Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build - FINISHED! Page 3
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Right! A few small updates from over the last few days. I'm trying to do a little bit each day to keep the project moving, but we have the Edinburgh Fringe festival just kicking off over here and the temptations of stand-up comedy and beer are... tempting.
I've been working on the Bussard rotors from the ParaGrafix set, and thinking about how to mount them to motors. The brass parts are quite complicated to build, and I mounted them on 2mm OD brass tube so that I can motorise them later. That meant that I had to drill out the 1.6mm holes in the centre of each part and to fit the 2mm tube, and unfortunately the drill caught a few times which made a bit of a mess. I think I got away with it though. One painted black, and one in its raw brass form below:
Unfortunately, the motors I ordered were too low powered, with a much too high nominal speed to handle PWM control down to the speeds I need for the Bussards. I have some new motors with miniature gearboxes on the way.
In other news, back to electronics! I built a small light box from styrene for the LEDs behind the impulse engines. The idea was to both isolate the red light from polluting the rest of the internal lighting, and to bounce it around in a nice white reflective surface to get a more uniform glow. The 5mm red LEDs have also been scuffed up with sandpaper to diffuse the light more - they were the very focussed clear package type:
A quick coat of black paint for light-blocking:
and a piece of clear plastic sanded with 400 grit to make it diffuse between the light-box and the impulse grills, and we get this:
I do love that ParaGrafix grill...
I've programmed the impulse lights to pulse along a sine curve, and can set the maximum and minimum brightnesses of the pulse in the code, so it can look quite subtle. Possibly a bit too subtle for this (terrible) video, but see what you think...
I've also been experimenting with using clear canopy glue to glaze the windows along the spine on the back of the saucer section, but it looked terrible (full of bubbles and not smooth at all), so I had to scrape it all back out again. Back to the drawing board on that one. Bright ideas gratefully received!
Cheers,
Hugh
Right! A few small updates from over the last few days. I'm trying to do a little bit each day to keep the project moving, but we have the Edinburgh Fringe festival just kicking off over here and the temptations of stand-up comedy and beer are... tempting.
I've been working on the Bussard rotors from the ParaGrafix set, and thinking about how to mount them to motors. The brass parts are quite complicated to build, and I mounted them on 2mm OD brass tube so that I can motorise them later. That meant that I had to drill out the 1.6mm holes in the centre of each part and to fit the 2mm tube, and unfortunately the drill caught a few times which made a bit of a mess. I think I got away with it though. One painted black, and one in its raw brass form below:
Unfortunately, the motors I ordered were too low powered, with a much too high nominal speed to handle PWM control down to the speeds I need for the Bussards. I have some new motors with miniature gearboxes on the way.
In other news, back to electronics! I built a small light box from styrene for the LEDs behind the impulse engines. The idea was to both isolate the red light from polluting the rest of the internal lighting, and to bounce it around in a nice white reflective surface to get a more uniform glow. The 5mm red LEDs have also been scuffed up with sandpaper to diffuse the light more - they were the very focussed clear package type:
A quick coat of black paint for light-blocking:
and a piece of clear plastic sanded with 400 grit to make it diffuse between the light-box and the impulse grills, and we get this:
I do love that ParaGrafix grill...
I've programmed the impulse lights to pulse along a sine curve, and can set the maximum and minimum brightnesses of the pulse in the code, so it can look quite subtle. Possibly a bit too subtle for this (terrible) video, but see what you think...
I've also been experimenting with using clear canopy glue to glaze the windows along the spine on the back of the saucer section, but it looked terrible (full of bubbles and not smooth at all), so I had to scrape it all back out again. Back to the drawing board on that one. Bright ideas gratefully received!
Cheers,
Hugh
Last edited by a moderator:
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Brilliant news! I got two identical 80rpm miniature geared motors delivered from a seller on that website that begins with A, and one of them runs at twice the speed of the other one. I am filled with a deep and existential rage. I'm not sure what the solution to this is, but needed to vent briefly...
Brilliant news! I got two identical 80rpm miniature geared motors delivered from a seller on that website that begins with A, and one of them runs at twice the speed of the other one. I am filled with a deep and existential rage. I'm not sure what the solution to this is, but needed to vent briefly...
