Constructing the Saucer
For the most part, tackling the saucer followed the same basic steps as the secondary hull construction, with one slight difference with the primer applications. Due to the relatively well spaced windows over the large surface areas of the upper and lower casts, it was more beneficial to do a lot of the light blocking and diffusing layers on the inside of the casts rather than outside. This meant masking off banks of lit windows on the inside of the casts, as well as masking the individual ones outside. The inner surfaces were then blasted with several coats of grey primer until most of the light was prevented from shining through the fibreglass, then covered with white to diffuse and distribute the light more evenly inside. The outer surfaces were then hit with a few layers of grey primer, then black. The remaining “off” windows were then masked, before the last couple of layers of grey primer went down.
Masking all the windows to be lit. Being a replica of the original 4' filming, all the windows were lit exactly the same
Lit windows masked on the inner surface of the lower saucer. The flat outer rim was also masked, as this would be adhered directly to the armature
Inner surface of the lower saucer cast, after several layers of grey primer to provide most of the light blocking and a final couple of coats of white for even light distribution
Initial coat of grey primer being sprayed on the outside of the lower saucer cast
Masking off all the remaining unlit windows
All windows (both lit and unlit) all masked, and a couple of light coats of grey primer over everything. Ready to be permanently attached to the armature
All the same steps were repeated for the upper saucer cast
In the previous section detailing the secondary hull construction, I went over my different approach regarding the way that the flared “Cobra Head” and lower saucer parts would be joined. The flared surface on the dorsal hull of the secondary hull cast had a lot of scribed panel line detailing all over it, whereas the corresponding area of the lower saucer cast was completely bare since it was intended to be cut out and have the dorsal hull fill the space. This meant that all the panel lines had to be transferred over to the lower saucer cast as accurately as possible and re-scribed. The temptation here would be to “fix” all the crooked, uneven and asymmetrical issues with the original lines, but that wouldn’t have been an accurate and faithful reproduction of how they actually are. The easiest, and by far most effective, way to transfer the lines was to literally trace them onto masking tape, transfer the tape to a sheet of paper, and photocopy it onto an A4 sheet of self-adhesive paper. Now, if anything went sideways, I could easily reprint another guide sheet and start over.
The bare section of the lower saucer cast. This was clearly intended to be cut out, to make room for the corresponding area on the dorsal hull cast
Scribed panel lines all traced on the removed section of the dorsal hull cast. Maintaining authenticity and accuracy was key, so no "fixing" of any asymmetries or wonky lines...!
The traced lines were then photocopied onto a self adhesive sheet of A4 paper, and carefully positioned exactly as they would've been
The guide sheet was then cut to shape, carefully applied to the lower saucer cast, paying very close attention to where the original dorsal details would line up, and all the guidelines cut through with a scalpel. The guide sheet was then removed, and the fine lines cut into the primer were carefully deepened with a scribing tool. The result was a very accurate reproduction of the panel lines on the dorsal cast, positioned exactly where they would’ve been, but without all the issues stemming from the mis-matched contours of the separate casts!
Cutting through the guide lines with a scalpel
After removing the guide sheet, the fine lines cut with the scalpel were deepened with a scribing tool
With the casts ready to go, the next step was to get the lighting system installed on the armature. Even though the interior volume of the saucer was very large, it only needed three “rings” of LED strips to light up all the windows across the hull. Some additional 10mm aluminium strips were added to the armature structure to provide the foundations for the LED strips, again acting as heat-sinks and drawing away any heat into the larger structure. The various marker lights around the perimeter were fitted, and the cover panels for the mount points were prepped, again held in place by magnets, with the bridge module having its own lighting arrangement and feed which could be easily unplugged and removed when mounting the model at that position. Finally, the lower saucer cast was permanently attached to the armature using polymer-based adhesive. There was still some way to go with the saucer, but it had to be permanently attached to the secondary hull before it could be completed….
LED strips mounted to supplementary aluminium bracing
Lower saucer cast clamped into position while the polymer adhesive cures
Lower mount point exposed, the cover panel will be held in place with those magnets. A mount post can be bolted to the centre bar using those six threaded holes
Upper saucer placed loosely on top, with several windows unmasked to check light distribution
Lower saucer cast now permanently attached, perimeter marker lights fitted
Lower mount cover plate installed
The bridge & B/C deck serves as the upper mount cover plate, just like the original filming model