I took a little break from the ship to work on the base over the weekend.
One thing I'd been mulling over was coming up with some type of illumination for the underside of the ship; some kind of lights on the base.
To that end I looked at my tubing stock and got to work...
I cut some square styrene tubing into sections and made four brackets:
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IMG_4588 by trekriffic, on Flickr
I drilled holes for insertion of an axle made from piano wire.
I also drilled out a hole to insert a hollow aluminum tube thru the base of the bracket to allow for wires to pass thru into the base:
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IMG_4589 by trekriffic, on Flickr
Plastic tubing was inserted thru holes drilled into the corners of the base and glued in. The bracket slides in and can rotate 360 degrees:
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IMG_4590 by trekriffic, on Flickr
Upper hinge ears were cut from .040 styrene sheet. Plastic mounting rings were cut:
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IMG_4591 by trekriffic, on Flickr
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IMG_4592 by trekriffic, on Flickr
The rings were glued into the upper bracket. The upper and lower bracket hinge will allow the spotlights to pivot up and down:
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IMG_4593 by trekriffic, on Flickr
An aluminum tube was cut which fit the diameter of a 5mm Ultrabright white LED. The aluminum tube slides into another plastic tube which itself slides into the ring m ounted to the hinge bracket assembly:
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IMG_4594 by trekriffic, on Flickr
I cut some cowlings from plastic tubing (the same diameter as the rings) at a 45 degree angle. All parts were primed with Tamiya lacquer primer then sprayed with Tamiya Bare Metal Silver:
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IMG_4597 by trekriffic, on Flickr
The completed spotlight:
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IMG_4607 by trekriffic, on Flickr\
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IMG_4608 by trekriffic, on Flickr
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IMG_4609 by trekriffic, on Flickr
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IMG_4612 by trekriffic, on Flickr
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IMG_4613 by trekriffic, on Flickr
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IMG_4621 by trekriffic, on Flickr
Four UltraBright spotlights that can turn 360 degrees and pivot to nearly vertical should allow me quite a bit of lighting flexibility with the Enterprise.
The spotlights have their own rocker switch and will operate independently of the switches for the ship's lights and motors.
Hope you guys like my spots!