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Hi all, apologies for the radio silence for the last couple of weeks, it's been a bit busy what with the Edinburgh festival etc. However, I have made a small amount of progress.
First, I've assembed the ParaGrafix bridge insert, painted it (quite simply, no one's going to be able to see it after all), and attached it to the bridge windows. Clear sheet has been painted with Tamiya clear blue for the "screens":
The rest of my work has really been on the spine piece. Once I got some primer on it I noticed that the grill on this part in my kit is damaged. I've already done quite a lot of work to this piece and I didn't fancy doing it again, so I'm attempting a repair with some 0.25mm strip styrene stuck into the holes side-on:
There's a bit more refinement needed here but I think it'll be OK.
Finally, more lighting. I think, by this stage, I only have 4 more SMD LEDs to solder (for the pylon floodlights). If I never have to do another one again it'll be too soon (said he, whilst planning to use the leftovers on a Boeing 747 model).
Saucer underside balancing on industry standard Tin Of Primer (tm):
The warm white spotlight you can see there is actually embedded in a 1mm hole, and is there to provide the floodlight down the dorsal of the ship. On the CG model, the source for this light is not visible. It's flaring into the camera here, but is actually a very tiny point source and should disappear once I've got paint on there.
New windows on the spine filled with clear epoxy and polished down to window frame level. Light misting of white on the inside for a bit of diffusion and a piece of Colour Temperature Blue photographic lighting gel underneath to cool down the warm white LED strip I'm using for interior lighting:
Finally, one final full-frontal saucer shot...
One frustration that I have is that the warm white SMDs are significantly warmer than the warm white strip I'm using for the interior, and really have too much of a contrast. It wouldn't be too much of a problem but I've mounted one inside to light the Paragrafix brass etch bridge, which otherwise would be much darker than the left and right bridge windows. I might experiment with more photographic gels to colour correct that a bit, but the ones on the saucer top will have to stay that warm, because frankly I am not cutting 10 SMDs off, resoldering onto cooler ones, redrilling all the holes, cleaning up the CA glue I've anchored them with on the underside, etc etc etc.
Anyway, that's all for now! A replacement motor has arrived for the Bussards, which appears to be roughly the same speed as at least one of the ones I already bought, so that's sorted. I may start working on the nacelles soon, but my priority is to get the saucer sealed up, and a solution for connecting up the internal wiring to the rest of the body sorted out.
Cheers,
Hugh
Hi all, apologies for the radio silence for the last couple of weeks, it's been a bit busy what with the Edinburgh festival etc. However, I have made a small amount of progress.
First, I've assembed the ParaGrafix bridge insert, painted it (quite simply, no one's going to be able to see it after all), and attached it to the bridge windows. Clear sheet has been painted with Tamiya clear blue for the "screens":
The rest of my work has really been on the spine piece. Once I got some primer on it I noticed that the grill on this part in my kit is damaged. I've already done quite a lot of work to this piece and I didn't fancy doing it again, so I'm attempting a repair with some 0.25mm strip styrene stuck into the holes side-on:
There's a bit more refinement needed here but I think it'll be OK.
Finally, more lighting. I think, by this stage, I only have 4 more SMD LEDs to solder (for the pylon floodlights). If I never have to do another one again it'll be too soon (said he, whilst planning to use the leftovers on a Boeing 747 model).
Saucer underside balancing on industry standard Tin Of Primer (tm):
The warm white spotlight you can see there is actually embedded in a 1mm hole, and is there to provide the floodlight down the dorsal of the ship. On the CG model, the source for this light is not visible. It's flaring into the camera here, but is actually a very tiny point source and should disappear once I've got paint on there.
New windows on the spine filled with clear epoxy and polished down to window frame level. Light misting of white on the inside for a bit of diffusion and a piece of Colour Temperature Blue photographic lighting gel underneath to cool down the warm white LED strip I'm using for interior lighting:
Finally, one final full-frontal saucer shot...
