Millenniumf
Sr Member
I've been working on this one for a while, but I hadn't thought to post about it here for some reason.
This is going to be a fairly complete lineage of all ships named USS Enterprise, from the sloop-of-war from 1775 to the Enterprise-G in 1:2500 scale (or as close as I can manage, at least). I've completed all the starships from the Round 2 7-ship Enterprise set, and I'm currently working on the real life ships. I am also going to be making a display for them all which will require learning some new techniques like how to thermally form plexiglass.
Here are all the ships so far:
The NX-01 Enterprise
This one was pretty much built out of the box, because the kit was really nice as-is. I painted it in Stainless Steel, with Russian Orange for the Bussard collectors, Sky Blue for the warp grilles, and some details picked out in brass. I also gave it an overall wash in Tamiya black panel liner. I did notice some seams that needed correcting when I looked at the pics, so I fixed those, but I'm too lazy to take new pics, lol.
The TOS Enterprise
The kit in the box was basically the same one that was released in the 90's with no modification at all, and as such it required a great deal of work to make it resemble the original ship. I started by sanding the edges of the saucer section to a steeper angle, and then I reshaped the B-C deck to more of a teardrop shape and rounded the bridge dome. I also sanded off all the windows and raised details, and then filled the dimples. I added a thin layer of styrene to the front of the secondary hull behind the deflector housing, and then I filed the grooves in the sides of the hull down so they were more sunken. I thinned down the pylons and squared the edges, and then worked on the shuttlebay. I cut it out completely and thinned the sides of the hull, then added a bit of styrene to the tail and a half dome cut from a piece of sprue. Then I drilled into the tail and added a piece of stretched sprue which I sanded down into the dome on top of the tail. I then turned my attention to the warp engines. I replaced the raised details with styrene and filed grooves below the reactor control loops. I also replaced the field recovery generators on the ends of the nacelles. The last thing I did was thermoform some 010 styrene over the end of a large eXacto knife handle and cut it out into a dome, then drilled a hole in the center to glue it over a piece of thin stretched sprue for the deflector. I then painted and decaled it.
The Refit and Enterprise-A
These two weren't too hard because the kits were very nice just out of the box. After gluing them together, I painted them in Tamiya pearl white to give them that metallic look of the filming miniature. But I knew the Enterprise-A was not the same color as the Refit. The paint job was a bit more blue than the "engineering green" and so I ordered the decals from Federation Models, since they looked more blue than the original kit decals. Plus... I sort of messed up the decals and needed to get new ones anyway, lol. I also decided to use the old AMT decals for the name and registry markings on the Enterprise-A, mainly for nostalgic reasons.
The Enterprise-B
This is easily one of the worst model kits I've ever put together. Not a single part wanted to fit together. But as I had it on hand and didn't want to have to buy a resin kit (not to mention I don't think an Enterprise-B resin kit exists?) I just had to make it work. I glued the subassemblies together, then sanded all the raised details off them. I also decided to rebuild the aft torpedo launcher because it was just a blob in the stock kit. I puttied the joints, and then base-coated it in white. However, I used spray paint, and apparently didn't shake the can enough because it refused to dry, so I put it in a paint drying oven, but it still refused to dry and of course, the model ended up warped and bent from the continued application of heat. Naturally, after I'd destroyed my work I discovered that the solution to that is to give it a coat of water before you apply heat... Anyway, I bought a new in box kit with the TOS, Refit, and Enterprise-B and did it alll over again. This time it dried and I was able to get the decals applied and the accents painted. It's not a perfect paint job, but I was tired of looking at it and just wanted it off my workbench, so I called it good.
This is going to be a fairly complete lineage of all ships named USS Enterprise, from the sloop-of-war from 1775 to the Enterprise-G in 1:2500 scale (or as close as I can manage, at least). I've completed all the starships from the Round 2 7-ship Enterprise set, and I'm currently working on the real life ships. I am also going to be making a display for them all which will require learning some new techniques like how to thermally form plexiglass.
Here are all the ships so far:
The NX-01 Enterprise
This one was pretty much built out of the box, because the kit was really nice as-is. I painted it in Stainless Steel, with Russian Orange for the Bussard collectors, Sky Blue for the warp grilles, and some details picked out in brass. I also gave it an overall wash in Tamiya black panel liner. I did notice some seams that needed correcting when I looked at the pics, so I fixed those, but I'm too lazy to take new pics, lol.
The TOS Enterprise
The kit in the box was basically the same one that was released in the 90's with no modification at all, and as such it required a great deal of work to make it resemble the original ship. I started by sanding the edges of the saucer section to a steeper angle, and then I reshaped the B-C deck to more of a teardrop shape and rounded the bridge dome. I also sanded off all the windows and raised details, and then filled the dimples. I added a thin layer of styrene to the front of the secondary hull behind the deflector housing, and then I filed the grooves in the sides of the hull down so they were more sunken. I thinned down the pylons and squared the edges, and then worked on the shuttlebay. I cut it out completely and thinned the sides of the hull, then added a bit of styrene to the tail and a half dome cut from a piece of sprue. Then I drilled into the tail and added a piece of stretched sprue which I sanded down into the dome on top of the tail. I then turned my attention to the warp engines. I replaced the raised details with styrene and filed grooves below the reactor control loops. I also replaced the field recovery generators on the ends of the nacelles. The last thing I did was thermoform some 010 styrene over the end of a large eXacto knife handle and cut it out into a dome, then drilled a hole in the center to glue it over a piece of thin stretched sprue for the deflector. I then painted and decaled it.
The Refit and Enterprise-A
These two weren't too hard because the kits were very nice just out of the box. After gluing them together, I painted them in Tamiya pearl white to give them that metallic look of the filming miniature. But I knew the Enterprise-A was not the same color as the Refit. The paint job was a bit more blue than the "engineering green" and so I ordered the decals from Federation Models, since they looked more blue than the original kit decals. Plus... I sort of messed up the decals and needed to get new ones anyway, lol. I also decided to use the old AMT decals for the name and registry markings on the Enterprise-A, mainly for nostalgic reasons.
The Enterprise-B
This is easily one of the worst model kits I've ever put together. Not a single part wanted to fit together. But as I had it on hand and didn't want to have to buy a resin kit (not to mention I don't think an Enterprise-B resin kit exists?) I just had to make it work. I glued the subassemblies together, then sanded all the raised details off them. I also decided to rebuild the aft torpedo launcher because it was just a blob in the stock kit. I puttied the joints, and then base-coated it in white. However, I used spray paint, and apparently didn't shake the can enough because it refused to dry, so I put it in a paint drying oven, but it still refused to dry and of course, the model ended up warped and bent from the continued application of heat. Naturally, after I'd destroyed my work I discovered that the solution to that is to give it a coat of water before you apply heat... Anyway, I bought a new in box kit with the TOS, Refit, and Enterprise-B and did it alll over again. This time it dried and I was able to get the decals applied and the accents painted. It's not a perfect paint job, but I was tired of looking at it and just wanted it off my workbench, so I called it good.
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