# U.S.S. Constellation WIP (Star Trek TOS)



## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Hi guys and girls!

This is my take on the U.S.S. Constellation as seen in the old Star Trek Episode "The Doomsday Machine". (I'm reposting this thread from the General Modelbuilding page.)

It's built up from three unwanted and junked AMT 18" Enterprise kits which were produced from 1967-present day, however most of the doner kits were produced from 1986-1995. Other pieces which I didn't have are scratch built from Evergreen styrene plastic.








The engines came from my friend Jason who gave me three engines and some secondary hull parts in @ 1989. He had "Cut" off the engines from their pylons using a lighter and glued them to a saucer (which I didn't get). The whole thing was painted thickly with Glow in The Dark and aluminum paint and the unusable secondary hull parts had some X-acto knife etchings carved into them which made them useless.

I added in and scratch built most of the secondary hull parts like the new engine pylons, and 1 side of the neck. I also have 1 rear nacell cap and a slightly busted sensor dish.

A fresh saucer and all it's parts came from Barry Yoner who used a different saucer to make an 18"er into a model of the Endeavor (A ship caught between TOS and TMP). 

I still need to find or make the 6 engine intercoolers though. Anyone got some in their junk bin?










On this side of the ship I had to make the entire neck from 2 pieces of 1/4" thick sheet styrene, filed to shape. The nacell support struts were also made the same way. 

The putty on the secondary hull is used to fill the horrendous gap that occurs in the kit. 










This nacell was blown appart when the Constellation encountered the planet killer. 

I used a hair dryer to soften the plastic on the outer engine houseing and then I installed all the plastic tubes, shearing the ends of the tubes off in wierd angles. 










The opposite side of the same engine. 

Notice the dammaged intercoolers on the bottom edge of the engine housing.










A shot showing the gap difference along the seam line. I filled the gap with Tamiya Grey Putty and sanded it down after I took this picture. There are still some spots that need a second coat. 










The opposite engine. 

Here, I used a textured piece of Evergreen sheet styrene to show what would be immediatly under the skin if the starship was grazed by a photon or disruptor blast. This side lost it's 3 intercoolers.

Anyway, more work to do. Just thought I'd show these WIP's for your comments.


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Ok...after two months, I finally decided to destroy the saucer section. It took this long because I was aprehensive of wreaking a 100% perfect 18"er saucer, but the results look great!


























































The inner decks were made from Evergreen Sheet Styrene, heated and dammaged with a cigarette lighter.

Here's a real picture of the Constellation from the TV episode : 










Mine has more "Artistic Liscence, and I might just rename it "Excalibur" instead.


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Got a picture of the dammaged saucer to share with everyone! 

This part was seporate from the secondary hull, which broke, so I was able to paint it with more control. 










This is some painting practice using the top of the saucer section. Currently, the part is in grey primer with flat black battle dammage added from a spray can. The "Phaser" dammage is from a Weller soldering iron. 

Soon I will paint a nice gloss light grey over the entire saucer, decal the model, and then re-paint the batle damage with the flat black paint.










Here's the Constellation body with a little paint on it. 

I decided to paint the remaining Warp Nacelle with a Metallic Blue instead of the usual Orange or Transperant Red to show what the engine might look like with no power to it. 

After I set the decals, I will add in the Flat Black dammage paint to the model.


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## Landru (May 25, 2009)

Lovely, I really like the blast mark in the saucer; how it seems to be an entry and exit shot.


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

You can glue some wadded up aluminum foil in the hull breaches and then "chew" up the thin metal with an X-acto knife if you want some random, small debris sticking out of the gaps.


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## mikephys (Mar 16, 2005)

I love it! (And no need to buy aftermarket parts to make it accurate to the Constellation used in the episode!!!)


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Got the Primary Hull numbered and finish painted last night. Didn't get photos yet though. Hopefully tonight.

I decided to change the ship from Constellation to Excalibur and in the future I will build the Constellation to more closely match the TV one posted previously. (I want to show the spots in the engines where the Doomsday Machine tore them open.)


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Nice work on that, Trevor! Gonna be one very kewel display piece once you've finished her.


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

It's getting closer! 

Glad you guys like it so far. Maybe it will even make Griff's webpage?


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Sorry, but my old Griffworks Shipyards webpage is long gone. AOL dumped their webhosting service - so I dumped AOL! - and I've not gotten around to doing any serious research on re-vamping the HTML nor coming up with a new host. 

