# Scratchbuilt Shuttlebay 1701-A (In Progress)



## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Back in March I purchased the PL 1701 Refit & like everyone else I was blown away by how large, detailed & amazing the kit is. I however am a generation of the 1701-A version & was sad to see that the shuttlebay for that version was not included. After carfull consideration and much planning I decided to tackle this problem by building the shuttlebay from scratch, please keep in mind that this is my first attempt at scratch building & I send out my appreciation to all the people who gave me tips & tricks to help me with this project. 


The following are pictures of the pieces built up from sheet styrene before any paint had touched them plus a few test fits. By the way for anyone new to this, a cool trick I stumbled upon was using an oversized door hinge with files or sand paper to keep all the edges and corners straight and at right angles, something very important if dealing with small measurements.




























After I had hit this point in the project I stumbled upon difficulty with the roof and how i was gonna make it fit. After enjoying the summer with some camping & other activities I found my solution, some clear water bottles had just the right curvature for what I needed. Before I could get the roof done some sub-assembling was needed & before I could do that I needed to get some airbrushing outta the way. I am planning on lighting this thing so light blocking was needed as well










The windows of the control room I figured I would just make them black with a clear coat on top.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

The windows of the control room I wanted to stand out so thank to a tip from Rel, the guy who made that absolutely amazing Sovereign class Starship GK. He gave me a tip for useing Mr. Surfacer sprayed on in layers to build up the walls as to give depth to the control room windows.

This is a picture of the measurements for masking the windows.










The Windows getting masked.










The windows masked and ready for the airbrush.



















The next shots about were my progress is right now with a few layers of Mr. Surfacer



















My plan is to put 2 more layers on then sand it smooth to be ready for some airburshing with white paint. When I airbursh this piece I'll be airburshing all of the pieces & then finally I'll be able to do some sub-assembling. Painting should begin this weekend & I'll be sure to post some pictures when I have some more stuff to show. 

Any tips or suggestions from anyone out there would be very appreiciated since this is my very first scratch build project.

To the addmins. I really don't know how to size down the pictures so if thats a problem please let me know how to post future pictures as thumbnails.


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## Raist3001 (Oct 23, 2003)

Wow...that looks absolutely fantastic!!


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## zysurge (Sep 6, 2002)

Very nice!

After building up all those layers of paint, how do you unmask the windows without pulling paint off? Do you scribe around the masks?

Eric


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## BATBOB (Jul 14, 2003)

That does look great!


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## drewid142 (Apr 23, 2004)

TERRIFIC! Great work! Great work on cutting out those LITTLE window masks.


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## DL Matthys (May 8, 2004)

I like the big pictures of your scratchbuilding...one of the best series of "how to" pics ever presented here! Do carry on. Let one of the monitors fix it latter. :thumbsup: 

Don Matthys
dba Don's Light and Magic
http://www.dlmparts.com
[email protected]
Make it Glow!


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## The Trekmodeler (Jul 21, 2005)

That is so Awesome!


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## cinc2020 (May 10, 2004)

Terrific job!


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

That's great! Could you tell me more about how you built the control room shape(s)?


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Awesome! For your first scratch built job, you got it under control!


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

zysurge said:


> Very nice!
> 
> After building up all those layers of paint, how do you unmask the windows without pulling paint off? Do you scribe around the masks?
> 
> Eric


 That is something that I have been thinking about & is a concern for me but I am hoping that after I sand it down, the layer of paint on the masks will be very thin. With the use of a sharp #11 blade & a whole lot of patients I am really hoping that it will come out ok. I am also doing some practice techniques on some scrap styrene to see what method works best.

If anyone out there has a good technique to help this out I would really appreciate a response.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

justinleighty said:


> That's great! Could you tell me more about how you built the control room shape(s)?


