# NCC-1701 TOS Enterprise 1/1000 scale



## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Hi everyone! These are some in-progress shots on my 1/1000 scale build of the Polar Lights kit. 
This will be the production series version of this kit. 
The lights will be static which will look nice for photographing. *

*Just so you all know, this image taken from the 2010 SOTL calendar is kind of what I'm shooting for. 
As much as possible anyway given the limitations of this kit.*










*Shown here are various parts scavenged from booklights I found at the local Dollar Tree store. 
Four of the 1.5V batteries, wiring, metal contacts (one with and one without a spring), and slide switch will be used to construct an internal battery pack so the finished model will not need an external power source. Each nacelle will have a reflector behind the LED in each bussard.*










*The finished battery pack made from the booklight parts and Evergreen and clear acrylic tubing is wired up and attached with CA to the back of the deflector housing. 
I won't go into details about all the material I had to remove from the inside of the secondary hull to accomodate all the battery parts and wiring but, believe me, it was a lot!
Brass tabs at the front of the battery pack mate to slots cut into the secondary hull and the housing turns to lock into place.*










*A high brightness white LED is wired between the upper and lower sensor domes in the primary hull. 
This LED will later be painted with fluoresent white acrylic paint so it spreads it's glow evenly around the interior much like an incandescent light bulb would.*










*Wires are soldered to the LEDs in each nacelle. 
The LEDs are painted with white fluoresent and orange acrylic paint.*










*A wire cage or "spider" is constructed using 30 gauge solid wire and a clear styrene disk. 
This will be inserted into the lower saucer sensor dome to give it the "pie slice" look seen in several fan made images which I have come to admire.*










*The cage after insertion into the lower dome. The insides of the sensor domes are painted with white fluorescent acrylic so they will have a nice even glow with the light on. Fiber strands are run to the lower running lights.*











*Cont'd...*


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*I didn't care for the look of the kit molded "nipple" on the lower saucer dome so I used the other dome in the kit (the one provided for use in building the pilot versions) and drilled out a small hole in the center. Then I turned some aluminum bar stock at high speed on my dremel and made a tiny round bead with a tiny shaft using my scribing tool. Then I glued it into the hole in the center of the lower sensor dome. This is the location of the ion pod in my opinion. Some may disagree but, for the sake of this build, it's the ion pod! *










*Upper port and lower starboard running lights were turned on my dremel using red and clear acrylic rod. Looking at some great still shots of the studio model I left them as globes rather than hemisphers sitting up slightly above the surface of the model.*


















*Work on the bussards involved making a brass template for use in cutting strips of adhesive-backed aluminum foil to make the fan blades to stick to the dome inserts. The template will allow me to make each fan blade identical to the other. The inserts have had about 1/8" removed from the backside to accomodate the LED reflector. The ridges for the fan blades were also sanded flat as the fit was too tight otherwise; I have cracked a few bussard domes in the past so I knew this going in. *










*Light test after painting the interior of the bussard insert with transparent turn-signal amber enamel followed by red acrylic paint thinned with alcohol and allowed to pool in the center. The outer bussard domes were previously frosted on the inside with Floquil clear flat. *










*The stern beacon over the shuttle bay doors was the wrong shape and you could see the square slot in the kit part for mounting to the tab on the hull so I made a new one from scratch. Then I took brass tubing and ground a bevelled edge with the dremel before slicing it on my mini-cutoff saw. Much better in my opinion.*










*Then I sliced the acrylic rod off below the metal collar using a miter saw, hollowed out the inside with a round router bit, and painted it with white fluorescent paint tinted with just a hint of blue. My fingers almost cramped up from holding this tiny piece as I worked on it.*









*

So, as of this writing, all hull seams have been filled and scraped and puttied and the majority of the sanding is complete. I did fill in the kit scribed lines in the front of the dorsal and on the front undersides of the nacelles with red putty. These areas will eventually be masked off and painted a slightly darker, greener shade of the hull color. Left to attach are the bussard domes, hangar bay beacon, intercoolers and reactor loops, and end caps on the nacelles. The deflector dish will be attached last and may be left removeable after the rest of the ship is finished. 
I should be ready for priming with gray rattle can Tamiya primer tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading ! Comments welcome!*


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## Grumpy Popeye (Apr 5, 2002)

holy cow! can you build mine next!? 

really great work!8)


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

That's too much work for me! :lol:


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Are you through....yet?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Thanks Darph. I appreciate the compliment. 

Thanks JP. I didn't drill out the windows or that would have been too much work!

And Lloyd... I'll be done by New Years... maybe...


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Very nice!

Y'know, the windows could be done by 1) drilling slightly large, then 2) filling with clear resin, then 3) masking the rectangles with short lengths of striping tape before painting the hull gray...?


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## KUROK (Feb 2, 2004)

Awesome job... Love that kit!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

SteveR said:


> Very nice!
> 
> Y'know, the windows could be done by 1) drilling slightly large, then 2) filling with clear resin, then 3) masking the rectangles with short lengths of striping tape before painting the hull gray...?


Too late at this point. I've sealed up the hull and would need to add more LEDs and wiring which would mean cracking the model open. Also, there's not much room in the secondary hull for lighting with the batteries in there. Plus, after finishing the Romulan Bird-Of-Prey, I need a break from window making! 

