both to fit correctly:

Securing and Positioning the Window Lights

Step C

Fit the Right Rear Window Reflector over the Right Rear Windows, capturing the two LEDs, and align the screw holes as shown:

Secure this reflector down with four (4) BP screws. Two go in at the top…

… and two at the bottom:

Finally, gently bend the cables from all four of these LEDs up towards the top of the Battle Section Rear Neck, as shown.

It turns out that we will have to re-bend these cables to fit this assembly to the skeleton later on, so just skip this step for now:

Testing the Lights

Step D

Retrieve your Battery Box and PCB. Connect the four (4) 4-pin plugs from the Battle Section Rear Neck lighting cables to the 4-pin sockets on the PCB. Then, connect the Battery Box to the 2-pin socket marked ‘F’.

The 4-pin sockets on the PCB are all the same, so it really doesn’t matter which 4-pin plug goes into which 4-pin socket:

I took this picture with my phone as the studio lights are too bright. Still, it shows all of our LEDs and colors working as expected:

Adding to the Skeletal Supports

Step E

Retrieve your Skeleton assembly from the previous stage. Fit one of the larger Skeletal Support A to this location on the left underside of the Upper Skeleton assembly, as shown.

As I have mentioned before, I recommend pre-threading the holes in these Skeletal Supports:

Secure this Skeletal Support A to the Upper Skeleton using two (2) BM screws.

When working with the skeleton frames, be gentle. They are metal, but can bend easily and cause warping of your saucer section. This is also your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:

Fit one of the smaller Skeletal Support B to this location on the left underside of the Upper Skeleton assembly, as shown, and secure it to the Upper Skeleton using two (2) BM screws.

Sadly, I missed taking a close up of the screws here, but this is the same process as we have been doing for a while now:

Moving over to the right side of the Upper Skeleton assembly, fit the remaining larger Skeletal Support A to this location on the right underside of the Upper Skeleton assembly, as shown:

Secure this Skeletal Support A to the Upper Skeleton using two (2) BM screws:

Finally, fit the remaining smaller Skeletal Support B to this location on the right underside of the Upper Skeleton assembly, as shown:

Secure this Skeletal Support B to the Upper Skeleton assembly with (2) more BM screws:

Thoughts

It just keeps getting bigger and bigger, that is all I have to say!

Next Up

Stage 13 – Upper Skeleton 1, Main Impulse Engine/Reflector