First thing that I did & I am guessing that most scratch build projects require is lots & lots of research. I searched the net, asked around forums like this, Starship Modeler & Starship Builder. I found some CGI models of the shuttlebay And also I watched the Dvd STV with the remote in hand about 100 times. (If anyone needs referance material let me know) 

The actual control room I built up in 3 pieces first the base with its basic square "C" shape, second the walls using very thin clear plastic. The walls were first cut in one long strip at the right height, then I drafted out the proper angles & lengths that I planed to cut each of the pieces of wall. Third I cut out a larger square "C" shape for the roof carfuly sanding down the angle of the roof using a small wooden block to hold the sand paper & to keep everything straight and flat. I did have put some support on the interior of the control room to keep it from collapsing when I was constantly sanding it, I also used "super glue" to glue it all together since cement glue doesn't hold so well under pressure with such small thin plastic. After lots of priming & sanding I was then satisfied with the overall look, it was then ready for the next step that you can see at the beginning of this post.


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## [email protected] (Feb 1, 2001)

Can you please explain or illustrate the "door hinge technique" for keeping things square?

Beautiful work!

Tom


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

Thanks for the reply! I wasn't sure if you built walls or just found a really thick piece of some material for the middle of a "sandwich" type structure. The whole thing looks great.


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## Steve244 (Jul 22, 2001)

Excellent work and photography. Please keep posting!


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## Krako (Jun 6, 2003)

Very cool stuff! More pics!!!!


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

It's seems life is much like scratch building, full of trial & error. This weekend I tried to remove the masking for the windows & was sadly dissapointed how the results turned out. Even after sanding the Mr. Surfacer down to the masking as to limit the chance that some of the Mr. Surfacer might lift, it still didn't help with some of the windows.










I have already begun a diffrent method that I came up with while thinking of ways to possibly fix the surfacer windows. I am going to cut windows out of pre-cut layers of very thin styrene that fits exactly to the control room walls. After that I can just spray them white then attach them after all the painting is done leaving very little maintenece like sanding to be done. After thinking about this I figured it will acually be easyer & the end result will look much better.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

[email protected] said:


> Can you please explain or illustrate the "door hinge technique" for keeping things square?
> 
> Beautiful work!
> 
> Tom


After scribing the lines that I need leaving about 1 mm for error, I would then cut them to the appropriate shape. Once I got the shape I want I just need to insert the piece of styrene or whatever plastic is to be used into the hinge and sand to the exact messurements I required. 










The hinge will keep everything straight and at right angles plus if the hinge is metal you can use a dremol to make the sanding faster without sanding out too much


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## zysurge (Sep 6, 2002)

Mr. Canoehead said:


> The hinge will keep everything straight and at right angles plus if the hinge is metal you can use a dremol to make the sanding faster without sanding out too much


OMG, that's frakkin brilliant! How come I've never heard of this before?!? That would have come in so handy on the bash I'm currently doing.

Have to pick up some hinges at the next flea market I go to.

Eric


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Well it's been a while since I've been able to post anything new about this project but the coming of winter does have its advantages. Since my last post I've been able to pursue the idea of cutting out the windows from pre-cut styrene and so far I think things have turned out great. After pre-cutting the pieces I then proceeded to mask and cut the "tiny" windows out, good thing I have a steady hand.










I used the "hinge" technique to keep the windows straight and parallel with each other, I was satisfied with the results.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

After pre-painting the pieces I was ready to attach them to the control room I had repaired since the last problem I had. Keep in mind the control room still need to be sanded and the whole thing painted still but I couldn't resist uploading some pictures... what do ya think?



















there is a couple of gaps that need filling but the overall look is finally starting to come together. Now I can start making some real progress on this part of my 1701-A... 

Stay tuned for more updates


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## John Duncan (Jan 27, 2001)

WOW! Amazing.


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## drewid142 (Apr 23, 2004)

WOW just about says it all!

WOW WOW WOW


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## Raist3001 (Oct 23, 2003)

Absolutely amazing. Can't wait to see this finished.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Am impressed with your work.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Well I finally got the control room the way I like it, this part being probably one of the most frusterating pieces I've had to work on. Looking at it through the lens of my digi-camera really makes it look bigger than it is.










Here's a couple of close-up shots of the windows...

















At this point I wanted to see how it would look with the walls added, check it out








More to come soon!!


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## jheilman (Aug 30, 2001)

This is outstanding work and I've so glad you've shared this. 

Some day when I ever get around to building mine, there will be such of wealth of tips, tricks, scratchbuild ideas, etc. that I will have more options than I know what to do with. Not that there's anything wrong with that.


