bench42 Don Matthys Enterprise B Excelsior part 3 from Star Trek

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	Don Matthys' Enterprise B/Excelsior part 3


	Don Matthy's continues to produce fine lighted models. Here we present part 3 of his series about building, detailing, and lighting the Enterprise B and the Excelsior.

Photon Torpedo Tubes details are shown here to go into the blank area of the connecting dorsal neck. New parts were constructed using the photos form the book "Star Trek the Next Generation: Sketch; Generations, First Contact".

New parts were made of plastic bits.Then molded into RTV Rubber and cast in resin. The area is drilled out with a #75 bit, cut out with an Exacto knife and filed edges to get a snug test fit.

I next tackled the Main Navigational Deflectors of the Excelsior and Enterprise "B". The kit parts were opened up and the Excelsior kit clear part #105 was fitted to the open area of kit part # 8

On the Enterprise "B" kit the Deflector Housing was also opened and fitted with a clear resin cast replacement piece. The clear pieces are set aside for detail painting and installation later on in the project.

There was a considerable gap in the fit of the two housings fitting to the Engineering hull so some red putty was troweled into the gap and sanded smooth when dried.

For the lack of a name I call this area the Aft Control Island. I noted that in closeups of the studio model that there is a lot of lighted ports and windows in the this area. Difficult to open up with slots and holes so I opted for a clear resin piece that will have the ports and windows masked and opaqued like the clear bridge piece I mentioned previously in my priorBench Cam.

Using a master cut from a scrap pile kit it was detailed , molded into RTV and cast in clear resin. I cut away the kit plastic and fitted the new parts into place.

This next detail is the Aft Photon Torpedo Launchers. . I'm sure the studio model has undergone some detail changes in the detail of this area. I opted for a more fully detailed Aft Torpedo Launcher and had mine molded in RTV Silicon and cast in gray resin. Here you see the replacement part in place.

Warp Nacelles "Bussard Collectors" also have a replacement part on the Enterprise "B". First the kit parts are glued together and set aside to dry with a secure bond. To open this area up I scribed repeatively with a #11 blade and razor saw until the molded on kit detail is cut out.

Then the sides a filed until the clear blue replacement part fits into place with a snug test fit. This area will now glow blue when the light source inside the warp nacelles is activated.

This completes the Bench Cam coverage of the new parts and modification to the AMT Excelsior and Enterprise "B" kits. In the next BenchCam istallment I will cover the lighting and electronics with the use of some simple circuitboards and Lightsheet.

Tool List:

Motor tool or drill pin vise
Motor Tool cutters
#70, 75 Drill bit
4 inch Jewelers Files, oval, round half round ect.
2 inch Jewelers Files
Razor Saw

On to part 4

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