Replacement Parts Arrived!

Of course the day after I made all the necessary drilling/cutting. The parts I've been waiting for arrived @@ ($30 USD with shipping)

So I start testing how the parts would look with LEDs. For the impulse engines (red), there's an option of using the original parts filled with epoxy in the gap and light it up with red LED behind it (option 1), or filled with epoxy and paint with "clear red" paint from Tamiya and light with red LED behind (option 2).

From Left to right, option 2, 1 and (3+4)

Right: Option 1 (epoxy only)
Left: Option 2 (epoxy with clear red paint)

OR


(Replacement part for impulse engine)
Option 3: no epoxy (left)
Option 4: with epoxy (right)

The options for replacement parts are: without epoxy (option 3) and with epoxy (option 4). I think option 4 looks the best, but options 1 + 2 looks just as good. The clear red paint looks better in the unlit lighting (the replacement parts look pinkish under normal light), so I'll probably go with option 2.

Left: original part
Right: replacement

Then follows comparision for the warp engines. For this, the replacement parts are casted in solid clear blue resin and the grill lines are also blue. When it is lit, the grill effect is gone compared to the original parts filled with epoxy + blue LED. I want my grill lines LOL....So original parts is what I'll be picking.

One of the problem for choosing the original parts and lighting it up is the wing assembly requires a gap within the warp engines to attach to the main hull. When you start cutting holes out of the ship to allow light to shine through, you're cutting away the very thing that's holding the wing to the ship.

The replacement parts did a better job in solving this solution by having holes within the cast to allow wing attachment. I have yet to figure a way to solve this problem yet, perhaps I just need to be very selective on the areas that i'm cutting out on the main hull. I'll ponder this while I do something else on this project.

So what have we learn? Wasted $30 to find out doing it yourself and stop being lazy works just as well.... but I think it took 6-8hrs+ just to do all the cutting and drilling. So you decide.