MatteoRoma

A cinematic Star Trek diorama depicting the Federation fleet facing an unstoppable Borg invasion.
Custom-built, painted and illuminated to recreate the chaos and intensity of the battle, with the Enterprise arriving to lead the remaining fleet.

This week, we added two more hits to the Cube: one striking the Defiant, which is destroyed in the attack, and another hitting a Nebula-class ship, which survives thanks to its shields.

I cleaned up and reorganized the wiring on the back of the display and darkened the internal panels to make the whole shadow box feel darker and more immersive.

I also started working on a slightly larger Enterprise to replace the one currently mounted in the scene. The goal is to give it a more central and prominent position in the composition.

And since the opportunity came up, we also took the chance to test the new Taurox Mini that just arrived.

We’re almost there! I’ll replace the flagship next week and, apart from a couple of final touch-ups, I’ll be calling the piece finished!

A quieter week for the GWCC project, as I have been sick and was unable to work on it as much as planned.

I still managed to add a couple of small details to the scene, including two additional explosions in the background to give the space battle a little more depth and activity.

I am still waiting for the green filaments needed to finish the lighting details on the Cube and attach the remaining ships. Once those arrive, I should finally be able to complete the main elements of the scene.

In the meantime, the ultra-black paint I ordered has finally arrived. I will use it to refine the inside of the shadow box and, hopefully, reduce the reflections on the walls, helping the lighting and the ships stand out more clearly.

The battle continues to take shape as more details are added to the fleet.

This week I focused on refining several of the Federation ships, adding the remaining phaser beams and preparing the impact effects and explosions that will bring the battle to life.

More ships are now taking part in the fight, while a small Steamrunner-class quietly crosses the background — a reminder that this battle extends far beyond the immediate confrontation with the Borg Cube.

The next stage will focus on the aftermath: destroyed ships, debris and explosions scattered throughout the scene. After that, the Borg will finally return fire.

There’s still a lot of refining to do, but the important thing is getting all the pieces into place for the final sprint. I also want to make a bigger and better Enterprise and replace the one already in place.

The battle is getting closer to its final form.

After weeks of testing faulty COB LEDs, I finally received a working batch. One brighter LED was reserved for the Enterprise-E, while the others were prepared with their own current-limiting resistors before being integrated into the wiring.

I also redesigned the electrical system, separating it into three independent power lines: one for the Borg Cube's internal lighting, one for the phaser beams, and one dedicated to the remaining 5V lighting effects. This should make the final assembly much cleaner and easier to troubleshoot.

With the electronics finally in place, I permanently installed the Cube's internal lighting and carried out the first full phaser test. Each illuminated beam is supported by a blackened brass rod, with the light guide bonded directly to it. The Enterprise-E was drilled to anchor one end of the rod, while the other is fixed deep inside the Cube at the impact point, where a small cotton effect begins to simulate the explosion.

This was the biggest technical milestone of the entire project. Until now, there was no guarantee that the illuminated phasers could be integrated cleanly while also supporting the ships. Seeing the complete scene come to life for the first time was a huge relief and confirmed that the concept works.

Next week I'll prepare the remaining Federation ships, each suspended by its own illuminated phaser beam. After that, I'll refine the explosion effects, add more visual effects to the background, and begin the final detailing of both the ships and the Borg Cube.

The focus was building the display box itself.

I prepared the 15 mm poplar bottom panel, which carries the entire weight of the structure, sealing the edges with UV resin before finishing it in matte black.

The 6 mm side panels received the same treatment and were then assembled to create the shadow box for the first time. It still needs a final coat of black, especially on the top panel, but the display has now reached its full size and finally feels like a solid structure instead of a collection of individual parts.

I also printed custom feet with non-slip pads, giving the display a stable base while protecting the surface beneath it.

Inside the Borg Cube I installed the first low-temperature green LEDs and connected them to the main power distribution. The wiring infrastructure is now in place, ready for the new COB LEDs that arrived too late to be tested this week.
Once those are installed, the rest of the lighting system can simply branch from the existing setup.