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## FishDS9 (Jan 3, 2006)

:thumbsup: 

Nice work!!


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Amazingly, amazing!


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Whoa.  

Sweet work, dude!


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## Raist3001 (Oct 23, 2003)

Mr. Canoehead said:


> (If anyone needs referance material let me know)




Mr. Canoehead, I would love to see your reference material. Could you please contact me?


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## Guest (May 10, 2007)

Outstanding and then some :thumbsup: 
I do belive a quality piece all over will come outta all this effort, nicely done !

Go easy


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## Nova Designs (Oct 10, 2000)

I'm diggin it!!! :thumbsup:


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## The Trekmodeler (Jul 21, 2005)

Beautiful!


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## lizzybus (Jun 18, 2005)

The sharpness and clarity of detail.....awesome!

Astounding work there...

Rich


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Hey thanx for the complements guys, its acually been a while since I've put any work into the shuttlebay due to another project I've started; I never really see a whole lot of Klingon BOP on these forums... After seeing this thread again it's inspired me to start it up again. 

As far as reference material goes I'll post what I got for ya when I get home from work.


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## fokkerpilot (Jul 22, 2002)

5 stars for that one! Kudos


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## Raist3001 (Oct 23, 2003)

Mr. Canoehead said:


> As far as reference material goes I'll post what I got for ya when I get home from work.



Thanks Mr Canoehead. I really love what you have done and I am looking forward to seeing your reference material. I'd like to talk to you if that's all right. Could you please contact me either thru PM or email?


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Tight. Very tight. Great pics, too! :thumbsup:


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Raist3001 said:


> Thanks Mr Canoehead. I really love what you have done and I am looking forward to seeing your reference material. I'd like to talk to you if that's all right. Could you please contact me either thru PM or email?



I got home ready to throw what referance I got out there for everyone when I relized that I lost all my referance pics including some pics of other models I am working on when my hard drive crashed on me  The good thing is that the references I had were easy to get. If anyone finds these sites or pics please post since I am stuck doing anything more with this build till I get my reference stuff back...

-I remember a website that had alot of interior pics of the Refit-A, I was planing on using the interior pics of the rec dec on that site for reference as well

-Another site I found had some good pics from ST V

-Finally there is another popular website that hosts pics of other completed ST & other Sci-Fi models (CultTVMan.com I think), there I found some hanger blue-prints of the Refit-A 


Aside from those pics alot of what I used I had to make myself to allow it to have the right fit into the actuall model. If your intrested in those drawings I made I'll be happy to show what I got but it would take some time to post those drawings since I would have to scan them onto my computer.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Another point for anyone out there planing on doing a build like mine or an original one for that matter is that in all my searches for reference I never did find anything with pics of the hanger bay roof, with the exception of a certain Asian fellow out there who made up some CGI pics of the hanger, those pics I think were a guess on his part as-well.


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## Raist3001 (Oct 23, 2003)

Mr. Canoehead said:


> If your intrested in those drawings I made I'll be happy to show what I got but it would take some time to post those drawings since I would have to scan them onto my computer.


Sorry to hear of your HDD crash. I would love to see your drawings. I am attempting to scratch build a bay of my own and would love to see what you have 

You did a fantastic job on the bay.


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## fiercegaming (Jul 21, 2004)

Nice work, wow I think you really nailed it man


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

I had a request for some referance & info on the control room so I decided to take a couple of shots of the back of it as to show the structure of it, hope this helps.


















Between Moving and another project that I am working on I haven't put much time into finishing this but after looking at some of these pictures again and playing many games of Legacy for Xbox I must say the itch is comming back.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Well I'm back onto the Shuttlebay project, infact I have made a little more progress but I need some opinions from the ST Canon police out there. I got the walls all ready to have that grey accent painted on them but I am unsure as to the shade I should use. I compared a few greys like Dark Gull Grey, Ghost Grey but it's always good to ask around before throwing down the actual paint job, so anyone got some ideas as far as the shade of grey to use?

