# Whats a Good Color for the STTMP Klingon Cruiser?



## Guy Schlicter (May 3, 2004)

Hi Folks, I'd like to eventually build my AMT/Ertl reissue of the New Klingon Cruiser from the first film. I've been considering some colors like Gloss Gull Gray but I always felt the New Klingon Cruiser had a metallic look to it. When this kit was first released in 1980 by Lesney/AMT it was molded in light gray and it looked great. But since I will have to paint it over I'd like to do something special to really make it look good and stand out. If you know any good model acrylic grays please suggest them. Thanks, Guy Schlicter.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

I've been wanting to do a model all in alclad metals myself. This could be a good candidate for something like that. Expensive as hell if all bought up front, so I've been buying a bottle here and there over time.

When I did KTinga (a month shy of 3 years ago now), the only ref I had was the box art. I took it as inspiration only.

Base coat silver with thin wet enamels over. (Pre-decal pix) 
Base green to which I mixed Golds, blues and browns all mixed in situ yielding a watercolor effect over metal.


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## Guy Schlicter (May 3, 2004)

Model Man said:


> I've been wanting to do a model all in alclad metals myself. This could be a good candidate for something like that. Expensive as hell if all bought up front, so I've been buying a bottle here and there over time.
> 
> When I did KTinga (a month shy of 3 years ago now), the only ref I had was the box art. I took it as inspiration only.
> 
> ...


Very Nice and Impressive work Tom.


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

Try Testor's "steel" #1180 in the 1/4 ounce bottle.
I have used it on a Deep Space Nine station, and a
Y-Wing fighter. It looks great! It is not glossy, or dull flat.
It has a slight eggshell to satin type sheen Just like metal
should. 
When I watch the K'Tingas in "the Motion Picture", they
appear to be steel-colored, with just a little reflectivity.

I think the "steel" paint would work just fine.


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## Dave P (Jan 5, 2005)

No harm in doing what you want, but the Ktingas in STTMP are several shades of green.


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## modelgeek (Jul 14, 2005)

Dave P said:


> No harm in doing what you want, but the Ktingas in STTMP are several shades of green.


It looks green to me!!!


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Yup, it's . . . it's . . . um . . . it's green.


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## Fraley1701 (Sep 3, 2003)

Back in the mid 90's I built mine and I used the pictures on the box as a guide. I believe I painted the entire model silver and then followed with a coat of transparent blue. I then painted surface details various shades of green, brown and tan. Of course there is better reference material available today. The look I achieved reminded me of the ships appearance in the first motion picture. Judge for yourself:


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## MadCap Romanian (Oct 29, 2005)

The above looks terrific! 

IF I had some Klingon Decals, I'd repaint one of mine to match.


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

WOW! Now this is funny - I've building the same kit! Like what ya did Fraley! Now last night I worked on removing the seams and also worked on the new Mr. Spock! Now my goal is to get this kit done by the first week of Fed. so I can take it to the IMPS club. Fraley, did you use the decals or did you just paint the Klingon emblem on? Now I want to make it a base of green but over shadow it with ghost gray. Then do the panels separately. This is just in my mind so far.


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## Fraley1701 (Sep 3, 2003)

Chinxy said:


> WOW! Now this is funny - I've building the same kit! Like what ya did Fraley! Now last night I worked on removing the seams and also worked on the new Mr. Spock! Now my goal is to get this kit done by the first week of Fed. so I can take it to the IMPS club. Fraley, did you use the decals or did you just paint the Klingon emblem on? Now I want to make it a base of green but over shadow it with ghost gray. Then do the panels separately. This is just in my mind so far.


I used the kit supplied decals for the Klingon emblem. I believe JT Graphics makes after market decals for this kit.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Nice work Fraley!!!!

It seems like the Klingons paint their ships differently, so any color scheme chosen should work. It comes down to if you wanna be screen accurate or not.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Mine is a mix of colors. Started out as grey with silver and dark bue raised panels on the wings followed by an overcoat of transparent silver-blue metallic. Stayed that way for several years before I got tired of it and sprayed on some tranparent green. That looked better so I went back in and added some burgundy to the raised panels. Followed by a coat of transparent pearlescent grey metallic lacquer. 
Here's how it looks now:


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## Guy Schlicter (May 3, 2004)

Trekkriffic said:


> Mine is a mix of colors. Started out as grey with silver and dark bue raised panels on the wings followed by an overcoat of transparent silver-blue metallic. Stayed that way for several years before I got tired of it and sprayed on some tranparent green. That looked better so I went back in and added some burgundy to the raised panels. Followed by a coat of transparent pearlescent grey metallic lacquer.
> Here's how it looks now:


Damn nice paint job!


