it's the big finish we've all been waiting for! the lighting board is replaced, powered up and ready for flight the last tiny details are sorted and the ship gets moved to it's permanent place of honor in the display room.
Hello Lou. I just wanted to say how amazing your dedication has been over the years. You are an inspiration to me like you wouldn't believe. Just this past couple of weeks I've decided to get back into Star Trek models. I quit for about nine years, and was finally going to sell off all my supplies, models, and everything because I figured after nine years whats the point. Until I picked up one of my unfinished models sitting in the corner, and the emotions hit me like a ton of bricks. I asked myself why on earth would I just throw away such a talent. I look at the three models I've finished years ago and told myself that would be such a waste, so I now have made the move to get back into it. I appreciate talent like yourself and many others here on RU-vid. I honestly believe that RU-vid is one of the most amazing things in our society that has ever came. Thanks again!!
thank you so much for the kind words. and I'm glad I got you back to the workbench. These are truly golden days when it comes to model building.. The variety and quality of kits have never been better and the aftermarket can provide just about any detail you could ask for. Build on, my friend!
What a gorgeous build. I had intended, about 15 years ago, to build a stringed instrument from scratch from scraps in my tiny Hollywood room with a Dremel and some hand tools. I formulated a plan for the build however life had other ideas in mind (like decades of neighbors from hell on six sides) making the build impossible at the time. Eleven and a half weeks ago (December) I finally realized that this might be the last build of my life. Living here is like getting beat up everyday and the toxic buildup is huge. So I am seeing the end of this build, all of the parts are coming together and I really need to go very slow at this point, one angry response to a neighbor's psychosis can ruin 231 hours of loving work. Your Enterprise build is inspiring and I had to laugh when you said "twelve weeks" cause I'm in the 12 week of my shimisen build. Making it electric - that's a whole new chapter. I have no soldering iron and I don't know how to solder, how exciting. Thank you for the coincidence and all. Aloha.
I didn't want it to end....a true fabricator's quote there... Lou, you are the Master of your Fabrication!! Glad to have viewed this project and it rivals the Smithsonian model on display in DC!
Hey Lou, very cool model. Been watching since the big Reliant model. Tht and the movie Enterprise 1701 are my favorites. One tip that might help on the next build with the light spot on the LED's of the impulse engines, if you want to diffuse the spot some, try filing the dome of the LED flat. That will disperse the spot and make it much wider even close up. The filed end of the LED will also act like a frosted LED helping to disperse the light even more. You can lightly scuff the sides also to soften the light going out to the sides. You can also get flat tip LED's in clear colors or frosted. These are some of the tricks we use when fitting LED's to old school signal meters and measuring tools that had small 3mm bulbs fitted to them.
I did flatten the impulse LEDs because I needed the extra space. between the impulse deck part and the saucer rim and the armature coming up thru all in that one area, I had to shave down the bulbs to make room. It did disperse the light a bit, but it's still mighty strong
Hey Lou, I just watched your build series on the 66” Studio Scale Enterprise. I just want to say, you did an awesome job on this. Kudos to you sir. A beautiful build and what a cool model. That is a challenging model and you pulled it off nicely.
Hey Lou, I have to tell you I am very surprised. I stumbled across you working on the 66" Enterprise and I enjoyed it so much I had to go back to the beginning and watch the whole process. I stopped building plastic models many years ago but could still enjoy doing it if I took the time. I am a glass artist and if I had my fantasy dream job, it would be building iconic space ships out of glass and crystal. Maybe in Heaven one day!. In the meantime I love enjoying model building vicariously through your channel. I like watching how you solve problems and upgrade the models. I also like the way you communicate. I enjoy many of the obscure references you make to odd sci-fi films and etc.. Let's me know I'm in the right company. Thank you for taking the time to be thorough in your descriptions. Thank you for sharing your passion. And thank your wife for sharing you with the RU-vid world. Your channel is my new default viewing. Bravo.
