USS Enterprise
- Thread starter therritn
- Start date
How much experience do you have in building models like this? If you have an airbrush and some blue painters tape you just have to mask the panels and spray slightly differing shades of color. I used my own mixture of model master acrylic paints (testor brand, but there are floquil, polly S, and lots of other brands. I recommend finding one you like and more or less sticking to it to avoid any surprises in the interactions of different company's chemical compositions) The colors I used were silver, light gray, and a couple different shades of light green and blue that I mixed in varying amounts.
Here's the results I got. As you can see, this is not quite finished, but unfortunately, it's as far As I've gotten. Real life got in the way and I havn't gotten back to it. IF you have any more questions, I took pictures of the whole paint job and I'd be happy to share.
[/URL]
The results are really subtle. But not quite as subtle as they appear in this picture. This is the result of five layers of paint. Not counting the primer.
Obligingly,
--Alex
Here's the results I got. As you can see, this is not quite finished, but unfortunately, it's as far As I've gotten. Real life got in the way and I havn't gotten back to it. IF you have any more questions, I took pictures of the whole paint job and I'd be happy to share.
The results are really subtle. But not quite as subtle as they appear in this picture. This is the result of five layers of paint. Not counting the primer.
Obligingly,
--Alex
All righty. I'll show you the whole process. I'm gonna do this in multiple posts though since I don't yet have all the pics resized to be web-friendly. I'm going to write this out step by step in hopes of being helpful to those who have never done this. (If you are an experienced modeler, I don't want to seem like I'm talking down to you...)
First, I'll show you the model built but unpainted.
You can see in this pic the green putty used to fill gags between the "neck" and the saucer, as well as around the main deflector cowling. There was a minor parts mismatch in this area so I resculpted the ring to make it a consistently sized stair-step. The clear parts in the forward end of the nacelles also do not fit well, particularly the three boxy structures. Those are filled in and squared up with putty too. I mostly use a a two part epoxy putty sold under various names (most popularly as "Green Stuff") if I need to sculpt some detail or else Squadron Green(tm) if I'm smoothing panels or hiding joins. I also wanted to add phaser emitters loosely inspired by the Defiant in "In a Mirror Darkly" so I added pin heads from straight pins in positions roughly equivalent to where the phasers were on the refit, but in positions on the saucer to match FJ. Also, I usually don't like the supplied kit stands for models so I design them to sit on brass tubes. There is one fitted into the model permanently and a second of the next size down telescopes into the first one. This way I can remove the stand for easy transport. Also, during painting, I use a scrap piece of tube as a handle. You want to minimize the handling of your model during intermediate steps because the oil in your skin will sometimes create unpredictable results in the final color. Also, it will often prevent the paint from properly adhereing to the model.
This pic of the aft of the ship shows some more Green Stuff where I sculpted the little bumps on either side of the shuttle bay. (The starboard one of these was identified as Ben Finney's ion pod in "Courtmartial" remastered). I also used a strip of styrene to fair out the lower lip of the hanger deck floor. This was done to cover a parts mismatch on the right and left hull pieces. I also used Green Stuff to sculpt the ring around the aft "navigation dome" or whatever it's supposed to be. Again, the part didn't really line up here well.
And finally, here is one shot of the ship in it's primer coat. I used a spray can sold for use to prime small scale soldiers for wargames, (I forget the brand but I want to say something like Microarmor?) which is supposedly specially formulated to dry nice and smooth without obscuring any detail. You can barely tell form this angle, but I've masked the clear domes on the engine fronts as you're meant to be able to see the red inner domes on the finished model. I used painter's tape, but if I was doing it over again, I'd have used some sort of liquid masking rubber, as the tape kept slipping and the end result is some paint on the domes in it's current not-quite-finished state. I can clean it up, but it's a chore I should not have to do.
So that's it for tonight. I'll reformat the other pics later in the week, if we're lucky tomorrow.
I hope this is of interest so far....
--Alex
First, I'll show you the model built but unpainted.
You can see in this pic the green putty used to fill gags between the "neck" and the saucer, as well as around the main deflector cowling. There was a minor parts mismatch in this area so I resculpted the ring to make it a consistently sized stair-step. The clear parts in the forward end of the nacelles also do not fit well, particularly the three boxy structures. Those are filled in and squared up with putty too. I mostly use a a two part epoxy putty sold under various names (most popularly as "Green Stuff") if I need to sculpt some detail or else Squadron Green(tm) if I'm smoothing panels or hiding joins. I also wanted to add phaser emitters loosely inspired by the Defiant in "In a Mirror Darkly" so I added pin heads from straight pins in positions roughly equivalent to where the phasers were on the refit, but in positions on the saucer to match FJ. Also, I usually don't like the supplied kit stands for models so I design them to sit on brass tubes. There is one fitted into the model permanently and a second of the next size down telescopes into the first one. This way I can remove the stand for easy transport. Also, during painting, I use a scrap piece of tube as a handle. You want to minimize the handling of your model during intermediate steps because the oil in your skin will sometimes create unpredictable results in the final color. Also, it will often prevent the paint from properly adhereing to the model.
This pic of the aft of the ship shows some more Green Stuff where I sculpted the little bumps on either side of the shuttle bay. (The starboard one of these was identified as Ben Finney's ion pod in "Courtmartial" remastered). I also used a strip of styrene to fair out the lower lip of the hanger deck floor. This was done to cover a parts mismatch on the right and left hull pieces. I also used Green Stuff to sculpt the ring around the aft "navigation dome" or whatever it's supposed to be. Again, the part didn't really line up here well.
And finally, here is one shot of the ship in it's primer coat. I used a spray can sold for use to prime small scale soldiers for wargames, (I forget the brand but I want to say something like Microarmor?) which is supposedly specially formulated to dry nice and smooth without obscuring any detail. You can barely tell form this angle, but I've masked the clear domes on the engine fronts as you're meant to be able to see the red inner domes on the finished model. I used painter's tape, but if I was doing it over again, I'd have used some sort of liquid masking rubber, as the tape kept slipping and the end result is some paint on the domes in it's current not-quite-finished state. I can clean it up, but it's a chore I should not have to do.
So that's it for tonight. I'll reformat the other pics later in the week, if we're lucky tomorrow.
I hope this is of interest so far....
--Alex
Big fan of physical models myself!
Go to www.culttvmanshop.com They have vinal painting masks for the varius 1/1000 scale trek kits. The masks work great,and have even better results! 
Nice work dude. Your "navigation dome" is way way too pronounced though. Have a look at the original model at the Smithsonian or my own TOS.5 Enterprise, as mine is built to micro-measurements.
Always cool to see a practical model of Big E.
deg
Yeah I realize that. But I didn't want to sculpt it from scratch. This is just the kit part (with the nubbin on the hull cut off). If I do another one I'll probably do something a little more "correct."
--Alex
