Window tool

Tamiya Handy DrillCutting portholes in starships was always a tedious business, but after the arrival of the Enterprise D, it became a mind numbing task. The D’s long, skinny windows are a trial, and it’s even more of a chore with the E, because the windows are so small at that scale. Two tools I’ve found that make the chore bearable are the Tamiya Handy Drill and this tool I made from a number 11 blade.

 

Window tool

The trick to cutting out the windows is to first dig a trench with the window tool and then drill a series of holes just smaller than the window opening. I then thin the plastic from behind with a round bit in a rotary tool. After that, I use my window tool to punch out the window opening. I won’t say this is an easy process, but the low-speed, battery-powered drill is a godsend.

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Jennifer Petkus divides her time between writing Jane Austen-themed mysteries, creating websites for the dead, woodworking, aikido and building model starships. She has few credentials, having failed to graduate from the University of Texas with a journalism degree, but did manage to find employment at the Colorado Springs Sun newspaper as a cop reporter, copy editor and night city editor before the paper died in 1986. She has done little since. Her husband is the night editor at The Denver Post. Her best friend is a cop. She watched Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon live. She is the author of, Good Cop, Dead Cop: A Novel about the AfterNet. She’s writing the sequel, The Background Noise of Souls, and another AfterNet related story, Jane Austen’s Book Tour.

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