I think when the television model makers created the domes on the engines, they were more concerned about the appearance of the light - That it appears like a lit hemisphere without little clamps interrupting the clean line. The division between lit and unlit is very obvious. So they made the clamps out of the same material to minimize that. - By the way, the orange domes really “make it”. Those were the right choice.
Lou the original dome clamps were, I believe, made from leather & were the same colour as the nacelles. The Smithsonian restoration is based on the Enterprise after it was refreshed by the studio from "The trouble with tribbles". I think they did this because they had lots more photographic reference covering this period. photographs & screen shots do show the orange coloured clamps & chrome nut in place.
Lou, you should be working for ILM’s model shop. Great work! Would love to see you build a refit in this scale if one is available. Though, you’d probably need to build another addition onto your house to display it.
Hey Lou, I just revisited this series. You mentioned "thinking bigger". You could always help Mr. Trek with his project building a (not cannon) 1\25 scale TOS Enterprise. 40 feet long with a 17 foot saucer section. He's doing a FULL interior. He's currently making a 1\100 scale "prototype" in order to base the 1\25 build on. It's at least worth a look. The final model will be on public display with a multi level viewing platform. Can't wait to see that when it's finished. Maybe you and Phil can come over to see it with Wayne and make a video when it's done?
congrats Lou. I think my heart skipped a beat when the board failed on you. I am really happy to see you got her all finished and working. Just awesome!!
Only recently discovered your videos. Incredible job! You must have the patience of a saint. I wish I could build models but I've never been very good at it. I like watching others make them though!
Every good starfleet engineer makes repairs and upgrades to their ship. I like the nacelle dome clips you made! Scotty made an upgrade :) be proud! That’s an amazing job you did sir!
Absolutely stunning! Incredibly jealous. And just want to say a BIG thank you for making me get back into the hobby again after watching your "JJ Prise" build and giving me invaluable insight into how to do it properly.
On the Smithsonian Original filming model, the orange over domes on the model were re-made and re-designed during the last refurbishment. It wasn't secured that way on the filming hero originally. It was probably deemed to be easier to cast the new ones this way to replace the originals, and or if I remember right they were missing one. It has always somewhat bugged me that they used actual nuts on the model in the first place. LOL. I mean you wouldn't have seen them on a SD 19" color TV, but they are on the model, like they would have used a giant wrench to put it together.
Regarding the new display location this thought comes to mind: SCOTTY I NEED ALL THE WARP POWER YOU'VE GOT! WE MUST OUT RUN THAT GHOSTBUSTERS APPARITION! Never been a fan of the heavy weathering. But seriously, she looks beautiful. weathering.
Wow, it turned out great Lou!!! It really looks awesome in the display room!! What a beauty. Listening to you talk about how it took a while to get to this kit reminds me of the way I feel toward my Bandai perfect grade Falcon. One of these days.............. I know you have to feel great about this build, at least you should. Incredible job!!
Absolutely amazing Lou, you certainly have outdone yourself this time. I like the blue nacelles, I think it adds a little bit of colour to the overall plainness of the hull colour. Could you please, please, please do an updated tour of your model room, now you have the centrepiece. End of an era, time for Lou 2.0 (or Lou Refit?).
Good you decided to go less dirty with Her, she's stunning. Thanks for giving your time to share your skills with us mere mortals Lou. Nice Shenzou kit but rather small and fiddly do hope a much larger scale of the Ships from Discovery are produced 1/350 or 1/600 would be so awesome. Have you seen the Orville ship kit ? looks nice,take care happy building.
the only Orville kit I ever saw was the FP kit that was pulled after they got a cease and desist from Fox. I'd love to see a licensed kit in the 18- 24 inch range
Congratulations on finishing your dream project. This was an incredible build video series and fun watching you plan it out to the finish. The Enterprise looks beautiful and a great centerpiece to your collection.
I have one of those. its the big version that Capt. Cardboard used to sell. I need to move it from the living room to the display room. You're right, it would make a good addition to the pedestal.