One frustration that I have is that the warm white SMDs are significantly warmer than the warm white strip I'm using for the interior, and really have too much of a contrast. It wouldn't be too much of a problem but I've mounted one inside to light the Paragrafix brass etch bridge, which otherwise would be much darker than the left and right bridge windows. I might experiment with more photographic gels to colour correct that a bit, but the ones on the saucer top will have to stay that warm, because frankly I am not cutting 10 SMDs off, resoldering onto cooler ones, redrilling all the holes, cleaning up the CA glue I've anchored them with on the underside, etc etc etc.
Anyway, that's all for now! A replacement motor has arrived for the Bussards, which appears to be roughly the same speed as at least one of the ones I already bought, so that's sorted. I may start working on the nacelles soon, but my priority is to get the saucer sealed up, and a solution for connecting up the internal wiring to the rest of the body sorted out.
Cheers,
Hugh
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HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Hi all,
Brief update: I've tied all the internal wiring for the saucer together to a central point at the connection to the neck, using 3-pin computer fan connectors so that I can hook it up when I come to final assembly (I'm planning to paint the saucer and the e-hull separately):
This has been epoxied to the sheet styrene support I fitted to mount the internal LED strip for the sensor dome, spine and bridge lights.
I've also bitten the bullet and sealed up the saucer - 5 minute epoxy for the internal mounting posts and standard styrene cement around the rim. This part of the kit goes together really well, and after leaving it clamped up overnight, it feels very solid. I sealed it up with all the lighting circuits (45 individual LEDs running on 9 circuits, plus strip lighting) connected to make sure everything was working before I passed the point of no return. Here are a few shots of the lit saucer:
There's quite a bit of filling and puttying to do now - I need to build little light mounts behind all the surface mount LEDs, and there is some cleanup on the spine, the impulse deck, and around the rim. After that, it's time for the mask/prime/fill/sand/prime/fill/sand game for a while!
Here's a little video walk-around, because, you know, shiny lights are shiny.
Hi all,
Brief update: I've tied all the internal wiring for the saucer together to a central point at the connection to the neck, using 3-pin computer fan connectors so that I can hook it up when I come to final assembly (I'm planning to paint the saucer and the e-hull separately):
This has been epoxied to the sheet styrene support I fitted to mount the internal LED strip for the sensor dome, spine and bridge lights.
I've also bitten the bullet and sealed up the saucer - 5 minute epoxy for the internal mounting posts and standard styrene cement around the rim. This part of the kit goes together really well, and after leaving it clamped up overnight, it feels very solid. I sealed it up with all the lighting circuits (45 individual LEDs running on 9 circuits, plus strip lighting) connected to make sure everything was working before I passed the point of no return. Here are a few shots of the lit saucer:
There's quite a bit of filling and puttying to do now - I need to build little light mounts behind all the surface mount LEDs, and there is some cleanup on the spine, the impulse deck, and around the rim. After that, it's time for the mask/prime/fill/sand/prime/fill/sand game for a while!
Here's a little video walk-around, because, you know, shiny lights are shiny.
Last edited by a moderator:
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Sorry for the long delay between updates - I've been travelling for work, and most of the work I've done on the Enterprise has been sanding, filling, masking windows, priming, sanding and filling the saucer, so nothing terribly interesting to report. The saucer is now in primer, but needs some more clean-up, mostly due to my clumsiness.
To take a bit of a break from that, I decided to paint the deflector dish. It appears to be copper coloured with blue "spokes", but when powered up entirely glows blue, apart from the central boss and mini-spokes.
In a mostly failed attempt to recreate this, I scuffed up the dish with a light sanding, gave a coat of Tamiya clear blue, and then light-blocked the boss and the back of the dish with white primer (to bounce light around the inside), followed by grey and then a coat of Tamiya copper. After this, I used Orbital Drydock's pre-cut kabuki tape masks to mask the spoke, and gave a light airbrushing of Tamiya copper over the main face of the dish.
I think the over-all effect is there, but it looks quite scrappy. It's OK when the lights are off, but the particulates in the copper paint are very visible when the dish is lit, and I'm not particularly happy about that. I'm not sure there's a lot I can do about it now though. Let me know what you think!
It's fine if I take my glasses off and look at it from the other side of the room though...
Sorry for the long delay between updates - I've been travelling for work, and most of the work I've done on the Enterprise has been sanding, filling, masking windows, priming, sanding and filling the saucer, so nothing terribly interesting to report. The saucer is now in primer, but needs some more clean-up, mostly due to my clumsiness.
