AMT/TOS Romulan BOP

Up front on the nacelle I used a kit supplied piece to replace the evetual dome location. Recontoured it's taper, drilled it out and sleeved it in brass. This will give a nice receiver for the blue lens to be sunk into and with a green LED behind will shine nicely through the clear dome- a cutdown piece from a PL Enterprise.

This is one I want to see finished... "Balance of Terror" was one of the best episodes.

Maybe if you and I keep after the builder we can both see it soo.......

Oh.

Um, thanks!

Decided to go ahead with the kit mods to "bring it up to date" working off of the blueprints and also using the 1/350th AW (EX SR) piece as a references.

That "step" around the circumference of the upper saucer after it was cut down in diameter was added in styrene and will eventually join to new "angled" sidewalls. The upper hull itself was cut apart to account for the concave rear section.

Meanwhile the electronics have been made for the Photon Torpedo effect as well which will be added to the lit nacelle effects.

The sidewalls were rebuilt with a taper allowing the top half of the saucer with it's newly beveled edges to sit into that with an interference fit which will aid final finishing after all interior work is done. There's also a comparison of a stock BOP and you'll see the overall thickness has also been adjusted.

 Due to the sidewalls being tapered now had to refit the wings to the body and they are now ready to mount after being beveled, if you wanna call it that. Also separated the bridge to allow some reshaping, further drilling and so I could button up the hull and retain access to the interior to the very end.

Since many windows need adding and others are now being relocated I fashioned up lil "frames" for them. That's part of the charm for me of the BOP- all the frames.

Added the engine vents to the rear panel-

And did the rough in for reshaping the bridge.

 I've wanted to leave the bridge removable. At least for myself up through the very last of assembly to ease the joining of the hull halves and such. Not sure if I'm so worried about it remaining that way but just in case, I fashioned up a receiver within the hull that accepts the bridge with a VERY tight fit and now due to the channel effect it will also block light so I do have that option.

Here's the top hull with it's window inserts.



And the lower hull awaiting it's turn now.




I for one love the lil "bumps" and character that these will add and they were present on the filming mini afterall.

(This project is for sale and now is a good time if you'd like it painted to your specs, to contact me by PM. Thanks.)

That is coming along beautifully! Your reshaping, enhancements, and overall corrections are really capturing the menacing look of the Romulan Bird of Prey!

Thank you Stikpusher. I am hoping to add more character- especially if it's of an evil or menacing nature!

And here's the lower hull with its frames in place.

Fashioned the rear thrusters into the body and built a light box as well for them.

Grating was added which is actually a 1:160th rail road catwalk which offers nice elongated holes rather than traditional mesh. It was backed up with sandwiched acetate sheets, clear and smoked.

Added the Plasma Weapon Housing up front.

 Here she is with the "lid" not only in place but glued and blended. Since I was rather careful during the fabrication it was really no more than allowing the AC to ooze out of the seam and then sanding that flat. Of course a prime and sand then capped it off.

I didn't realize that FSM now hosts our pics!

Griff,

 Well yes, yes they do! And to further prove it here's some more.

The front nacelle lights pass through shaved down "lenses" shown earlier which then sit behind clear domes. Now the rear lights shine through cut down domes which are multifaceted and create a very nice scattered light effect. I like the visual interest as compared to "bare LEDs" and also this way not only does the light get further "effects" but you never see the LEDs themselves.

The model will sit upon a stereo plug which will allow more than just a straight power feed. This way I can hide a micro switch upon the model itslef to control the plasma weapon and the base will hold switches for interior lighting and nacelles as well as making the thrusters controllable.

The tubing has hole cut in it to peg the stereo plug to help it from ever pulling out of the tubing which can happen even when epoxied in place. The outer styrene was chosen since paint adheres better though there will be a metal tube within that for further strength.

The plugin will sit angled within the hull so that the display will allow viewing of the prominent bird on the bottom while it can also swivel or just be popped off the stand/pole so that you can still fly it about the room when the mood strikes! And with me, that's quite often.

The female jack was mounted onto a styrene collar which was angled to effect the display. Since the jack (box) had a keyway, that was transferred onto the mount with additional bracing around the perimeter so once snugged down with it's own nut everything should stay put well. The entire mount is below flush with the hull.

The stereo phono jack gives two power feeds besides a ground. That leaves me one short of functions required so something needs a switch upon the ship itself and to operate between warp or thrusters made sense as an either/or scenario.

A very small ST/DP switch was scavenged from the odds box and wired up to be hidden on the craft.

 

Because space (width) is of the essence I slipped styrene between the leads to insulate them from each other then pressed the leads together to further slim the assembly. All of that was encased within CA  because those leads are now getting quite thin and fragile and I don't want them coming apart or breaking off of course. The switch casing itself was then sanded even slimmer because it will become the bottom trailing edge of the tail itself. It now matches the outside width of the tail assembly which of course has room within for the wiring run.

And the switch assembly blended into the tail. I'll add a contoured "cap" to the 'knob' to further disguise it.

The wiring from the new switch was simply run into the bridge.


While this is the componentry for the Plasma Weapon.

Meanwhile I've retested all the various powered elements and sorted their wiring to the switch and the phono plug. This is what it all looks like before getting stuffed and set into place! Quite the temporary mess.:blink

Yikes! electric spaghetti, with a  side helping of pc board!

^^^

Indeed! We'll add a nice garnishment of hot glue to hold things in place too.

With all electrical components affixed internally it's finally time to attach the bridge and new tail. First pass of primer towards blending it all in and then the bodywork will be finished.

I placed a base coat of black followed by a new product, Holomatic, Spectral Chrome. It's a pretty badazz hue with prismatic shifts that do remind me of one of those holographic security stickers. I'll use this with some further embellishments.

I wanted a base to help identify this further as Romulan. Looked up an old TOS Rommie emblem and it will sit atop the pedestal. The "fingers" will control the switches for electronics with contacts underneath triggered by depressing the red for weapon and green for all lights since the engines are switched upon the model itself. Of course those are paper templates already transferred to other styrene pieces.

And here it is complete prior to paint. Again, the control switches will be activated by pressing down on the radiating "fingers" which rest below the half round trim to limit their travel back upward. The beveled and rounded edges were chosen to reflect highlights from the pearl and prismic shift paints that will be used on the trim.

Excellent work, I like that finish. I'm kind of stalled on mine again.