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Continuing to assemble the NCC-1701-D. Discovered some
other little tips:
- Filing is a skill, the better it is learned the less radical shaping
will be necessary later
- Sometimes filing leaves a rough edge - you can give this a sudden
smoothness by applying the plastic-melting glue, and letting it dry.
Come to think of it, I can probably accomplish the same with fine grain
sanding material.
- When taking pieces off the plastic tree, err on the side of leaving
too much plastic on the model part - it's easier to file something down
then it is to fill gaps.
- When I left a gap (above), I tried to fill it with Red Modeler's
putty - big lump, then shape it with a file when it dries. Noted
that it has to be more than dry to the touch, it has to be dry inside
too. Takes no time for it to dry out, but takes about 30 minutes to
an hour before you can file it, or it'll be like filing silly putty.
- Plastic melting glue doesn't work on transparent things
- Transparent glue for transparent things takes an hour to dry
- You have to get creative in tacking those things down for final
gluing

I forgot to install the forward deflector array prior to
lower hull assembly - I'll have to crack a couple of strategic points and get
that puppy in there... (turns out I didn't need to crack anything, I was able to
slip it in from the opening in the hull).
This is where I am so far. I also discovered that a
container of toothpicks is perfect for holding small parts (the deflector array
consisted of two parts that needed to be glued). I'm going to putty the
main and secondary shuttle bay doors so that I can get a perfect seam (I'm an
optimist). You can see the primary shuttle bay in the 'creative' picture
above, top-right corner.
I've also discovered that the left (facing forward) nacelle
is off by five degrees. Bending that sucker into shape is going to be
difficult, I think, don't know how I'm going to do that yet.

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