P.S. What I might do is apply the window decals and then give the white ones a coat of acrylic white fluorescent paint to reflect the light and give the illusion of illumination. We'll see.


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## Seashark (Mar 28, 2006)

_Very_ impressive! This has to be one of my favorite kits to build, looking forward to seeing yours completed.


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## Maritain (Jan 16, 2008)

Nice work so far!


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

I REALLY am impressed, once again, by your modeling and electronic skills! It will be awesome when finished.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

You didn't say I could not comment, here.


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## eagledocf15 (Nov 4, 2008)

*Excellent Work*

Thanks for sharing this!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Today I did some more work on the front of the secondary hull and the deflector housing. Used a small miter saw to slice off the inner half of the rectangular tabs on each side at the front of the secondary hull and glued those pieces to the sides of the deflector housing; these would be at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions on the perimeter of the housing. I needed to do this as the tabs are designed to lock onto the tapering housing and lock it in place which meant they had to be pried apart to remove the battery pack. Then I cut a round piece of thin styrene sheet with a hole in the center to match the diameter of the battery pack front collar and glued it to the front of the secondary hull so when the deflector housing is twisted and locked into position I get a nice tight fit with no gaps. Turned out well. Using AVES I puttied around the tabs and all around the ring behind the deflector housing. Tomorrow I'll sand any rough spots. 

I also repainted the inside of the little stern hangar bay beacon using a rattle can of Krylon "Celery" lacquer I bought for half off at Michaels.  This is a light bluish green color and looks very close to the color of the lit dome on the studio model. This is also a good color to use when painting the command pod, boom, and lower engineering hull surfaces on the Klingon D-7 battlecruiser but, boy, is it runny! Will definitely need a light primer coat underneath it when the time comes to build the reissued D-7. 

I also glued the bussards to the front of each nacelle. They look AWESOME lit up! 

The last thing I did was fix a rattle I was hearing from inside the sealed saucer. I'm anal about things rattling around inside my models; I just can't stand it! 
My assumption was it was the small clear piece I had glued in front of the LED to hold the ends of the fiber strands from the lower running lights; it had come loose once before prior to sealing up the hull but how to fix the rattle without breaking open the saucer? Simple. I drilled a hole in the top of the saucer as close as I could estimate where this piece was and squeezed in a liberal amount of Super Thin CA thru the hole and tilted the hull from one side to another to spread it around inside the model. That did the trick as whatever was rattling around stuck to the glue and NO MORE RATTLE! The hole was sealed with AVES and once it dries I will sand it flush with the hull.

So I figure tomorrow will be the day for priming and maybe the first coat of the basecoat. I have a new quart of ACE Hardware "Shady Cove" oil-based enamel to try out. It comes closest to concrete on the gray scale with a hint of olive to it.I figured it was cheaper to buy it premixed rather than try mixing it up using those little bottles of Model Master paints; a quart of "Shady Cove" ran me 9 bucks at the hardware store and I figure it'll last me forever considering the size of the models I build. 

Next post I'll have some pics I promise! *


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## Tholian (Oct 3, 2004)

Now if we can get the others to finish their group project, we will be ahead of the game!
Yours is looking great!


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

I resemble that comment!


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Really beautiful work!


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

That image from the SOTL calendar? Now THAT'S how to texture a model. The subtle mottling and streaking gives it a great sense of scale. When I get the big E, that's how I'll paint it. I'll try it with the little E, but we'll see how it turns out.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Update with pics!*

*I glued the bussards in place and lit her up. These pics are a tad overexposed but you get the idea...*



















*Pics from today... *
*
I made a round headed post to fit inside the flight deck control beacon,drilled a countersunk hole into the upper cowling directly above the door control booth,inserted the mounting post into the hole and glued it with CA,glued the beacon dome to the mounting post with crystal clear craft glue, then puttied around the base of the metal collar with AVES. I'm going to start calling it the flight deck rather than the hangar bay since someone pointed out that the hangar is where craft are stored prior to being moved to the flight deck. In this case the Enterprise's hangar is below the flight deck.*









*
Basically ready for priming. Still need to mask the stern beacon and the running lights. The deflector housing will be unlocked, masked and left dangling for priming separate from the rest of the ship. The horizontal inner nacelle grills were painted and masked. I used gunmetal metalizer as a base then brushed on aluminum metalizer. I didn't think to snap a photo but the aluminum over the dark gunmetal looks fantastic!*




























*Paint for the main hull color...*









*There are a few other lights I might add after the first primer coat but I'll leave what those might be to your imagination.

Thanks for reading. Comments welcome!*


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Why is the post for the stand so far back from the balance point?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Captain April said:


> Why is the post for the stand so far back from the balance point?


Because that's where the batteries are located.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Ah.

I guess on a model that small, it doesn't make much difference.

Good work, btw.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Excellent! A lot of work, but, worth seeing lit!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Captain April said:


> Ah.
> 
> I guess on a model that small, it doesn't make much difference.
> 
> Good work, btw.


No it really doesn't. In fact, Polar Lights placed the stand mounting point in about the same location as I did when they designed the kit.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

SteveR said:


> That image from the SOTL calendar? Now THAT'S how to texture a model. The subtle mottling and streaking gives it a great sense of scale. When I get the big E, that's how I'll paint it. I'll try it with the little E, but we'll see how it turns out.


