# Review: 1/1000 1701 Refit



## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Here's a look at the 1/1000 Refit Enterprise from Round Two under the Polar Lights moniker. 

This arrived on the market around late January 2010 and is the first 'original' Trek model to be released from Round Two. All the others over the last 2 years have been reissues and we can look forward to many more originals and reissues this year and beyond.

A nice little kit at a foot long, the aztec decals are a major selling point for this one and are arguably well worth the cost of admission all by themselves! Typically snap-tite kits are A skill level 1 kit, but this one is a Level 2 likely due to the complexity of the decals alone.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Assembly took about 20 mins. Overall, things are tight. The starboard pylon at the hull is a little wobbly, but a dab of glue should do it. 

Once assembled, I primed it all a basic black. Now, the white on the saucer is still a little moist, so that needs more hours to dry enough to handle. Then spray will go down on the 2ndary hull. I got some white on the nacelles, so took those off and reapplied black. Once that is dry, I'll mask the black parts off and spray white. The grills are the only things that didn't get decals in this kit. 

I'll shoot the decal application and post here. Didn't bother with assembly as that is straight forward enough. Though, snapping a few of the tinier pieces in was difficult for these fingers.


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## machgo (Feb 10, 2010)

Nice review as usual. My wife and I enjoy all your videos. 

It looks as if the saucer aztec decals are pie wedges--true?

Thanks for another installment!


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Yup. All pie wedges. 

I just finished decaling the strongback, neck and both pylons in about 40 mins. To let those cure nice, I'm switching over to the bottom of the saucer next. That leaves the sides and bottom of the 2ndary hull, the nacelles and saucer top.

Will update on the next data dump. I can only hold 1hr of HD video on the camera at a time. Time warping that 40mins down to 4 will take a few hours of processing, so videos should be up by tomorrow.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

The lower saucer and the rest of the 2ndary hull decals took about 1hr. Doing a data dump now. 

Not much action here in part 1, slicing the decals into big sections, covering the attack plan, tools, etc.





I now just have the top saucer, some lower saucer details like the phaser banks and thrusters, and the nacelles. Oh yeah, gotta put the pennants along the side hull too. So maybe it'll be a 5-6hr process all told.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Part 2: Pylons, Neck and Strongback


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

part 3: Lower Saucer. Took about 30 mins and I forgot to put the ambient sound back over the sped up sound. Oops!


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## omnimodel (Oct 9, 2004)

I've been trying to finish up mine. One hour four assembly, glue and sanding, and about 10 hours of decaling. 
Couple of notes to anyone assembling the kit:

1) The decals all have excess clear at the edges that needs to be trimmed away in order for them to fit properly
2) The decals for the deflector area are designed to be applied before the neck is installed. Not an issue if you are planning to snap the kit together, but if you're a gluer, something to keep in mind.
3) The decals have duck egg blue at the base of the warp pylons, but this area was white on the 1701. They didn't turn blue until the 1701-A.
4) The paint calls our for the landing pads to be painted green, but I have yet to find any photographic evidence to support this.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Part 4: 2ndary Hull.





The directions suggest cutting the extra decal edges after they've dried. The only 2 places they caused me any trouble was the torpedo deck and fantail/clamshell. The deflector decals weren't easy, but the Solvaset snugged them down. I glued a couple spots including the neck to deflector, so simply trimmed one decal where the fore neck attaches below the torpedo bay. Thanks for catching the lower pylon color! Bad mistake on their part. Too late for me to fix that one. I figured there was no blue on the refit, so was surprised to have any. As those saucer hatches call for green, they likely are, as they were blue on the -A.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Part 5: Midway review






Part 6: 2nd pass Details on 2ndary hull and lower saucer





Next up 1st pass on nacelles.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)




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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

I've got the hamsters in my computer running double time to process part 8. Meanwhile I just finished part 9 which puts the registration on the nacelles and the 2nd pass on the top saucer. Part 10 is a recap of all that's been done, problems had, things to look out for and bad directions to note for yourself. I'm sure I missed some things, so please do add notes here.

So all this leaves the saucer sides left to do and that is that for decals on this. I don't know that I will record that session as it should only be a few mins and seeing the rest go down shows how I'll be hitting them too. but for the sake of completeness, perhaps I should... 

Regardless, the 2ndary hull is ready for a matte pass or two. The nacelles should be ready around noon and the saucer slightly afterwards.

All told so far, the assembly took about 20 mins. The prime and paint took 10 mins w/ about 24hrs in between for safety sake. The decals I started around 3pm and it's now 5am. Actual decaling has been a few hours, I haven't tallied that count yet. But much of the last 15hrs has been letting the solvaset work its magic and uploading all the vids as I go. All told, this little kit could be a solid 40hr build -w/o any putty or major seam work, neverminding all the detail painting I skipped!


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Part 8: Saucer top and some nacelles


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Part 9 was a bad render so its back on the burner now. Part 10 has been sitting pretty waiting for 9. The camera's battery insisted on taking a break, so I did not record the saucer side decals. They went on easy enough, starting at one side of the impulse engine and working around to the other. The fit was nearly dead on.