Maybe one of these days. And if so, I'd be quite proud to host pics of your builds, Trevor. :thumbsup:


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## starmanmm (Mar 19, 2000)

Nice take on this subject.

I like the idea of the use of the metallic blue.


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Thanx Griff. I think I'm still living in the past on most of these web sites. Probably why I can't find them anymore.


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

Nice job, Trevor. Looking better all the time! :thumbsup:


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

Here's the new saucer pics!









When I decaled the saucer, I decided to change the ship name and numbers from CONSTELLATION (NCC-1017) to EXCALIBUR (NCC-1705) because in the Star Trek episode The Ultimate Computer, Desilu Studios reused the CONSTELLATION model kit, but filmed it so far away that audienes wouldn't see that it was the 1017. 

Therefore, the dammage on EXCALIBUR shouldn't be the same as CONSTELLATION, at least in theory. 

Because of this, the damage is more speculative on EXCALIBUR than definate on CONSTELLATION, strictly from a TV watcher's point of view. (The CONSTELLATION had a lot of close-up views and is well doccumented photographically. 

In the near future, I will re-examine my reference photos of CONSTELLATION and make an entirely new kit to represent the dammage that ship underwent after her encounter with The Doomsday Machine.

For now, here is the saucer after the decals and flat black paint. (Decals were scanned in from the Cut-Away Enterprise kit and numbers 2,3,4,5,6,8 &9 were hand drawn from edited 0's in the earily 2000's. In the furute, I will use a proper font.) 










Here's the ship with some Testor's Steel Enamel paint added with a drybrush. 










Here's the underside of the saucer. The grey paint is different under here simply because I ran out of Tremclad Light Grey and I couldn't find a replacement at 3 hardware stores. 

I ended up using Krylon Light Grey which is more of a yellowish-concrete grey. 

After this, I found 3 cans of Tremclad in a hardware store in High River, so I bought 2 cans. 

The windows on this ship are all painted black to show that the ship is dead and all power is gone. 










Here's the side view of underneath the saucer. Note the Phaser damage and how it cuts through the registry.

On the opposite side, the photon torpedo blast damage through the saucer accidently lined up with the "0" in 1705. That wasn't intentional.










A side view of the saucer top. Note the grid lines and the yellow/red square. I pinstriped the square using Artist's One Shot paint.

Also, all the big square lights that cover the saucer top are painted black to show that the light panel has no power to it. On a working starship, these panels should be white.










A close-up of the bridge and saucer. Note the command center under the dome. This is an actual top view technical picture of the bridge that has been photo reduced to fit in the tiny opening under the dome.

Now, onto the body!


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## HabuHunter32 (Aug 22, 2009)

Looks great! Have you seen the battle damage decals that are available on SSM's websight? I ordered i generic set for my 18in Constellation that I am building and a 1/350 set for my new refit Enterprise that I will be building to replicate the battle damage from ST2 TWOK. They look pretty good! I am planning to do the battledamage on the Constellation like you did with hull ruptures and the like. I was unsure of how to try to replicate the cigarette lighter streaks on the saucer without actually useing a lighter and melting the plastic! I have an airbrush and have been experimenting with on scrap plastic and as yet I have not been able to duplicate it. I purchased the decals and even though they dont look exactly right either they look better than what I have been able to achieve!

Let me know what you think about my idea with the decals!

Cant wait to see her finished!:thumbsup:


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

The "Burns" are actually easy to do. 

If you take a piece of plastic sprue and light it on fire like a candle, you will see that you get black smoke that almost comes off the styrene like a straight pencil line. Hold the dammaged saucer section above the sprue smoke and move it back and fourth. Be careful to avoid the heat of the flame though. you don't want to melt your saucer, just to capture the styrene soot. The smoke should stain the model and then you just need to seal it with a clear coat. 

I was thinking of doing this, but decided to go with paint instead.

I haven't seen the SSM decals. Do you have a link to their web site?


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## HabuHunter32 (Aug 22, 2009)

Thanks for the info. The battledamage decals are available from the Starship Modeler store on page 9 of thier Star Trek decals page. The 1/350 refit battledamage decals are on page6. 


http://www.starshipmodeler.com/newshop/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1478


http://www.starshipmodeler.com/newshop/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=928


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

ThanX for the link. They have some awesome 18"er battle dammage decals with hull decks included in the "Blast Zone". Most impressive!


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