Are you working on the little E now or soon Steve? I'd like to see how yours turns out.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Trekkriffic said:


> Are you working on the little E now or soon Steve?


Soon. I'll post when I get something to see. 

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your updates!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Does anyone recall what colors the tiny lights on top of the nacelle dome collars are? I think they are white but I'm not sure. They could be green and red like the upper saucer lights.


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## crowe-t (Jul 30, 2010)

Trekkriffic,

Nice job so far! I like the nacelle domes lighting effect.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

I love this little E, and I love to see great works on it!:thumbsup:


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Trekkriffic said:


> Does anyone recall what colors the tiny lights on top of the nacelle dome collars are? I think they are white but I'm not sure. They could be green and red like the upper saucer lights.


On the screen grabs I have, they are green/red like the saucer.:wave:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Lloyd Collins said:


> On the screen grabs I have, they are green/red like the saucer.:wave:


Ahhhhh... cool! Thanks Lloyd! Those buggers are going to be tiny at this scale but I'll go ahead and add them anyway.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

I'm pretty sure those weren't actually lights, but little colored reflective bits (don't want to say "sequins", but whatever works on camera...).


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Captain April said:


> I'm pretty sure those weren't actually lights, but little colored reflective bits (don't want to say "sequins", but whatever works on camera...).


Good to know. Instead of drilling all the way thru the bussard collars then so they would pick up light from the LEDs I think I'll just turn clear red and green acrylic rod using my dremel to get them down to the smallest diameter and then just glue them to the tops of the nacelles. This begs another question, are these little bits round or teardrop shaped? I know the tiny lights on the upper saucer outboard of the flashers are teardrop shaped but wasn't sure about these.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Pics from this weekend...

Masked and ready for the first coat of primer:*










*I wasn't satisfied with just using a decal for the impulse engine vents so I cut a piece of thin styrene sheet using an impulse engine from another 1/1000 kit as a template to trace the outline. Then I and cut out the rectangles with an exacto thin chisel blade and drilled the tiny center hole before gluing it to the face of the kit part. This is a nice improvement in my opinion and really defines the vent openings:*










*After priming I noticed several spots that needed more sanding so I dobbed on red putty as needed and sanded and sanded until I was satisfied everything was uber smooth. Based on the photos below, I'm quite satisfied that no seams are visible. After a quick go over with 600 grit to ensure absolute smoothness she'll be ready for the initial basecoat:*














































*Thanks for reading!*


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Nice, clean work!:thumbsup: This is gonna be good.


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## BolianAdmiral (Feb 24, 2009)

Yeah, this looks great... as stated above, some very clean work on that impulse section.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Smooooooth, dude!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Thanks guys! Forgot to mention it but the other thing I spent a few hours on were the flux constrictors, those three rectangular pieces attached to the lower half of the bussard collars. Filled in the gaps between them and the hull with putty then filed and sanded them fore and aft to the correct angles. Time consuming work.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Musings on the next steps...*

*So I was checking for light bleed last night and noticed some minor leakage around the rim of the bussards. 
I should be able to sort that out by applying some more Mr Surfacer with a brush. 
This will be followed by some light sanding with 600 grit paper and even finer grit polishing pads. Then I'll shoot the entire model with a coat of Testors flat black before airbrushing the first basecoat of Shady Cove enamel. 
Using the airbrush should allow me the control I need to have some of the black showing thru to leave faint weathering streaks. 
After the initial coat dries I'll be using Alan Sinclair's blueprint of the upper saucer to draw the gridlines using a mechanical pencil.
I printed the drawing off onto 8.5 x 11 inch paper and then zoomed out to 124% on the copier at work to match the 5" diameter of the kit. 
I'll cut it out and lay it down on the model then make tick marks along the rim of the saucer where the gridlines terminate. 
I'll do the same thing along the perimeter of the B-C deck housing then use a piece of styrene strip to draw the radial lines. 
The tick marks will be erased before more paint is applied. 
The circular lines will be drawn with a compass. 
I don't want the compass needle to mar the upper sensor dome so I'll cut a short length of tubing to fit snugly around the periimeter of the bridge (with a slot cut out where the turbolift is) and glue a round, flat piece of styrene to the top of the tubing with a hole dead center for the compass needle to rest in. 
The tubing will need to fit snugly enough around the bridge deck without gluing of course. 
The compass needle will thus rest just above the level of the dome without touching it. 
Once the gridlies are drawn I'll seal with a light spray of Dullcote and use them as a guide to mask off and paint the rust ring with Testors Rust and lightly scribe lines where the four rectangular upward facing saucer window decals will go. 
Then I'll mask off and paint the front of the dorsal and the area under the front of each nacelle behind the three flux constrictors with a mix of the hull color and Intermediate Blue. 
The rust ring, gridlines, and weathering streaks will then be muted down to be very subtle after another thinned down layer of the basecoat. 

As far as the nacelle encaps, the rear retangles on each side of the nacelles, and the impulse engine vent assembly and accelerator on the back of the upper saucer, I plan on painting those a 50/50 mix of Testors Medium Gray and Euro Grey as Medium Gray seems too light and Euro Gray seems a little too dark. 
The slot on the inside of the nacelles will probably be painted Medium Gray as they appear to be a shade lighter than the rest. 
These will be painted after the second basecoat has been applied to the rest of the ship. 