To take a bit of a break from that, I decided to paint the deflector dish. It appears to be copper coloured with blue "spokes", but when powered up entirely glows blue, apart from the central boss and mini-spokes.
In a mostly failed attempt to recreate this, I scuffed up the dish with a light sanding, gave a coat of Tamiya clear blue, and then light-blocked the boss and the back of the dish with white primer (to bounce light around the inside), followed by grey and then a coat of Tamiya copper. After this, I used Orbital Drydock's pre-cut kabuki tape masks to mask the spoke, and gave a light airbrushing of Tamiya copper over the main face of the dish.
I think the over-all effect is there, but it looks quite scrappy. It's OK when the lights are off, but the particulates in the copper paint are very visible when the dish is lit, and I'm not particularly happy about that. I'm not sure there's a lot I can do about it now though. Let me know what you think!
It's fine if I take my glasses off and look at it from the other side of the room though...
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Apologies for the radio silence, progress has been slow, with lots of things cropping up that have had to take priority. I've been painting the saucer, using Orbital Drydock's excellent masking set, with a bit of extra texturing over the top for more hull plating. It's the first time I've ever attempted a paint job like this, so I started on the bottom of the saucer before doing the top! A shiny new Iwata airbrush helped - I went back and forth over whether I could justify it for a while but I'm very glad I did.
The layers are progressively lightened by going from the base grey, to a 25:75 grey:white mix, to a 50:50 mix, to a 75:25 mix, which was also used as a final blending coat. I may do a final 90% white blending coat, but from the blu-ray inspection I think it's actually greyer than a lot of people seem to paint it. I'm not at home so I can't remember exactly what paints I'm using, but I think it's the Tamiya medium ocean grey 2 (RAF). I can check when I get back if anyone's interested.
Here she is:
Anyway, onwards to the saucer top! There are also some dark rings and lines that I need to go back in and paint on the underside, before I get to the details.
Apologies for the radio silence, progress has been slow, with lots of things cropping up that have had to take priority. I've been painting the saucer, using Orbital Drydock's excellent masking set, with a bit of extra texturing over the top for more hull plating. It's the first time I've ever attempted a paint job like this, so I started on the bottom of the saucer before doing the top! A shiny new Iwata airbrush helped - I went back and forth over whether I could justify it for a while but I'm very glad I did.
The layers are progressively lightened by going from the base grey, to a 25:75 grey:white mix, to a 50:50 mix, to a 75:25 mix, which was also used as a final blending coat. I may do a final 90% white blending coat, but from the blu-ray inspection I think it's actually greyer than a lot of people seem to paint it. I'm not at home so I can't remember exactly what paints I'm using, but I think it's the Tamiya medium ocean grey 2 (RAF). I can check when I get back if anyone's interested.
Here she is:
Anyway, onwards to the saucer top! There are also some dark rings and lines that I need to go back in and paint on the underside, before I get to the details.
Orbital Drydock
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
That looks pretty friggin cool!!
I haven't seen anyone do a broken/textured aztec on the JJprise. Gotta say it really adds quite a bit to the look!
Kudos!!
That looks pretty friggin cool!!
I haven't seen anyone do a broken/textured aztec on the JJprise. Gotta say it really adds quite a bit to the look!
Kudos!!
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Thanks man! Let's wait until I'm actually finished before we start saying things like that though! Really appreciate you commenting, your masks make things SO much easier.
Thanks man! Let's wait until I'm actually finished before we start saying things like that though! Really appreciate you commenting, your masks make things SO much easier.
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Brief update from the weekend - disaster very nearly struck.
I had some final clean-up to do around the impulse deck and took the opportunity to make a couple of final mods to bring it more into line with the CG ship. I used Vallejo's plastic putty for the first time and I really like the fine nozzle for applying it exactly where you need it. However, the stuff takes an absolute AGE to dry, and doesn't adhere anywhere near as well as good old Squadron. It was still rubbery and completely unsandable 36 hours after application. I also tried the Vallejo polyurethane airbrushable primer, which also seems to dry very slowly, and to an almost rubbery consistency. It peeled off in large sheets even though surface contamination should not have been a problem, and sanding it was a complete non-starter. I was hoping to save some cash and use this nice 200ml bottle of Vallejo primer from now on, but I think I'm going to have to back to the Tamiya fine surface primer rattle cans at about £8 each.
