U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D [Partially Assimilated]
Isolinear meets Nanoprobe

Way back in time, when eggs for breakfast was a thing and wagon wheels were considered a suitable meal for a small child, would be too early for this project. No, far from being the twee efforts of a convalescing truant, this particular mess gained momentum in 2018. Technically it started a few tears earlier, but as I don't even remember where or when I got base 1701-D, 2018 is as good a beginning as any.

After having successfully adding 12v LED strips to my U.S.S. Voyager, I felt that I might have an even easier time with the far less intricate model of the D. If it hadn't been so well/badly/overly glued together (and I still have no idea who made it, or how I got to have it) then my assumption would have been correct. Unfortunately, taking it apart required that a few pieces be sacrificed. While this meant that I could install lights into what is basically a 3-piece chassis, the cracks and breaks in the nacelle grills burned into my soul, and I decided that I should take everything back to the plastic and start again.

Not having any experience, and not even thinking that there would be communities dedicated to this kind of masochism, I tried sandpaper and a high-speed rotary tool. This did not go well, and soon enough my repair job became a distress call and then just a mess. However, while I had been messing with the rotary, I had noticed the different effects that each bit had on the paintwork and the plastic - replacing that new-ship small with a more realistic effect. Armed with over-enthusiasm and no skill, I went for it and aimed for a more 'lived-in' post-glory look for the Federation's finest, but no-longer youngest flagship.

Not having many tools or skills, or materials, or bothering to Google anything, I relied mainly on hot glue (man, I love that stuff - it just soothes the day's cares away) and wall-filler (the kind available at Wilkos or Home Depot - living in the UK I got mine from Wilkos) to soothe, texture, lump and bump. At this stage, I was still working on the premise of the ship being lit, as the lights were still intact.
The main changes were dents and stress added to points of detail (in the mold) or importance (engines, deflector dish), extra cuts to allow damage to be lit up, and a few nips and tucks to reshape some of the ship's silhouette.

After each major change, I added more effects to the paint, took photos and then waited a little while before deciding to do any more work. But it was never too long before I tried something, failed at it, and then had to recover by doing something even more major. It's really hard to fully appreciate it now, but most of the neck is hot-glue - shaped (carefully) by my very own fingers (in-between them being dipped in cold water) - and lit from the inside. It looked gorgeous when it was fresh, but then I got cocky and after becoming top-heavy I had to reinforce it, add plaster and paint it to cover my tracks.

Soon after the nack-incident, I bought some Day-Glo green glue sticks and that's when it became clear to me that this had been the result of yet another failed Borg incursion. I also supplemented the huge blocks of hot glue with very thin tendrils, stretched out during its cooling, allowing me to form complex-looking nests and add depth to the hull.
Other additions came from chopped up and melted green/red insulation from 2-pin wire, ground-up metal, laptop motherboard components, twisted wire, sawdust and roughly mixed plaster.
The black band around the neck - which used to have an ominous green light behind it - is cut from a PC fan's mesh cover.

The lights died when I was thinking of putting feet on the back and drilled though the cables, shorting them out and stopping any of them from working again. To repair them I would have to completely remove the back of the ship, and I simply can't be arsed.

My biggest regret is the shape of the back end. I wanted to make it more boxy, utilitarian and Borg, but it just looks overfed.