In Part Five of my Model Remodel journey, we complete the electronics and lighting of the Saucer section. This includes adding custom light circuits, attaching our electronics to custom 3D-printed mounts, and finishing up the rest of the wiring. I also added another Arduino page about how to add sounds/music to our project!
Category Archives: MODS
Model Remodel – Part Four
In Part Four of my Model Remodel adventure, we fully modify the Battle Section Neck and I share more information about using Arduino including Custom Functions, Booleans, Dimming LEDs, and how to switch high currents. I also included a third Lighting Test video which shows some new features I have added as well as a sneak preview of the mobile app I have been working on!
Model Remodel – Part Three
In Part Three of our Model Remodel journey, I will explain how I use power, LEDs, and resistors, as well as begin our dive into Arduinos and how to program them!
Model Remodel – Part Two
Work is progressing on documenting our Model Remodel adventure and Part Two is now available. Here, we redo the Bridge/Deck Two section, reassemble the saucer, solve for light leakage, customize the Warp Nacelle lighting, and give the entire system its first full test!
Model Remodel – Part One
Since we are held up by another shipping delay, it seems like a good time in my 1:900 scale U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D partwork adventure to do a few serious modifications. To document this, I have created a new Model Remodel series of articles around my journey to add more details, realism, and accuracy to my model. Fair warning though, I am going crazy with this one – including everything from resin windows to new lighting and sound effects!
Resin Windows Update
After seeing World of Wayne’s YouTube video about his decision to go with resin windows on his Enterprise build, I decided to try out the resin he chose and see how it compared to Solarez. It turns out this new resin cures much slower, but the results can still be very good. I have updated my Resin Windows page with the details. Enjoy!
Resin Windows
I wanted to try something new and see if we could create better windows for our Enterprise model. Using resin for the first time in my life, I wanted to share what I learned and how it all worked out. See the adventure yourself!
Window Sanding Fixture
If you read my Windows mod page, you know I have been sanding all of the saucer windows down to be more flush with the hull plating.
I was trying to put a ‘group buy’ together to get this little creation of mine into other builder’s hands. However, my CNC shop did not get back to me about it, so I decided it would be even better just to publish my 3D files to everyone. With these, you should be able to find a local CNC/Waterjet shop to have these made locally.
Check out the Windows page for more details, but here are the files. Enjoy!
DXF (AutoCAD Drawing Interchange Format)
- Base (50mm x 100mm x 10mm)
- 1.4mm Top Panel (50mm x 100mm x 1.4mm)
- 1.2mm Top Panel (50mm x 100mm x 1.2mm)
STL (STereo Lithography)
- Base (50mm x 100mm x 10mm)
- 1.4mm Top Panel (50mm x 100mm x 1.4mm)
- 1.2mm Top Panel (50mm x 100mm x 1.2mm)
Lifeboat Transfers
During the run of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television show, none of the Enterprise D model’s lifeboats (escape pods) on the outer hull were detailed. They were just painted squares as production did not expect them to be seen well on the small screen. However, when the ship appeared in the feature film Star Trek: Generations, the repainted six-foot shooting model was adorned with decals on each lifeboat as per the various blueprints created along the way:

While I am building my model to represent the television show version, I do love the additional, accurate lifeboat details provided by this new Lifeboat Hatch Transfers mod I received from the infamous Mike Lane.
If this spacecraft were real, each lifeboat would surely be numbered individually to be readily identifiable. But, on the 6-foot model, they just used the same few numbers over and over again. Again, it was not expected that this detail would be noticed in the movie. This mod provides 500 incrementally numbered dry transfer decals that we can apply to each lifeboat on our model. He also offers a less expensive, sticker version of the same decals.
I will be adding these to my build once the top surface of the saucer is completed.
The Windows
I have been sanding down many of the windows on my Enterprise D model as I didn’t like that they were sticking up out of the hull. I thought I would put together The Windows page to describe my process and a custom tool I had made to help out.