08/18/01

    Continuing to work out some of the issues, including the shuttle bay, forward hull lighting and placement of fibre.  For the forward hull lighting (see picture at left), the problem is that I can't place an LED in the location between the windows - that space is 1/5th the diameter of a white LED.  I've found that if I place a large-diameter fibre beneath the hull section (just above the window) by scribing and filing a channel in the hull and putting a small dent in the window (similar to what Ertle did with the Enterprise D, 7/15/01), I can put a light there.  It's not as bright as I'd like, but it'll certainly work.

 

 

 

Appreciation to Foundation Imaging for such great work

 
    The shuttle bay on the model is just plain wrong - they put "techno" prints on the back walls, and that's not what it looks like.  At right is a beautiful picture of the shuttle bay I got from 'http://www.scifi-meshes.com' (there is some other positively incredible artwork there, too - I can only recommend their site).  To remedy this situation, I think I shall just reverse the panels and hand paint the inside myself
 
 
 

     Regarding fibre, I've had to learn a lot about it.  The thin diameter fibre isn't as picky, but when you get to the larger diameter there is an issue - if you fail to polish the ends of the strand, it will cause the light to yellow.   I've also learned that you can heat up the ends and make them mushroom a little - therefore, instead of making the flashing running lights flush with the surface (which is harder to implement than I thought, I might add) I can raise the fibre just a little above the surface and then heat it up - should look just about perfect.

     The other issue here is that the room I have to work with is precious little.  I think this is going to have to just be figured out when the time comes.

     I'm pleased that I have more time to perfect the hull colors - I've been making tweaks (the color recipe on 8/9/01 has been updated each time).