# Enterprise Refit-1/1000 scale



## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

So while I wait for CultTVMan to ship me my lighting kit for the 1/350 Enterprise (money order mailed Friday) I thought I would go ahead and put together the 1/1000 refit that's been sitting inside the cupboard over the clothes drier for the past few years:










I figured it would keep me from losing my modeling "edge" while I assemble the aftermarket bits I'll need to do justice to the big Grey Lady. 

Anyway, the first thing I did was spray Testors Flat Black to the inside surfaces of the parts. Although this model will not be lit I remember someone doing an unlit build awhile back who didn't light block and noticed when looking at the model with backlighting the light shined thru being as how the model plastic is white and the paintjob is white too:










I also painted the inside surfaces of the clear parts. I brushed Tamiya Sky Blue acrylic on the deflector housing, impulse crystal, and arboretum windows. The Warp grills were painted with Testors Napoleonic Violet. The impulse engines were painted Testors Italian Red. I'll paint a coat of fluorescent white acrylic behind the blue on the deflector dish and the impulse crystal. I'll probably do the same for the warp grills. The impulse engines will get a coat of yellow behind the red. I may try and sand a little of the red off to thin it before painting it yellow so the center would have a yellow glow but that might be tough with such a small part:










I glued the nacelle pylons and dorsal halves together with Testors liquid cement. Then I glued the dorsal to the lower saucer to get a good tight snap fit before dobbing CA around the inside of the joint. Then I brushed on some Tenax liquid around the outside where the dorsal mates to the saucer. Then I glued the saucer halves together with Testors cement and clamped the edges to dry:










That's it so far. Comments welcome as always.


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## Trublood (Aug 3, 2011)

Looking forward to the rest of the build. Thanks for posting it.

Alex


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

I really like build threads that show very detailed photos and describe in detail what was done. I always seem to learn something. Thanks for posting and I, too, am looking forward to following the rest of your build.


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

And I too am waiting to see the rest of your build as well.
Oh and thanks for the ideas regarding a second color to the back side of the clear pieces. I'll have to give it a try, providing I can remember to.


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

Any Refit is a nice project to follow


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Thanks for the comments everyone. Hopefully I can get her all together and puttied today; although the fit of the parts looks so good I doubt there will be much filling needed.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Well so much for having it all together by now...

I didn't care much for the look of the clear bits for the deflector dish and impulse crystal with just the acrylic paint on the backside so I painted the exterior facing surfaces with a mix of small bottle Testors Sky Blue and Model Master Navy Blue Gray mixed with thinner. 
The problem with clear parts like this is wherever the locking snap fit tab is you end up with a spot where you can't apply paint and it shows thru as a void on the opposite side. I like the color better and the coverage is better with no damn voids!



















Next I'll thin down some Model Master white enamel and see if I can drop it into the center of the deflector dish and swirl it around to simulate the glow. 

I taped off the inward facing warp grills with thin strips of Tamiya tape:










Then I brushed on some Future to seal the tape edges afterwhich I brushed the grills with flat black. 
Once that dried I removed the tape. 
It looked okay but it was hard to see the violet from the backside so, after snapping them into place in the nacelle, I brushed them with some Tamiya Purple acrylic thinned with alcohol onto the front of the grills:


















After snapping in the impulse engine piece to the back of the saucer I masked the vents and sealed with Future. 
I located the decal for the vents on one of the three decal sheets (there are a lot of decals) and, is it just me, or are the decals a tad oversized? Methinks I must needs do some trimming down the road to get them to fit:










The clear piece for the officer's lounge was snapped in. Man is it basic. 
I'll have to cut some tiny oblong pieces of masking tape if I want to make the windows look right. 
Get out the magnifying glass boy!










After taking these pics I brushed on some Mr. Surfacer 500 to the impulse engine vent housing, the saucer rim, and the dorsal. 
I'll need to putty the sides of the impulse vents as there are some pretty good gaps there. Otherwise, the seams are not very nocticeable at all. 
Once I get the warp nacelle halves glued together I'll work on their seams before attaching them to the secondary hull which I even haven't touched yet. Then will be time for more puttying, sanding, rinse, repeat. 
You guys know the drill...


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

MAN, that thing is TINY! I love the refit but I know I would tear what little of my hair is left out trying to build one so small... 

