# 1/1000 Oberth-class



## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

I've started on a build of The Delta Quadrant's 1/1000 Oberth-class kit, and I thought I'd just share some of my initial impressions of it so far.

Here is what you get:










8 solid resin parts with minimal flash, and no warping or bends as far as I can see. 

As far as accuracy goes, it's kind of a mixed bag. The saucer, nacelles, and the topside of the big flat deck are beautifully done. The pylons are quite good, but there indentations along the fore and aft edges need to be cleaned up with a few dabs of putty and some sanding -- will post pics soon.










The bottom of the flat deck -- the impulse "box" is wrong. There is supposed to be 2 semi-cylindrical greebles that point forward, like in this photo of the studio model:










I'm gonna make an attempt to accurize it somewhat if I can find a thin enough stick of plastic.

The edge indentations on the front are fine, but the aft is really soft:










I'll attempt to file out those shapes, but I may end up cutting my losses and smoothing it all over with putty.

The lower hull... is something of a different story.










First off, the edge where the pylons attach is too thin. As you can see in the photo above, it's supposed to be thick enough to allow the red stripe to go continuously along the side of the hull; in the model, it'll be broken up by the pylon.

Secondly, the ridged areas on the lower rear sides are not indented deep enough, or evenly -- they're ok towards the front, but just sort of fade out in the rear. I'm going to file those areas out for a deeper indent -- I'll lose the ridges, but as they say on Earth, c'est la vie 










And lastly, the top "hump" is the wrong shape entirely -- it's supposed to be a sort of stretched teardrop shape, not a cylinder with tapered front and back. I'm considering bulking up the sides to make it more rounded, but it's gonna take a _lot _of putty and sanding. Does anyone know of anything else I can use, or is putty pretty much my only option?


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

Ok, now on to decals.










Lots of stripe-age , plus window decals for the saucer, and options for TMP or TNG-era pennants. It comes with 3 ship names: Oberth, Pegasus and Tsiokovsky. Most of the decals are in good shape, except for the nacelle pennants:










The "United Federation of Planets" text is all smeary. 
Also the number on the aft lower hull is the wrong font:










I have a DIY decal kit, so I'll see if I can replace that text. I've never made my own decals before -- should be interesting.

All in all though, I'm still really hyped to build this kit. I've always loved this class of ship, and now I finally get to have one on my desk! :thumbsup:


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

Hmmm, I thought about getting one myself, but now I think I'll pass. I've just got too many models and getting to old to deal with so many problems.

I've got an Oberth class in scale, I think, with the AMT Big E. I don't recall who makes it though.

Thanks, you did a really great 'out of the box' review. Very thorough! And hope you do some WIP pics too.

Good luck.

hal9001-


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

Thanks for this, Carl. It really helps to make a decision about buying the kit. I think, based on what you've posted, I'll give it a pass. About I do look forward to seeing what you do with yours...


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

The parts look exactly like Dark Star's kit, so I suspect some mold sharing (or mold-purchasing, since Dark Star doesn't seem to be around any more). I was especially annoyed by the way the side grill on the pod is uneven, and part of it pops out along the top edge.


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

Yup, I've pretty much made up my mind I won't be buying this....


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

Update time!

With the help of some spare sprues and an uncooked spaghetti noodle (yes, really! ), I managed to recreate the missing greebles on the underside of the impulse deck.










The lower dome piece was misshapen, so I replaced it with a bridge dome from a 1/650 Enterprise kit. I also ended up puttying the back edge and sanding it flat.










I carved out the ridged areas on the lower hull with a file and sandpaper, so they're more defined now, and I attached the pylons. They fit very well; there was only a small gap between pylon and hull that needed a minimal amount of putty to fill it.




























After the glue dried, I test fitted the platform piece onto the pylons, and everything fits together great -- no alignment problems or anything. Looks like it's almost time for primer!

