Studio Half Scale TOS Enterprise Scratch build

SteveNeill

Bondo you made me laugh. Bondo has it's uses. But not for finishing work but rather bulk shaping. I've used it plenty in the past. And thanks for the kind words.

I'm glad you find all that stuff I've done useful and inspiring. Plenty of artists in the past did the same for me and here I am. You are. So go forth and build your dreams and enjoy the satisfaction of doing the work. I am happy to contribute to it.

As for the cloth as was wondering when someone would ask that question. It's a good one. soft weave 4 oz. one layer.

Today I made another tool that will allow me to scribe the indentations circles on the lower half of the saucer as well as other possible scribing of panels. May or not do that as the original only had them painted on. I made a reverse template to check the contours.

Then I sanded down and trimmed the fiber glass. Started the filling with Evercoat and lightly sanded it. It still needs more sanding of course and a bit more filling but shes round, even, level and I can now see this will work very well. Easy to point up. Tomorrow I'll finish off the top and the rim. Maybe get some primer on it.

More tomorrow,

Steve

Ghostsoldier

Steve...'scuze my ignorance of the tech aspects of the Big E, but are those scribed lines supposed to be part of the deflector shields grid (I've always thought so), or weld lines for the skin panels? If the former, I can see them as concave, but if the latter, I can see them as being convex.

I'm familiar with the 'debate' of having the lines, but I'm of the school that they should be shown in a diminished state, or 'lightly scribed', i.e., penciled ('studio lighting washout effect' aside).

I personally see them as canon, although not as noticeable as they have been shown on the refurbished original 11-footer at the Smith. I seem to recall my old AMT Enterprise model kit as having them on the top and bottom of the saucer...I don't know if that's considered 'accurate' today, but I thought they looked cool!

Rob

SteveNeill

I have very detailed restoration photos of the old girl and those three rings are concave. And yes the rest of the panel are pencil. But I reach a point with all this where I take artist liberties of sorts. The original had white plex windows back lite and others painted out with black paint. Looks fine on the old D1 720x486 blurry TVs we had back them but not so good in person. And that's how this model will be seen by those that own it.

I don't know about other builders of my kit but I plan to make them transparent real windows just like the refit and the remastered. It's really up to the builder. The hull could be scribed by the builder. Additional details added from the remastered TOS if wanted.

What I'll provide is an original canvas if you will from which one can build a faithful copy of the original 11 footer or detailed as or realistic model.

I don't know what happened to the Smithsonian model but that paint job they gave it is so wrong it grates on me. If you look at the original before restoration it will be clear to you they didn't.

This link will show you what I mean. TOS 11 Foot USS ENTERPRISE 1701 Studio Model Restoration

Thanks Rob for your input,

Steve

trekriffic

Thank you for posting your progress on this excellent build of yours Steve. One thing I noticed in looking at the restoration pics in the link you posted is the back of the connecting dorsal. It appears to be flat at the base becoming gradually more rounded as you near the underside of the saucer. Is that your take on it? I had always thought of it as being rounded top to bottom.

feek61

Looking great Steve and your speed astounds me!!! It takes me a month to get primer on, lol. As always I look forward to your progress!!!

SteveNeill

Steve that is my take and yes I caught that too. After working for the studios for years I can tell you what the camera doesn't see the film maker gets away with. It was certainly that way back then not unless Stanley Kubrick was directing. We always heard that expression, "good enough for camera." But I plan to correct these little things. I don't think they were meant. This could also be the way the neck was blended into the engineering hull.

No speed here Feek, I'm really dragging on this one because I have a movie I'm finishing up and a couple of other projects to boot. But thanks very much just the same.

Steve

SteveNeill

This is a slow process. And this is why I made the saucer section first. It's the hardest and biggest part of the ship. Get it over with. It goes faster after this. Well sort of.
So I sanded the first layer of of finishing glaze and then filled in the indentations again. Sanded those down. Using Bondo spot putty I filled all the smaller stuff.
Then I sanded that down and put a coat of primer on the surface to bring out more clearly the flaws, scratches and dings. You can jsut see them better when the surface is all the same color.
Lastly for today fill the flaws with another round of spot putty. This will be done several times. Putty, sand, primer. Check again. Run your hand over the surface, check for irregularities and do it again. After several passes it will get even and smooth. It's already close.
Tomorrow I'll do the rim and bottom of the saucer. This is messy stuff. Wear and particle mask and dust yourself off with compressed air. Clean as you go or become lost.
Steve

Shizman

I'm loving watching this come together. Thanks for taking the time to show us your techniques and stopping to answer questions so clearly. It's so inspiring to watch a master at work with the passion that you do.

