The JJ Prise in My hands
This just arrived an hour ago and yes, it took me that long to hide myself, take a photo and stop myself from jumping all around the room. Seriously, I am not sure what’s happening today but since my outstation trip was postponed, the backlog was Hell.
Anyway, I got this from Models4hobby (https://www.facebook.com/models4hobbygroup?ref=ts&fref=ts) which is located in UK. I ordered mine 6 minutes after Lucas Gan and IFAIK, this was the cheapest in town.
The box is, I think, the size of an AMT and the saucer is roughly 10.5 inches.
Going to have a nice evening tonight….
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Since I have less than an hour, I’ll make this quick. The JJPrise’s box is slighly bigger than an AMT and to be honest, its slightly thicker too. However, as you can see from the box, it could not withstand the abuse of a postman. To be honest, most of the parts are very thin and well, I’ll show you the sadness that has stabbed into my heart. I don’t want to put any Khan quotes here for the Postmen as I do not think they deserve such privilege for mangling my model.
I got mine from Models4Hobby and he still has a lot.
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Opening the box, there are actually four plastic bags which houses all the runners, with the main saucer having a bag by itself. Here, I am going to show you the scale of the model kit using the one of the International Standards of measurement of an object for the Internet; a Coke can.
Bear in mind, this is a new model kit from Revell and so, all the parts are ‘brand new’ and very thin.
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Some people would straightaway hate the warp nacelles and would form a lynch mob to kill the designer if they could but for me, once I held them in my hand, I fell in love.
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OK, here are the runners taken out of the bags. The saucer is IIRC, almost the same size as an AMT 1701-A Enterprise. But look at the bottom right.These are the undersides of the Warp Pylons and yes, you guessed right! Wires can go through!
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Here are the remaining shots of the parts. This is how Revell eliminated the infamous Warp Nacelle sag of the AMT kit. The have molded the pylons with the Secondary hull. Now, all you have to do is to make sure it does not split in the middle.
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Here are the clear plastic pieces. For a normal model kit, minimal clear parts means, well, just a normal kit. But for this JJPrise, for those who wants to light it up, you’d be very happy indeed.
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This is the decal and its almost as long as the box! And the Enterprise Plague is actually silver. But here, I my heart started to have a heavy sigh. some parts of the decal is damaged. I did not have time to look at them carefully but its going to be very painful.
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Here is a close up look of the clear parts, which is, (clockwise from top) the Deflector Dish, the rear end of the Warp Nacelle (I do not know what it is since I am not a TOS fan) and the Bussard Collector which I shall happily call it Sherlock’s (Holmes) cap.
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Here are more clear parts which, allows you to light up the model.
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Sadly, here is one of the clear part which is damaged. This is the I think the underside of the Warp Nacelle.
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And the most heartbreaking of all, a crack in the deflector dish, which, when lit would show up very clearly. I am not sure what I can do with this part now.
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A loser look at the Bussard Collector assembly. If you look closer, you can spot the damage on the decals on the top left. Yes, the fan blades are decals.
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Although the 12-blade fan does not spin, if you look closely, there is a hole in the middle which possibly allows for a very well-placed low rpm motor and a possible third-party product, who might produce a photo-etched fan…
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And looking at the Warp Nacelle again, there is so much space inside, its possible to put in a motor, big LEDs and even more LEDs. I am tempted to do this but with the Pegasus still in the works, I won’t even touch this until Christmas.
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Just a brief light test. Yeah, it needs a better LED for a wider light spread. Normal 5mm won’t cut it.
If a normal supplier can bring this to Malaysia and with reasonable pricing, I would not mind getting another or two, provided the box is not dented. The contents are quite big and there is very little space to maneuver when Mr. Dent comes a visiting. Moreover, most of the parts are very thin so, a slight sneeze while carrying might create a micro-fracture….
Sadly, I and not sure if this is possible since it has something to do with those stupid licensing conditions which allows or prevents the importation of certain range or series of models for different Countries.
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OK, just less than 15 minutes to go to end the Star Trek Into Darkness Poster. So, I decided to have a look at the JJPrise’s Deflector dish lighting. This is a 5mm White LED shone through the two parts.
The clear part sticks to the housing. And using my eyeball, the hole of the deflector dish housing is actually is about 4mm but once the clear part goes in, there is no space for a 3mm LED. You can file the LED down or use a 1.8mm version to stick into the the clear part’s 2mm hole but to me, its useless, since what makes the lighting effect count is the built-in resin lens in the LED.
And yes, the crack in the Deflector Dish is very noticeable.
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Just to make sure my abandoned first design is not going to waste, I tested it on the model and sure enough, it fits! Well, almost because there are four jumper pin connectors which when used, might need more space. But at least I can say that I have the sequence of the double flash LEDs done.
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Here is another angle to see the space clearance of my ‘I wanted to sell these first but I got too lazy to solder all the LEDs and wires’ circuit board.
The reason I did not use SMD (for smaller circuit board) was because this PCB was designed to fit 1/350 scale ships. And because there was quite a bit of memory in the microprocessor, I added additional Navigation and Strobe sequence for three more ships, selectable via jumpers:
1. NCC-1701A from the Motion Picture,
2. NCC-1701A from Star Trek VI,
3. NX-01 Enterprise, and
4. NCC-1701 2009 JJPrise.
And because its a micorprocessor, I was able to add in an additional flashing sequence which is different from the rest of the ship (You can see this in the 2009 movie, located at the rear of the Warp Pylons, just above the shuttle bay)
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Finally, the wide-angle 3mm LED (right) has arrived. Compared to the normal 3mm White LED with clear lens, the wide-angle version looks very short.