I'm gonna catch a nap. This was a long session. This'll give the video some time to render, the decals some time to cure and me some time to recharge. I gotta be up in 3hrs again, so will upload pt 9 and 10 then. Those should be listed here by noon or so and that will conclude the video backlog. Matte coats will start later today.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Part9


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Part 10: A Refit Recap





So next is the matte passes. I'll do one after I post here and few others over the course of the day. After this marathon run, no new vids until tomorrow at the earliest. I'm zonked!:tongue:


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## Seashark (Mar 28, 2006)

You're a braver man than I; I get a headache just _looking_ at those decals, well done! :thumbsup:


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Yeah, before I cut the sheets up into bulk areas, I was lost. Reading the placement directions, I was lost. So starting out with a few obvious points, like the neck and pylons, it was easy to map things out around those. 

The real bugger was the nacelle/pylon attachment point area. #113 and 114. I held those off to the very last. The whole nacelle though was confusing. What was really needed was more accurate diagram so one could line up particular aztec points from decal to diagram, or having the shape of the decal lined up in the diagram relative to the part. Most of the nacelle decals could have gone on any which way and been ruined right then. My second gripe (of two) is that the lower saucer doesn't have the landing pad colors in the decal. There was no reason to leave those out.


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## 1701ALover (Apr 29, 2004)

Just curious, Model Man...what was the reasoning behind painting the stand "Kermit the Frog" green?


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

1701ALover said:


> Just curious, Model Man...what was the reasoning behind painting the stand "Kermit the Frog" green?











:thumbsup:


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## machgo (Feb 10, 2010)

What exactly is that color green? I have some photography to do and I assume you are digitally erasing the background? Nice review--I watched every minute.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Thanks!
Why, it's Kermit green.  lol. Only kidding. The wall pic is standard neon green poster board from the craft section of my local supermarket, but it can be found at drugstore chains, art stores and so on. It's pretty good with low red and blue values. The stand's paint is rustoleum neon green spray, which I haven't tested the color channels on yet. 

But if you are looking for the best wall paint green, search 'chroma green' or 'chroma blue'. They'll run you $50+ per gallon. 

If you want a cheaper wall paint, the next best my research has uncovered is Benjamin Moore "neon green" 2032-10 followed closely by their "traffic light green", 2032-20.

You can also search around for portable greenscreen walls. These are fabric and come in a few colors. (If your subject is green, you want to use a bluescreen for example.)The big problem with fabrics is that they wrinkle. Wrinkles mean varied tonality. more important than color is even lighting. Great lighting can save the worst greenscreen, but bad lighting will ruin the best greenscreen effort.

I did an in depth article over here:
http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=15154

The videos are also here at hobbytalk w/ some digital techniques in the later chapters (I never did finish that series...):
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=254919


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

So here is the final wrap up.

It's a fun kit to build OOP, but has big potential when time is devoted to it. My only intention was to build this as fast as possible with minimal additional work other than oop. In the last minutes, I screwed up and blemished the port pylon in a major ugly way by rushing to see how it looked assembled. BIG mistake. Oh, Impatience, you cruel harpy!

The blemish is in fact a dead-simple repair: strip paint, repaint, re-decal. But for want of spare decals!!! 

Truly, I will not be the only one that loses decals on this assembly and Round Two should/must sell the decals as a stand alone product. $25 for a new kit to replace a decal or two is a rip off and a waste of plastic. 

Likely there are licensing issues that can be hauled up in defense of not offering them thusly. In this case, it is up to the modeler to scan 600dpi or higher rez copies of the decals ahead of assembly. If it weren't for two lucky saves when decals flipped on themselves, this would have turned out even worse!

I won't be the only one that screws the decal up and as this kit is all (and only) about the decals, it is a dangerous situation. I made common mistakes.

But seeing this in a final setup shows me that I must get another and light it w/ the ol' Raytheon method. Hollowing out the body and judicious use of 3mm leds and all should fit fine. This build can easily be converted to a destroyer at the very least. 

And so, without further adieu,


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

*Update:* 
*BIG THANKS* to Seashark! He did not use his decals and is sending the pylons along for my drydock session. 

The plan is simple and straightforward: strip just the pylons, repaint and redecal. Progress update to follow sometime in the next couple weeks.

Thanks Richard! This would not be possible without you!


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## Seashark (Mar 28, 2006)

Not a probem, Tom. I'm happy to help! On top of that it should be fun watching you recover the thing, I might pick up a tip or two in the process. :thumbsup:


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

That's the thing I like about screwing up most -digging myself out of the hole!


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## ShotgunLebowski (Sep 12, 2003)

I used to rush builds a lot and now I tend to be more patient. There isn't a worse feeling than spending time on a model and then screwing it up badly 

Although my last kit the Re-Release-AMT I botched that one painting the nacelle domes. Then promptly the nacelle seem cracked... It was a sad day. It really looked great up until that point. 

The good thing is the refit kits are pretty cheap and plenty in stock. I wouldn't give up on this one yet. I am sure soon enough someone will come out with aftermarket decals. Keep a watch on this site he does good work http://www.acreationmodels.com

John


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## JimPV (Apr 26, 2009)

I LOVE your videos, Model Man - keep 'em coming!!