Here's a pic from the movie


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## marc111 (Nov 10, 2005)

I would be a little wary of the lighting in your shot making the grays look darker than they are. Take a look at the screen cap from outside the shuutlebay with the doors partially open there things are brighter lit and the walls look like an off white on the top and a very light gray for the lower area.

A thought,
Mark


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

The top of the walls do match the color of the shuttle crafts which do happen to be white but your right Marc the lighting does throw it off. I was hoping that someone out there had some experience with this painting the shuttlebay.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Acually I got an idea, to keep things uniform what is the grey used on the ring just below the bridge?


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Will this help?


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Yes that is awsome! I tryed freeze framing the shuttlebay scenes and I did come across a few good ones but I never came across this one you have posted. Thanx a million Lloyd


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Your welcome! I forgot to mention, that the photo was put through my photo program, to auto fix it.


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## Bay7 (Nov 8, 1999)

Am I the only one who thinks the trek 5 shuttle bay, is a little too busy?


I like the design, there just too much stuff in there.

Could you imagine the 'money no object' version that could have had a shuttle crashing through the motion picture shuttle bay and into the cargo area?

Mike


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

I have been tossing the idea around of making this model almost like a diorama were the Enterprise has been bang up a bit and they are in the middle of repairs. It would involve some work bees in the shuttlebay and on the damaged area of the hull, add in some L'arsanal figures doing some space walks as well. It would definately be original and put the model into scale.


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## DL Matthys (May 8, 2004)

You mean a dioramma kinda looking like this?

http://www.dlmparts.com/images/478_HA05_Assm-test.jpg


DLM


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Don, that is one of the photo, that helped me to decide, to buy the kit.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Pendragon did indeed make a great shuttlebay, he made that one about the same time I started mine and I do want to finish mine. the Diorama I had in mind would involve the whole ship with certain areas around the ship exposed by damage so you could see bits of the interior. I thought having a few work bees and a few figures working on the repairs would look pretty cool. So expect some orders for acurate parts from me in the not to distant future DL Matthys.


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## DL Matthys (May 8, 2004)

I have been following the thread with interest. I have no problems with a lot of builders options to build and modify as they wish. But do not pass up the chance to build it at least once.. all ship shape and in Bristal fashion. The Polar Lights refit in pristine condition and the pride of StarFleet (ie cannon) :thumbsup:


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## smercs32118 (May 27, 2006)

*DLM Shuttle Bay Rocks!*

That Shuttle Bay kit really added a lot of zing to my PL build, excellent kit and a joy to light up and detail. Created a little "diorama" in there, very cool! I strongly advise it over the PL supplied version.


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## Vaderman (Nov 2, 2002)

Great scratch build. It is giving me all kinds of ideas on hoe to redo my 1/350 TOS shuttlebay. 

Scott


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

The only crappy thing is the lack of referance so there is ALOT of trial and error involved, I have had to repaint the walls a couple of times since the choice of grey I used to accent the walls was a bit too dark. I think I got the right mixture figured out now though so expect some updated pics very soon...


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Well its definitely been a while since I have shown any progress on this project but after looking back on the work up to this point it got me wanting to tackle a bit more on this. Gees this is becoming a kit in itself, I'm almost forgeting that this is only a small part of a much larger kit. This may not look like much progress but believe me when there is little to no real color reference alot of trial and error go into picking the right colors, but I think I got them pretty much figured out now.... so far 










I still need a little cleaning up of the edges and the window and the red stripe need to be added as well but it's progress none the less. As far as my choice of color what do ya think?


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## Vaderman (Nov 2, 2002)

This is incredible work! :thumbsup: Seeing this thread inspired me to totally renegineer the 1/350th TOS shuttlebay I have been working on. Thanks for sharing and I can't wait to see the final results.

Scott


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## zysurge (Sep 6, 2002)

Looks fantastic!


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

I picked up the task on this again and got the walls all finished up but I thought I'd show the concept I did for the floor, it was actually more of an experiment that I think turned out ok.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Here's a progress shot for were I am right now, I got my first light test by the end of the week.


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## Captain Chaos (Jun 17, 2005)

First off: RESPECT! :thumbsup: 
I am totally stunned by the level of detail you put into this shuttlebay. Everything looks just perfect! 