BTW, I hope I'm not being overly critical or anything. I've never really done this before, and I'm trying to give the kit a fair shake. I'm not trying to drive off customers or something -- or at least I hope it doesn't come off that way.


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

hal9001 said:


> I've got an Oberth class in scale, I think, with the AMT Big E. I don't recall who makes it though.
> 
> hal9001-


Sounds like the kit from Warp Models. I saw it on Federation Models when I was hunting around for Oberth kits. From the photos it looks more accurate, but it's like $125  This kit seemed like the best balance of size over cost, and accuracy issues aside, I'm pretty happy with it so far -- it's going together nicely.


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

Ooh look, grey primer! How exciting. 



















The saucer fit slightly askew on the hull, so I sawed off the tabs.


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

More pics:




























The indent at the back of the lower hull was blank, so I glued in a slice of sprue, just to have something there.




























Scratchbuilt impulse greebles look pretty decent after priming.

I had a bit of a scare when the first few coats of primer went on all grainy and weird, but thanks to some helpful souls in the General Modeling forum, and a bit of wet sanding, the crisis was averted, and I have a lovely smooth finish on my model again.  Looks like it's time to start painting some hull sections!


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

Looking good so far....'spaghetti boy'! :lol:

hal9001-


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

hal9001 said:


> Looking good so far....'spaghetti boy'! :lol:
> 
> hal9001-


Lol, don't knock it till you've tried it, it's just the right diameter to do little pipes and tubing greebles. I saw a guy on another forum use linguini noodles to create a cargo bay door on the scratchbuild he was doing, and it turned out _amazing_.


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

Coming along nicely!


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## lakespeed (May 1, 2009)

Hi everyone,

I've amazingly been a member here since 2009 yet this is my first post. Heh....

Anyhow, I just wanted to chime in as I'm the person who produces this kit. Carl_G is absolutely correct in his assessment of the Oberth kit. It's what I would call and average to good kit for what it is. Truth be told I only took over the master for this kit and the 1/1000 Defiant kit I sell as a favor to a friend who owned these masters and had kits made but realized he didn't have the time or energy to put into selling them. And seeing as I already had a resin company formed I knew that there was some demand and I could help him out. The same is true for the 1/1000 K'Tinga I sell. 

These are older handmade masters and like John P. says they were originally made by Darkstar and have passed through several other folks since then. There isn't mold sharing going on though as I have new molds made as needed by CED. Bad casting is something I don't tolerate on my kits. 

I'm not defending myself here. I just wanted to make sure that some of the older masters I have taken over aren't indicitive of most of my product line. Almost everything I do produce that are new kits are all done digitially and grown with the exception of the Scott Spicer mastered kits. 

Sometimes judgements are given quickly at a first glance so I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being tarred and feathered before I completely deserved it.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Nope, no tarring here. Maybe a little tickle with a feather, though...


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

So, the primer coat looked fine, until I tried spraying on the base coat and masking. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, will stick to this model. I've gone through 3 different brands of masking tape, plus liquid mask, and they all rip the paint off, primer and all.
I ended up stripping all the paint off and dumping the parts back into a container of Comet and water, and there shall they stay for at least a couple of days to await more scrubbing.

Painting this thing is becoming so much of a PITA I could serve it with shawarma and garlic potatoes... mmm, Lebanese food...
(posting updates around lunchtime is dangerous )


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## hal9001 (May 28, 2008)

Sorry to hear you're haveing so much trouble. Have you tried Floquil primer? If that stuff doesn't stick, then God help you!

hal9001-


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

I'll see how the paint sticks after the parts finish getting re-soaked and scrubbed. If I still have problems, I'll give the floquil stuff a try, thanks.


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## charonjr (Mar 27, 2000)

spaghetti and water?


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

charonjr said:


> spaghetti and water?


It came with roughly 2.8 miles of replacements, I'm not particularly worried.


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## lakespeed (May 1, 2009)

Try putting it in the oven on glass at about 150 degrees for an hour or so. That's worked for me in the past when I've had difficult resin that didn't want to hold paint.


