# U.S.S. RELIANT 1/537 project



## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

I've decided to do a test run before beginning my 1/350 Refit. The repop of the _Reliant_ is the logical choice, since it's a similar design. I've already begun work on it.

This will be my first lit model--I'm in talks with Evans Lighting for a custom lighting kit that's more screen-accurate than his stock version.

I'm going all-out on this--I already have various aftermarket decals, the PE set, the R2 decals, and some aftermarket parts.

I intend to use the self-illuminating spotlight effect. The ivory-colored plastic of the repop isn't the best for that, but what're ya gonna do?

I also plan on painting the aztecs. It'll be good practice for the Refit.


First things first--accurization.


I've been doing a lot of research, and I think I've pinned down many of the AMT kit's problems. Anyone care to name the problems they've found?

For starters, I've rescribed (or just plain scribed) the various missing/inaccurate hatches and panel lines on the lower saucer.


The upper saucer has a bigger problem. After careful study, I've determined that _the upper deck's gridlines, the two hangar greeblie trenches, and the two deflector/sensor bits on either side of the B/C deck all need to be moved inward about 1/8"._

I've already begun cutting and reassembling the parts, and it's a subtle-but-noticable improvement. Just having the deflector/sensor pieces properly aligned with the concentric gridlines adds a great deal to the overall look of the saucer.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

It's fun taking these models as far as you can. Already-perfect models would be a bit of a bore...:thumbsup:


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## MLCrisis32 (Oct 11, 2011)

That's what I did so I send all of my positive energy to you. :thumbsup:

It was my first attempt at lighting, painting Aztec (with rattle cans) and just building something in 20 years. I hope you show your progress.


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## Dr. Gonzo (Oct 3, 2000)

Two things that I've noticed are rarely corrected are:

-The trapezoidal shape on the underside saucer curves along with the saucer on the kit. It should stick straight out with 4 square holes on the leading edge (vents?)


-Along with thickening the pylons and rollbar, the sides of the torpedo pod where the rollbar connects has a larger indent than the rollbar itself.



These aren't the best photos but they are all I had access to at the moment but they should give you a direction to go if you haven't noticed these yet.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

It's been a loooong time since I worked on a Reliant, and there is so much wrong with this kit that I'm sure what I remember won't even scratch the surface. Speaking of, it's wrong. The surface, I mean. The grid lines. The radial lines are okay but the radii of the concentric lines is short on top and a mess on the bottom. Fill with strip styrene and rescribe those. The step up on the upper hull is the wrong angle upwards and wrong angle radially and needs replacing. The details on the flat upper hull are not quite the right proportions, the inset areas too wide or narrow or something. They need reboxing and the upper details shifted slightly around them. The bridge is wrong. The BC decks are wrong. The flat outer edge of the lower side of the saucer is too narrow. The "easiest" fix there was to graft the outer portion of a 1701 to the inner portion of the Reliant. Easier in that it's easier to precisely rescribe plastic than sculpt and rescribe body putty. The saucer is (was) too thin but that may have been fixed in the repop? The roll bar is too thin and missing the front and back vents. The port holes are all wrong, as in all STTMP kits. The shape of the nacelles may be correct (I seem to remember that they are supposed to be different from the 1701) but the detailing is very poor. They may also be too short. There is something wrong with the impulse engine dome on the bottom, in that I don't think the Reliant had one. The hangar bay details were a mess but they may have been fixed with the repop? I've not ever seen decals that match the very different from the 1701 azteking. 
Someone has done a 1/350 Reliant with a lot of great detail that should be a good reference, if you can find it. When Starship Modeler was still an active modelling site about 10 years ago, there were a lot of really good accurizing threads on the Reliant, well worth seeing if they still exist.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks for the info!

I'd caught a fair amount of this, but a number of these are new to me.

I won't be rescribing the gridlines on the saucer, since that'll screw up the internal spotlight effect. The upper deck is fair game, however, and I'm still cleaning it up. Photos soon.

Yes, there's no lower impuse crystal--just a running light at the center of the spoked "hub" (which appears to have a flat surface on the real model, rather than the sloping surface of the kit).

The rollbar also sits too high, from bow-on, it should look more level, rather than arch-like.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

I have surprisingly few reference photos of the Reliant. I've posted them here:
http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jkirkphotos/Reliant References/
Please keep us posted on your progress. This is one of my favorite starships.


