1/1000 USS Reliant Build

[Lupano]

New build. ^^
One of my favourite ships, the Reliant from Wrath of Khan. KHAAAAAAAAN!

Neat little set, but missing certain details, which, frankly, bugged me a lot. (It seems to be a sickness of mine, stickler for details. Typical German XD)
So I decided to try to correct that with photo etch. Working with photo etch parts for the first time sure is hard. Dropped a few pieces, which, luckily, I was able to find again. XD
Also finding the right glue was difficult. After several experiments, I decided to use Insant Super Glue. And INSTANT it is. To get the parts into the right position, before the glue cures, was quite the challenge.

But I am happy with the progress so far.

Photo Etch by Greenstrawberry.

The officers lounge windows are not accurate, but I find that I like it better this way.

Getting the shuttle bays in place turned out to be a problem. After bending the pieces into shape, I was unable to push them into the ports no matter, how hard I tried. In the end, I separated the bay doors from the wall detail and glued both parts in on their own. I discoverd, that the walls do not quite conform with the kit walls. It was a real hassle to get them to fit properly. Now they look very messy. I hope, they won't any longer after priming.

Not gonna light the ship, btw.

Next up is painting. Gonna try the aztecing by myself, without decals or after market paint masks.
Will be fun. And nerve-racking. ^^

I keep you updated.
Cheers.

 

[Lupano]

Small Update.

Now that priming and sanding are complete, I am trying to figure out the most effective way of putting the aztec masking on.
I created simplified templates of the original pattern and now all I have to do is the slicing and dicing. Question is, should I cut out the whole shapes or just small stripes and squares and build the pattern out of those like a puzzle? Only time will tell.

Oh god, why am I doing this to myself?

 

[Lupano]

Update.
After attaching the photo etch and lots of filling and sanding I laid down a few colors.

A light blue for the sensor bands and dark grey blue for some bridge and torpedo pod details, which I masked off before the next step.
Also some pre shading.

Then I covered everything with the first base color, a mix of Vallejo USAF Light Grey and Russian Blue.
Next I moved on to the tedious task of masking of the aztec pattern. That's gonna take some time. ^^

Anyway, that's all for now. ^^

 

[JNordgren42]

Looking great so far! You're a brave soul attempting even simplified Aztecs by hand. I'm dreading the paint on my 1/350 Refit, even with commercial masks.

 

[modelerdave]

That's going to look wonderful! Really nice work with the Aztecs!

 

[Lupano]

The journey goes on.

I finally finished masking the dorsal saucer. Looks good so far.
I also finished masking the roll bar and test sprayed the final color … or so I thought. Final color is supposed to be Vallejo USAF Light Grey. I did not realize though, that there are two colors with the same name but different product numbers. 71276 has a bluish tint, which I wanted. I grabbed 71296 instead, which is more on the warmer side. -.- Dammit, Vallejo! Painted over it with the correct color, still a bit warm though. Ah well, could be worse.

The masking seems to work well, the pattern looks pretty crisp. Contrast is a little to high, needs a blending coat of light grey. I tried to get rid of the raised edges of paint with an eraser and or by sanding it. I just smeared the surface, tough. Any advice?

Perhaps I will add more plating after I compared it to the finished saucer, which seems more packed with aztecs.

Also started masking the ventral saucer. Two rings take roughly a day to mask.

 

[Lupano]

Okay, been some time, but I made excellent progress.
Spend many an evening aztecing and I am finally done. With the first pattern. Am not sure how to proceed from this point on. Maybe some panels in a different color, additional shading or something? Fortunately, there's no rush.

Have some shots of finished aztec masking:

Dorsal and ventral hull:

Roll bar and nacelles.
I used the aztec pattern of the pylons of the Enterprise Refit (those "bolts") instead of the one of the Reliant studio model (simple squares).
In my head, it made no sense, that engineers would use different techniques for the same or similar parts of similar ships.

And airbrushed.
Note to self: patience! less paint, more passes. -.- Ah well, it's experience.

And off with the masks.
Dorsal and ventral hull:

The sides also got azteced.

Nacelles and roll bar:

That concludes the hardest part of this project.
Everything will receive a final blending coat, the contrasts are still too hard.
But all in all, I am quite pleased so far.

WARP ME!

 

[NakedMoleRat]

That’s going to be an amazing build.

 

[moonbus]

I love that ship. You are doing it real justice. I wish they would do a 1:350.

 

[Entropy80]

Great build so far! looking forward to seeing the result!

I have the older 1995 AMT 1/537 scale in the stash to build, just waiting on some additional detail parts before I consider starting it......also whether to light it up or not?

 

[Lupano]

I love that ship. You are doing it real justice. I wish they would do a 1:350.

Thx.
You and me, too. A big one with awesome, updated details would be the best!

Great build so far! looking forward to seeing the result!

I have the older 1995 AMT 1/537 scale in the stash to build, just waiting on some additional detail parts before I consider starting it......also whether to light it up or not?

Thank you.
Lighting it would look awesome, go for it!
I am still a beginner in that field. After this projekt, I will attempt to build a lighted 1/1000 Defiant.
Also, I had the 1/537, too. Waaay back in the 90s. ^^ It is good, but lacks a stand for example. Actually, I believe that the one I'm building right now is just a downsized version of the 1/537. Well played, Round 2.

 

[PHArchivist]

Keep up the excellent work!

 

[publiusr]

If I ever come into money, I want a 1/1000 saucer atop and in place of the 1/537 B/C deck for an Ariel type saucer…