I'll allow 2-3 days for the paint to cure before hitting her with Glosscote, then apply decals, wait a day and spray with more Glosscote, and then finally 3-4 coats of Dullcote. Then I'll unmask the clear bits, clean up any "holidays" (hopefully there won't be any) and call her done! 
Well, all except for the base which will be a resin U.S.S. Enterprise base I bought from The Model Base Guy years ago for this build. 
Here's a pic:










Comments on my color choices are welcome! Thanks for reading!*


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Almost forgot, before I call her done I'll need to shape and glue on the little "lights" on the top of the nacelle collars, the teardrop shaped red and green lights outboard of the upper saucer flashers, and the 3 lights on the spine of the secondary hull over the flight deck and between the two parallel red stripes. Figure on doing that before the decaling stage.*


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

I can't wait to see what you do withe the 1/350 model, with the amount of details on this model.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Updates from last night...*

*So after work last night I skipped (errrr... make that strided purposefully) out to the garage and spent about an hour on the old girl.*

*First thing I wanted to do before spraying her with Testors black enamel was to drill holes for the lights on the spine over the shuttle bay and the tops of the bussard collars. 
I figured it would be easier to see what I was drilling against a gray exterior as opposed to one painted black. 

For the spine lights, I drew a line down the center of a piece of Tamiya masking tape and using my drafting calipers took measurements off Alan Sinclair's blueprint (which I had previously blown up to match the size of the model) and transferred the location of the three tiny lights onto the tape using the front edge of the stern beacon as my reference point. 
After that I laid the tape down as close to the centerline of the secondary hull as I could using my drafting calipers to measure where the pencil line was centering it from the front edge of the hangar beacon, between the nacelle struts, and up to the centerline of the dorsal. 
Then I took my straight pointed dental pick and pressed it thru the tape where I'd marked where the lights should be leaving indents for drilling into the model...*











*I removed the tape and drilled with my pinvise. 
The center hole of the three spine lights is about 33% larger than the other two. 
The holes on the bussard collars are the same size as the middle hole of the spine lights...*










*Here she is after the black paint had dried...*










*And after giving her a light sanding to smooth everything out. 
Of course, she'll need dusting off after this. 
Sanding really attracts any crap floating around in the air doesn't it?*










*So tomorrow it'll be time for the basecoat to be airbrushed. 
Before I do that, though, I'll mask off the areas I want left black such as the ridged baffles behind the bussard collars and the impulse engine vents. 

Once I'm done with the painting I'll turn clear green and red acrylic rod in my dremel and insert them into the holes I drilled out last night. 
I figure I'll just glue on the tiny teardrop shaped lights on the edge of the saucer outboard of the running lights. 
I'm not sure yet if I'll just use the decals for the blinkers on the sides of the shuttle bay or if I need to drill more holes and make those out of clear rod. 
If I do that I might as well turn some brass tubing for the metal collars around those lights. 
You can see them here...










I'll probably make the bulbs for these as they don't sit flush to the surface like a decal would and I'm really trying to be a stickler for details on this build if you hadn't guessed that already! 

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading along!*


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

:thumbsup: Looking great once again Steve!
-Jim


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> Sanding really attracts any crap floating around in the air doesn't it?[/B]


The aluminum oxide particles on the sandpaper have a negative ion charge, and when friction is encountered on a styrene surface coated with paint or primer, this causes a quantum phase flux which appears magnetic in nature, but is in actuality a minute gravitational field which....:freak:

Yeah, it does attract crap.:hat:


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Chrisisall said:


> ....... aluminum oxide particles negative ion charge... friction ...encountered ... styrene... quantum phase flux magnetic n actuality... minute gravitational field ....:freak:
> .:hat:


Indubitably, 
-Jim


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## Maritain (Jan 16, 2008)

Very nice!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*I turned the first of the side strobe lights on my dremel last night using a piece of .060 clear acrylic rod. I had to get it down to about .040 diameter. 
I also made a beveled collar from 1/16" diameter brass tubing using a round needle file to enlarge the inner diameter slightly for the "bulb" to poke through. 
The finished strobe is about the size of a grain of rice. 
Once I finish the second one, I'll try to take a picture of them next to something recognizable (perhaps a pencil tip) so you can get a sense of the scale. 
It's about the limit of smallness for me to be able to manipulate, even using my finest tweezers. 
I'll need to go even smaller though for the other lights. *


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*So Sunday I turned the second strobe light on my dremel/lathe. Turned out pretty good IIDSSM. 
I'd have gotten more done if not for having to go over to the in-laws for my wife and brother-n-law's combined birthday celebration. *

*Anyway, here's the stock piece of acrylic rod being turned to the correct diameter in the collete...*










*Here's the 1/16" OD brass "collar" on my fingertip. Prior to slicing it off the tubing I bevelled the edges using a needle file...*










*Here's the collar in place and ready for gluing onto the clear rod. I'll slice it off the stock with my miter saw... very carefully...*










*The finished strobes next to a penny for comparison... *










*Once I've got the basecoat on I'll glue them into the holes I've drilled into the hull with CA. 
I may put a small drop of fluorescent white paint on them too as they are unlit otherwise.*


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Next you'll be choreographing angels on the head of a pin!


