Polar Lights 350 Refit Enterprise build

For Christmas last year my wife got me the 350 Refit Enterprise, but due to work and grad school, I have not been able to do anything on it other than collect detail parts, trekworks lighting kit, etc. Now that I have launched the build this is what I have done so far....

removing the trees and what not from the lounge and arboretum wasn't too bad. But the shuttle bay floor had some seriously deep marks from the ejection pins.... so fill and sand....
Installed photo etch parts and still waiting for it to warm up enough to prime.

And just for kicks I magnetized all the docking ports so the Vulcan shuttles and travel pods can be attached at whim.

Im now drilling out the holes per the TrekModeler guide for the lighting kit, so not much to see there. It looks like I can start priming tomorrow, so I'll black prime then white prime as required for light blocking or light bouncing. Oh and BTW, I am now 99% sure this ship will not be the Enterprise, thou I will follow the paint guide for TMP style Enterprise. Any one have any guidance on making high quality decals for the ship?

Made some progress over the last few days.... I have the arboretum frames installed and the sides installed to the lower secondary hull. The starboard side looks ok, but the port side has a gap a lot larger than I would like.


and it looks like you can drive a truck thru it.... Maybe fill it and rescribe the the panel line?

But the officers lounge frames went in ok and you cant feel the edge of the brass to the putty.... So thats a plus. Just a little clean up on the inside, then adjust the bridge location and lightblock it.

Still not happy with that dip to the lower right of the lounge windows.... what did the mold company do? drag the saucer out by the backside pin while it was still hot? it is still a 64th" deep gouge there. I think when it is glossy it will be VERY noticeable...

I have officially decided the ship will be the USS Bill of Rights, NCC-1791. Now I just need to figure out how to make a new decal sheet.....

Beautiful...I had the little brother in the mail today...Polar Lights E-Refit 1/1000! Small kit but nicely done, the lighting though will be a challenge due to the mini size.

Subscribed...

cheers
Uwe

Aside from getting generic lettering sheets (if you still find them) you could try having them custom made by JT Graphics, but from what I have read it can be difficult getting a reply from him.

Last year I started work on a non-Enterprise as well.
Removed the lounge on the saucer edge and am working on doing the UDC dining room to replace the Officers Lounge.
Also going to paint the hanger more like a current US Carrier hanger instead of the tans and greens, etc.

Hello Division, thank you for the lead. I was thinking of doing something similar on my hanger deck actually. I took a tour of a helicopter carrier last summer and it would look better that way. I got a couple of of the federation model shuttle craft and worker bee pods... and just for kicks a set of BSG Vipers I was thinking of hiding in there. I did not get as much as I had hoped in the last few weeks. But I did get the arboretum done and ready to go. I decided to go with the classic Enterprise red doors instead of the paragraphics decals. It looks like you would not be able to see much of them anyway. I tried to make it look like a water fall on the LH side of the picture, but I guess its OK. I've put it aside until I can paint up a batch of figures to install on all interior parts.


looks like I will need to trim the tops of the trees a little.....


I have started on the officers lounge and I went with the funky colors of the late 70s early 80s for the lounge. I'll upload pictures when it is done.

I liked the way Boyd on Trek words does his hanger bay with the back lit yellow on the hanger deck... so first primed with paint adhision promoter.... then painted yellow, and apply the HDAmodelworks paint mask.


Paint it with grey that looks like a hanger deck and remove masks to get this.


The only think I can think of is the Acrylic gray paint did not stick to the yellow gray at all. Should I have used a lacquer or enamel paints? I'll have to strip it all and order more masks and try again....