To everyone building these tiny kits- Bravo! You guys make it look easy! Looking forward to the rest of this build!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

whiskeyrat said:


> MAN, that thing is TINY!


I wouldn't characterize it as 'tiny', just 'smallish'.:tongue:
A challenge at any rate, and totally cool to play with when done!:thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

whiskeyrat said:


> MAN, that thing is TINY! I love the refit but I know I would tear what little of my hair is left out trying to build one so small...
> 
> To everyone building these tiny kits- Bravo! You guys make it look easy! Looking forward to the rest of this build!


TINY? Smallish yes but not TINY. 

Now this...










is TINY!


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

ok, that *IS* tiny!:tongue: Actually, I have a Johnny Lightning refit about that size. Anything about 1/650 and up is more my speed, although both of these smaller ones look really great. And yes, the temptation to run around the house with it making warp sounds would be too great! Here's an idea, how about a V'ger diorama with one of the smaller refit kits? Anyone?


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

Is that the AMT 2500 scale refit??? If so it's not all that tiny, little yes but not tiny, but if you had one say a scale of say 1/25,000 now that would be tiny.:tongue::tongue:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

irishtrek said:


> Is that the AMT 2500 scale refit??? If so it's not all that tiny, little yes but not tiny, but if you had one say a scale of say 1/25,000 now that would be tiny.:tongue::tongue:


Yep. It's the AMT 1/2500 Enterprise-A. I have the Johnny Lightning A as well and it's the same size. Does anyone make a 1/25000 refit? Now that would be ... Minuscule!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

whiskeyrat said:


> ok, that *IS* tiny!:tongue: Actually, I have a Johnny Lightning refit about that size. Anything about 1/650 and up is more my speed, although both of these smaller ones look really great. And yes, the temptation to run around the house with it making warp sounds would be too great! Here's an idea, how about a V'ger diorama with one of the smaller refit kits? Anyone?


A V'ger diorama? Would that be with or without the cloud? Does anyone really know V'ger's size? I could imagine V'ger being the length of a city block at 1/2500 scale; or even larger.


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

ok yeah, maybe V'ger's a bit too big...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Spent some time today puttying around A deck and the impulse engines with AVES. I glued the nacelle halves together and puttied around the pylon joint. 

I also remembered this pic of the refit in drydock from The Motion Picture..










... and thought, man, my purple grills don't look like that so I went to Michaels and got a bottle of the Lavender craft acrylic paint. Then I repainted the black stripes and painted the aft end of the grills inside the concavity so the lavender color woudl form an ovoid shape like that seen in the picture. Then I masked off the all the black:










After that I brushed on the lavender paint:










After removing the masking this is what I had. Not perfect but closer to the screen image than before:










Here's the deflector dish after adding a mix of white to the center and blending it with MM Navy Blue Gray and Testors Sky Blue. Hard to see in this pic but the color darkens slightly as you go out to the perimeter of the dish. 
I puttied the outer deflector ring with Tamiya Basic Polyester Putty where it snapped into the main housing. Need to sand around the collar:










That was it for today. Tomorrow I'll work on sanding the puttied areas and the seams on the nacelles. Maybe get the pylons glued into the secondary hull and the saucer attached if I'm lucky. 

Cheers!

:thumbsup:


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

Nice work on those nacelles!


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

Ran across this the other day...Model Masters Napoleonic Violet appears to be a PERFECT match for the original model's purple.

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=104428


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

So, Trekeriffic, do you want to have your refit looking like it's sitting still like in that image you posted or like it's at warp speed??? I ask because if I'm not mistaken when the refit goes into warp speed the grills turn a very light blue.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

irishtrek said:


> So, Trekeriffic, do you want to have your refit looking like it's sitting still like in that image you posted or like it's at warp speed??? I ask because if I'm not mistaken when the refit goes into warp speed the grills turn a very light blue.


Well it will have to be sitting still I suppose. Which is fine since I would have difficulty getting the model up to warp speed in my garage.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Fozzie said:


> Ran across this the other day...Model Masters Napoleonic Violet appears to be a PERFECT match for the original model's purple.
> 
> http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=104428


Yes. I actually used Napoleonic Violet on the backside of the grills but when I painted the black on the outside facing surface it obscured the violet. The lavender actually is pretty close to what I want. I may give them a coat of Future mixed with a few drops of purple ink to enhance the purplosity.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Trekkriffic said:


> Well it will have to be sitting still I suppose. Which is fine since I would have difficulty getting the model up to warp speed in my garage.


