Return to the BUILD
“Another section of the saucer comes together and lights up for the first time, while the last visible screw holes on the neck assembly are obscured.“
Contents
Parts
Materials: The Deck Panel, Screw Cover I, and Transporter Emitter Pad are metal – the other non-electrical parts are plastic
Magazine – Issue 12
- Assembly Instructions: Building the Model
- Episode Guide 3.3: The Survivors
- Episode Guide 3.4: Who Watches the Watchers
- Episode Guide 3.5: The Bonding
- Episode Guide 3.6: Booby Trap
- Episode Guide 3.7: The Enemy
- Episode Guide 3.8: The Price
Build
Assembling and Installing Deck Panel U2-02
Step A
Carefully remove eight (8) Clear Windows and five (5) Dark Windows from their sprues and fit them into the back of Deck Panel U2-02, as shown.
Reminder: I sanded all of these windows down already. See The Windows page for more details:
As before, I used pieces of black electrical tape behind the Dark Windows to reduce light leak:
Step B
NOTE: I deviated from the printed instructions here to make this step a little easier to understand.
Retrieve your Upper Skeleton assembly from the previous stage and turn it upside down. Gently fit the Deck Panel U2-02 assembly to this location on the Upper Skeleton (between Deck Panel U2-03 and Deck Panel U2-01).
Be sure to slide the right edge of this Deck Panel (arrows below) into the opening first and between Deck Panel U2-01 and the skeleton. In order to make this easier, I temporarily loosened the six circled screws to allow those panels to ‘gap’ away from the skeleton frame.
Once the new panel was fitted, I re-tightened the six screws I loosened:
Slide the two LEDs of the new Deck Panel Lights cable into these top notches of the two lower Reflector Panels, as shown:
With these LEDs in position, begin securing Deck Panel U2-02 to the Upper Skeleton with six (6) BM screws, as shown.
This is your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:
Finish securing Deck Panel U2-02 into place with four (4) EM screws, as shown.
NOTE: You might notice here that these EM screws are of a new design – the diameter of the flange head is smaller. This is actually an improvement as the flange is much less likely to ‘catch’ on the skeleton frame. Keep any spares of these new EM screws as we may use them elsewhere:
We can test these new window lights by connecting the new Deck Panel Lights cable to the PCB and Battery Box:
I connected the outer Deck Panel lights as well, then turned off the studio lights:
Hiding the External Screws on the Battle Section
Step C
Retrieve your Battle Neck Section from the previous stage. Remove the backing paper from the Transport Emitter Pads and fit them into these two matching recesses of the Right Ventral Neck Panel.
UPDATE March 2022: After a recent trip to see the real 6-foot studio model in person, I realize these Transporter Pads are the correct color already. I have since stopped adding this wash to them and removed it from those pads already washed. I will leave this mod here for those who still wish to do it.
As with my previous Transporter Emitter Pads, I painted both of the pads in this stage with Vallejo Game Wash – Sepia to give them some golden depth, then lightly wiped across the ridges with a damp cloth to expose the lighter original color:
Since I will likely update the lighting of this Battle Neck Section, I need to be able to disassemble it later on. Therefore, I did not actually stick these two Transporter Emitter Pads into place here. However, I did test fit them in the recesses (picture below) and noticed that they do fit a little better if we slightly bend them to match the curvature of the neck.
Note the larger Transporter Emitter Pad has smooth corners on the front end and angled corners on the rear end, so make sure it is installed correctly:
Remove the backing paper from the Screw Cover I and fit it into this matching recess of the Right Ventral Neck Panel.
For the same reason I just stated above, I did not stick this cover in place here either. However, I did test fit it in the recess and noticed that this Screw Cover I needs to be gently bent a little to fit flush against the panel:
Next, press the pins of Screw Cover II and Screw Cover III into the matching holes at these locations on the Right Ventral Neck Panel.
Again, for the same reason I stated above, I did not press these two Screw Covers all the way in on my model. This picture is for reference on where the covers are supposed to be installed:
Finally, press one Screw Cover IV and one Secondary Tractor Beam Emitter into these holes at the rear of the Left Ventral Neck Panel.
These parts are quite different – the Screw Covers IV (43I) are thicker than the Secondary Tractor Beam Emitters (43J).
The thicker Screw Cover IV fits into the screw hole closer to the center of the neck and the thinner Secondary Tractor Beam Emitter fits into the screw hole closer to the outer edge. Both covers have and angled shape and the thicker edge of each one should be facing the center of the neck. You can also use the spare Screw Cover IV and Secondary Tractor Beam Emitter from the previous stage here, if necessary.
Again, to allow for later disassembly, I did not fully install these two covers yet. However, this picture depicts where they should be installed:
Thoughts
We are only one stage away from ‘finishing’ the Battle Section Neck assembly. If I actually stuck all the stickers and covers in place that is!
Next Up
Stage 44 – Deck Panel U1-02, Windows/Reflectors/Lights, Escape Pod Covers, Lower Neck Panels