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## drmcoy (Nov 18, 2004)

you, sir, are insane!

amazing work.

next you'll tell us that you are building a complete bridge interior, complete with crew and light up work stations.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Beautifully insane. Kudos!

My little blog project aint got nuthin on this!


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## Paulbo (Sep 16, 2004)

Holy cow! That is some awesomely minute work. Well done!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Paulbo said:


> Holy cow! That is some awesomely minute work. Well done!


Ahhh, he miniaturizes himself & does the work that way. It's the only realistic explanation for the precision.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

It's, like, a CMDF thing.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

:thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Gregatron said:


> Beautifully insane. Kudos!
> 
> My little blog project aint got nuthin on this!


I've actually really enjoyed reading your blog... more than once. So much great information! And you can see the great strides you made between your 2006 and 2011 production series ships. Thanks for sharing your research with the rest of us!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> Ahhh, he miniaturizes himself & does the work that way. It's the only realistic explanation for the precision.


Shhhhhhhhhh! It's supposed to be a secret man!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

stever said:


> it's, like, a cmdf thing.


cmdf?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

drmcoy said:


> you, sir, are insane!
> 
> amazing work.
> 
> next you'll tell us that you are building a complete bridge interior, complete with crew and light up work stations.


Close. No light up work stations I'm afraid.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> cmdf?


Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chrisisall said:


> Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces.


Ahhhhh... Fantastic Voyage! Of course! :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

So went into work yesterday and visited the TrekCore site where I printed off this still from Space Seed.

I'm using it to get the color just right on the leading edge of the dorsal. It looks to be bluish gray color to me.
I'm going to do a few tests on a scrap piece of styrene sheet putting some of the hull color next to different formulations for the other color. I'll start with 3 parts hull color to 1 part Intermedate Blue and see if that gives me the slightly darker value I want. I also got a bottle of MM Azure Blue which is a light blue with a grey tint to it. I'll add a little of that in combination with the other two colors. I'll use the same color on the undersides of the nacelles in that scalloped area behind the flux constrictors. 
There is alo a lighter variation of this color on the trailing edge of the dorsal; it's very subtle and barely noticeable though. 

This should be fun!

P.S. I never noticed this before but, at least in this picture, there seems to be a definite pattern to the weathering on the bussard dome collar. Not just random streaks but almost bullet shaped rounds pointing rearward spaced evenly around the circumference. Has anyone else ever noticed this?


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Controlling tachyon emissions is science; making a perfect Enterprise is art.:thumbsup:


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Trekkriffic said:


> So went into work yesterday and visited the TrekCore site where I printed off this still from Space Seed.
> 
> I'm using it to get the color just right on the leading edge of the dorsal. It looks to be bluish gray color to me.



As anyone who's followed my work knows, the dorsal color has been a topic of great debate. I've also been under the impression that the leading edge was a blue-ish color (perhaps a remnant of the fully-blue dorsal of the pilots).

Gary Kerr, however, seems pretty sure that the leading edge was a greenish color, and its hard to argue with his knowledge and resources.


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## Edge (Sep 5, 2003)

FWIW: I prefef to use the colors that appear on screen. Does that make me a dope... probably.


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## KUROK (Feb 2, 2004)

Dope.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Lina Lamont: "Gee, this wig weighs a ton! What dope'd wear a thing like this?" 
Rosco: "Everybody used to wear them, Lina." 
Lina Lamont: "Well, then everybody was a dope!"

Sorry, couldn't resist.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Well certainly as it appears on the studio model now it's greenish. I'm tending toward something more bluish but it will be mixed with the hull color which has an olive tone so I may come up with something bluish-green-gray? I'll have to experiment.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

"Subtle" would be the watchword, no?


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

SteveR said:


> "Subtle" would be the watchword, no?


Oh yes. I'm tatooing one letter of that word on each finger of my right hand.... S-U-B-T-L-E... uhhh... that's six fingers... RATS!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Today's update...*

*Did a little experimenting with different ratios of Shady Cove, Intermediate Blue, and Azure Blue to see what looked best next to the basecoat for the front and back edges of the connecting dorsal:*










*I'm leaning towards using the fifth from the bottom on the righthand side for the front of the dorsal. 
It's about 8 parts Shady Cove to 1 part Azure Blue. Could even go a little lighter but it's close. 
Maybe 12 to 1 would be better. 
The trailing edge needs to be even lighter; leaning towards second from the top on the lefthand side-20 parts Shady Cove to 1 part Azure Blue. 
Again I'll probably go even lighter, say 25 to 1. 
Funny thing is I was thinking the two accent colors woudl give me a bluish tint but when combined with the slightly greenish tint of Shady Cove the hues lean more towards green or a neutral grey. *

*Here's the Enterprise cleaned up, dusted, and ready for her first coat of Shady Cove. 
Like my homemade painting booth? 
I know, pretty fancy:*










*I cut some thin strips of Tamiya tape and masked the grooves between the shuttle bay doors. 
Once basecoated and the tape is removed the slots will be black; I'll then spray them with a second thinner coat of the basecoat so the slots will be a light gray when done.
The nacelle endcaps are masked as I don't want their grooves to disappear under multiple coats of the basecoat and the darker gray final coat (possibly a mix of Aggressor Gray and Euro Gray?) so they will stay masked until I give them their final paint coat. *










*After airbrushing the first coat of Shady Cove. 
You can see why so many people think the Enterprise is white. 
She looks white in these photos but she's defintely a light gray color as is evident when you look at my experimental color chart at the beginning of this post:*



















*Shady Cove is an oil-based gloss enamel so you have to allow 6-8 hours for drying time before handling. 
Hopefully I'll be able to do some light sanding with polishing pads tomorrow. 
Once it's good and dry I'll spray with Dullcote then draw the gridlines on the upper saucer and paint the rust ring. 
I'll also do a little weathering with pastels and gel ink pens. This will be followed with another thinned down spray of the basecoat. 
The rust ring, gridlines, and weathering needs to be very subtle at this scale.