Finally, as I was getting frustrated with paint, I managed to drop the saucer from the bench onto my compressor on the floor, where one of the cooling fins punched a neat 1" crack through the saucer top. Fortunately, I was able to get the cracked piece to sit back reasonably flush, and ran a bit of extra thin cement into the crack. A bit of Squadron putty, a sand, a panel line rescribe and a prime (back to Tamiya!), and it's almost invisible. Once the aztec's on, it'll be invisible. I tested the electronics and everything seems to be working. No internal damage that I could see.
Lessons learned:
Don't experiment with new materials in the middle of a project that you've been working on for months.
Don't model when tired or hungry, that way frustration and damage lies.
Base colour to go on the saucer top tonight after work, and I reckon I'll feel a lot better once that's done. Then I can start having a lovely time with aztecing again.
Brief update from the weekend - disaster very nearly struck.
I had some final clean-up to do around the impulse deck and took the opportunity to make a couple of final mods to bring it more into line with the CG ship. I used Vallejo's plastic putty for the first time and I really like the fine nozzle for applying it exactly where you need it. However, the stuff takes an absolute AGE to dry, and doesn't adhere anywhere near as well as good old Squadron. It was still rubbery and completely unsandable 36 hours after application. I also tried the Vallejo polyurethane airbrushable primer, which also seems to dry very slowly, and to an almost rubbery consistency. It peeled off in large sheets even though surface contamination should not have been a problem, and sanding it was a complete non-starter. I was hoping to save some cash and use this nice 200ml bottle of Vallejo primer from now on, but I think I'm going to have to back to the Tamiya fine surface primer rattle cans at about £8 each.
Finally, as I was getting frustrated with paint, I managed to drop the saucer from the bench onto my compressor on the floor, where one of the cooling fins punched a neat 1" crack through the saucer top. Fortunately, I was able to get the cracked piece to sit back reasonably flush, and ran a bit of extra thin cement into the crack. A bit of Squadron putty, a sand, a panel line rescribe and a prime (back to Tamiya!), and it's almost invisible. Once the aztec's on, it'll be invisible. I tested the electronics and everything seems to be working. No internal damage that I could see.
Lessons learned:
Don't experiment with new materials in the middle of a project that you've been working on for months.
Don't model when tired or hungry, that way frustration and damage lies.
Base colour to go on the saucer top tonight after work, and I reckon I'll feel a lot better once that's done. Then I can start having a lovely time with aztecing again.
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Weekend update: Paint!
Nearly finished painting the saucer this week. There is some detail work to do on the RCS thrusters, lifeboats, phasers, and some tidying up to do on the Impulse deck and sensor bands, but I think I'm pretty close. Can't wait to get the window and LED masks off and light her up now that she's painted.
Next up, paint saucer details, coat of Klear, and registry decals!
Post aztec, pre texturing:
After texturing, blending coat, and some detailing:
Weekend update: Paint!
Nearly finished painting the saucer this week. There is some detail work to do on the RCS thrusters, lifeboats, phasers, and some tidying up to do on the Impulse deck and sensor bands, but I think I'm pretty close. Can't wait to get the window and LED masks off and light her up now that she's painted.
Next up, paint saucer details, coat of Klear, and registry decals!
Post aztec, pre texturing:
After texturing, blending coat, and some detailing:
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Monday night painting!
A few more details, the RCS thrusters, bridge, lifeboats, and the base black for the phasers is done. I think I need to outline the lifeboats somehow, they kinda disappear against the hull. I think on the ship there's a dark red border, so I need to have a think about how I'm going to do that.
The bridge was undercoated in Tamiya copper, then a band masked off in 0.5mm tape (from Jammydog), then overpainted with Tamiya Titanium Gold. It was a bit blingy, so I then misted over with the same grey/white mix used for the overall blending coat.