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Posted a couple new scans to the above Photobucket album. Looking at all this, I'm re-thinking a couple bits of old wisdom. I don't know if the lower lip is too narrow on the model - I don't know where my Reliant is so I can't measure, but the lip in one of the photos sure looks narrow. And there is the stupid lower hull impulse dome in photos clearly marked Reliant. Sometimes it has a dome, sometimes it doesn't, but it's not the flat featureless thing I modelled back in the day. 
Just thought I'd confuse everybody thoroughly...
Also: at Starship Modeler
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/cz_mask.htm
are Arthur Pendragon's Reliant masking templates. Been a long time I looked at them so I don't know how they compare with the photos of the paint pattern anymore.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Still cleaning up the upper saucer.

Also drilled all of the windows using the PE set's templates--very useful!

The oval windows need a little fine-tuning, but the windows look very nice!

Photos when I get some more work done.


It would be nice to use Aztec Dummy's painting templates, but the saucer aztec pattern is inaccurate.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)




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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Although the Paragrafix PE impulse grilles are nice, they won't fit the aftermarket impulse deck.

Therefore, I've recreated the grille pattern in Paint. 

I plan on printing the design on clear decal paper, and then applying the decals to frosted clear styrene, which will allow for lighting.

Here's a test fit of the pattern, using regular white paper.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Assembled the PE hangar doors, and cut the openings for the doors into the resin aftermarket rear hull.

I also noticed that the middle sections of the engine pylons (in-between the pennants and the phaser cannon mounts) are too wide, and slant forward at the wrong angle. So, I corrected this with files and putty. Also rescribed the panel lines on the pylons where the saucer meets the bases of the phaser cannons (on the R2 repop, these lines sit below the top edge of the saucer's upper deck--I think this is because they beefed up the thickness of the saucer).


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

This is looking fantastic Greg!


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Just spent the last seven hours creating some custom decals, using scans of the R2 and PNT sheets.


* The "NCC-1864" that's on the rollbar pylon is too big. I shrunk it down, respaced the letters/numbers more accurately, and lengthened the hyphen (which is too short on all of the stock sheet's NCC numbers--except for the nacelles).

* "United Federation of Planets" is supposed to sit above the starboard rollbar's pylon's "NCC-1864". The stock sheet has "Starship U.S.S. _Reliant_". I replaced the wording, and made sure to get the spacing correct.

* On the other rollbar pylon, the wording is almost correct ("Starship U.S.S. _Reliant_), but is missing the small "NCC-1864" next to the name, and has incorrect spacing between the wording. I fixed this. Also note that this text is supposed to be readable from bow-on, whereas the registry and wording on the other pylon is readable from aft-on. Much like the "NCC-1701"s on the underside of the TOS _Enterprise_ saucer.

* Created the blue "vents" for leading edges of the rollbar pylons (front/rear) and the fronts of the nacelle pylons. These were painted on the real model, and I therefore won't make them into actual recessed areas when I thicken the pylons.

* Reduced in size (and respaced the letters/numbers--and extended the hyphen) of the "_Reliant_ NCC-1864" at the rear of the B/C deck.


WHEW!!!!


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## MLCrisis32 (Oct 11, 2011)

This is looking how I wished my build turned out! Can't wait for the finished model. Side question what paper and finish do you use for the decals?


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

I use regular clear inkjet decal paper.


Here are the results. Apologies for the bad lighting conditions.


Note the custom impulse deck phaser bank markings.













And whatever could this belt buckle be for?


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## lizzybus (Jun 18, 2005)

Excellent work!
I've pm'd you re: decals....

Rich


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Straightened out the underside trapezoid with sheet styrene and Apoxie Sculpt so that it no longer matches the curvature of the lower saucer. I'll have to replace the raised detailing.


Re-angled the upper-deck "steps" the same way.

Unfortunately, this means all of the windows I drilled are now filled.


However, I noticed that there are supposed to be raised areas on the front of the "steps" (which the windows and deflector grids sit on), much like on the upper hull (which leaves a recessed area around the edge of the upper deck).

I re-drilled the window patterns into sheet styrene cut to the shapes of the steps, which I'll then glue to the steps. Two problems solved!


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

Gregatron said:


> And whatever could this belt buckle be for?


Hm ... you want to break off part of the surrounding circle and wear at as a necklace like Khan did? 

No ... wait ... you want to send it to me so I can incorporate it in to my Refit display stand? 

