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“Connect another section of the saucer to your new PCB before getting to grips with your first light strip, for the starboard warp engine nacelle.“

The description of this stage in the magazine is incorrect as we will be adding parts to our PORT (left side) warp engine nacelle.

Contents

Parts

Materials: All of the non-electrical parts in this stage are plastic.

Build

Assembling and Installing Deck Panel U3-18

Step A

Carefully remove three (3) Escape Pod Covers, fifteen (15) Clear Windows and seventeen (17) Dark Windows from their sprues and fit them into the back of Deck Panel U3-18, 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 Escape Pod Covers and Dark Windows to reduce light leak:

Fit Reflector Panel U3-18-A onto the back of Deck Panel U3-18, as shown:

Slide the two LEDs of the Deck Panel Lights cable into these notches of this Reflector Panel, as shown:

Secure this Reflector Panel to the Deck Panel with three (3) BP screws:

Step B

Retrieve your Upper Skeleton assembly from the previous stage and thread the Deck Panel Light cable of this new panel up through this opening next to Deck Panel U3-17, as shown.

While test fitting this panel, I found that it fits better if the leads of these two LEDs are gently bent to run along the sides of the reflector:

Then, I threaded the wiring through the skeleton. If you haven’t noticed, I find it easier to fit the Deck Panels with everything upside down:

Position this Deck Panel onto the Upper Skeleton…

… and secure it into place with two (2) CP screws:

From above, our new Deck Panel U3-18 looks like this. You may notice a couple of my windows in the lower left of the panel did not seat correctly. I fixed this after the stage was completed:

Step C

We can test these new window lights by connecting the new Deck Panel Lights cable to the PCB and Battery Box:

Disconnect the Deck Panel Lights cable from the PCB and connect it to this socket (marked ‘A’) of the Saucer PCB 2, as shown:

Fitting the Nacelle Light Strip

Step D

Retrieve your Warp Field Grille Left Reflector assembly from the previous stage. Position this assembly between the Warp Engine Field Grill Left and the Nacelle Upper Frame, as shown.

These reflectors will fit loosely at this point. When the lower frame of the nacelle is attached later on, they will be better secured:

Fit the Nacelle Light Strip inside the nacelle with the wiring connections facing down and the two red/black wires to the rear, as shown:

Make sure the square LED at the rear of the Nacelle Light Strip is resting in this notch.

I had to gently bend the leads of this LED to align it with the notch. It should be squeezed into the notch when the lower frame is installed later on:

Feed one of the LEDs on the short red/black wires under the Nacelle Upper Frame (arrow below), then press the tip of the LED down into the round black hole at the rear of the Nacelle Upper Frame.

Be careful here so as not to damage the LED or the housing. Some builders have had trouble fitting this LED – in that case you may need to enlarge the hole in the housing with a round file or drill bit. On my model, it fit fine:

Finally, secure the Nacelle Light Strip to the Nacelle Upper Frame with three (3) CP screws:

Thoughts

I am happy to be adding more Deck Panels to our saucer, but I can already tell that this nacelle lighting is not going to work. The limited number and angle of the SMD (Surface Mount Diode) LEDs (which are blue by the way) are definitely going to create hot spots and uneven lighting in the warp grilles. Of course, I will share any solutions I come up with!

Next Up

Stage 47 – Deck Panel U2-09, Windows/Lights, Warp Field Grill Reflectors