The whole thing is not as neat as I'd like, but I'm learning a lot of techniques here. There are a lot of firsts for me on this project. Won't be able to do any tonight, but I'll hopefully get the rest of the saucer finished by the end of the week (well, paint. Not decals. I'm still waiting on my aftermarket registry from PNT models. Which I ordered in July).
Cheers,
Hugh
Monday night painting!
A few more details, the RCS thrusters, bridge, lifeboats, and the base black for the phasers is done. I think I need to outline the lifeboats somehow, they kinda disappear against the hull. I think on the ship there's a dark red border, so I need to have a think about how I'm going to do that.
The bridge was undercoated in Tamiya copper, then a band masked off in 0.5mm tape (from Jammydog), then overpainted with Tamiya Titanium Gold. It was a bit blingy, so I then misted over with the same grey/white mix used for the overall blending coat.
The whole thing is not as neat as I'd like, but I'm learning a lot of techniques here. There are a lot of firsts for me on this project. Won't be able to do any tonight, but I'll hopefully get the rest of the saucer finished by the end of the week (well, paint. Not decals. I'm still waiting on my aftermarket registry from PNT models. Which I ordered in July).
Cheers,
Hugh
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portland182
Well-Known Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
This is really great work you are doing.
I love it!
Jim
This is really great work you are doing.
I love it!
Jim
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Thanks Jim, I really appreciate it. Like I said, this project has been a big learning curve for me, so it's really good to get feedback.
Well, no decals applied yet, and the unlit windows behind the bridge need to be painted with some gloss black, I think the saucer is finally close to being finished. It also needs a rub-down (I didn't notice how dusty it was until I shot these pictures), and then I'll give it a coat of Klear ready for decals. Final finish will be satin. I painted the dark red outline around the lifeboats by masking the interior using the left-over negatives from the Orbital Drydock set, and then masked around the outside leaving a small gap. Quite please with how it's worked out.
Pictures!
Pictures with lights on!
Incompetently shot cell-phone video for blinking strobes (featuring my finger in a starring role)!
Final work on the saucer should be done tomorrow (although I'm still waiting on aftermarket decals), and then it's back to lighting the engineering section and starting on the nacelles.
Cheers,
Hugh
Thanks Jim, I really appreciate it. Like I said, this project has been a big learning curve for me, so it's really good to get feedback.
Well, no decals applied yet, and the unlit windows behind the bridge need to be painted with some gloss black, I think the saucer is finally close to being finished. It also needs a rub-down (I didn't notice how dusty it was until I shot these pictures), and then I'll give it a coat of Klear ready for decals. Final finish will be satin. I painted the dark red outline around the lifeboats by masking the interior using the left-over negatives from the Orbital Drydock set, and then masked around the outside leaving a small gap. Quite please with how it's worked out.
Pictures!
Pictures with lights on!
Incompetently shot cell-phone video for blinking strobes (featuring my finger in a starring role)!
Final work on the saucer should be done tomorrow (although I'm still waiting on aftermarket decals), and then it's back to lighting the engineering section and starting on the nacelles.
Cheers,
Hugh
Last edited by a moderator:
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Thanks Thorst, much appreciated! I've got the clear gloss on now for the decals, so nearly there. What do you think for a final finish? I'm leaning towards satin.
Thanks Thorst, much appreciated! I've got the clear gloss on now for the decals, so nearly there. What do you think for a final finish? I'm leaning towards satin.
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
When I get finally back to mine I plan to do an azteked finish... 3 color layers: Color (azteked), iridescent clear (other aztek pattern), satin/matte (azteked, more like the 1st pattern). But that's just a plan... have to compare it to the CGI graphics again. Just think that only one finish is too monotoneous.
Cheers,
Thorsten
When I get finally back to mine I plan to do an azteked finish... 3 color layers: Color (azteked), iridescent clear (other aztek pattern), satin/matte (azteked, more like the 1st pattern). But that's just a plan... have to compare it to the CGI graphics again. Just think that only one finish is too monotoneous.
Cheers,
Thorsten
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
It would be nice to do another aztec layer just with different gloss levels to break it up a bit, but I've used up the masks! I need to have a think about this. I'll probably do a satin coat now and then revisit once the rest of the ship is finished to this level. I just put in another order to Orbital Drydock for his BSG Viper Mk II masks, I should have ordered some more JJprise ones while I was at it.