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## 1701ALover (Apr 29, 2004)

ShotgunLebowski said:


> I am sure soon enough someone will come out with aftermarket decals. Keep a watch on this site he does good work http://www.acreationmodels.com
> 
> John


He already has a set of decals for the 1:1000 Refit, available with strongback details in TMP-TSFS Green, TVH-TUC Blue and "On Screen" Grey. The site says they're for the Alliance resin kit only, but I imagine they'd work on the Round 2 kit as well. Of course, I have been known to be wrong on occasion.


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## Ensign Eddie (Nov 25, 1998)

I finally got one of these bad boys a couple of weeks ago and am anxious to make use of these videos. This thread should really be a sticky.

Tom, you may have said something about it in one of the videos (and I just missed it), but why did you paint everything black before the white coat?

Also, did you ever repair that pylon?


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Painting the model black first is a habit i picked up a long while ago. It's mostly to kill light leak. But even if you don't light a model, if it catches sunlight a certain way, the plastic can still glow. This eliminates that chance. Next I go with a white pass and that one I will aim the white paint at oblique angles to 'burn in' shadows. That way, if I go light enough with the top coats of paint, the shadows will come through. In this case, it doesn't matter so much for such a huge subject shrunk down to such a small scale, but being habit, I like to give every model the same process when I can.


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## KUROK (Feb 2, 2004)

Do the aztec decals seem to leave a rough surface? Seems that way in photos and your videos...


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

I tried this method with my Moebius voyager kit using a medium grey rather than black. For much the same reasons, I wanted shadows in the corners and indentations. Being the first time I've tried it it was only 50% effective for me but it definitely showed promise. I also did it because the kit plastic was so translucent that the interior detail created shadows.



Model Man said:


> Painting the model black first is a habit i picked up a long while ago. It's mostly to kill light leak. But even if you don't light a model, if it catches sunlight a certain way, the plastic can still glow. This eliminates that chance. Next I go with a white pass and that one I will aim the white paint at oblique angles to 'burn in' shadows. That way, if I go light enough with the top coats of paint, the shadows will come through. In this case, it doesn't matter so much for such a huge subject shrunk down to such a small scale, but being habit, I like to give every model the same process when I can.


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## Ensign Eddie (Nov 25, 1998)

Model Man said:


> Painting the model black first is a habit i picked up a long while ago. It's mostly to kill light leak. But even if you don't light a model, if it catches sunlight a certain way, the plastic can still glow. This eliminates that chance. Next I go with a white pass and that one I will aim the white paint at oblique angles to 'burn in' shadows. That way, if I go light enough with the top coats of paint, the shadows will come through. In this case, it doesn't matter so much for such a huge subject shrunk down to such a small scale, but being habit, I like to give every model the same process when I can.


I thought that may be the case, but I didn't see many shadows on the finished 1701. I saw you use this technique in the J2 thread, and, as you say, it seems to work better at the J2's larger scale.

So, I guess you don't have a problem with the white covering the black. Whenever I try it, I have trouble covering without getting way too much paint on the model. I think I need to do more light coats (even after all these years I still haven't really gotten the hang of painting).


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## Ensign Eddie (Nov 25, 1998)

KUROK said:


> Do the aztec decals seem to leave a rough surface? Seems that way in photos and your videos...


My issue with the aztec decals (besides them appearing to be an incredibly daunting task), is that they look too dark to me. I always think of the aztecing as being a very subtle, almost-there detail. I'm wondering if some kind of a light misting of something could add that kind of subtlety I'm looking for.


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## 1701ALover (Apr 29, 2004)

Ensign Eddie said:


> My issue with the aztec decals (besides them appearing to be an incredibly daunting task), is that they look too dark to me. I always think of the aztecing as being a very subtle, almost-there detail. I'm wondering if some kind of a light misting of something could add that kind of subtlety I'm looking for.


Which is why, instead of bright white, I'm using a light grey as the base color, just a shade or two lighter than the lightest shade in the aztek decals. The ship, on screen, doesn't look white...she looks more light warm grey (I know this is a trick of lighting and film stock, but I like the look...white just doesn't look right to me). When I actually get around to painting, I'll take lots of photos and post 'em!


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## slingshot392 (Nov 27, 2008)

That was a great video how to on putting the model together and for any pitfalls to watch out for, it really shows how nice the model can look directly out of the box.

I noticed you either said something or put some text on your video when the model was in front of the green screen about some of the camera shake. Not sure if this would work, but maybe you could try some railroad track, HO has flex track in three-foot lengths that can be bent to different shapes, the wheelsets can be bought separately for not too much. Maybe you could build something to support your camera and it would enable you to move the camera from side to side. There are little metal or plastic track connectors if you need the track longer. If you need it wider for more support, tracks could be the side to side with the space between the tracks. Just a thought.


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## Marco Scheloske (May 16, 2000)

1701ALover said:


> The ship, on screen, doesn't look white...she looks more light warm grey


Hm, I have to disagree - the ship looks always bright white to me. Light warm grey, like the Bandai one, is completely wrong in my eyes.


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