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“Another addition to the saucer skeleton makes its iconic shape unmistakable, before the powerful main impulse engine glows red for the very first time.“

Contents

Parts

Materials: The Upper Skeleton is metal and the non-electronic Impulse Engine parts are plastic.

Build

Expanding the Upper Skeleton

Step A

Retrieve your Skeleton assembly from the previous stage and fit the Upper Skeleton 2 to this location on the left rear side of it:

Secure this Upper Skeleton 2 to the two Skeletal Supports below with four (4) 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:

Fitting the Main Impulse Engine Light

Step B

Retrieve your Main Impulse Engine Reflector I from the previous stage and slide the Main Impulse Engine Reflector II from this stage into it:

This Main Impulse Engine Reflector II should be pushed all the way in until it is flush:

Retrieve your Battle Section Rear Neck assembly from the previous stage. Slide this Main Impulse Engine Reflector assembly into place inside the matching opening of the Main Impulse Engine, as shown:

Next, fit the Main Impulse Engine Light circuit board onto the Main Impulse Engine Reflector III, aligning the pin and screw hole as shown:

Then, secure the Main Impulse Engine Light to the Main Impulse Engine Reflector III with one (1) BP screw:

Fit this Main Impulse Engine Light assembly to the Main Impulse Engine, as shown:

Finally, secure the Main Impulse Light assembly to the Battle Section Rear Neck assembly using two (2) CP screws.

I didn’t like that the pin side of this Main Impulse Light circuit board had a gap, so I used a drop of super glue to seal it down:

Testing the Lights

Step C

Retrieve your Battery Box and PCB. Connect the plug of the Main Impulse Engine Light to the socket marked ‘E’ and the Battery Box cable to the socket marked ‘F’:

This should light up the red LEDs of the Main Impulse Engine Light. Here, we can see the impulse engine in the off and on states:

UPDATE: After this stage was finished and before starting on Stage 16, I came back and painted the exhaust of the Main Impulse Engine with Tamiya X-19 Smoke acrylic paint. It was bugging me that it was so ‘red’ when not powered up, so this darkened it down nicely. The pictures you will see between this stage and Stage 16 will not reflect this change:

Thoughts

If I haven’t said it before, I actually enjoy the electronics and lighting parts of these model builds. I just hope we can control the various lighting separately and not just one switch for everything.

Next Up

Stage 15 – Skeletal Supports, Battle Section Skeleton 1