I have two origonal 537 Connie Refit models from back in the days of Star Trek's 20th and 25th Anniversarys. Both were built back then, the one did not last very long before the Nacelles snapped off, which is why I ended up with the second one. It lasted a fair while although the nacelles were droopy and came off years ago now.
Over 10 years ago I had thought of going back and rebuilding them. So about 3 years ago I finally started. Mostly I didn't have time, I still don't have alot that I should put into the models. I didn't do that many models back in the day, but I enjoyed it. I am not that great a painter etc.
The 25th model was the Special Edition with Lights and Sound Effects. That bit still worked but I figured I would do a bit more with it. Now it has an Arduino Nano V3 with a DFPlayer Mini for sound. It also has a transistor array to handle some of the larger LED circuits. It is no longer battery powered, but has a USB Micro jack mounted in the base which powers everything from 5 Volts.
I am not sure if these pictures from Google Photos will work here or not. I will give it a try. Above is the shot of the model when I was gluing the base on. That is about how it looks at this point, but the electronics are installed, the deflector is on and it is right side up.
I need to touch up around the deflector, possibly some other areas and put on the decals. I had the set from the second model, they look ok, but I don't know that my odds are very good that they will work after all of this time. I figure I will give it a shot though.
Here is a like to an album of photos taken during the process. I really need to break them out as some probably need a bit of reference as to what they are.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NKw4omSN8FYa7MSJ6
Initally I tried to light block the interior with silver paint, that didn't block the light. I then covered that with Black Primer. Well the black primer lifted the underlying silver and cracked it very badly one one model. It did to a lesser extent on the other. It took hand touch up of the cracked areas and another coat of black to fully block the light. I then followed that up with another coat of silver. It is said that White is best, and I will try that on another model at some point.
The exterior paint is Createx airbrush paint. I didn't prime the model, but I am certain it was clean. The paint does not stick well at all, it scratches or rubs right off with very little effort. I didn't want to start over and all so I went forward and was careful and did alot of hand touch ups. I then coated it with Future in hopes of protecting it from rubbing off so easily. I will be priming models going forward. Maybe it is in part the paint too, I don't know.
The paint is a plain white finish. I always felt she was white and I like it that way, that and I don't have the skills etc to do the aztecing. Then on top of that the white paint would have never survived it on this model. I do have the second one of these models, and a third one new in box so maybe next time.
The lighting is self made with some white strip light that was powered by some AA batteries and ment for picture frames. Then there are the standard 3mm Red, Green, Yellow, Blue and White LEDs around the ship. The Impulse Crystal is a 5mm Blue, and it is to tight in there, which messed up my impulse crystal a bit(which is made from a casting of the Reliant AMT model). The Impulse Grills are 5mm RGB LEDS. The Deflector is another 5mm RGB LED that has been filed to a flat top and polished. It is installed in the deflector that came with the light and sound model just with some gold back paint and black for light blocking to keep it where it belongs. The Deflector looks better in pictures or video than in person. I can see the seperation in colors in the Deflector when in "copper" mode. I was going to do the Nacelle Grills as a Rytheon effect, but ended up buying the DLM Grills and installing them. In the end the part I am least happy with is the Grills, not due to the grills, but the lighting is not adiquate, it is weak, not vibrant enough in color and has hotspots. The yellow LEDs in the sensor dome are under the saucer as mostly regular 3mm LEDs, but are filed down to fit in the narrow space. The Torpedoes are in the factory part, carefully hollowed out. The LEDs are 3mm Red LEDs ground filed and polished to fit.
The base is the base from the Light and Sound version. I replaced the speaker as it was the wrong resistance. The let me place it in the space and fit my IR Receiver in the slot to the side of it. The factory switch is wired for power as it was in the original. The Photo/Phaser toggle switch is also wired to do the sound effects, this time with the DFPlayer Mini. I have no lighting effect for the phasers so the phaser just triggers the DFPLayer directly, but the Torpedo effect side is wired over to an input on the Nano and triggers the Photon Effect and sound.
It added the missing windows to the back of the saucer both sides. I didn't put in the round ones on the sides of the Rec Deck windows. Most of the window openings in the secondary hull and even the Rec room were done with my Dremel with the flex shaft. For round windows I used a small drill bit, for the other windows I used a small burr bit mostly. I also used a sharp exacto blade and files. I added two phaser emitters to the back of the secondary hull that came from DLM. Most of the DLM parts I kept for the next build, the Deflector, bridge, sensor dome etc.
For the Nacelles I threaded a single section of a metal coat hanger through the strong back area. Once they were in place, I ground it from being a round rod to being a flat sided rectangle shape. This just fit inside the Nacelle pylon area once ground down. That couldn't have really went any better, they are far closer to the correct alignment that I ever thought I would get, they are solid. The hangers stop just before entering the nacelle.
I am quite happy with the results, and very happy afteer 3 years I am getting to where there are results finally. I do have the other two models, but I don't plan to do either anytime soon. I have a smaller project I am going to work to finish once this one can be put up on the shelf. I also do some models with/for my sons as well now and then. I have plenty of models to work on for numerous years to come at this point.