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

Fraley and Trek, did you have any problems with lining up the front panel? I had to cut mine to make it line up and then putty it to current it? Any other problems you two ran into while building the kit? Finally got mine primed now so I'm ready to mix the colors.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Thanks Guy ! Here's a couple more pics:









This one makes the torpedo launcher appear to be lit but there are no lights on this model:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Chinxy said:


> Fraley and Trek, did you have any problems with lining up the front panel? I had to cut mine to make it line up and then putty it to current it? Any other problems you two ran into while building the kit? Finally got mine primed now so I'm ready to mix the colors.


By front panel do you mean the front of the engineering section where the neck attaches ? I don't think I had any alignment issue with that but, as I recall, I did reinforce that juncture with rectangular brass tubing and filled the gaps with putty before sanding. This is something I would have done anyway though since that joint is a major point of failure if it's not reinforced. So there may or may not have been a fit issue but it's been so long since I built this kit that I just don't remember exactly.


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

OK guys - your not going to believe this!!!! I was going through my junked up shelf and just found my Valcun Shuttle, my Klingon Battle Cruiser (same kit) and an original Klingon ship from the original series that I never finished. Now the decals are starting to come off of both shuttle and cruiser cause I built these 26 years ago. I remember now building them because that was the first year I got married. Yep - still with the same woman, but much older now. Now I will have to take the two cruisers to my IPMS club to show how I've changed when I get this one done. WOW - the seams! BAD, just BAD! But funny! I made the valcun space shuttle gold. NICE! :dude:


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## Fraley1701 (Sep 3, 2003)

Chinxy said:


> Fraley and Trek, did you have any problems with lining up the front panel? I had to cut mine to make it line up and then putty it to current it? Any other problems you two ran into while building the kit? Finally got mine primed now so I'm ready to mix the colors.


I am not quite sure what you are referring to when you say front panel. I don't recall having any alingment issues with this kit; but it has been a few years since I built it.


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## Fraley1701 (Sep 3, 2003)

Trekkriffic said:


> Mine is a mix of colors. Started out as grey with silver and dark bue raised panels on the wings followed by an overcoat of transparent silver-blue metallic. Stayed that way for several years before I got tired of it and sprayed on some tranparent green. That looked better so I went back in and added some burgundy to the raised panels. Followed by a coat of transparent pearlescent grey metallic lacquer.
> Here's how it looks now:


NIce paint job! Great blending with the decals as well!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Fraley1701 said:


> NIce paint job! Great blending with the decals as well!


Thanks but all the old decals are under a few coats of paint now. I didn't have any replacement decals when I did the repaint so I just painted on the insignias including the starburst (?) around the torpedo tube on the bow. Turned out pretty good IIDSSM.


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## star-art (Jul 5, 2000)

When I was helping REL with his 1/350 kit, I put together a montage showing the basic color scheme (attached). I tried to color correct the images so they were as consistent as possible. My view is the base color was a "mauve" (i.e. a medium gray with a tint of violet). Then, there was a lot of green added for the various panels. Some panels had brown and tan colors mixed in.

It's very difficult to tell exactly what was going on with the studio model back in the day as good color references from ST:TMP are hard to find. I've seen some very nice slides taken of the ship on stage when it was filmed and it looks more bright green in those images. But, these slides are old and the colors may not be true. It certainly didn't look bright green on film.

In the end, it's all subjective and you get into the whole argument of whether to replicate what it looked like on film or what it looked like on stage. For my own replica, I prefer a mauve base with very subdued green tones and some brown/tan here and there as shown in the attached image.

It's just my opinion, but bright colors tend to destroy the sense of scale and make the ship look more like a toy. Even though there is no atmosphere in space, we are used to seeing very large objects appear somewhat faded when viewed from a distance. Thus, IMHO, faded colors may help fool the eye and make the model look more realistic. 

_StarshipBuilder.com_, _AirshipModeler.com_
Author, *Model Design & Blueprinting Handbook* *SECOND EDITION NOW AVAILABLE*


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## Fraley1701 (Sep 3, 2003)

star-art said:


> When I was helping REL with his 1/350 kit, I put together a montage showing the basic color scheme (attached). I tried to color correct the images so they were as consistent as possible. My view is the base color was a "mauve" (i.e. a medium gray with a tint of violet). Then, there was a lot of green added for the various panels. Some panels had brown and tan colors mixed in.
> 
> It's very difficult to tell exactly what was going on with the studio model back in the day as good color references from ST:TMP are hard to find. I've seen some very nice slides taken of the ship on stage when it was filmed and it looks more bright green in those images. But, these slides are old and the colors may not be true. It certainly didn't look bright green on film.
> 
> ...