If I do the main hull satin, I'll pick out details like the thrusters and lifeboats in matt to differentiate them though I think.
It would be nice to do another aztec layer just with different gloss levels to break it up a bit, but I've used up the masks! I need to have a think about this. I'll probably do a satin coat now and then revisit once the rest of the ship is finished to this level. I just put in another order to Orbital Drydock for his BSG Viper Mk II masks, I should have ordered some more JJprise ones while I was at it.
If I do the main hull satin, I'll pick out details like the thrusters and lifeboats in matt to differentiate them though I think.
HughB
Active Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Hi all,
Some work has been progressing on the ship, but it's not been visually terribly exciting, so I haven't taken a lot of photos. Focus has really been on the engineering hull, but I did decal the saucer:
So, onto the engineering hull:
- Interior light-blocked
- Paragrafix parts fitted to the front sensor arrays
- Paragrafix part fitted to the shuttle bay - I'm doing the shuttle bay doors closed, so I only needed the very end of the paragrafix part and had to cut away the corresponding part on the shuttle bay doors. Sorry I don't have any photos of this process.
- 0.3mm holes drilled on either side of each airlock for 0.25mm optical fibre, to simulate airlock door lighting
- Mounting point for the stand and wiring cut out, and internal wiring loom and distribution board built:
- engineering hull sealed up (apart from the final pylon piece, so I can still fiddle about inside)
- Shuttlebay doors fitted with 1mm optical fibre on the sides, and 0.25mm for the top spotlights. Clear styrene (scuffed up with 320 sandpaper) fitted under the photoetch part to diffuse light. 0.25mm optical fibres bent at 90 degrees with a bit of gentle heat (very gentle, or else they just melt!) and inserted into holes drilled in the stern, for the rear registry floodlights. The bends will be covered with styrene or putty and the idea is to have small points of light flooding up the back. I'm not sure how well this will work, but we'll have a go. All the lighting around the shuttle bay area is running off one LED:
Finally, last night I got the stand connector wired up. You can sort of see the airlock lighting in this pic (the fibre optics need trimming). I really need to tidy up my workbench:
That's all for this time! I feel like I'm on the home stretch, although there's still a lot to do.
Hi all,
Some work has been progressing on the ship, but it's not been visually terribly exciting, so I haven't taken a lot of photos. Focus has really been on the engineering hull, but I did decal the saucer:
So, onto the engineering hull:
- Interior light-blocked
- Paragrafix parts fitted to the front sensor arrays
- Paragrafix part fitted to the shuttle bay - I'm doing the shuttle bay doors closed, so I only needed the very end of the paragrafix part and had to cut away the corresponding part on the shuttle bay doors. Sorry I don't have any photos of this process.
- 0.3mm holes drilled on either side of each airlock for 0.25mm optical fibre, to simulate airlock door lighting
- Mounting point for the stand and wiring cut out, and internal wiring loom and distribution board built:
- engineering hull sealed up (apart from the final pylon piece, so I can still fiddle about inside)
- Shuttlebay doors fitted with 1mm optical fibre on the sides, and 0.25mm for the top spotlights. Clear styrene (scuffed up with 320 sandpaper) fitted under the photoetch part to diffuse light. 0.25mm optical fibres bent at 90 degrees with a bit of gentle heat (very gentle, or else they just melt!) and inserted into holes drilled in the stern, for the rear registry floodlights. The bends will be covered with styrene or putty and the idea is to have small points of light flooding up the back. I'm not sure how well this will work, but we'll have a go. All the lighting around the shuttle bay area is running off one LED:
Finally, last night I got the stand connector wired up. You can sort of see the airlock lighting in this pic (the fibre optics need trimming). I really need to tidy up my workbench:
That's all for this time! I feel like I'm on the home stretch, although there's still a lot to do.
Eblobulator
New Member
Re: Star Trek (2009) USS Enterprise Revell kit build
Great job so far. I built one but since I have no lighting experience mine's static and has since gone to one of my brothers. I plan to get another kit next year to build for myself.
Great job so far. I built one but since I have no lighting experience mine's static and has since gone to one of my brothers. I plan to get another kit next year to build for myself.
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