Here's the base I'm using. It's from The Model Base Guy. Tamiya primer went on very nicely.*










*Next pics will be of the gridlines and the rust ring I think. 

Thanks for reading!*

:thumbsup:


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Stunning work so far.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Not much accomplished today. 

Gave her an overall sanding with 600 grit and applied another thinner coat of the basecoat. Came out nice and smooth. I figure on giving it all week to cure. 

Set up the drill in my bench top drill press and drilled a hole in the center of the base for the mounting rod. 
Then I painted the dark blue starfield in the center with enamel.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Updates from this weekend... *

*So I figured the paint was finally dry enough and gave her a light spray with Dullcote on the upper saucer. 
Then I cut out the upper saucer from Alan Sinclair's blueprints (sized to fit the dimensions of the model) and taped it to the top of the saucer:*









*I made a series of pencil marks around the base of the B-C deck and the saucer rim where the radial gridlines terminated:*









*Then I removed the paper template and using a mechanical pencil and a length of Evergreen strip cut to size I drew the radial gridlines:*









Taking measurements from the blueprint I used a drafting compass to draw the circular gridlines:









*I didn't want the compass needle to mar the upper dome so I cut a short piece of acrylic tubing that fit perfectly over the bridge deck (with a slot cut out to accomodate the turboshaft bump) and glued a round piece of styrene to the top. 
This would serve as a nesting place for the compass needle. 
Then I taped it to the top of the B-C deck housing:*









*The first few circles were too close in for the compass so I made a template from thin sheet using a circle template and used that for the first circle which had to be notched to the shape of the B-C deck rear. 
Then I used the circle template to make the next 2 circles. 
After that I used the compass:*









*The saucer after drawing the gridlines:*









*Masking tape was removed and any stray pencil marks were removed using a Magic Rub eraser:*









*Cont'd...*


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*The rust ring was rubbed in using Tamiya pastel chalk and a foam applicator then sealed with Dullcote. Note that It doesn't go all the way around; this I confirmed by close examination of studio model pics and by what other Enterprise "experts" have written in other thread:*









*Accent colors were brush painted on the front of the dorsal and lower front of the nacelles using a mix of the hull color and Azure Blue enamel. Some of the masking tape still needs to be removed around the flux constrictors in this pic:*









*Lest anyone be alarmed in thinking I made the gridlines and accent colors too stark let me allay those fears; the colors you see now are not the finished product. I plan to mix up a thinned down batch of the basecolor (perhaps tinted a little more towards the green side with a few extra drops of olive drab and SAC bomber green) and airbrush it over the entire model with special emphasis on these areas to tone them down. When I'm done the gridlines and rust ring will be much more subtle and the other areas will be muted and somewhere between a bluish and greenish tint. To be honest, the main reason for drawing the gridlines was to make it easier to locate where the 4 rectangular windows go around the rim of the saucer. 
It also helped in positioning the rust "ring".*

*Oh... almost forgot... I finished painting the base. Just needs a coat or two of Future:*









*So that's where I'm at right now. Comments welcome as always. *


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Pencil... going for total authenticity....:thumbsup:
Rustring too.
Awesome.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

A. May. Zing!


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Very nice!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Here she is after being dirtied up with pastel chalk last night. I know, I know, it's ugly, but remember, this will be covered over with the final thinned down spray of the basecoat. The effect will be much more subtle than this when I'm done. I just had to give her some staining to look like she did on screen. I just can't seem to make one of these without weathering of some kind...*


















































*I should be able to give her her final shot of the basecoat this weekend and them I'll paint the darker grey bits.*


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

I can see where you're going with it. Great work. I have one more of these to build myself, and this thread will be in my memory when I do.:thumbsup:


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Fantastic , Steve!!!!!!! :thumbsup:
-Jim


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Pics from today after overspraying with thinned down basecoat. The staining/weathering is pretty subtle now for the most part. Some areas a little too much so. After it dries I'll probably give it a once over with 600 grit sanding film to restore some of the weathering in certain areas. Alternatively I've had real good luck with subtle weathering using water-based gel ink pens. By and large, I'm satisfied with the upper saucer and warp nacelles. The secondary hull and under the saucer need just a little more weathering added back; although not too much. I'll also need to go back and repaint the accent tones on the front of the dorsal and behind and underneath the bussards-the overspray really washed those areas out. This time though I'lll add a little SAC Bomber Green in addition to Azure Blue to the mix with the hull color and go lighter. :thumbsup:

Anyway, here are the pics:*


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Gorgeous.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Gregatron said:


> Gorgeous.