That depends on how hard you can throw.


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

Trekkriffic said:


> Well it will have to be sitting still I suppose. Which is fine since I would have difficulty getting the model up to warp speed in my garage.


That poor grey lady, haveing to sit still just idiling away when what she really wants to do is get out anddo what she was meant to do, RUN!!:tongue:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

irishtrek said:


> That poor grey lady, haveing to sit still just idiling away when what she really wants to do is get out anddo what she was meant to do, RUN!!:tongue:


I hear ya. Question though, did the engines glow blue only at warp? What about at subwarp speeds? Were they purple at subwarp?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Double post.


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

Trekkriffic said:


> I hear ya. Question though, did the engines glow blue only at warp? What about at subwarp speeds? Were they purple at subwarp?


I'm not sure seeing as it's been over a year since I've seen the first 6 movies.


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

Trekkriffic said:


> I hear ya. Question though, did the engines glow blue only at warp? What about at subwarp speeds? Were they purple at subwarp?


The warp engines glow blue only when going to and at warp. 
There is no purple warp glow, it has always been blue. 

The idea /memory of the purple glow comes from a few publicity shots 
and early FX pictures where the engines where indeed glowing purple.
But it was later changed to blue and is never seen on screen, neither 
in TMP nor the later movies!

What is purple on the Refit is the color of the warp grills like so: 








[top: studio model; bottom: my PL Refit nacelle]


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

So if it's the grills themselves that are purple then what is being depicted are powered down engines with no glow at all. Thanks for the clarification!


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

That is correct. The TMP Refits warp engines look idle up until shortly before she jumps to warp. When she does the impulse engines are taken off line first and as the momentum carries her forward the warp engines kick in. This can best be observed in the final flyby. 

One of the TMP trademarks JJ recreated in the final flyby of his new ship. Impulse goes off first, warp engines power up, warp jump. 

Later movies however dumped the "impulse engines goes offline" sequence (I am speculating because ILM did not get the electronics mastered for TWOK while Dykstra did not want to help) and they run at warp too. Although it makes little sense to have your outboard motor running when your hyperdrive rockets are racing the ship forward.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Thanks so much Garbaron. That really helps! So I'm building the ship as she appears just before going to warp in The Motion Picture since my warp engines and deflector dish are powered up but the warp engines are not. Still pretty cool I think.


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

Trekkriffic said:


> Thanks so much Garbaron. That really helps! So I'm building the ship as she appears just before *going to warp in The Motion Picture since my warp engines and deflector dish are powered up but the warp engines are not*.


You are welcome. And I guess you meant to say "but the impulse engines are not" right?  



Trekkriffic said:


> Still pretty cool I think.


It is indeed. With TMP the "makers" put a lot of thought in to the 
workings of the ship. Sadly not all of it caried over to the next movie.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Garbaron said:


> You are welcome. And I guess you meant to say "but the impulse engines are not" right?


Actually the warp engines are on so I suppose I'm depicting the ship some seconds before going to warp while the impulse engines are still creating forward momentum.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Update for today...

I tinted the grills using Future tinted with a drop of purple water-based ink. The color change is subtle but it does make them more purplish:










The lower sensor array had some pretty good gaps so I filled them with Tamiya Basic type polyester putty and sanded smooth:










The subassemblies were glued together after masking. Now we're getting somewhere:










I used liquid mask on the deflector dish, impulse crystal, and the bussard grills on the front of the nacelles. The arboretum windows and officer's lounge windows on the back of B-C deck will be taped off like the warp grills.

Next step is more filling of seams where the subassemblies mate. Then sanding and priming, and repeat seam filling if needed. Then it will be time for the basecoat of white with pearlescent gloss overcoat before decaling.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

This morning's progress...


Spent abut 45 minutes this morning puttyting seams on the secondary hull with AVES Apoxy Sculpt. It went on so smooth I shouldn't need to do much sanding at all:


























Once it's dried I'll sand and brush on some Mr Surfacer to see if I have any gaps left. If I do, I'll fill them with Tamiya putty. I also need to mask off the hangar bay doors which I painted steel using MM enamel. Think I'll mask them with liquid mask.