Except one thing (imho): The floor. I think you put a lot of time and work and creativity into this to achieve a kind of aztec effect. I think it really is a cool idea, but I just don't like how it looks in the end. Frankly, to me it looks like some kind of white and blue carpet. 
Please don't feel offended - just a matter of personal taste and like I said: Really great job on the hole thing! I could never do this...

Frank


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## Xenon (Nov 2, 2007)

Agreed with Capt Chaos, full respect and this is absolutely phenomenal work.

For the floor, have you though of perhaps introducing a third, medium shade of grey in a semi-matte finish, instead of the aztec pattern (which actually kind of _does_ look like industrial carpeting ... )? With what you've got going on now with the pattern, you might run the risk of your floor markings and raised details kind of getting lost in the pattern.

I don't mean to sound hyper-critical, by any means, I think this is beautiful work; I'm just looking at it from the PoV of if I was building it and thinking a few steps ahead. 

Cheers,
Phil

PS: By the way, I *love* the red chevron markings on your walls, that's a really great touch.


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

I think the paneling effect may be compromised by the surface texture. I like the patterning and the visual effect of floor plates but the the graininess of the surface seems to be diluting the effect some.

Do you have some screen caps from STV to compare with?


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

I'll reserve judgement on the floor until you have the markings and the landing strips down. You might want to tone the pattern down a tad before putting the strips and markings down, but I like the concept. And the rest looks awesome, of course.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

I do appreciate any comments on this no matter how critical, and I too have look at the floor and thought that there is to much blue and that it is too grainy probably due to the scale. The floor was more of a chance to see how these paints work and look when layered in this fashion. Looking at the screen grabs I captured it looks like a layer of a light grey would complete this but I did want some diffrent opinions on this.


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

*DAAAANG!!*  :thumbsup:


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## Xenon (Nov 2, 2007)

Hmmm. If I had to guess, the sound stage flooring was polished concrete (which is actually a *really* great interior design feature in a room if you like modern ID). Polished concrete – more often than not – does have a speckled texture under the polishing.

That said, why not keep the speckled texturing, lose the aztecking, then apply a couple of coats of thinned light grey semi-gloss for the surface, to both lighten it up a bit and to give it that nice finished look? I think you'd achieve a very similar finish to this, while still being able to retain the other details (floor markings, raised details, _et cetera_), as well as the underlying speckled texutre. It might just be the middle-of-the-road solution you need for this trully spectacular piece you're building.

Just my thoughts.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Just sprayed a light layer of a semi gloss white mixed with a bit o sky grey generously thinning the paint. looking at it now I think I got the look I wanted it to have, it just needs a layer of gloss top coat and it should be done. the pictures of just the floor aint much to look at so I'll post some pics tomorow after I get a gloss coat applyed. Thanx for the criticism guys, a cracking of the criticism whip is always good to keep the builds off the beaten track.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Xenon said:


> Why not keep the speckled texturing, lose the aztecking, then apply a couple of coats of thinned light grey semi-gloss for the surface, to both lighten it up a bit and to give it that nice finished look? I think you'd achieve a very similar finish to this, while still being able to retain the other details (floor markings, raised details, _et cetera_), as well as the underlying speckled texutre. It might just be the middle-of-the-road solution you need for this trully spectacular piece you're building.
> 
> Just my thoughts.



I think you and I are on the same page Xenon, thats exacly what I am going for. I didn't want such a heavy contrast for the aztecking/plating but I didn't want just one monotone color, I did want it broken up a bit.

On a side note, I now know what to expect when I start with pearl painting, initialy the heavy blue I started with was supposed to be a very very light blue. I could probably start another whole thread of the mistakes made durring this build.


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## Xenon (Nov 2, 2007)

Mr. Canoehead said:


> I think you and I are on the same page Xenon, thats exacly what I am going for. I didn't want such a heavy contrast for the aztecking/plating but I didn't want just one monotone color, I did want it broken up a bit.


I think so; I really can't wait to see your pics tomorrow of the result; I might just incorporate the method into my own build – if you're happy with the result – when I grab my kit, though I'll be keeping the TMP bay.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Ok I got the look I like now, check it out

















Good thing is the floor turned out good however my plan for lighting this thing didn't work like I had hoped, turns out EL wire isn't as bright as I thought so I guess I'll be trying the LED route.

