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The cast resin pieces atop and below the Primary Hull were formed from polyester resin. These pieces were later backlit with
internal LED's. In this shot the Primary Hull has already had its acrylic windows set in place, the hull has been primed, and the Impulse Engine and 'spine' piece glued on and their seams filled with
Putty. Note that the still removable Bridge portion is still in its natural white color. Though the 'clear' parts are a bit amber they are opaque enough to permit back lighting.
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A curious piece of 'gingerbread' decoration near the front end of the Secondary Hull (or are these some kind of radiator?) is
this stylish grill looking arrangement either side of the hull. I formed this item from closely spaced lengths of brass rod. At this stage of construction the clear acrylic windows have been masked off
and a thick layer of gray primer laid down.
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Assuring that each rod composing the grill work assumed the same rakish angle I taped a piece of plastic sheet, its front end
cut to the required slope, within each Secondary Hull side. Each brass wire was then butted up against the plastic guide and was then tack glued in place - the glue applied well forward to prevent any
errant glue from sticking to the plastic guide.
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I had estimated the completed models longitudinal center of gravity to fall at a point one-quarter from the front end of the
Secondary Hull. The Support Stand that supports the model sleeves into a tube fit within the Secondary Hull. Note that the hollow Dorsal piece actually penetrates and bonds to the bottom of the Secondary
Hull. Later I put a patch into the Dorsal hole at the bottom of the Secondary Hull.
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As the two Warp Engine Pylons had to have the strength to resist both torsion and bending loads I sandwiched an aluminum tube
within the leading and trailing edge of each vacuformed structure. Here I'm using the Machinist's surface gauge to scribe a cut-line onto a half-pylon still mounted upon its vacuforming plug.
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After building up the two pylons I constructed a very robust 'pylon support crutch' from thick plastic sheet. The crutch piece
would later be installed within the Secondary hull. It's the job of the crutch to receive and cancel the bending loads imposed by the supported Warp Engine structures.
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The relatively heavy Warp Engines, sitting at the end of long moment arms (the pylons) impose a great deal of stress at the
pylon/Secondary Hull integration point. The pylon support prevents cracks at the pylon/hull interface point.
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The pylon support crutch CA'ed into the after upper end of the vacuformed Secondary Hull. As the cyanoacrylate adhesive was
poured into the gap between the crutch and section of re-installed hull, micro-balloons were sprinkled on to accelerate the cure and to help form a substrate to be worked down with file and sanding block.
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After fairing the crutch-hull section smooth to the contour of the Secondary Hull I test fit the two Warp Engine support pylons.
Much later, after all priming, painting, and marking work had been accomplished, only then would the pylons be inserted and bonded permanently into the Secondary Hull. Only at that advanced stage of
assembly would the joints be filled, puttied, worked with file and sandpaper, primed, painted and finally the model weathered.
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After all the detail work had been accomplished on the Warp Engines, each was permanently bonded to its support pylon. Running
through the hollow pylons was a length of 'ribbon wire' conductor which ran from the control panel, up through the Support Stand, through the Secondary Hull and up through each support pylon and
terminated in a circular array of LED's positioned under each Warp Engine dome.
Onto part 5 or back to the contents
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