Is this a one time model for yourself or do you plan on kitting this? From the way you're talking, it sounds like the latter.

Great job so far!

SteveNeill

Thanks so much Shizman. I will be kitting it and building finished models for collectors both.

Steve

crackerjazz

You are one very methodical master at work. We are all learning as you progress on this project, thanks for that.

IEDBOUNTYHUNTER

Reminds me of doing body work when i was younger. Looks great.



Al

PHArchivist

This is truly a fun project to watch!

SteveNeill

Thanks Guys. For me I'm hoping to get beyond the event horizon of boring. With any luck I'll have the whole thing pointed up by tomorrow and I can move on to the bridge structure, impulse engines and other details. Scribing the window locations. Thanks for all the kind words and most importantly the encouraging support!

Steve

SteveNeill

How about some more filling and sanding? Well you're going to see plenty and I look like I've been in a sand storm. But the bottom of the saucer is coming along nicely. Got the raw fiber glass sanded down and those thick rubber sanding blocks are a must! They give you the power to sand it down quickly without a visit to the hospital. They are flat on one side and round on the other. Life saving.

Got a nice coat of Evercoat on the surface and rough sanded it down. That powered stuff you see is the dust I have blasted off yet. But you can see it's shaping up. I've used 33 dollars of Evercoat on this side but if I had used Bondo my arm would be falling off by now.

More later on. I'm hoping to get it nearly all pointed up tonight.

We'll see...

Steve

SteveNeill

Did a second pass with the finishing glaze and sanded again. Filled the smaller stuff and scratches with spot putty.

Tomorrow I'll sand it all smooth and primer it. The rest of the day will be spent preening and making the sharp saucer edge even.

Next? Let build the bridge.

More tomorrow,

Steve

Shizman

Lots of work. Sanding and resanding can a morale killer, but we're here to cheer you on!

I'm jumping ahead a little, but I've been wondering how you're going to make copies of the saucer parts when you complete the master. Are you thinking vacuum forming or casting?

Szyntax

This is a great build though all I can think of is "My wife would kill me..."

Ghostsoldier

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.....TOS Pizza!

Rob

SteveNeill

Lucky for me my wife loves Star Trek like and an Pizza!! So no worries here.
And thank you kindly for the cheering on. You can't imagine how much it helps me.

I've talked about it before but that was a few pages back. The molds will all be GI 1000 silicone RTV and the mother molds that support the RTV, glass epoxy. I will be making the hulls out of epoxy and glass. All molds will be open faced. All in two parts. The builder will have to join the halves together after the lights have been put in. All the smaller parts, bridge, impulse engine, coolers, will Alumilite resin. Domes and warp engine domes vacuum form. This will be very similar to the Custom Replicas TOS model in construction.

This is half the reason I started this project. I wanted to get their model but missed the boat as they are no longer available. But building your own from scratch for me is half the fun and pleasure.

Steve

Shizman

Sorry if you mentioned it before. I should have caught that since I've been following this from the start.

This is going to be so awesome and already is and it's still early! I never used to like this ship to be honest, but then I saw many builds of it and then I started to gain interest and then it became an obsession. I'm glad you're building this and making it available.

SteveNeill

Thanks Shizman,

Steve

Sith_241

that thing will be a monster.

Looks good.

SteveNeill

Thanks Sith I like big models. Not that I don't like all models but personal preference is for the large. If this all goes well I plan a 1/4 scale Galileo Shuttle craft.

Steve

feek61

Ok, as interested in this thread as I am; am I to understanding that you are going to build a quarter scale Galileo from the full size set piece or from the studio miniature? I built a SS Galileo a few years ago and not a day goes by that I don't look at it and thank God I did it but to have a bigger one would be unbelievable!!!!!!

As I say in every post here; this is looking great Steve!

Effingham

Steve, you are my new hero. This is absolutely outstanding.

It's also educational as hell for a relative beginner in the "big boy" modeling world such as I. Many thanks for taking the time to tell us (and show us) how you do this.