![\"DLM](\"http:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/DSC_0022-cropped.jpg\")
<\/a>DLM parts as shipped<\/p><\/div>\n
DLM ships their parts in clear and grey resin, depending on whether your part is intended to be lit or not (and most of the parts they offer in clear are avaible in grey if you aren\u2019t lighting your kit).\u00a0 The mobile units are in grey, which is fine.<\/p>\n
First off, decide what you\u2019re going to use and about where you want them. That way you don\u2019t end up making too many.\u00a0 DLM ships its kit with eight cargo pods, six work bees, and four travel pods \u2013 which is really more than you need, unless you intend to do some kind of diorama with a swarm of the little buggers floating all around.\u00a0 Since I\u2019m only including them in the shuttle bay, I don\u2019t really need that many \u2013 I\u2019ll use two bees, one travel pod, and a few cargo boxes on the floor, and I might use a cargo train (in TMP, you get a glimpse of a cargo train arriving, which is basically a work bee with a long attached frame that holds four cargo pods \u2013 the Paragrafix PE set includes a piece to make this).<\/p>\n
Do NOT remove the units from their sprues yet.\u00a0 Those sprues make them massively easier to paint.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Paint the units on their sprues so you have something to grip by<\/p><\/div>\n
Decide on a hull color for the units.\u00a0 In TMP the travel pods were something very close to or precisely white.\u00a0 I stuck with Tamiya fine white primer for those.\u00a0 The work bees were a light grey in TMP, but I think they look a little better as something like a \u201chard-hat\u201d yellow, so I went with signal yellow for them.\u00a0 The shuttlecraft got a base of Tamiya fine white too, after I\u2019d assembled it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Paint the base color onto the pieces while they are still on the sprue.\u00a0 Gloss-coat them once dry, and apply the DLM decals there once the gloss coat is dry and cured.\u00a0 Finally apply a finishing clear-coat to protect the decals.\u00a0 Once that\u2019s dry, use a fine-tooth modeling saw to separate them from the sprue (leave some sprue attached, don\u2019t get that saw too close to the piece), and file off the excess with a flat-sided file.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Once finished, the bits are ready for PE, or direct installation<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>PE work-bee arms and cargo train frame<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Here’s a sample of the scale you’re working with, compared to a standard 9V battery<\/p><\/div>\n
Paragrafix also includes work-bee arm pieces on its PE sheet, which are a bit of a pain to fold properly.\u00a0 Can be done, but it\u2019s hard if you have big fingers and rough eyes like I do.\u00a0 Worth it in the end, but not 100% necessary.<\/p>\n
Once the pieces are filed to your satisfaction, you can paint their bellies with the appropriate hull color if you think they\u2019ll be visible (mine will sit on the floor of the bay, so I left off the paint \u2013 the rough resin surface will actually glue better bare than a painted one, anyhow).<\/p>\n
<\/a>Dry-fit the walls and experiment with where the pieces will look best<\/p><\/div>\n
Dry-fit the bay walls to the floor now, so you get a feel for where everything will be able to<\/p>\n
sit.\u00a0 With the walls attached, position the pieces you want where you want them, and put a small pencil mark there as a reference point.\u00a0 You can also simply glue them in place now if you feel comfortable doing so (I did).\u00a0 Carefully remove the walls again once the glue has had a chance to dry.<\/p>\n
With the cargo pods, I put on the decals once they were fixed in place, so the showing faces would look right.\u00a0 The DLM decals are pretty fragile (I think they are inkjet-printed), so you need to be very gentle with them, because the markings can flake off fairly easily.\u00a0 After the decals were dry, I applied an enamel filter (a very thin wash) that was made as a brown tone for German yellow armor.\u00a0 This gave the pods a beige tint that fits with what was in the film.\u00a0 The color scaling works well, and it looks nicer than bare white.\u00a0 There\u2019s a PE part for the travel pods, but since the one I will use won\u2019t be showing its rear I didn\u2019t use it.\u00a0 I did attach the decals there, just because it looks neat.<\/p>\n
The Shuttlecraft<\/h3>\n![\"Assembled](\"http:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/DSC_0026-resized-169x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Assembled shuttlecraft – note the hole in the upper left of the face for a fiber light<\/p><\/div>\n
The shuttlecraft, once assembled and base coated, I did a little detailing with miscellaneous colors on the machinery on top.\u00a0 The base of it got brass along its landing skids (the shuttle you see in TMP brings Spock aboard, and has a nice shot of its lower section showing this too).\u00a0 A little yellow on the corners for the thruster ports, and a black ring around the docking port.\u00a0 The rear of the shuttle won\u2019t be visible, so no PE part there and no decals.\u00a0 I applied decals to the rest of the shuttle, and once they were dry applied a blue filter made for German panzer grey to give it a streaky, metallic look to match what you see in TMP.<\/p>\n
