The Tomy Enterprise refit is a beautiful model, but sadly it has no wifi connection and no way to power it on using a smart switch - you have to touch the touch sensitive buttons to make it work. I really wanted it to be turned on automatically each day so it is shining when I get home from work. After much tinkering, I found a nondestructive way to connect the ship to wifi using an ESP-32 controller, 2 resistors, and 2 transistors, and this can be done without any permanent mods to the model’s circuitry (ie no soldering to the Tomy electronics). Yes, you’ll still void the warranty by opening up the unit, but all mods are reversible. No external switchbot or visible mods to ruin the clean look. I made a 3d printed cover to allow wifi signals through the metal enclosure and to mount the ESP 32 board. Over the weekend I used Claude code and was able to get HomeKit and Home Assistant functionality as well as its own web interface (in case you don’t want to use HomeKit or Home Assistant) - you just open a local web browser and you can control the ship!
Native buttons work normally, too.
I’m working on cleaning up the documentation but have posted the how to, 3d file, and sketch on GitHub for anyone to try out!
https://github.com/SteveW25561/Tomy-Enterprise-Refit-Homekit-ESP32