Hull Assembly

Gluing together the hull assembly was the most difficult part of the model. The upper hull and lower hull each had multiple small and flexible pieces that needed to be glued to it before they could be combined.

For the upper hull, it was necessary to to glue the hull panels and hull sides to it. The hull sides were very flimsy, and were required to be held into place for a long time while the glue dried to keep them from buckling.

For the lower hull, I had to attach the torpedo conduit to the underside before attaching it to the upper hull. Then it was back to holding all the pieces tightly together in order for everything to stay in its proper place.

Before attaching the forward bulkhead, I had to glue the photon torpedo emitter to the photon emitter housing, which was then installed in the forward bulkhead. Once completed, the assembled bulkhead was glued to the assembled hull.

The cloaking generator was then glued onto the nose of the Bird of Prey. The shields were glued to the shield panels, and the shield assemblies were glued to the top of the ship. Bussard scoops were then attached to each side of the hull.

Finally, the warp drive housing was glued to the rear of the ship.