Now for a little secret sauce \u2013 I used my .5mm drill to poke a hole from the bottom of the shuttle and up out of its \u201cforehead\u201d about where the grey square is on the face of it (top left as you look straight at it).\u00a0 I also drilled through the floor of the shuttle bay just ahead of the risen elevator.\u00a0 Remember that extra piece of fiber optic I made?\u00a0 I\u2019ve attached that to one of the middle lights of the chaser board, and it will be trimmed flush with the face of the shuttle to give it a blinking navigation light.\u00a0 Shuttle is finished, let\u2019s move on.<\/p>\n
Rear Columns<\/h3>\n![\"Columns](\"http:\/\/borkedcode.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/DSC_0021-resized-1-169x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Columns – one with recesses filled, the other blank<\/p><\/div>\n
The rear columns were a real problem for me, because it was hard to see which parts were recessed and needed to remain clear, versus which parts needed painting.\u00a0 With some magnification (reading glasses) and the light angled just right, I found the recesses and filled them with clear crystal blue paint.\u00a0 Once that was on, it was a lot easier to see which parts needed regular paint, which I then applied.\u00a0 The result was exactly what I wanted \u2013 the columns when lit from the top will show lights out of the clear blue, and will remain dark on the rest.\u00a0 Boom.<\/p>\n
Finishing the Chaser Board<\/h3>\n
Now that the fiber is connected with CA to the LEDs, I added an extra layer of hot-glue to reinforce them, and then light-blocked the LEDs with black paint (after confirming that the fiber was working as intended).<\/p>\n
<\/a>Assembled shuttlecraft – note the hole in the upper left of the face for a fiber light<\/p><\/div>\n
The shuttlecraft, once assembled and base coated, I did a little detailing with miscellaneous colors on the machinery on top.\u00a0 The base of it got brass along its landing skids (the shuttle you see in TMP brings Spock aboard, and has a nice shot of its lower section showing this too).\u00a0 A little yellow on the corners for the thruster ports, and a black ring around the docking port.\u00a0 The rear of the shuttle won\u2019t be visible, so no PE part there and no decals.\u00a0 I applied decals to the rest of the shuttle, and once they were dry applied a blue filter made for German panzer grey to give it a streaky, metallic look to match what you see in TMP.<\/p>\n
Now for a little secret sauce \u2013 I used my .5mm drill to poke a hole from the bottom of the shuttle and up out of its \u201cforehead\u201d about where the grey square is on the face of it (top left as you look straight at it).\u00a0 I also drilled through the floor of the shuttle bay just ahead of the risen elevator.\u00a0 Remember that extra piece of fiber optic I made?\u00a0 I\u2019ve attached that to one of the middle lights of the chaser board, and it will be trimmed flush with the face of the shuttle to give it a blinking navigation light.\u00a0 Shuttle is finished, let\u2019s move on.<\/p>\n
Rear Columns<\/h3>\n<\/a>Columns – one with recesses filled, the other blank<\/p><\/div>\n
The rear columns were a real problem for me, because it was hard to see which parts were recessed and needed to remain clear, versus which parts needed painting.\u00a0 With some magnification (reading glasses) and the light angled just right, I found the recesses and filled them with clear crystal blue paint.\u00a0 Once that was on, it was a lot easier to see which parts needed regular paint, which I then applied.\u00a0 The result was exactly what I wanted \u2013 the columns when lit from the top will show lights out of the clear blue, and will remain dark on the rest.\u00a0 Boom.<\/p>\n
Finishing the Chaser Board<\/h3>\n
Now that the fiber is connected with CA to the LEDs, I added an extra layer of hot-glue to reinforce them, and then light-blocked the LEDs with black paint (after confirming that the fiber was working as intended).<\/p>\n
<\/a>Columns – one with recesses filled, the other blank<\/p><\/div>\n
The rear columns were a real problem for me, because it was hard to see which parts were recessed and needed to remain clear, versus which parts needed painting.\u00a0 With some magnification (reading glasses) and the light angled just right, I found the recesses and filled them with clear crystal blue paint.\u00a0 Once that was on, it was a lot easier to see which parts needed regular paint, which I then applied.\u00a0 The result was exactly what I wanted \u2013 the columns when lit from the top will show lights out of the clear blue, and will remain dark on the rest.\u00a0 Boom.<\/p>\n
Finishing the Chaser Board<\/h3>\n
Now that the fiber is connected with CA to the LEDs, I added an extra layer of hot-glue to reinforce them, and then light-blocked the LEDs with black paint (after confirming that the fiber was working as intended).<\/p>\n