For the first time I could place the Cube inside its completed display box and evaluate the overall composition. After months of working on individual components, the project is finally starting to feel like one cohesive piece.

Next week will hopefully be all about bringing the scene to life. If the new COB LEDs perform as expected, I'll start installing the illuminated phaser beams and finally begin placing the first Federation ships before moving on to the visual effects.

This week didn't go quite as planned.

I started by designing the lighting power system for the project. A dedicated 5V supply was built for the larger lights, along with a custom 3V DC/DC regulator for the COB LED strips. After some testing, I reduced the output further to 2.2V to achieve a softer and more realistic brightness.

Unfortunately, this is where things went sideways.
Most of the COB LED strips I ordered turned out to be defective—a risk that sometimes comes with buying electronic components online. Only a single strip worked properly, and the replacements didn't arrive in time, bringing this week's planned work to a halt.

Next week the focus will shift to building the shadow box. Hopefully the new LED strips will finally arrive so I can install the spring steel supports for the ships, prepare the phasers, and perform the first proper lighting test of the entire scene.

This week I focused almost entirely on the Borg Cube, beginning the long process of turning a raw print into something that feels like it belongs in the Star Trek universe.

The first step was applying several layers of black to establish depth across the surface. Once that was in place, I went back to clean up the details, refine a few areas and even rework some sections to improve the overall look before continuing with the paintwork.

To help guide the shading, I temporarily placed a couple of green LEDs inside the cube. They weren't meant to represent the final lighting, but simply to reveal where too much light was escaping so I could darken those areas and improve the overall balance.

After that came a subtle metallic drybrush, followed by selective metallic highlights. I also introduced a few very faint blue and reddish tones across some panels. They are barely noticeable on their own, but they should help break up the large surfaces once the final lighting and the phaser effects are in place.

Before wrapping up the week, I couldn't resist doing a quick composition test. With a bit of white tack holding the elements in place, I temporarily positioned the Enterprise in front of the cube to get a better sense of the scale and how the final scene is starting to come together.

There's still some cleanup and refinement left on the cube, but it's finally starting to look the way I imagined. Over the next couple of weeks I'd like to shift some attention to the electronics and the display box, with the goal of putting together a much more complete lighting test soon.

This week I worked on the paintwork of the first ship: the USS Enterprise-E (Sovereign-class). My goal was to achieve a clean Federation look while keeping the panel details readable at this small scale. The ship is 60mm.

Alongside the painting, I finished printing and preparing the remaining ships for the fleet:

• 2× Akira-class
• 1× Defiant-class
• 1× Sabre-class
• 1× Steamrunner-class
• 2× Nebula-class (two different variants)
  

I'm also preparing the battlefield debris that will be scattered throughout the diorama to better capture the chaos and destruction of the Battle of Sector 001.

I also tested the LED modules and fiber optics that will illuminate the Borg Cube. The lighting tests were successful, and I'm now ready to integrate the electronics into the structure before beginning the final assembly.

This week was less about visible progress and more about solving engineering challenges behind the scenes.

I completed the first batch of Federation ships. Unfortunately, several ships revealed a problem that only became apparent after printing: some structural elements became too fragile once scaled down.

The prints themselves were successful, but removing the supports highlighted weak areas that simply won't survive long-term. Instead of accepting fragile models, I'll be going back to the 3D files to reinforce a few critical sections while preserving the original appearance as much as possible.

One encouraging result came from testing the mounting system. I finally found a spring steel rod that appears rigid enough to support the ships with minimal flex, even at the required length.

Work also continued on the Borg Cube itself. I printed several additional greebles and structural details that will help blend the corners and hide the transitions between the faces. The final two cube panels have also been remodeled so they overlap the surrounding faces, creating cleaner seams and a much more convincing finished structure.

At this point, the only major component still missing before I can perform a full assembly test is the LED light bars. Once they arrive, I'll be able to verify the complete structure, including the suspended ships, the Borg Cube and the lighting system together for the first time.

Progress may look slower this week, but every challenge solved now means a stronger, cleaner and more reliable final diorama.