1/15000 Doomsday Machine

"Gentlemen, I suggest you beam me aboard."

Gallery Article by Graham Symmonds on Apr 23 2018

 

      

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.

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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