# Enterprise-D window masks



## petkusj (May 13, 2005)

Here's a plea to Aztek Dummy or similar providers of vinyl masks: Once the Enterprise-D is available in clear, will someone provide us with the tiny masks needed for all those windows? I'm not daunted by the idea of cutting up uniform strips from masking tape for square windows, but the D has thousands (well, hundreds) of long rectangular windows with *oval* ends.

If no one wants to make these masks, how about a set of brass punches that will stamp out oval masks from masking tape?

Thank you,

Jennifer


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## Magesblood (May 12, 2008)

kind of a waste of vinyl to do just the windows. Wouldn't the windows constitute just a hundredth of the surface area of the ship?


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## petkusj (May 13, 2005)

Magesblood said:


> kind of a waste of vinyl to do just the windows. Wouldn't the windows constitute just a hundredth of the surface area of the ship?


Well, yes, just a small really tedious time consuming part of the ship, time that I could instead be using to apply tedious masks to achieve the tedious aztec effect.

Maybe someone could print up a dry transfer sheet?


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## Magesblood (May 12, 2008)

or you could do what I do and use gel pens. Available in black, gray, white, light blue and if you're lucky enough, off-white.


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## petkusj (May 13, 2005)

Magesblood said:


> or you could do what I do and use gel pens. Available in black, gray, white, light blue and if you're lucky enough, off-white.


Oh, that isn't anywhere near anal enough. No, what I will probably do is make a punch from brass tubing. Flatten it out and force a piece of wood the right width to get the elongated oval shape. Then cut it to length. Put the tape down on a piece of styrene and tap the punch with a hammer and you have a repeatable piece of tape the exact size of a window.

Of course, the brass ends will get dull, but just sharpen the edges. Make sure the tube is long enough to begin with, of course.


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## Lou Dalmaso (Jul 13, 2004)

Jennifer,
just for you, I will make these window masks. (cuz you asked so nicely)

at least the long oval ones. the tiny square ones, maybe even too small to plot


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## petkusj (May 13, 2005)

Lou Dalmaso said:


> Jennifer,
> just for you, I will make these window masks. (cuz you asked so nicely)
> 
> at least the long oval ones. the tiny square ones, maybe even too small to plot


Lou, you understand. Thank you. And I understand the little ones around the saucer edge might be too small to plot, but being square, not too difficult for me to cut from masking tape.

Oh, and put me down for a set.

Thanks (smiling sweetly), Jennifer


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## Magesblood (May 12, 2008)

How about a Defiant painting template?

I'll just make a new thread about it.


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## charonjr (Mar 27, 2000)

Yippee, me too!


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## Shizman (Nov 21, 2008)

Lou Dalmaso said:


> Jennifer,
> just for you, I will make these window masks. (cuz you asked so nicely)
> 
> at least the long oval ones. the tiny square ones, maybe even too small to plot


Oh, I want this too!


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## MartinHatfield (Apr 11, 2004)

Ooh, Ooh...Me Too!!!


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## petkusj (May 13, 2005)

I knew there were other window challenged people!

Jennifer (cackles maniacally)


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## omnimodel (Oct 9, 2004)

If this is the same material the old clear Yamaguchi kit was made from, you may not need to mask. Acrylic paint can be scratched out of the window with a toothpick (or rather, a box of them given the number of windows involved...)

It's time consuming, but probably not much more so than masking.


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## petkusj (May 13, 2005)

omnimodel said:


> If this is the same material the old clear Yamaguchi kit was made from, you may not need to mask. Acrylic paint can be scratched out of the window with a toothpick (or rather, a box of them given the number of windows involved...)
> 
> It's time consuming, but probably not much more so than masking.


That would be nice, but I worry about my recollection of the Enterprise D that the windows aren't very uniform and some were cockeyed. (Sadly, I don't have a D that has any windows that haven't undergone my clumsy attempts at drilling and shaping.) I'd rather sand as smooth as possible and let the masks ensure some uniformity.

But I hope omnimodel's recollections are also correct in case it proves impossible to make the masks.

Jennifer


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## Gemini1999 (Sep 25, 2008)

Magesblood said:


> or you could do what I do and use gel pens. Available in black, gray, white, light blue and if you're lucky enough, off-white.


That sounds a lot like my solution that I used back in 1987. I saved the windows for last. Mostly because, I was looking at videotapes I had made from various episodes of the 1701-D, so I knew which windows were blacked out and which ones were lit. I had a few of the Pentel Rolling Ball pens that used indelible ink, so that's how I colored in the windows that were blacked out. For the lit windows, I got the smallest paintbrush I could find in a local hobby shop, thinned flat white paint down a bit and then went at it.

