TOS Romulan BOP Build

Modeling Subjects Science Fiction
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I wanted to light the model. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, it is rather small. To do the lighting, I decided to do a Raython Lighting effect with the top windows. To acomplish this I primed the model with black primer as a light blocking layer. I believe I did 2 coats and then tested that it was properly blocked. Once I did that I painted on the base color I was using for the hull. Once that was properly dried, I used a pin vice drill to drill into the paint and primer on the hull.

The Plasma Torpedo launcher was simply drilled out, and the back painted with a few coats of black paint. The LED is a filed/sanded down 3mm LED to fit the tight space.

The interior light is a basic LED Strip. The lower hull was light blocked on the inside, except along the “front window” area. The outside of the hull was light blocked similar to the top. I didn’t do anything on the front windows in the end.

The Nacelles has a little work done using some copper tape to get power to them. The LEDs are 3mm LEDs. The wires for the LEDs are soldered to the copper tape.

After I finished assembly, I did have to fix some light leaks in a few areas. Then the model received another coat of the base paint color to work on blending that out. Then a light coat of Future to clear and prep for the Decals. The Nacelle Domes received a clear matte paint on the inside to break up the light a bit.

The Decals almost worked well. There are bubbles under the bird wings.

The seams could have been done better. This model was done to be a simple model. It was also a bit of practice. I did glue the wings to try to close those up a bit. I didn’t do any putty work. I’d like to see a larger scale model of this, and then I would do more with the lighting and go for a more finished result.

The color choices were mine, I know the Plasma wasn’t Green. The ship may have been silver. They say the Nacelle tips should be chrome, which I did use Vallejo Acrylic Chrome, which worked out better than I expected even though it isn’t a real polished chrome look. For me it is less about what the Studio Model looks/looked like in person and how I it looked on TV to me as a kid.

It is just static lighting, I did run wiring to different groups of the LEDs incase I wanted to do something different at some point. There just isn’t much to work with there. The wires are wrapped around the support rod and painted black. They go to a simple Micro USB connector under the base that is insulated with some heatshrink. I expect to secure that port to the under side of the base in the future.

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Hello Markeno!

Nice step-by-step, thanks for sharing. I also like to use USB for power on projects like that - that’s the easiest thing to get nowadays.

Have a nice day!

Paweł

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One thing I did on the NX-01 was to spray the inside with silver. The shiny surface cut back the number of lights needed to only a coiuple. I also found some material that diffused the light so it woiuld not be so bright.

The original bird of prey from the 1960s did not have naccels that were lit up.

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The interior of the lower hull is (mostly) silver over the black primer which was under it for light blocking. I choose to paint the hull a light grey rather than silver. You can see the difference when looking at the picture of the inside of the lower hull compared to the pylons and nacelles. I do a silver interior usually. If I don’t want light getting out of an area it is usually paint black, such as inside the nacelles. The Raython effect on the upper windows makes them somewhat difficult to see in a reasonably bright room. The LEDs on the interior are set to be rather dim too. It uses very little power to drive LEDs. The nacelles are not as bright as they appear to the camera. Were the nacelle lights only added in the Remaster of TOS?

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They are a recent modification to the kit. Back when it first came out while the series was on TV the tips were solid and there were no lights on any kit. The only one that came close was the Enterprise, and that had colored naccel caps. They could have been red most of the time but I still have a yellow one in my parts box some where.

I hear they added lights to the shuttle and maybe to the original Klingon Battle Cruiser, who did not have any to begin with.

I have the 1/350th Klingon ship as well as the NX-01 Enterprise. I had the 1701 rebuild but the paint scheme made me decide to sell it. I will be picking up the Original 1701 in 1/350th, soon and can use my originals for things like the pilot versions or maybe a destroyer or other conversion.

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She looks great!!! You did a fantastic job on her!!!

Interesting about the '60s kit. The studio model was just a block of wood. I think only the Enterprise herself had lights. The Bird of Prey was built by prop maker Wah Chang who either wouldn’t or couldn’t join the propmakers union. He contributed a number of props to the first season of Trek and then the union came knocking and told them that they couldn’t use non-union props.

So Chang got honked-off and took all his toys home, built a huge bonfire in the backyard and torched everything.

All the shots of the Bird of Prey in ‘The Deadly Years’ was stock footage from ‘Balance of Terror’.

One thing that always bothered me was fans coming up with elaborate therories of the Romulans not having warp drive at the time of TOS. Despite the friggin’ model HAVING TWO WARP ENGINE NACELLES!!!

Scotty does say the Romulan ship has ‘simple impulse power’ but I assume the early model cloak sucked so much power from the ships engines that you had a choice- either warp drive or cloak. But not both. And if the Romulans had dropped the cloak to go into warp the Big-E would have pounched on her like a cat on a mouse.

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Back then I didn’t give it much thought, I was fust trying to get by in high school. Your theory sounds good though. When the Romulans were first encountered in Star Trek Enterprise, the birds of prey looked different and they were guarding a planet protected by a minefield. Their ships were green, had different shaped nacells, and a more conventional weapon.

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I love this. I wish TOS had more one-on-one space battles during the show. This was the closest to starship battles that we now take for granted. The Reliant vs Enterprise in Wrath of Khan was epic back in the day.

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The balance of Terror episode reminded me of a couple old WWII movies involving a sub vs. destroyer that were made dduring the 1940s and early 50s. That could be where they got the idea for the episode.

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The concept for the episode came from 1957’s “The Enemy Below” with Robert Mitchum and Curd Jurgens respectively as a destroyer captain and a u-boat captain dueling it out one on one in the Atlantic. Great movie and if you really want to have fun, watch Enemy Below and Balance of Terror back to back, they’re both well done.