So I watched further and I saw where you used screws instead of the nuts on the engine domes, and yes they look so much better than having big ass nuts coming out of them. I agree also that the way you made the supports as part of the engines nacelles and not part of the dome looks like a more reasonable architect detail. It makes more sense. great call on all of that.
Congratulations Lou! Most adjectives would be lacking to describe how awesome it turned out! I don't know what could top this to be honest. I hear you about being apprehensive at the onset, but I always wait to build a kit that has just come out. You don't know what goodies for it may be released in the interim.
Crap! I just glided past the (repeated) image, assuming that you were diverting off to the Shenzou. Sorry. If you haven't glued the bridge down-- I hope you consider using pins. If the pins are long enough, the only way to remove the bridge is to turn the ship upside down. I like to use ApoxySculpt to accept the telescoping mate to the movable pin. That way an adjustment can be made. Such a big beauty. I agree with a little less weathering.
Eliot, the issue ended up being the light leak from the edge of the translucent bridge part. Pins, Magnets any thing "temporary"would still allow the leak. I had to mate the entire rim of the part and paint over the seam to block the light. I chose a lower tack elmers glue to do that so that if the day ever comes, I can pry thru elmers much easier than epoxy to pop that bridge off.
What a FABULOUS build! A gorgeous ship, crowning so many epic builds! Thanks for showing us how it completes the showroom. Truly amazing! Love ya, Lou! What will you do next? :)
She's BEAUTIFUL, Lou! Just BEAUTIFUL! May I suggest a nice model of the Galileo Shuttle Craft to go in the empty corner of the display table? BTW - If I remember right, those little tabs that hold the nacelle domes on the original filming model, were small strips of leather, of all things. They've obviously been replace by the Smithsonian, but yes - leather! Just a bit of odd info. So, congratulations on the finish of the ol' girl! Still my personal favorite ship!
BRAVO-! Be proud, Lou. The Enterprise was -- IS -- indeed a labor of love in so many ways ... NEXT THING? How about a 26-ft (like the original) of THE VALLEY FORGE from 'SILENT RUNNING' ..? (My favorite film.) Your fan, D.A.
New subscriber here. I have really enjoyed watching you build this beast. You could order another set of the orange bussard collectors and do them in the style of the Mirror, Mirror Enterprise. I have been on a binge watching several makers do their builds as I work up a space to build the amt 1:357 refit. But I caught up with yours about 10-12 days ago. Great looking build.
Around at 14:00 you show the Nut Mount brackets on the warp engines. I always hated those on the original model. They weren't really noticeable on the 19 inch color tv's or smaller of the 1960's and 70's but if you got a chance to look at the filming model, then yea they are there plain as day. When you consider the scale of the ship if it were real then those nuts would be half the size of a man. LOL, w would think by the time that the real Starship Enterprise is suppose to be constructed in that they wouldn't be using 4 foot hexagon bolt to hold parts on a ship that can move several hundred times the speed of light through space. I know that the simple explanation is that the model builders of the filming model for what ever reason bought or had the nuts and attaching bolts or studs and it made it practical to attach the outer plastic globes to the engine nacelle, and again it wasn't that apparent on the tv back then. I really wish though that they would have considered making the dome screw on as a whole like a jar lid or used a lip catch with counter sunk screws that they could have put some clay into the area to hide them, and remove it to disassemble when needed. It is iconic and nostalgic now though that they are on that model and yours. I am real glad though that they didn't do similar things to the D7 and the Romulan Bird of Prey. Fricking awesome to see you at this point of the build. She looks so good. I am also glad to see your weathering choice also. I thought she was a tad over the top, but I didn't really want to mention it. I mean its your build. I already stirred the soup enough with the scaling information. Great build. See you on the next project.
"Well, she may be a new ship, but she's got the right name. You remember that, you treat her like a lady and she'll always bring you home." - McCoy. :D Hey, Slimer's chasing the Enterprise... what episode was that?! ;P