Hey Mr. Adams is that you? I miss your old Starship Builder web site. Lot's of good stuff! It's great to hear from you and thanks for your insight on the TMP Klingon ship. :thumbsup:


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## star-art (Jul 5, 2000)

Yep, it's me. Thanks for the kind words.


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

OK - just an update! Saturday and Sunday I worked on the seams on the ship. So it's getting closer to being done I hope. :thumbsup: Now Saturday night I started at 7 pm and stopped at 1:30 am. WOW! And still not finished with removing all the seams. But yesterday I worked on it from 6:30pm to 10pm and finally managed to remove the seams (I think), but I need to look at it in the daytime light to make sure that they are all gone! But I'm getting there! :wave: Now tonight I will mix the colors! FUN!!!! 

Happy Aurora Trails! 
:dude:


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

No pictures of it but the one I helped a friend on years ago, we painted with different shade of greens and such according to the box art. We mixed EVERYTHING with silver to give it that bit of a metallic "edge."


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

OK - SEAMS!!!! The Horror! The Horror!!!!!!!!!!!!:freak:


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

OK - the ship is comming along nicely now! I airbrushed the first layer of field green. First I primed it grey. Then after I airbrushed it field green I mixed another jar of blue/green and I'll airbrush that on tonight. It was 10pm so I had to quite. I get up at 4:30am so 10pm was late. Now I was thinking of painting the vents on the side of the engines gun metal. Now the big question which is going through my mind is how to paint the front vented panel red. The picture I saw shows red underneigh it. Maybe a very fine brush. Now I think I'm going to paint the raised panels on the ship burnt umber to make it stand out. And use some different shading on the panels to give it a diffent overcast. I'm really enjoying this kit now being I got the hard part of removing the seams done. Then this weekend I should be ready to put the decals on. 

Happy Aurora Trails! 
Chinxy! :dude:


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## X15-A2 (Jan 21, 2004)

I handled the model (and knocked tiny bits off..:freak after the first film was made and this is how the color values looked to me. It is more of what I would call a "forest" green color with various shades added for detail. Just my two cents.

Phil


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## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

It always looked quite green in the film to me.


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## Modeler1964 (Aug 13, 2006)

Here's mine with the JT graphics parts used for the bridge and disruptors. I mixed a custom green color. Also did some dry brushing and washes.




























And some renders.






























Build thread is still here:

http://www.resinilluminati.com/showthread.php?t=5607


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

WOW! Now that is impressive. You added lights. And the JT graphics parts makes your kit look like a completely different kit from mine. Well I'm now using a brush to paint the raised cells on the ship. Now this is taking a long time. But it's all good! So Modeler1964, you drilled the wholes for the lights, right? And I bet you were born in 1964?


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

What a beauty! :thumbsup:


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## Modeler1964 (Aug 13, 2006)

Chinxy said:


> WOW! Now that is impressive. You added lights. And the JT graphics parts makes your kit look like a completely different kit from mine. Well I'm now using a brush to paint the raised cells on the ship. Now this is taking a long time. But it's all good! So Modeler1964, you drilled the wholes for the lights, right? And I bet you were born in 1964?


Yes sir I am a 64 model! Thank you for the compliments! The lights were a combination of fiber optics and clear epoxy. On the clear bridge parts from JTGraphics I applied a black coat for lightblocking, painted my basecoat and took a pin vice and carefully drilled through the paint. I cut out the impulse engines and filled them with clear epoxy and applied the kit decal over it (the red LED lights it up nicely). The front of the main hull lights are fiber optic. If you look closely the bridge window is illuminated red. This model is the first one I ever painted with an airbrush too now I love them. This rebuild took me over a month of working on it every night after work so take your time my friend, it will come out great!Good luck on your build, I always check out the Klingon ships! :thumbsup:


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## Darkstar (Jan 27, 2010)

I'm going to be starting a kitbash of the K'tinga and the Vor'Cha soon. I'm going with different shades of gray for something a little different and am hoping it will look ok. If you haven't completed the pod or bridge and can afford to do so, please do get some  jt graphics  upgrade parts as shown here. The original kit's bridge and pod are so off and toyish IMOP. I'm just waiting for him to make a clear pod for lighting.