Ah .. now I have it... it will be part of YOUR display stand.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Garbaron said:


> Hm ... you want to break off part of the surrounding circle and wear at as a necklace like Khan did?
> 
> No ... wait ... you want to send it to me so I can incorporate it in to my Refit display stand?
> 
> Ah .. now I have it... it will be part of YOUR display stand.



We have a winner!

I'll be replicating Khan's pendant for the base.


Although, I'd recommend using the tunic badge for the Refit's stand, since that's shaped more accurately than the belt buckle (which was what was used for Khan's necklace.



Anyhoo, I received Evans Lighting's _Reliant_ lighting kit.

I have virtually no electronic experience (besides a bit of soldering work), so I may need some hand-holding, here!


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Been playing with the lighting kit. Having virtually no electronics experience, I've been careful.

After some study of the instructions, I managed to dry-fit three navs (white, green, red) and one strobe successfully.

Watching them all blinking correctly made me feel better about wiring this thing up!


I'm thinking of being bold enough to wire this model with three separate functions/switches:


1. Main power on/off.

2. Impulse power (crystal/engines) on/off.

3. Warp engines on/off.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Ordered some blue LED tape for the nacelle grills (thanks, Paul!) and some 1.6 mm LEDs for the various running lights and strobes.

Installed the PE hangar doors into the resin rear bulkhead, and drilled the small light holes on the rear bulkhead.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Still working on reshaping the upper saucer "step". Also scratchbuilding the instrument pallets that sit inside either side of the step.

Removed the raised phaser bank platforms.

Working on replacing the upper/lower rollbar pylon vents with scribed styrene so that they actually look like vents!


Been playing with the lighting kit. Got some 1.6 mm leds for the navs and strobes, as well as a few spools of magnet wire for hooking it all together.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Here's where we're at in reworking the underside.












And I decided to completely rebuild the impulse engine housings--the aftermarket kit's are just too big, and slant too steeply on the bottom of each housing. Still working on it.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

You go girl! I'm a fan of modding!!:thumbsup:


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

The five indentations on the "spine" of the upper deck (just forward of the impulse crystal) are too wide and too thin on the kit.

I'm cutting out the whole area and rebuilding it with the proper proportions.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

So, at first, I tried to create the new recessed areas with styrene, but wasn't happy with the results.

Then, I hit on the idea of using Apoxie Sculpt and a template cut from styrene which I could use as a "stamp".

Here are the early results. Another layer or Sculpt and some cleanup, and we'll be in great shape.


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## florjon (May 2, 2012)

I have one as well, the repop from round 2.
thinking of ordering the hangar bay and clear nacelles before starting.

Love this model.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how to replicate the three scribed rings on the saucer's upper and lower sensor domes. Scribing would probably not go well. Decals, maybe?

I've tried playing around with making some concentric rings in Paint that would look correct, but no luck so far.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Gregatron said:


> I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how to replicate the three scribed rings on the saucer's upper and lower sensor domes. Scribing would probably not go well. Decals, maybe?


Only thing I can come up with (and I have to do this with my AMT Enterprise Refit using Reliant replacement parts) is cut & GENTLY sand THIN styrene circles of proper diameter, then GENTLY glue them on. It's what I'll be doing later.
Best of luck!


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

I'm thinking I'll go the decal route for the rings. It's no different from using decals for the saucer rim's sensor bands. 

I'm starting to get some decent result with the decals' design.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Came up with some sensor ring designs I liked, and printed 'em on decal paper. Also printed a design for the little EVA hatches dotting the perimeter of the upper saucer, since they'd be a pain to scribe.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Work continues.

I've determined that the nacelle pylons need to be moved forward about 1/4", and have been working on that.

This has entailed removing and _completely rebuilding_ the wedge-shaped pylon spacer pieces on either side of the secondary hull, and also correcting their angles so that the pylons splay out at the proper angle. Oy!


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

And here are some quick and dirty mockup photos. Please excuse the partial primer job on the upper hull--with all the mods I'm making, I needed an idea of how it was coming along.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

I've started wiring up LEDs. 

Still not entirely sure how to rig the whole lighting system up. This is my first time, after all. Any experts care to assist?


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Gregatron said:


> I've started wiring up LEDs.
> 
> Still not entirely sure how to rig the whole lighting system up. This is my first time, after all. Any experts care to assist?


I am not an expert by a long shot but.............
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=336765
And Paul supplies these:
http://www.paragrafix.biz/search01.asp?MainCat=LEDs and Lighting
And I have pretty good luck with these:
http://s377.photobucket.com/albums/...218/JGG1701/?action=view&current=BatPower.jpg
http://s377.photobucket.com/albums/.../oo218/JGG1701/?action=view&current=LT3-1.jpg
-Jim


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Soldering and such isn't really the issue.

