Return to the BUILD

“Continue to join up the upper and lower panels around the rim of the saucer, and begin work on the battle section rear.“

NOTE: I will be presenting TWO different paths to build this Enterprise D partwork model. This is because after Stage 58, I completely tore my own model down and started on my Model Remodel journey. However, I have access to a second Enterprise D partwork that is being built in stock form, so I can show both methods here.

• The normal BUILD section below will show the ‘stock’ way of installing the parts with any tips and tricks I find along the way.
• The new MODEL REMODEL section will describe the changes I made during this stage including any painting, lighting, electronics, wiring, etc.

Contents

Parts

Materials: The Deck Panel L3-11 is metal and the rest of these parts are plastic.

Build

Assembling Deck Panel L3-11

Step A

Carefully remove eleven (11) Escape Pod Covers from their sprues and fit them into the back of Deck Panel L3-11, as shown.

As in Stage 61 with these outer lower panels, I shaved off the two tiny bumps on the top and bottom with my hobby knife. This allows them to seat a bit deeper and more uniformly. While not shown here, I still recommend using pieces of black electrical tape or aluminum tape to seal in these Escape Pod Cover to prevent light leak:

Fit the Reflector Panel L3-11-12-19 to the back of Deck Panel L3-11 as shown, then secure the Reflector into place with two (2) AM screws.

This is your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:

Fit the Outer Frame L4-10 to Deck Panel L3-11 aligning the pins and posts to the matching holes as shown, then secure it into place with two (2) DM screws:

Fitting Deck Panel L3-11

Step B

Retrieve your Saucer assembly from the previous stage and place it upside down on a soft surface. Fit this Deck Panel L3-09 assembly to the Lower Skeleton, as shown.

As before, there is a groove along the inside of the Outer Panel that needs to ‘pop’ onto the rim of the matching upper Deck Panel here:

Secure this Deck Panel to the Lower Skeleton with two (2) FM screws, as shown:

If this Panel fitment is satisfactory, press the two pins of the Escape Pod Screw Cover into the matching holes at this location of the Panel.

This Screw Cover should be installed so the red line is closer to the edge of the saucer. However, you may want to wait until you are happy with the fitment of all of the lower saucer panels before hiding these screws. It may be difficult to remove these Screw Covers once installed:

Installing the Supply Ports

Step C

Fit the two pins of each Supply Port into the matching holes at these locations of the Battle Section Rear, aligning the screw holes as shown:

Secure these Supply Ports into place with two (2) CP screws – one for each.

If you have some thick black paint or putty, I would recommend sealing the openings around these Ports as light may leak out around them:

If needed, you can slightly rotate these Ports to be aligned in the holes a bit better:

This nice big piece of the aft upper engineering hull will be used a lot in the coming stages:

That step ends this stage of the stock build. Below you will find the details on what I changed in this stage as part of my Model Remodel.

Model Remodel

Fitting Deck Panel L3-11

• The Escape Pod Covers were sealed in from behind with aluminum tape
• As with my other Outer Panels, this one was again sealed at the outer edges with adhesive putty

Installing the Supply Ports

I processed the Battle Section Rear windows in the same way as I have been with my Model Remodel:

• The windows were replaced with Solarez Thin-Hard UV resin
• For more complex curved surfaces, I used Tamiya 12mm Tape for Curves, but limited the UV exposure times to short bursts to prevent heat build-up
• The ‘dark’ windows were painted black according to my Window Pattern Guide

Since the stock Supply Ports stick up through the deck panel, I sanded the square pins down a bit to make them recessed. You may want to seal the holes in the hull around these Ports from the inside with black paint, putty or similar sealant:

Here is the result of our Model Remodel changes in this stage:

Thoughts

The first hull paneling of our stardrive/battle section has arrived! The layout of the windows seems a bit wonky, but the counts match the 4-foot studio model. From the side, they look decent enough but I do feel it could have been done a lot better.

Next Up

Stage 71 – Lower Skeleton 3, Battle Section Rear Left Windows/Reflectors/Lights, LED Brackets (Coming Soon)