The windows, coupled with hand painting the phaser strips and the lifeboat hatches took quite a bit of time. I think that out of all the models I've built over the years, it was the model that took me the longest because I did everything by hand and in different stages.

All in all, building the 1701-D was a lot of work, but the result was well worth the effort. A pity I was building the model as a gift for a friend of mine. She wasn't a model builder, but she really loved TNG. The smile on her face was well worth the effort. I always meant to buy another and build one up again.

Bryan


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## ajmadison (Oct 18, 1999)

Magesblood said:


> How about a Defiant painting template?
> 
> I'll just make a new thread about it.


Well, you'll have to do some of the work yourself, but there is a pdf on Starship modeler that is intended for printing on decal paper to produce the desired Defiant paneling. I'm planning on printing these sheets out, transferring them to frisket paper, cutting out the needed masks and shooting my panels that way. Still trying to decide if I'm going to pencil the final grid lines or actually try and scribe them, not sure.


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## geino (May 9, 2006)

I had not heard that D would be available in clear. If that is true, GOOD JOB ROUND 2!!!!

Another option to mask the windows: use liquid latex mold making material. It is available at most craft stores for under $20. It comes in a small round container. You can use a tooth pick or small paint brush to mask the window you do want to light up. After the painting is done just peel up the dried latex. Note when using the latex mold material - it has an ammonia smell to it.


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## Magesblood (May 12, 2008)

ajmadison said:


> Well, you'll have to do some of the work yourself,


Which can be said of anyone buying vinyl templates.


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

Um...
Couldn't you use Liquid Mask on the windows, then
peel it off after painting is complete?

This stuff:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/div/div3020.htm


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## Shizman (Nov 21, 2008)

CaptFrank said:


> Um...
> Couldn't you use Liquid Mask on the windows, then
> peel it off after painting is complete?
> 
> ...


The problem with using masking liquid is that it's almost impossible to get a nice clean, straight edge.


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## ajmadison (Oct 18, 1999)

Shizman said:


> The problem with using masking liquid is that it's almost impossible to get a nice clean, straight edge.


Not sure what you mean. Its like anything else that's painted on. You still have to knife away the excess, like along canopy framing. Though in the case of the 1/350 Enterprise, you can apply the mask to the clear parts prior to assembly. The opaque portions of the kit exterior than provides the clean edge to which you seek.


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## Shizman (Nov 21, 2008)

Since we're talking about the Enterprise-D, there isn't a way to put it on the windows beforehand, since they don't exist. You'd have to put this masking material on whatever you used to fill the windows in and that's where it gets difficult to keep them uniform and straight.


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

Shizman posted:


> Since we're talking about the Enterprise-D, there isn't a way to put it on the windows beforehand, since they don't exist. You'd have to put this masking material on whatever you used to fill the windows in and that's where it gets difficult to keep them uniform and straight.


 What are you talking about?
The windows are molded into the model.
And, since the new release will be in clear plastic, the windows
are windows!
Mask away, paint, remove masks.


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## Shizman (Nov 21, 2008)

OK fair enough. Sorry I was stuck on the older one where you have to drill out the windows.

Regardless, even when you use a masking liquid, it's hard to keep the window edges straight. If it's not for you, then great.


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## ajmadison (Oct 18, 1999)

CaptFrank said:


> Shizman posted:
> What are you talking about?
> The windows are molded into the model.
> And, since the new release will be in clear plastic, the windows
> ...


Actually AMT/Ertl messed up and all of the deck 10 windows are missing. (primary hull rim, lower half kit part) But now I understand. This is a very tricky problem, even for the windows that are engraved.


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## petkusj (May 13, 2005)

ajmadison said:


> Actually AMT/Ertl messed up and all of the deck 10 windows are missing. (primary hull rim, lower half kit part) But now I understand. This is a very tricky problem, even for the windows that are engraved.


Really? I remember drilling out those impossibly tiny windows. But I'm getting old enough to have senior moments and the smell of superglue and paint thinners may have killed enough brain cells that I only _think_ I remember drilling them.

Jennifer


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## razorwyre1 (Jan 28, 2004)

iirc, masks like we are talking about are how ilm not only painted the windows, but are also how they made the depressions in the fiberglass hull (laying the masks into the silicone mold)!

i'll have to see the kit itself before i decide on either the masks or liquid latex. one of the two will be the way to go.


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