Absolutely. And... looking at these pictures, it's hard to remember that it's the 1/1000! Looks bigger than it is due to the excellent detail!:thumbsup:


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Subtle is good! :thumbsup:


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Especially at that scale.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Here's an interesting suggestion for pre-shading. It's a CG model of something like the JJ-prise (please, no flames - the subject is irrelevant) rendered using ambient occlusion. I believe that a light application of pre-shading (smoke, pastels or wash) into the shaded areas could enhance the scale effect of a model -- making it look bigger. The original TOS E shows some of this around the B-C deck.

http://vimeo.com/4912466


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

SteveR said:


> Here's an interesting suggestion for pre-shading. It's a CG model of something like the JJ-prise (please, no flames - the subject is irrelevant) rendered using ambient occlusion. I believe that a light application of pre-shading (smoke, pastels or wash) into the shaded areas could enhance the scale effect of a model -- making it look bigger. The original TOS E shows some of this around the B-C deck.
> 
> http://vimeo.com/4912466


I plan on doing more shading using gel inks before this is done. I've found it works pretty well for imparting the illusion of a much larger ship.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Update from this past weekend...*


*Having finished the weathering with black gel ink, attention turned to the small lights that were overlooked by Polar lights when they designed the kit. 
I have seen many builds of this model kit that do not include these lights; nevertheless, they were there on the original Enterprise. 
Photos of the studio model support their existence and Alan Sinclair even shows them on his blueprints. 
These are incredibly tiny "bits" (as the Brits would say) in this scale and the work involved drilling tiny mounting holes with a pinvise and turning red, green, and clear acrylic rod on the dremel to the smallest of diameters using a scribing tool, needle files, and sanding sticks. 
In the case of the tiny lights on the upper saucer rim located outboard of the main flashing formation lights, the plastic was filed and sanded to a teardrop shape before being cut from the rod with an Xacto knife and glued in place with CA. 

Anyway, here are the pics...*

*Bridge dome lights:*









*These tiny lights are actually conical in shape and they light up very well on my model.*

*Spine lights over the hangar bay:*









*The outer tinier lights are greenish yellow and the center red light sticks up higher than you would expect. *

*Port and starboard saucer lights next to the rim:*

















*These are teardrop shaped. Once in place a tiny brush was used to apply Testors Neon Red and Green enamel.*

*Outer rim lights on the saucer rim itself:*









*These don't light up so I'll paint them white. *

b]Nacelle bussard collar lights:[/b]

















*Without a doubt the most overlooked lights on the Enterprise. Apparently not even lit on the studio model; mine, however, are lit. 
So, purists could say my build is not 100% accurate to the original, but... I don't listen to rivet counters much...* 

*Cont'd...*


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*This sequence of photos shows how I installed the stern hangar bay warning strobe lights which I made from acrylic rod and brass tubing some weeks back prior to painting the hull...*

*Soft wax adhesive is smeared on the tip of a flat toothpick and used to hold the strobe:*









*A round toothpick is used to insert Testors styrene cement into the hole on each side of the hull:*









*The strobe light is placed into the mounting hole:*









*Strobes installed:*

















*These are not lit on my model, in fact, none of the lights in the engineering hull are lit; however, on my next build of this kit (the Defiant) I'll be using a 9 volt external battery which will give me more room (and a larger power budget) to play with lighting for the secondary hull. It would be great if I could have these light flash. *

*So that's it for the tiny lights. The next thing I did was finish the spike on the deflector dish which had been replaced at the start of this build with brass rod. I had glued the tiny plastic tip from the kit spike (it's shaped like the mouth of a bugle with a ball in it's throat) to the end of the brass wire with CA. This was extremely delicate work as you can imagine and not something I would look forward to doing twice so... of course, the tip broke off when I was in the midst of painting and weathering the hull and flew off into the garage never to be found again. I was prepared to scavenge a new tip from one of my other 3 unbuilt 1/1000 kits but, after some thought, I decided a better fix would be to make the new tip from brass which I did using my dremel and brass tubing. So using my scribing tool I shaped a conical collar which fit right over the brass wire and stayed put with CA. I just need to make the little ball for the tip now. I'll probably make it from Tamiya epoxy putty and stick it onto the spike followed by some thin CA for added strength after it dries.:*

















*I'll post some pics of the ship as she stands now. 

Next up will be glosscoting and decaling. *


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Here are some pics of her as she is right now...ready for glosscote and decals...*


















*Lit up!*


























*Before I spray the glosscote though I'm seriously considering giving her a rubdown with model wax. 
Most car modellers will know what I'm talking about as it's used primarily to give shine to car model finshes. 
It gives an ultra smooth (slippery in fact) finish and also deepens the color a shade. 
I used it on the 18 incher and really liked the results. *


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## Lou Dalmaso (Jul 13, 2004)

would the wax interact badly with the decals?

I can see the decals not wanting to stick to the wax


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Lou Dalmaso said:


> would the wax interact badly with the decals?
> 
> I can see the decals not wanting to stick to the wax


On my 18 inch build I applied the wax and buffed it out before hitting it with gloss lacquer. The decals stuck to the gloss coat really well and after drying I sealed with more glosscote. Then I sprayed with a couple of coats of Dullcote for a matte finish. Those decals turned out to be the best I'd ever done to that point.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Nice weathering!


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Fantastic work!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Thanks Steve! Thanks Greg!

