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“Light up your entire saucer build to date by connecting all its lights to a single printed circuit board!“

Contents

Parts

Materials: The Deck Panel U2-08 is metal, but all of the other non-electrical parts in this stage are plastic.

Magazine – Issue 9

• Assembly Instructions: Building the Model
• Episode Guide 2.9: The Measure of a Man
• Episode Guide 2.10: The Dauphin
• Episode Guide 2.11: Contagion
• Episode Guide 2.12: The Royale
• Episode Guide 2.13: Time Squared
• Episode Guide 2.14: The Icarus Factor

Build

Adding a Bank of Windows

Step A

Retrieve your Left Neck Panel from the previous stage. Fit the Left Neck Front Windows to this panel, as shown.

These windows are not secured in place just yet, so just keep these parts together until we attach the reflector panel later on:

Fitting the Saucer PCB

Step B

Insert one of the plugs of the Saucer PCB Cable into socket ‘IN1’ on Saucer PCB 1.

These plugs and sockets have polarity, so make sure they are connected correctly, as shown:

Wiring Up the PCB

Step C

Retrieve your saucer Upper Skeleton assembly and turn it upside down.  Fit the Saucer PCB 1 to this location at the front of the skeleton.

Take care not to trap or pinch any wiring under the PCB. I routed the red/black and green/yellow wires for the panel directly underneath the PCB (arrows below) out the sides so we would not have sharp bends at the LED leads of those wires:

Secure the Saucer PCB 1 to the Upper Skeleton assembly with four (4) FM screws, as shown.

The PCB should be able to sit flush down onto the skeleton. If not, check for any wiring caught between the PCB and the skeleton. This is also your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:

Next, connect the plugs of the seven Deck Panel Light cables shown below to these sockets marked ‘A’ on the Saucer PCB 1:

• The two four-pin plugs from Stage 18 (red/black and green/yellow wires)

• The four four-pin plugs from Stage 19 (red/black and white/yellow wires – three of these cables are taped together)

• The four-pin plug from Stage 24 (red/blue and yellow/black wires)

Finally, secure six of these seven cables to the Upper Skelton structure using two Cable Ties, as shown. One of the Stage 18 cables will be too short to secure in this way.

I did not add these Cable Ties here as I wanted to get all of the wiring plugged in first. I will do it later on in this stage.

Step D

Connect the four-pin plugs of the three cables in the taped bundle from Stage 4 to these sockets marked ‘A’ on the Saucer PCB 1:

Then, secure this bundle to the Upper Skeleton structure using two Cable Ties.

Again, I did not add these Cable Ties here. I will do it later on in this stage.

Connect the plugs of the four Deck Panel Light cables shown below to these various sockets on the Saucer PCB 1:

• The two four-pin plugs from Stage 22 (red/black and white/yellow wires) into sockets marked ‘A’

• The two-pin plugs from Stage 24 and Stage 28 (red/white wires) into these smaller sockets marked ‘B’

Step E

Connect the plugs of the three Deck Panel Light cables shown below to these sockets marked ‘A’ on the Saucer PCB 1:

• The four-pin plug from Stage 25 (red/black and white/yellow wires)
• The four-pin plug from Stage 26 (red/black and white/yellow wires)
• The four-pin plug from Stage 27 (red/blue and yellow/black wires)

Secure this cables to the Upper Skeleton structure using three Cable Ties.

Again, I did not add these Cable Ties here. I will do it later on in this stage.

Finally, connect the plugs of the three Deck Panel Light cables shown below to these sockets marked ‘A’ on the Saucer PCB 1:

• The two four-pin plugs from Stage 20 (red/black and white/yellow wires)

• The four-pin plug from Stage 21 (red/blue and yellow/black wires)

The Cable Ties

We are provided with seven Cable Ties in this stage to secure these wires to the skeleton and keep them tidy. However, I wanted to really make the wiring nice. I picked up a big bag of 4″ black zip ties, consolidated all of the plugs to the center sockets on the PCB, and routed similar wiring together:

All of the PCB sockets with matching markings (A, B, etc.) are exactly the same. Hence, any four-pin Deck Panel Lights plug can be inserted into any ‘A’ socket. Likewise, all of the two-pin Deck Panel Lights plugs can connect into any ‘B’ socket. The two sockets marked ‘W’ can also be used for lights:

NOTE: There are two four-pin sockets marked ‘G’ on this Saucer PCB 1. These sockets have a small IC chip next to them that makes those lights blink. I believe these sockets are meant for the navigation lights in a future stage, so do not connect any Deck Panel Lights to them:

There was no real plan to how I ran these cables. I just grouped similar wiring together, ran it close to the skeleton, and zip tied it to itself or the skeleton as I saw fit. I feel the clearances between the upper and lower saucer skeletons will be small, so I wanted this wiring to be low-profile and between (or close to) the two rows of curved Skeletal Supports:

Testing the Lights

Step F

Retrieve your Battery Box and connect it to this socket marked ‘OUT 1’ on the Saucer PCB 1:

All of the Deck Panel Lights we have fitted so far should illuminate:

Here it is with the studio lights turned off:

We did not use Deck Panel U2-08 in this stage, but here is where it will be fitted later on in the build:

Thoughts

That was a lot of wiring to deal with, but all of the window lights are working as expected! It looks even better in person and I am very happy with it so far. We definitely have some small light leaks between the panels, but I have some ideas to fix those soon. Finally, we did not use the Deck Panel U2-08 or the Escape Pod Covers supplied with this stage, but keep them safely stored as we will need them later on.

Next Up

Stage 32 – Deck Panel U1-07, Windows/Reflectors/Lights, Escape Pod Covers