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Here is a quick light test. On the left is the wide angle LED while on the right is the normal 3mm. Its not easy to take photos from a digital device but from the picture above, they almost looked the same.
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As in the movie, the middle of the deflector dish does not emit any light but rather, acts as a dark spot. So, I cut out a small circle from an aluminum tape and place it in there. All of a sudden, the wide-angle LED showed better light dispersion especially where the first ring is located. On the wide-agle LED, this ring is very prominent.
Alas, if you looked at the movie’s deflector dish again, this set up is not that accurate since the outer blue lines are still not that significant. Ah, well, this is the best I can get since I do not dare to cut of the clear stalk inside the dish.
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This is how the light are being dispersed. The normal 3mm White LED’s lens showed an almost 30ยบ light cone. The wide-angle on the other hand, showed a very concentrated middle spot but the further you move away, the intensity goes down significantly. You can see the result on the ‘wall’ of the paper and this is less than 2 inches away.
LIGHTING OBSERVATIONS
02.06.2013
While I woke up early this morning (could not sleep) I decided to do some screencaps from the DVD and share some lighting notes with you. I have programmed the lighting sequence for this ship since 2009 so I am not going to do that again. Suffice to say, the board works but whether I am to release it, is another point since there are less than 30 and also, I am too lazy to solder the LEDs…
I should have done these screen capture years ago but then, I was still new to Facebook and yes, I did not realise DVD movies can be screen captured. Well, not with my Toshiba notebook, that is
The Spotlights
Spotlights 0 01
Just below the Impulse engines, between the saucer and the neck, there is a pair of spots and one more down the spine.
Spotlights 002
Here, you can see it again, in almost full view.
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And in between the Warp Pylons, just located slightly above the Shuttlebay, are a pair of faint spots hidden inside the manifolds, which blinks independent of the five-pairs of strobes located on the main saucer.
Shuttle Bay
Shuttlebay 01
The lights highlighting the registry of the ship is going to be a problem unless, yes, the Raytheon method is taken into account.
Warp Nacelles
Warp Detail 01
Here is a shot of the Warp Nacelles. No white strobes or Red/Green lights there and the rear thingy glows just so, which means the earlier 5mm LED test is OK.
Warp Detail 02
I guess once the Enterprise came out of Warp and ‘cooled off’, the three-pairs of rear segments seemed to be turned off.
Warp Detail 03
Here is the underside look of the Warp Nacelle and also, the Secondary hull which has lighting ala Excelsior.
Also, let me bring to your attention that there are a pair of spots on the outer side of the Warp Pylons.
Warping 01
OK, so its from this shot that when the Enteprise goes into Warp, the Impulse engines are turned off. I had some worry over this as the movie does show the Impulse engines always on. Phew.
Coming out of Warp
Once the Enterprise comes out of Warp, the Impulse engines comes on and the rear of the Warp nacelle segments turn off one by one, leaving a slot of three square holes per segment glowing.
Photon Torpedoes
Photon Torpedo
Here is the shot of the launcher, where is it lit by four lights; two at the top and two at the bottom.
Photon Torpedo 02
But on the these series of shots, I think the white is better sprayed at the back of the dish. Also note the Photon Torpedo exhaust is lit by four lights (two top and two bottom), which I think, is shining back to some sort of door?
Bussard Collectors
Bussard Collector Fan 01
Its too fast for me to catch but did I really see a pair of blades spinning in opposite directions per Collector?
Saucer Lighting 01
There are five white double-flashers on both the top and bottom of the saucer but I did not see any Red/Green lights. Note the complex pattern of the fan blades inside the Bussard Colletors.
I am starting to like this ship as looking at the spots on the main saucer, the lighting looks very convincing as compared to the NCC-1701A where most of the spots were done ‘outside’ the model. yes, it looks good but once you sit down and start to think…
Deflector Dish
Deflector Dish 01
I am not sure what to make of this but it is fact that the front of the dish has a very subtle gold coat. Plus, IMHO, I think the whole dish is semi transparent with the main dish being white and the slots being blue.
I caught these shots from the DVD of the 2009 Star Trek.
Deflector Dish 02
So, there you have it, an almost gold (but more on copper) payer of the deflector dish.
Raytheon
The BUSSARD ‘FAN’
Many years ago, I have conluded tha the
I only had enough to get one of this transforming RC helicopters. I would let my girls play with them until they are, um, broken. The reason is that these RC toys have double propellers which spins in opposite directions and well, would be perfect for the Bussard Collector details. The only issue would then be to control the motor’s speed.
Update 2022: Sadly, it’s now 2022 and after the Pandemic, I don’t think the shop (if they still exist) sells this toys anymore.
Which brings me to this. I ordered it locally from a Chinese shop and within days, it arrived.
Just like Clive mentioned, there is no remote and so, it just kinda fly on its own. It was OK in the house but I keep worrying about it being hit by the fan blades and turning into shrapnel. But yeah, it does have those mechanism I was looking for and well, costs so much less than the original toy I had earlier.