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## saiyagohan (Aug 4, 2006)

Trekkriffic said:


> Yep. It's the AMT 1/2500 Enterprise-A. I have the Johnny Lightning A as well and it's the same size. Does anyone make a 1/25000 refit? Now that would be ... Minuscule!


 
Could you tell me the length of the 2500 scale Enterprise A? I am deciding which kit I want to invest in. I will only have 1 bookcase to display my other models on and I want to see what will be giving me the most room. I want the 1000 scale Refit but I'm just curious about the 2500 scale one.

Also I think you are doing an awesome job on your Refit :wave:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

saiyagohan said:


> Could you tell me the length of the 2500 scale Enterprise A? I am deciding which kit I want to invest in. I will only have 1 bookcase to display my other models on and I want to see what will be giving me the most room. I want the 1000 scale Refit but I'm just curious about the 2500 scale one.
> 
> Also I think you are doing an awesome job on your Refit :wave:


Thanks for the compliment! 
The 1/2500 Enterprise A is 4.75" long. 

I finished applying Tamiya grey primer on Saturday which pointed out some areas that needed more work. Sunday I hit her with the Tamiya white primer and she came out great! I'm at work this morning but will post some pics later after I hit the hobby store on the way home. I want to see what they have as far a pearl white in a spray can; preferably in a lacquer. I also need to get a bottle of Duck Egg Blue and Rust enamel.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Here she is Sunday after shooting with a second coat of grey Tamiya Fine Surface Primer: 









And today after I finished polishing the white Tamiya primer coat with sanding films:

















Look Ma! No seams!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

So Monday was "Screw Things Up Day" for yours truly!
I sprayed Testors Pearlescent Clear Overcoat over the Tamiya white primer but I got carried away and put on too much pearl which puddled in places and turned yellowish. 

Argggghhhhhhh! God! sometimes I screw up worse than a newbie! 

After lettting it set for about an hour I was able to handle it enough before it fully cured to dip a brush in paint thinner (not lacquer thinner) and drag out where the pearl coat had puddled in spots. It looked better but I noticed a few spots where the pearl had softened the underlaying Tamiya primer such that, while brushing out the pearl, it had thinned the white layer underneath causing some of the underlying grey primer to show thru just enough for me to notice it. 

So at that point I decided I'd had enough for a day and let it sit overnight.Tuesday morning arrived and gave her a light sanding then I broke out the Testors flat white enamel in a rattle can and sprayed that over the pearl coat. It went on nice and smooth with no blemishes and only a few dust strands that must have floated down while it dried; easily dealt with using 1200 grit sanding film. Today I gave her another once over with the 1200 grit before applying another coat of pearl being careful not to go too heavy this frickin' time. 
She has a real nice sheen now. Check it out:


















Next I'll lay on one more coat of gloss clear before painting the front around the bussard grills, the indents on the front of the sides, and the rear fins on the nacelles; the base of the nacelle struts; the backside of the bridge; the first ring of the deflector housing; and the top of the neck with MM Hellblau. Basically wherever the instructions indicate should be painted Duck Egg Blue. I compared Hellblau to Duck Egg Blue and liked that it's similar in tone but a little darker. Besides I needed the Hellblau for my 1/350 big E build so I could use it on both builds and it saved me $3.75 for a bottle of Duck Egg Blue! lol.
I'll also paint flat black on the outward facing warp grills and the grill at the base of the neck on the back. Those rounded grills on the front sides of the nacelles in the indents will get painted rust. 

Once I'm done with the painting phase it will time for a buttload of decals to be applied. 

Wish me luck folks!


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

Looks nice and clean. So good work on fixing your pearl coat. 

FYI the outboard warp grills are not black but are something like a gunmetal or dark aluminum in color. Andrew Probert told me the outboard grills where brushed aluminum and only appear darker due to the curvature and dark shooting stage. 

I painted mine with aluminum first and then gave them an anthracite wash to darken them so when you move the grills have a metallic sheen and look.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Garbaron said:


> Looks nice and clean. So good work on fixing your pearl coat.
> 
> FYI the outboard warp grills are not black but are something like a gunmetal or dark aluminum in color. Andrew Probert told me the outboard grills where brushed aluminum and only appear darker due to the curvature and dark shooting stage.
> 
> I painted mine with aluminum first and then gave them an anthracite wash to darken them so when you move the grills have a metallic sheen and look.