Gave her a rub down and polish with Model Wax last night. She came out nice and slick to the touch and maybe a tiny bit darker but not much. It also seems that the weathering is a bit more muted than before which is fine too. I should spray her with Glosscote tonight and then I'll apply decals over the weekend. 

First I'm going to mask the engine domes again. I want the domes to stay clean. 

I'll also put the masking tape "hat" back over the deflector dish array. I like the metallic sheen it has. 

I figure if there's on thing on the ship that would stay clean it would be the deflector dish since it should always be on unless the ship was stationary. Being on, there should be no dust or grime getting thru the deflector field to stain it.

My theory on the stains you see on the hull are they are mostly caused by heat from the few ocassions when the ship has entered a planet's atmosphere. My opinion, but, I doubt the deflector dish would have any ability to block heat from reaching the hull since heat is not a particle. 
*


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Well I finished applying the last of the decals yesterday and gave her a good coat of Glosscote an hour or so ago. She looks pretty awesome IIDSSM. 
I'll give it a few more hours and hit her with the Dullcote. The only area that will not get Dullcoted is the deflector dish. I plan on giving the clear bussard domes one shot of Dullcote to minimize reflections when photographing. Only one coat though. The rest of the ship will probably get a couple of coats. 

Another thing I did was stop at Michaels after my workout this morning and buy a flat 6 inch diameter pine disc. I'm painting it gloss black and will glue it to the bottom of the 4 inch base to give it a little more stability. The stand is a two piece affair designed so that the rod the ship mounts to slides into another outer brass sleeve mounted and glued to the resin base. It's about 6 inches long or so. When I want to photograph (or just play with) the model I can leave it on the brass rod by just pulling it out of the brass tube in the base. The brass "display" tube has the next size down brass rod inserted inside it at the top surrounded by a sleeve of Evergreeen tubing glued on with CA that slides into an Evergreen tube in the model and is a tight enough fit to prevent the ship from turning when I tilt it at various angles. This is important when I go to take pictures.*


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Well here she is after 4 months or so. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with how this turned out. Of course, the next one I build (the Defiant from "In a Mirror Darkly") will be even better with what I learned during this build.

Hope you all enjoy the pics!*









































































Cont'd...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Here are some pics on the base.[/SIZE][/B]





































*I have some more I'll post later of her in space, in orbit, facing off with a Klingon, etc.*


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

*BEAUTIFUL!*:thumbsup:
-Jim


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

That is, without question, the best 1/1000 TOS E I've ever seen! Well done!


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Dr. Brad said:


> That is, without question, the best 1/1000 TOS E I've ever seen! Well done!


Unequivocal agreement.


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Chrisisall said:


> Unequivocal agreement.


Seconded.


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## Gregatron (Mar 29, 2008)

Thirded!


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## galaxy_jason (May 19, 2009)

Looks great!


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## KUROK (Feb 2, 2004)

Absolutely gorgeous!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Thanks for the comments everyone. 

Here are a few shots of the Enterprise visiting Andor:*























































*My technique has been called "Garage-FX" as it involves objects I photograph in my garage. 

These images aren't great art by any means but they were fun to do. Hope you all enjoy them. *


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## JediPuju (Oct 12, 2009)

Wow, looks amazing!! 

At the post where you had added the weathering and rust rim I was thinking "nooooo what is he doing?!!?" but you sure showed me lol !


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## Edge (Sep 5, 2003)

Great work as always. Some classic shots in there.


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## Fury3 (Jan 18, 2003)

This model is awesome. Great work on making a small scale ship look big!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Last of the space pics. I call this batch "Kirk's Bad Day" or "What happens when your phasers go on the blink!"...*


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*You can see the rest of the space pics here:*

http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r259/Trekriffic/1-1000 Enterprise GFX Images/


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## charonjr (Mar 27, 2000)

little photo trick to increase the depth of field, use bright lights and stop down the camera to the smallest f-stop, f22, for example. your ships will be in focus from front to back!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Forgot to post this pic earlier. The shuttle is from my Micro Machines collection.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Hmmm... the shuttlecraft isn't as amazingly accurate as that Enterprise...:hat:
:tongue:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Here's a few more composites I did in "Paint" combining my garage pics with screencaps. I also show the original screencap for comparison. *

*The Tholian Web...*

Original Image:









My image:









*For the World is Hollow, and I Have Touched the Sky...*

Original Image:









My image:









*Not as fancy as some can do I know but it's still a lot of fun to play with your models this way. Makes them seem more "real" to me. *


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

You might try a little higher contrast lighting setup. Dimmer light makes things look smaller for some reason.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Captain April said:


> You might try a little higher contrast lighting setup. Dimmer light makes things look smaller for some reason.


This boy is having entirely too much fun with his model.

God bless 'im!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Captain April said:


> You might try a little higher contrast lighting setup. Dimmer light makes things look smaller for some reason.


*I was trying to reproduce some of the graininess seen in the original. Is this better?*


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*Last one for today...*

*The Corbomite Maneuver*

Original:










Mine:


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Still look dark. Nice composition, but the low, flat lighting really brings out how small the model is (think about "The Doomsday Machine" and the difference between shots of the Enterprise and the Constellation, and how screamingly obvious it is that they used an 18" AMT model for the Constellation; it's all in the lighting).


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