On to the next task; getting the arches that support the roof, and ofcourse the roof itself-which I have no idea how I'm gonna make...Also, anyone out there got any tips on getting some custom decals for the floor?


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## lizzybus (Jun 18, 2005)

Fantastically neat and precise! I too tried EL wire for my warp engines.....i changed to LED's too.

As for decals, wouldn't Don from DLM be able to sell you just a set of 1701-A shuttle bay floor decals?

Very nice modelling sir!

Rich


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## Raist3001 (Oct 23, 2003)

Absolutely amazing work. Very inspirational.


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## Xenon (Nov 2, 2007)

Oh man, that's really beautiful ...


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

The floor turned out perfect! :thumbsup:


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## DL Matthys (May 8, 2004)

PerfesserCoffee said:


> The floor turned out perfect! :thumbsup:


Yep a good rendering of the cement floor of the Paramount sound stage. Initailly I had my doubts with the first few pictures of the painted floor...Now this looks well done!
:thumbsup: 

DLM


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## Nova Designs (Oct 10, 2000)

Now that floor looks excellent!


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

Mr. Canoehead said:


> Also, anyone out there got any tips on getting some custom decals for the floor?


Shoot me an e-mail ([email protected]) with the dimensions of your floor and I'll get you set up. I made a copy for my own conversion of the PL kit floor to this version.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Here's the plans of what I've got so far, hope this helps

All measurements are in milimeters
Floor/Walls
Control Room


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## Vaderman (Nov 2, 2002)

Thanks for sharing your plans.

Scott


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

Mr. Canoehead said:


> Here's the plans of what I've got so far, hope this helps
> 
> All measurements are in milimeters
> Floor/Walls
> Control Room


Looks good. Send me your address via e-mail and I'll get the decal to you. (Did you get my reply to your first e-mail message?)


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## Raist3001 (Oct 23, 2003)

Awesome 

Thank you for sharing this.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

justinleighty said:


> Looks good. Send me your address via e-mail and I'll get the decal to you. (Did you get my reply to your first e-mail message?)


Thanx for your help Justin and no I didn't get your e-mail reply but if ya wanna send it my way again that be great. 

Hrmm. for some reason my E-Mail link here in hobby talk doesn't work so 

[email protected]


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Raist3001 said:


> Awesome
> 
> Thank you for sharing this.


Hope they answer your questions...


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

Well I now got the supplies I need to continue this build but I am having trouble with something that mabey a few of you can help with. I found some proper sized EL wire for the blue neon but I am unsure of what kind of adhesive I should use to attach the EL wire the the walls of my bay. I tryed some CA cement on a small piece of scrap and nothing, I also tryed the liquid stuff with no good results either. I am tempted to used some good ol' fashioned crazy glue but I am afraid that it may melt through the wire. I already got a technique down to keep the wire perfectly straight I just can't get the stuff to stick.

I didn't wanna post anything on this untill I had made some progress but I am kinda unsure at this point so I figured I'd ask for some help, guess this post helps keep this thread alive too.


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## 1711rob (Mar 15, 2006)

Try a wal mart cheap hot glue gun.... that's what i've used in the 2 builds with Trek Modelers Light. works pretty good.


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## justinleighty (Jan 13, 2003)

If your technique for getting it straight would allow it to stay in place for a long time, you could try either regular white glue or some clear epoxy. You could put the glue down and put the EL wire in place, then tape it in place until the glue of choice sets.


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## Mr. Canoehead (Jun 12, 2006)

What I'm planning is to 'sandwich' the EL wire between the top and bottom halves then apply the glue; I think I'm gonna try White glue since it doesn't get hot. then once thats done I push the EL wire down with a 1.5 mm rod cut to the legth of the side of the bay. To keep the walls safe from any harm I will put some masking on them. 

I got a rather cool idea for the runway lights that I think will turn out pretty cool, I'll be using the decal I got from justinleighty as a guide were to cut the spot for the lighting.... 

I am getting excited to see this lit, I can feel the obsesive drive setting in, hope the girlfriend will understand


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