Cool. More great advice! I'm thinking of going with flat black and then brushing them with a wash of Future tinted with silver acrylic. Or I may just use a silver ink gel pen and rub the ink over the grills to give them a metallic sheen. 

What about the front grills of the nacelles? This picture taken of the studio model makes them look like they have a purple tint:


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

I'd say its a gunmetal / steel color 










I used steel grey on mine 










When shot with a flash it will look just like on the reference 
(no pic like that handy atm, sry)


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## DCH10664 (Jul 16, 2012)

If you don't mind me asking,..... Why did you use the aves apoxie sculpt on some seams and a different filler on other seams ??? Just trying to learn something.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

DCH10664 said:


> If you don't mind me asking,..... Why did you use the aves apoxie sculpt on some seams and a different filler on other seams ??? Just trying to learn something.


I like AVES for any joints requiring strength or if I need to rebuild a contour. 
I like Tamiya putty because it dries faster and is more easily sanded. It also sticks a little beter than AVES.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Painitng stage is done. After a shot of Glosscote she's ready for her decals...*










































Actually, there may be one thing left to paint and that would be the radial ribs around the circumference of the deflector dish. 
I think I'll use a white acrylic on them so any holidays could easily be wiped off with a moistended micro-brush.


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## eagledocf15 (Nov 4, 2008)

*Excellent*

Looks like a good recovery from the pearlescent pooling predicament (repeated 3 times).
Keep us all updated! thanks


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Painted the radial ribs on the deflector dish with Titanium White craft acrylic paint today using a fine tipped brush. Had to do a little cleanup as I went along but it turned out well. I'll post pics once I'm done with the decals.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

This is lookin' fantastic.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> This is lookin' fantastic.


Yeah man. I've been watching and rewatching the iconic scene from The Motion picture when Kirk gets all google eyed at first site of the shiny new Enterprise. God how good is that music! Anyway it just inspires me to make this baby shine!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Fun with decals! 

So far I've finished the aztecs for the upper saucer and the deflector dish. I'll save all the registration markings, phaser banks, and saucer rim reaction control thrusters (hope that's what they are called) for last once I've applied and sealed the aztec decals. 

All I have to say is thank god for Solvaset! And white glue mixed with water:


















For the most part, the upper saucer decals went on without too much fuss. Only one or two had minor fragmentation issues and those were easily dealt with by patching gaps with the extra decal bits I had left over after trimming the rearmost pie slices to fit around the back of C deck:

Rear of A-C deck housing showing the officer's lounge window frames. Most of the decals on B-C deck fragmented into 2 or 3 pieces even after coating with liquid decal film. Luckily I'm good with puzzles:










The deflector housing aztecs are complete:










Someone said on another forum that the deflector decals had to be put on before gluing the housing to the secondary hull and now I know why. 
What a friggin' pain the uppermost decals were to trim and fit around the base at the front of the dorsal! 
I hadn't counted on Round2 not printing the decals to fit around the neck so had to trim them myself since the deflector dish was already glued on solid. Then one of them started breaking apart and I had to splice leftover bits together with tweezers under the photon torpedo launcher overhang. 
Oofda! 
Got her done though and the splice job is decent enough although not flawless. 
It's fairly inconspicuous unless you know where to look for it which I do of course. 

Underside of the saucer ready for aztecs:










I painted the dome with flat white mixed with a little silver. 
I also brushed on a mix of white feathered into azure blue aroud the rim of the dome. The floodlight ports were painted using gunship gray after masking off rectangular white shapes to simulate the lights. 

So all in all I'm very pleased with how this is going. At this rate I should be finished in another 2 weeks considering I spent about 6 hours so far.


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

Looks good. I am always amazed how the decals can bring a model to life,
especially at this scale.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Yesterday I started decaling the lower saucer and after applying the two sections that flank the centerline in the front I noticed with some chagrin that the blue-grey inscribed hatches/panels were not accounted for with the decals so I had to put on the brakes and paint the panels before proceeding with the rest of the decals:










I let the paint dry overnight then went back at lunch today and finished the rest of the lower saucer decals:










I trimmed away almost all of the light blue inside border on the two rearmost sections that flanked the neck as I had already painted those areas blue-grey previously. This made fitting them around the neck much easier than would otherwise have been the case.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Nice work!