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

Darkstar - that's an impressive sit. And expensive, but if I was just starting out building this kit I'd go for those parts. I like them, but being that I'm almost done it way to far into this kit to start over. Maybe next time. 
Now I'm brushing on the raise panels on the body! 
This is just way to cool! :thumbsup:

Happy Aurora Trails! 
Chinxy! :dude:


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

OK - I've been thinking about this and now decided to do it. I'm going to stop at Michael's on my way home and pick up some metallic green. I want to airbrush a very light coat of the metallic green on the cruiser just like my original ship that I did way back in 1986. My wife and daughter last night said they like the 1986 one.  I showed both kits to them last night and that's what they said. They like the metallic green better. Right now I have this kit a dark field green. So I'm thinking with the colors I have on the kit now (field green) along with the olive drab on the raised cells, it would stand out better if I hit it just a little with metallic green.  

Happy Aurora Trails!
Chinxy! :dude:


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## Darkstar (Jan 27, 2010)

Great, now that we're decided, looking forward to any progress pics you have! The last one I did was all in flat military green colors with flat tan and flat gray here and there. It actually came out looking rather neat. I used darker and lighter shades of greene on the pannels and it really gave it depth. I wish I still had it to post some pics but unfortunately she came up missing...along with some other kits during my last move..... 

BTW Modeler1964, very nice work and pics!


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## Seashark (Mar 28, 2006)

Modeler1964, that is a beautiful build! If I didn't know better I might think that was the original miniature.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
That is one beautiful job Modeler1964. 

What an impressive build. I really like the subtle panel shading.


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## Modeler1964 (Aug 13, 2006)

Thank you folks for the compliments once again, too kind! She didn't come out exactly as I had planned but I hope to do better next time. I have learned a lot from paying attention to the tips and techniques used on these forums by you guys! 
This build is coming along nicely! The K'Tinga I did was once painted as the Quonos One and I had hand brushed the panels like you are doing and its damn meticulous work to say the least! Hats off to ya sir! 
The JT Graphics parts are good but you have to check the alignment on the top and bottom halves of the bridge as I believe the base parts were modeled after the original amt pieces' fit which was misaligned. I sanded the alignment pins off of mine to get them positioned correctly. IIRC Scot Spicer did the masters for JT and the detail is amazing!
He has a lot more parts for this kit now and I'm debating whether or not to take another shot at this kit.
I check this thread often bud so lets see some more pictures! :thumbsup:


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

OK - Now I've finished painting the ship the way I wanted it and now like it. Now I'm applying the decals! :drunk: Oh My #$%$#@!  So is it because these decals are 26 years old that they are breaking up? They are breaking apart when I try to apply them on the kit! :beatdeadhorse:
So I am going to paint some of them on and give that a try! Very frustrating now that I'm so close! The decal on the bottom and the one around the head broke up. :drunk:
So tomorrow I'll paint them on. And just give a rest tonight and go look at all the snow outsite!


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

OK - last night I went on Federation Models and ordered the decals for the Klingon Battle Cruiser so I am going to put the ship on the shelf for now until the decals come in but I am cleaning it up.:thumbsup: So for now I am going to be working on the Vulcan Shuttle! Started last night. 

Happy Aurora Trails!
Chinxy! :dude:


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## junglelord (Mar 6, 2007)

Oh the trials and tribulations of model making...good for you, that you ordered the new decals.
:thumbsup:

Your build made me buy one on ebay this week.
Thanks for the motivation to light up the Battle Crusier.


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

Junglelord, OK if you bought a new kit on ebay then you got to get the converion that model man did plus light it up. If I was starting over that's what I'd do! I think that looks so cool!:thumbsup: Just my 2 cents! Now in the future I can do it cause I have a sealed Cruiser but have it on the wall with all the other Star Trek stuff. 

Happy Aurora Trails!
Chinxy! :dude:


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## junglelord (Mar 6, 2007)

I think I will modifiy mine a little and put some blinking lights on the necaelles, more like the Enterprise warp drives, Oh the Horror


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

Well because of all this snow I finished my Klingon Cruiser last night. The decals came in the mail Tuesday (only time the post office was open) and I got them on last night. The problem now is that being I painted the ship dark green and painted the raised cell olive drab the decals hardly show up. So I will put pic's up tonight and let you all decide how it turned out. I'm OK with it. Just the decals are a little disappointing to me. Now on to the Vulcan Shuttle.

Happy Aurora Trails!
Chinxy!:dude:


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

And there uploaded. Take a look and tell me what ya think! :wave:

Happy Aurora Trails!
Chinxy!:dude:


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