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For
a long time, I've wanted to be able to model the Planet Killer from Star Trek
and the introduction of Shapeways and their many designers has delivered me that
opportunity! I ordered 1 x Doomsday
Machine and
2 x Constitution
Class at
1/15000 from Shapeways to start the process (the 1/15000 ships are tiny! - the
disk is about 1/3" in diameter). To provide some extra interest I
decided to light the fire burning in the Doomsday Machine's "maw" and add
some sound, both of which sent me searching for suitable solutions.
Interestingly for the lighting Star Trek came to the rescue by re-purposing a 1/1000
TOS Bussard Fan Effect kit
from Tena Controls. The LED board was the perfect diameter for the
Shapeways Doomsday Machine, and the effect is very nice. The Tena Controls
board also includes blinking green and red navigation lights and the white
lights for the bridge. Rather than cutting those off I used them on the
control box for interest. As
for the sound, I had a spare soundboard from Big
Dawgs
that allowed me to upload a clip from the episode soundtrack of the dramatic
music from the final encounter entitled "Kirk
Does it Again".
Because they operate at different voltages (soundboard at 4.5V and the lighting
control board at 9-12V), I built up a voltage reducing circuit, with the
associated momentary switches etc to run the show. Painting
for the Doomsday Machine was various shades of Model Master metallic enamels.
The interior was enamel chrome silver, acrylic oranges and reds, followed by
clear orange, yellow and red. The ships were overall light grey, with
decals I printed on a laser printer. The USS Constellation (NCC-1071) was
nicked and beat up with wire snips and an Xacto blade, and weathered with
Bragdon weathering powders. Graham Symmonds
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Photos and text © by Graham Symmonds