Very nice comparison bro. I've got Tony's 3D turret on order and waiting for it to come in to get a good comparison myself. Like what you've done so far! Keep it up!

The EL tape (and panels) I bought are from Adafruit. They come pre-wired with connectors at each end, so you can cut it into two usable pieces and whatever 'middle' section is left over is unpowered unless you figure out how to do your own connectors.

I found a pretty clever (i think) way to wind a single length of EL tape around the larger corridors (main curved corridor and the straight cockpit access corridor). So I only needed one EL tape on that side, and two EL panels that were used for under flooring (one piece for the curved section, one for the straight section). Adafruit sells a 4-1 'Y' type connector so these three (2 panels, 1 tape) are grouped onto a single wire that will run to the inverter.

On the shorter (port) side I have one EL panel (under floor) and two EL tapes (sconces), so again 3 wires that go into a 4-1 'Y' to give me a second wire that runs to the inverter. The inverter supports up to 4 connections so I still have capacity to add more -- plan to do something under the hold maintenance pits but haven't rigged that up yet.

I haven't yet figured out where the inverter will eventually go -- if it will be outside or inside the model. I think it may end up outside, if I can route the wire to the inverter and the power for the available/optional external AC adapter through the same hull opening provided for the AC adapter.

Haven't posted for a while because it's mostly been assembling the upper frame -- nothing too unique or interesting. But I did finish painting the bottom hull so I'll attach a photo of that, along with the current overall state of the hull building.

I've got a couple of questions about wiring & lighting that I haven't seen anyone address .. would appreciate advice if anybody has thoughts on these.

First question - I've done the ParaGraphix turret interiors, which should be lit from several directions (as opposed to the single LED light for the stock parts). I haven't figured out where would be a good place to attach lights - I'll probably go with the small SMD leds, which worked well for me in the cockpit and hold. But it doesn't appear there's any convenient place to mount these that would then be pointing back at the turrets. Anyone else working with these parts come up with a good answer?

Second question - I've used EL panels and tape for lighting in the corridors, and plan to add a bit more surrounding the hold maintenance pits when it comes time to install that. The EL requires a special inverter, so I won't be able to run it (AFAIK) off the supplied board. I think this gives me a couple of possibilities:

Option 1 - use an AC adapter for the EL wire, and run the wire in through the provided hull opening for the future-optional AC adapter for the model. (I do plan to buy & use the AC adapter for the model -- so I was thinking that if it did not use the supplied rubber grommet / seal for the opening, I could run both AC wires side by side through the opening.

Option 2 - Since I'm planning to use AC for the main model power supply, I don't need the battery pack. It looks like the battery pack for the EL wire would fit into the space provided for the main battery pack. I'm not sure the wires are long enough so splicing in an extension may be necessary in that case.

I've ordered Chris Holland's landing light set, so when that arrives I should have something new to post some pictures of. I just this month received the circuit board shipment so it seems to be a good time to be figuring out the power strategy.

Here's the painted lower hull:



Here's the lower hull inside (with light blocking applied) and the current frame progress for the upper:

Looking very nice indead, I like what you have done so far.
With regards to the turret interior, I’m using the supplied one, that I have modified. The LED bulb supplied that fits at the top, I have replaced and put a blue bulb in and blacked out the front part, so it only shine towards the rear, giving a more ambient light effect. I have also fitted fiber optic cables to the side walls, some blinking, which also gives of light to the area.
I am also using EL wire beneath the hold area flooring, which as you say needs to run off an inverter. I have a 9v inverter and will run this off the hold area wiring loom, which will run through a AC 9v power supply, I plan to utilise the supplied board for this, along with the landing lights I have already mounted in the bottom hull.
Looks great, keep up the good work.
Mark

It's been a while since I've posted, as things have been mostly by-the-book for a while. But this month (Month 23 for me) I got the supports for the cargo hold and corridors, which means I can finish up those parts.

I haven't installed the corridors yet, and my initial attempt at turret lighting was unsatisfactory so I'm waiting on more LEDs to arrive so I can upgrade that. But I've quite happy with the way the hold pits turned out so I thought I'd share.

I'm using the Paragraphix hold floor kit, which means I've got removable pit covers for both pits. On the front pit, I'm leaving the pit closed and faking it; the rear pit will be open and have a bit of depth to it.


Here I've completed laying out the route for the lighting, temporarily supporting it with a piece of cardboard where it extends past the edge of the base.




I realized the cutaway section of floor could be lowered and used as the bottom of the pit

Here's the cutaway portion before surgery




Here the mount has been removed and cut roughly in half, and the bottom reinstalled.



Here the cutaway section of floor has been placed on its peg ... it's not very stable and later I'll add some styrene bracing.



Here's how it looks with both parts of the support installed. I've also used a Dremel to cut a groove in the floor where the EL wire will be routed; hot glue will be used to hold it in place.



In this picture, I've added the pit interior. This is two pieces of side paneling from a Revell Falcon kit. This was going to be it, but later I decided it needed a pipe.




Here I've glued down a picture (colson in the forum here supplied this from a screen capture) of the pit for the front fake pit, and the rear pit is in place but not yet stabilized (so it's definitely tilting to the rear). I added a pipe made from a piece of wooden dowel and some pinstriping tape -- I think this really improves upon having just the kitbashed parts. The EL wire has enough stiffness that the cardboard support was unnecessary.




The bracing on the bottom of the floor interfered with the EL wire so it had to go.


Here it's all coming together - support beams reinstalled for the pits, both pits are now done and I just need to cover up the front one.



And here with the cover in place for the front. I have some barrels and other parts to go into the hold, and when the starboard corridors get installed I'll hook up the lighting there. But this is it for now.



In this shot the hold floor was just a little out of place, I needed to move it a bit and then add a styrene support. (Didn't realize it looking at the real model, only when I looked at the picture did I see the problem! )

It looks like a lot of work but the end result is very nice Job well done

I have more pictures I hope to upload soon, but I had a question first. Has anyone come up with a good solution for concealing the power adapter?

The good news is that I was concerned that some of my added lights were pretty dim running off the battery box, but when I ordered the DeAg official power adapter and switched to using that, everything is burning bright. So it appears that the adapter puts out more amperage than the battery box, even with fresh batteries (I think the adapter is 1 amp -- from memory I thought the battery box was about .75A.

I looked on Shapeways, as I thought I remembered there being a 'power station' that could conceal the adapter. I saw that Tony had something but it isn't really set up to route a power cord through it -- I could always drill my own openings and use that, but I wasn't sure if there was something I was missing as far as having something made specifically for use with the power adapter.

If someone already covered this in a build diary and I missed it I apologize -- I do try to look at everything but that doesn't mean I'll remember it all :-).

Thanks
Mike

Very impressed with your mounting solution. I had started out thinking I'd go with a wall mount, but toward the end switched around to thinking I'll display the ship on its landing gear. I hadn't though about relocating the wiring. If I don't come up with a solution I like with the current power socket location, I might think about running the wire up the back side of one of the landing gear, where it would be fairly well concealed.

There was a point I had thought about displaying on the landing gear, and that was going to be my solution. Running power up the landing gear to conceal as much as possible.

That could look pretty cool too. Add some greeblies to the connector end.