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

She's looking good there!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Spent about 4 hours aztec decaling yesterday...*

This is my decaling setup. I have separate metal mixing cups for MicroSol and MicroSet. The little ceramic cup is for my white glue and water mix. The large white bowl is from a Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer meal. I use various and sundry cotton swabs, scissors, tweezers, and microbrushes to do the job:










Finshed the impulse engine deck. After the Set and Sol dried I gave the decals a good brushing with Solvaset to really tighten them down. Then I brushed on some Future to seal and protect them:










The dorsal/neck was finished:










I had to add some extra light blue-gray decal bits to the top and bottom of the decal on the front as the kit decal was too short. Luckily I had some of the same color decal left over from the decal at the base of the warp pylons which I had painted. The red stripes didnt reach all the way around to cover the front and back edges either so I had to add some red decal stripes from my stash left over from another Trek model kit:










The decals for the front sides of the nacelles have to curve over top and bottom and it took some work to get them to lay down. Here I am tamping them down after brushing some white glue mixture under the edges. It took a good 10 minutes each before the glue set up enough to get them to stay down. So that's 10 minutes x 4 decals or 40 minutes altogether going back and tamping down while I worked on other areas:










The front and undersides of the nacelles completed. You can't see them from this angle but the lower inside facing decals needed to be trimmed to fit. Basically they were too wide to fit between the top of the pylons and the bottom edge of the warp grills:










I discovered that there were no decals for the yellow parallelograms that wrap around the tips of the two nacelle fins so I masked and brushed them with yellow Testors enamel. Still need to paint the red dots and I think there is a red border too which I can add using leftover stripe decals from the stash. Thankfully I've learned never to throw out unused decals; they can come in handy for use in situatiosn like this:










That was it for Saturday. Today I hope to finish the nacelles and if I'm lucky and nothing unexpected pops up (what's the chance of that eh?) I should also be able to finish the pylons and secondary hull today. Then I need to wait for the decals to dry before sealing with Glosscote followed by Dullcote. The I'll give her a rub with pastel chalks. Then more Glosscote before applying the rest of the registration markings, phaser strips, reaction control thrusters, etc. 

Stay tuned! V'ger is just around the corner and Kirk and company are all over me to get this baby launched!


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Terrific work here, but all I can think is, "Thank God I won't be using the Aztec decals when I build mine!" :lol:



Trekkriffic said:


> ...Then I need to wait for the decals to dry before sealing with Glosscote followed by Dullcote...


What is the reason for sealing with Glosscote _and_ Dullcote? This is the first time I've heard of doing this, and I want to learn.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Zombie_61 said:


> Terrific work here, but all I can think is, "Thank God I won't be using the Aztec decals when I build mine!" :lol:
> 
> What is the reason for sealing with Glosscote _and_ Dullcote? This is the first time I've heard of doing this, and I want to learn.


I want to seal the decals with the same coating as I used underneath them which was Glosscote. I'm spraying the Dullcote as a base for the pastel chalks. They stick better to a dull surface.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Trekkriffic said:


> I want to seal the decals with the same coating as I used underneath them which was Glosscote. I'm spraying the Dullcote as a base for the pastel chalks. They stick better to a dull surface.


Ahh, okay. I already knew you were using the Dullcote to give the pastel chalks something to adhere to, I just didn't know why you felt the need to seal the decals with Glosscote when the Dullcote would do the job just as well. Thanks!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Zombie_61 said:


> Ahh, okay. I already knew you were using the Dullcote to give the pastel chalks something to adhere to, I just didn't know why you felt the need to seal the decals with Glosscote when the Dullcote would do the job just as well. Thanks!


I've always heard that it's best to seal with the same coating as you have under the decals to help avoid silvering but, on second thought, I've already covered most of the decals with liquid decal film and/or Future so I guess it doesn't matter at this stage. Think I'll take your advice and just shoot her with Dullcote.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

So last night I spent some time tidying up the decals on the secondary hull and nacelles.

For the nacelles this consisted chiefly of poking bubbles with a pin, pressing out any remaining water, and applying Solvaset to tighten them down flat. This morning I went back and found some more so did more of the same. It takes time with so many curved surfaces to get the decals where I want them. I think all the bubbles are finally gone now though.

