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Saturday's update... a tale of horror and redemption... kind of...


So this morning I decided to set up and take some pics with my "studio" lights (the ones with the reflectors I got at Loews) of the finished bridge.

Just need to add some figures:


[ATTACH=full]46505[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]46506[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]46507[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]46508[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]46509[/ATTACH]


After taking the last pic I got up for a minute and when I came back I noticed something so horrible... so horendous... I wanted to shoot myself with a phaser! And not on stun either! :eek:


I had left the hot lights on too long and too close to the bridge and it had caused it to soften and warp.


Arrrrrrgggggh!


The bridge was now oval instead of round.


Holy crap! If I wasn't so afraid of cracking the concrete I would have beaten my head against the garage floor.


8 hours of work was circling the drain of my own stupidity (sob)...


Frantic, I grabbed it up and noticed all the putty had softened and cracked off in spots around the center section and the it just came free in my hand when I pressed it from below. Two of the railings had broken free as well. The outer walls were warped but while it was stil warm I was able to get it back to basically close to round. There was only minor buckling in one of the ion pods.... er.. I mean, one of the overhead PE display panels has bent slightly; luckily, I was able to press it back down and flatten it.

It could be fixed but the center section... not good news... I tried reheating it but it was no good. It just wasn't going back to round even putting it in my hobby vice and heating it with a heat gun only caused it to bow in the center making matters worse.


You can imagine my disgust at myself as I tossed both pieces into the trash and contemplated just building the ship without the bridge.

After all, at least I had photos of the work I'd done. I could just glue the dome onto B-C deck housing and leave it at that.

Nobody would even know....

except me...

I would know.

Still upset with myself I glanced around my worktable and noticed something sitting quietly off to one side in a dish with some odds and ends. It was the clear center section of the clear bridge which I had removed when I used the kit section instead. There it was just staring at me coyly. It was intact except for some roughness around the rim from the xacto saw. Yes! So I took it, kissed it, primed it with Tamiya surface primer, and painted it up.

I didn't have the energy to make all the same mods I'd made originally but I was able to fake it pretty good. The hand rails were solid clear plastic so I painted the short wall at their base and the legs black. Then I painted the red railings on top. In between I left the light grey primer. Here's how it looked:


[ATTACH=full]46510[/ATTACH]


Not bad, not bad.


Then I squeezed it into the outer ring and glued it in with CA before filling the gaps with AVES like before. I lost 3 of the chairs so made 3 new ones from scratch. I think they look better than the old ones in fact.

To give the impression of the handrails being open between the legs I painted the gaps between the legs dark grey to match the color of the carpet on the upper bridge level when viewed fromm the lower level. On the other side I left the gaps painted light grey to match the lower carpet color. So when you view the rails from the lower level it gives the illusion that you are seeing the darker grey carpet thru the rails and vice versa when looking down from the upper level. It's a very convicing illusion.


Here's the new bridge:


[ATTACH=full]46511[/ATTACH]


All things considered it was a decent save I think. Once it's inside the hull and lit up I think it will look fine.


Thanks for reading about my moment of horror and how I was able to salvage something presentable from the wreckage.


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