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## fortress (Apr 1, 2006)

I always liked the the design of the Oberth Class I just wish
someone would produce a nice size kit of her. I think the best
size so far was the Sci-Fi Spaceship Miniatures version but it was
in vacuform and is now long out of production.

Nice kit by the Delta Quadrant, have to pick one of those 
babies up for sure.

fortress:thumbsup:


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

lakespeed said:


> Try putting it in the oven on glass at about 150 degrees for an hour or so. That's worked for me in the past when I've had difficult resin that didn't want to hold paint.


And that doesn't melt or deform it? Hmmm... I'l give it a try if the new automotive primer I bought doesn't pan out, thanks.

Is that 150 degrees C or F?


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## lakespeed (May 1, 2009)

Carl_G said:


> And that doesn't melt or deform it? Hmmm... I'l give it a try if the new automotive primer I bought doesn't pan out, thanks.
> 
> Is that 150 degrees C or F?


That's 150F. 

Sometimes resin just needs that little extra little bit of heat to leech out any little bit that hasn't fully cured. My caster uses Smooth-On resin and that stuff is about as good as you can get as far as quality goes. 

If you do have any other issues just let me know......I'll replace the kit for you if it comes down to it.


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

^ Oh no worries, I hardly think it will get to that point. 

Just a quick update -- I picked up some Rust Check auto primer and tested it out on the nacelles. Works beautifully! :woohoo: I was bale to put on a coat of light grey and a coat of gloss white, no masking problems, no ripped-up paint or anything.



















The white paint went on _thick_ though, and it's a lot more contrasty than I envisioned. I think I'm going to try again with a gloss white / flat white paint scheme instead of white / light grey.


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## Bay7 (Nov 8, 1999)

For a Garage kit I think its okay.

Each to their own but they always need tweaking to get right - i mean, even commercially produced kits need a wealth of aftermarket kits to get them looking right - ERTL's refit is a good example.

I remember buying an expensive GK in the 90's that promised a space ship but delivered sheets if plastic for me to cut up and scratchbuild it!

Anyway, may just be me but I prefer a challenge - which could explain why I bought 300 ERTL refits over the years and only 1 PL refit.

(also, I like to keep the GK industry alive)

Nice build by the way - funny little ship design that in my opinion, almost doesn't belong in the trek universe.

Steve


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

Update time!

I ended up going with a gloss white / flat white painting scheme for the base color and hull paneling.










You can sort of see it in this (crummy) pic, where the hull is propped up at an angle. Actually, a lot of the paneling effect comes from the thickness of the paint where it was masked.










The hull bottom. The cutouts were painted Model Master Navy Blue Gray, and the trim on the hull edges is Duck Egg Blue, with thinned Tamiya Medium Blue for the intake vent groove things.










Lower hull and pylons. More flat / gloss white goodness (which you would see if I knew how cameras worked ), with Duck Egg Blue and Light Ghost Grey trim on the pylons. The "hump" is Tamiya Gunmetal, with Testors Matt Aluminum drybrushed on it. I was originally going for metallic paneling, like this absurdly awesome Grissom build, but I'm afraid my skills only extend to sort of... mottling, I guess you could call it.










Lower hull bottom. The front cutout is more Gunmetal, and the aft is Model Master Jet Exhaust with a light Gunmetal wash over it (Jet Exhaust is a weird color -- sort of like a cross between old gold and metallic sand. Darkening and dulling it a bit gives pretty much the perfect color for that section.).



















And nacelles. The contrast between whites is a bit more visible in these pics.

Question for you guys: how do you go about weathering Federation ships? Star Trek ship are generally pretty pristine, but I want my model to have at least a little bit of weathering, cause right now it's so shiny it's kind of absurd.

More and better pictures to come, I promise!


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## BolianAdmiral (Feb 24, 2009)

Is there nothing pasta can't do? Nice build... I might consider getting this, because I'd love to have an Oberth larger than the old FASA miniature.


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