The secondary hull was fun. Sunday I managed to get all the decals down but then after brushing on Solvaset the edges on some of the decals started curling up! Frack! Decals just don't like to stick to curved surfaces. 
Or it could just be the new shields repelling them! 

So I ended up using white glue to hold them down. This added another hour or so to my decaling session since I had to keep tamping the decals down until the glue set. After the glue dried I coated the entire secondary hull with liquid decal film followed by Future. Finally finished around 7 PM so spent about 6 hours altogether Sunday on aztec decals. 

Last night I went back with Testors enamels and a fine tipped brush and filled in some gaps between the base of the warp pylons and the strongback; funny that the decal was too small to cover what it needed to cover. Anyway, my colormatch was dead on and you can't even tell where the decal ends and tha paint begins. 

Here are a few pics:


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

Looking great so far! I think I know what my summer project will be ....


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Dr. Brad said:


> Looking great so far! I think I know what my summer project will be ....


Yeah. At this rate I should be done by late spring! 
Why did I think this would be a quickie build? 
Should've known better.


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## eagledocf15 (Nov 4, 2008)

*Looking good so far!*

Keep up the good work


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Trekkriffic said:


> Yeah. At this rate I should be done by late spring!
> Why did I think this would be a quickie build?
> Should've known better.


I knew you wouldn't be through before V'ger got here...we're doomed.:thumbsup:

Since it is taking so long, how about sending me your 1/350 TOS 1701, I WILL find the time to build it.:tongue:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Lloyd Collins said:


> Since it is taking so long, how about sending me your 1/350 TOS 1701, I WILL find the time to build it.:tongue:


Sure thing Lloyd! Would you also like me to send the Polar Lights lighting kit and the Paragrafix PE I have on order? 
Maybe some Lou Dalmasso paint masks for the windows? 
May I also send the paint, AVES and Tamiya Basic putties, and glue?


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Now you making it sound like work, you keep it. Besides, the way you build models, WOW!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Lloyd Collins said:


> Now you making it sound like work, you keep it. Besides, the way you build models, WOW!


:tongue:


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Since Lloyd doesn't want them, my address is...


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

The model would have been finished by now, if I would stop hiding Trekkriffic's tools...I should not have said that out loud.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Lloyd Collins said:


> The model would have been finished by now, if I would stop hiding Trekkriffic's tools...I should not have said that out loud.


So that's what happened to my hyperspanner and phase coil resonator!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Update...

After finishing the aztec decals I gave her a spray of Dullcote and rubbed the hull with Tamiya silver pastel chalk. 
Here's a pic of the upper saucer after the port half has been rubbed. 
It's hard to tell in this pic but the pearl effect is very subtle; just enough to mute the underlying aztecing a tiny bit:










Rubbing the nacelles:









After her rudown I gave her another spray of Glosscote in preparation for the final decal application. 

The hardware references over on SSM showed what looked to be a hatch of some kind just in front of the phaser bumps above the hangar bay doors. 
The kit didn't include any decals for the spine so I found a "hatch" in my leftover decal stash that looked to be the right size and shape. 
It was bright yellow though so I gave it a coat of white acrylic thinned with Future to look more like the white/amber color in the picture:










There is also a red circle around the beacon light above the bay. 
Not sure if I can paint that or not and I don't have a decal to fit it. 
I may try using a piece of tubing and dipping it in paint before pressing it gently down around the beacon. 
If I'm steady enough it woud leave behind a red circle. 
I may need to practice the technique a bit if I decide to try it.

Here's the "Enterprise" insignia on the fantail edge. 
The kit decal was curved too much as the edge is not bevelled as much as the decal designers apparently thought which looked stupid so I removed it with alcohol and used a decal from my stash. 
It's a little oversized but I can live with it and at least it goes straight across without bending upward at the corners:










For the port side saucer rim gangway hatch I wanted a white background. The kit decal is on clear film so if I'd just laid it down as is you'd see stripes through it so... I found an old sheet of US Airforce decals with white bits on it and cut out a rectangle. 
The kit decal will go on over the white decal once I seal it with Future:










One word of caution about the kit instructions regarding the rim stripe/window decal placement. 
The instructions show the saucer underside with placement of the rim decals in relation to it. 
It mistakenly instructs you to place the decal with the double row of 4 large rectangular windows near the impulse engines on what would be the port side looking up from underneath. 
Those windows are actually on the starboard side of the saucer. 
I thought I had screwed this up believing the instructions were correct (when I was placing the decals I got confused and thought I was looking at the upper saucer so I placed those windows opposite of what the instructions called out) but when I checked the references I realized that my placement was correct and the instructions were wrong. 
The windows on the port side are different from the ones on the starboard side so if you screw this up any purist who knows the refit would immediately catch it and kick you out of the starfleet modeling corp. 
So... I lucked out I guess. 

