1/1000 PL Enterprise TOS - lighting prep question (windows)

Modeling Subjects Science Fiction
1

I am working on the Polar Lights 1/1000 Enterprise TOS (and will soon be working on the Enterprise A). I am lighting the model with one of the available light kits. I have painted the parts, decaled the primary and secondary hull parts so I can see the windows, sealed them with Future, and now I’m working on opening up the windows.

The circular windows are a breeze, of course. I matched up the right size bit, and opened all those windows in a matter of minutes. My question is on all the rectangular windows. If anyone has built this kit before and lighted it, how did you open up the rectangular windows? I thought I could drill a very small hole in each side of the rectangle and then clean it up with a file, but I don’t have or know of any files small enough for that work in this scale.

Also, if you lit this model, did you run fiber out of the rectangular windows, or did you fill them with clear blue (CA or white glue) and allow light to show through from behind? If you ran fiber through, how did you fill up the whole rectangle? I thought about using two strands, but it will still look like two circles, I think.

Thanks in advance! Any experience with this or advice is very much appreciated!

PR

2

You might want to google the websites for trekmodeler and cultvman. They have how-tos on lighting various Trek kits. The square windows are opened by drilling more than one hole then using the tip of an Xacto knife blade to cut the corners square. I didn’t see in my cursory look how they lit the square ones. My modeling project schedule calls for me to start a lit ST model later this year. I plan to try a couple approaches. One wil be to open the windows, line the part with foil and light interior with LEDs. The the alternative I am going to experiment with wil be to run a fiber just to the inside of the window, then glue in place with Krystal Clear and see if the clear diffuses the light convincingly.