I'm just trying to figure out how to arrange everything in terms of adding a power supply, switches for different functions, etc. 

The Evans Lighting nav/strobe board is very nice, but I don't want to accidentially fry it. Tests with various leds have been successful, however, in getting the strobes to work correctly.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Been sanding down the outer saucer rim--it's too flat and vertical, compared to the slant of the real model (no doubt due to Round 2's having to increase the thickness of the saucer for the repop). The top level of the DLM B/C deck is also way too tall, and I've been sanding it down, too.

I've been modifying the nacelles to house the Federation Models 1/537 intake grills, as well as narrowing the grill openings with strip styrene and putty. The black grills are much thinner on the real model. Still need to rebuild the red warp crystal housing areas behind the grills.

(Accuracy note: The red nacelle crystals glowed on the real model, even though we only ever saw _Reliant_ in impulse mode. Unlike the Refit _Enterprise_, where the crystals only glowed when the warp engines--and inboard flux chiller grills--were active. I'll probably replicate this "error" in my build, which will also feature flux grills that can be turned on or off).


Also used the 1/350 Refit decal sheet as the basis for a scaled-down decal sheet containing all of the red circles that surround the running lights, as well as those dozens of teeny red and black technical markings and squares.

And, due to my continued tinkering with the impulse engine housings, I modified the shape of Paul's lovely impulse grill art and reprinted those decals at the proper size.


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## lizzybus (Jun 18, 2005)

Loving your work on this Greg!

I've got an Evans lighting kit too, (for my 1:350 Reliant Build...) with a few extra led strips etc......i'll be relly interested to see your progress with that!

Question.....as you seem to have mastered the srt of rescaling decals....would you be able to upscale a decal sheet from 1:537 to approx 1:350?????

Thanks

Rich


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

lizzybus said:


> Loving your work on this Greg!
> 
> I've got an Evans lighting kit too, (for my 1:350 Reliant Build...) with a few extra led strips etc......i'll be relly interested to see your progress with that!
> 
> ...


I don't think scaling them UP would look good at all. It's much easier to scale them down. The loss of resolution in scaling them up would probably make the whole thing a waste of time.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

So, I'm getting close to the point where I can begin rebuilding the greeblie details on the trapezoid on the underside of the model. But there's not a lot of great reference as to what details were on the original model--what was raised, what was scribed (if anything), what was painted, etc.

Any thoughts on this?


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## lizzybus (Jun 18, 2005)

There's too many disparate references, so i decided to wing it with this piece on my scratch build....




























Don't know if this helps any....

Rich


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Very nice!


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Been reworking the torpedo launcher assembly. Reduced the profile (the stock parts make it look fat instead of sleek), slimmed down the "spine" on the bottom half, and opened up the slots for the pylons.

I separated the pylons from the lower piece, so that they'll be separate from the torpedo assembly itself.


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

great project to follow along with


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Well, I just spent the past few hours soldering and assembling the Evans Lighting board for the navigation and strobe lights. WHEW!

Pretty neat to see them all blinking correctly!


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## lizzybus (Jun 18, 2005)

How difficult was putting the board together? Any pics?

Rich


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

The Evans board comes pre-assembled, along with various LEDs that are already pre-wired and shrink-wrapped. It's really just a matter of soldering the LEDs to the board.

However, I went out and got my own (1.6mm) LEDs, resistors, and shrink tubing, and so had to wire them all up myself. The smaller LEDs will be easier to work with.


I'll post some pics when I get a chance.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)




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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

Gregatron said:


> The Evans board comes pre-assembled, along with various LEDs that are already pre-wired and shrink-wrapped. It's really just a matter of soldering the LEDs to the board.
> 
> However, I went out and got my own (1.6mm) LEDs, resistors, and shrink tubing, and so had to wire them all up myself. The smaller LEDs will be easier to work with.
> 
> ...


Gregatron, if you don't mind me asking, what ohm resistor did you use for the 1.6mm LEDs?

Thanks,
hal9001-


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Don't recall off the top of my head, but I went with the next highest values for what I'd calculated--I think it was 330 for the colors, and 365 for the white.


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

Gregatron said:


> Don't recall off the top of my head, but I went with the next highest values for what I'd calculated--I think it was 330 for the colors, and 365 for the white.


Thanks!
hal9001-


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