I should be done with decals by tomorrow then she'll dry overnight and get her final clearcoats on Sunday before she launches. 

Thanks for all the support and comments!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Wait! It's missing the primary buffer panel!!!

Heheheheheheh.


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## Jodet (May 25, 2008)

Fozzie said:


> I really like build threads that show very detailed photos and describe in detail what was done. I always seem to learn something. Thanks for posting and I, too, am looking forward to following the rest of your build.


Absolutely. LOVE THESE KINDA THREADS. LOVE THE DETAILED PICS! 

Thanks and keep up the good work!

MODS - can we make this thread a sticky? It's that good.


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## Kremin (Sep 26, 2012)

Chrisisall said:


> Wait! It's missing the primary buffer panel!!!
> 
> Heheheheheheh.


 Did the primary buffer panel just fall off my gorram ship for no apparent reason?


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Wrong show, but A+ for style!


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Very clever, using the silver pastel ... :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Well yesterday I finished all the decaling and what a job that was. 
I can only conclude that whoever Polar Lights uses for their decals just didn't put enough glue on the backside.
It also doesn't help that there are almost no flat surface on this model aside from the warp pylons. 
So it's probably a combination of the two. 
As it was, almost every decal I placed had some issue with curling up at the edges. 
I tried MicroSet and Sol and even Solvaset and nothing would make them stay down without a long, protracted fight. 
Thankfully, my mix of white glue and water did the trick albeit with a lot of patience and tamping down until the glue set up. 
Before applying the last of the decals, though, I gave the surface one more spray of flat followed by another rub of Tamiya silver pastel chalk to deepen the metallic finish just a bit more. 
I'm really liking the sheen she has now. 
After that, I sealed with Glosscote and applied the last of the decals which, in addition to curling up, also fragmented to a certain extent. 
Not the worst decals I've ever used but right up there. 
The worst were those for the _Glencoe_ "Mars Liner" which broke into a million pieces when wetted; those had the excuse of being about 10 years old, however. 
I'll finish the clearcoats later this evening and post a few pics once I get my camera set up with proper lighting and a neutral backdrop.


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## Warped9 (Sep 12, 2003)

Nice build. And you have a lot of patience, certainly more than I could have to apply all those aztec-ing decals.

I just received this kit today from CultTvMan. That and the 1/2500 TNG _E._ After looking them over they both seem to be nice little kits, but I can tell you I'm not interested in trying to put all those aztec decals on. I'd probably smash everything in frustration in short order. :lol:


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Warped9 said:


> Nice build. And you have a lot of patience, certainly more than I could have to apply all those aztec-ing decals.


LOL, that's why I painted mine to resemble Enterprise from the later films!:thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Here are a few pics after a shot of Glosscote. 
Good enough to launch on her mission to intercept The Cloud.
I'll take more and better pics this weekend when Kirk and company return and she can get her final satin semi-gloss treatment...

Dorsal view of saucer...









Nice view of the purple warp grills...









I used some leftover black decals trimmed to fit the openings of the photorp launchers. That really added to the realism IMO...









Starboard profile...









Closeup of the top of the fantail. 
I added some extra aztec decals to the spine and painted the red circle around the beacon...










If you haven't guessed, I took these in bright sunlight so y'all can see the true colors.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

AWESOME work, dude!!! Love it.


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## Garbaron (Apr 23, 2004)

Though little ship


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## Prowler901 (Jun 27, 2005)

Amazing! Nice work indeed. :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Here are the finished pics I took on Saturday. I hope you guys enjoy them. 
It was a fun kit to build even with all the troublesome decals...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Detail pics...


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Looks great! :thumbsup:


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Excellent work on such a tiny model!!!


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

Well, despite all the grief with the decals, this ended up turning our pretty well! Great work!


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