For the next model I plan to boldly go where no modeler has gone before! The plan is to light it; window lights, blinking navigation lights and the hardest, the rotating lights on the front ends of the nacelles. For that I plan to embed an Arduino Nano. I always like to add electronics when it makes sense.
I am still in the early design phase. The major parts are designed. Much of the detail still needs to be added. The parts need to be hollowed out and holes added to route wires. The coloring is a rough approximation. Filament colors will have to be selected. I already have clear filament which will be used for the windows and such, everything that will be lit. The LEDs will then be selected to cast the correct colors.
As usual, the model will be as large as can reasonably fit onto a 220x220mm print plate. If the saucer section was to be printed whole, that would give a scale of 1:600 which would produce a model 19" long. If I split the saucer in half and expand it to maximum size, that gives the scale of 1:475 which produces a model 24" long. Splitting the model in half also provides another added benefit. If the saucer were printed flat, you would see the strange, non pleasing layering effect. To eliminate this I will print all the major parts standing upright. Here is how the parts would print laying flat and standing up.
And the secondary hull laying flat and standing up.
