Jediscum
Well-Known Member
Ok, so I finally got some time to work on this a little before the holidays. After weeks of research and collecting as many reference photos as I could find, I stopped procrastinating and started cutting some plastic. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped but I thought I'd share what I've got so far.
A couple notes first. I am an ambitious modeler that really doesn't have the skills to back up my vision (I rarely ever finish a kit) and pretty much everything I do is trial and error. I am also rather impatient and sometimes get frustrated with the process. Both negatives in this hobby of ours. I'm not one for measuring out this piece or that but kind of eyeball it and go for a "that looks about right" approach. So keep that in mind if you undertake any of my ideas. A little extra time and care could produce some nice results.
Also, I don't have a digital camera so I'm stuck with my cell phone.
But this is a project I am excited about and hope to finish. So with that said here's where I'm at.
So in getting started, the first thing I wanted to tackle was the secondary hull. I started with the top deck piece. From pics of the studio model, I believe the hull bows out a bit more than the kits hull. So I added 1mm strip to each side, starting from about the center of the neck to the center of the shuttlebay control tower. These strips were then lightly sanded at the leading and trailing edges to match the curvature of the hull on this piece. Thus "bowing" out the middle of the hull a bit more here.
If you look closely you should be able to see the white strip on the left side in this pic:
Once those pieces were glued on I flipped the piece over and began working on the extra "step" between the deck and the lower hull.
Pic of the studio mode (the blue stripe)l:
I added 2mm strip along the edge of the hull on both sides starting from
where I added the strips above and followed the new curve along the hull. At about the neck indent on top, I began to gradually curve the strip inward until it formed the lip and then reversed this for the opposite side. (I eyeballed this for the most part so there may be some cleanup necessary later but for now it turned out pretty well) This also added the extra depth needed in this area:
I began working on the lower sec. hull next. I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to tackle this. The kit part is too shallow compared with the studio model. It lacks the "pregnant" look. I collected some ideas from other board members and in the end went with a combination of all the suggestions I got. I needed to add 1mm strip to the top edges to account for the extra width I gave to the top deck. From there I just started experimenting, working my way down the hull following the contours. What I ended up with was the entire belly of the hull covered in 1mm strip styrene stopping just beneath the deflector well and continuing up each side. The front of the hull, from the top of the deflector well up, was then sanded slightly to steepen it's angle to the deck. Putty was then applied and smoothed on and I got to work sanding everything smooth. The end result was a more stubby, bottom heavy hull but still has that smooth, graceful slope:
Here it is with the deck attached:
You'll notice that the deflector well has been covered over. The shape of the well on the kit is inaccurate. While experimenting with correcting the shape I got a little carried away and wound up with an extremely large, extremely disfigured hole. But a little plastic and a little putty and we're fixed right up.
Some observations about the secondary hull. While the ERTL kit was definitely lacking in depth along the belly i.e. the pregnant look, it appears to me that the shape of the deflector well (squat, smushed triangle) and the 2 blue panels running underneath the well play much more into that look than just more depth. I don't know, maybe a trick of the eye? From a side perspective, the hull is still pretty sleek but look at it from a front or quarter view and it looks very bulbous. I don't know how accurate that is, it was just something that occurred to me while building.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the first update. More to come as I progress. Comments and suggestions greatly appreciated!
A couple notes first. I am an ambitious modeler that really doesn't have the skills to back up my vision (I rarely ever finish a kit) and pretty much everything I do is trial and error. I am also rather impatient and sometimes get frustrated with the process. Both negatives in this hobby of ours. I'm not one for measuring out this piece or that but kind of eyeball it and go for a "that looks about right" approach. So keep that in mind if you undertake any of my ideas. A little extra time and care could produce some nice results.
Also, I don't have a digital camera so I'm stuck with my cell phone.
But this is a project I am excited about and hope to finish. So with that said here's where I'm at.
So in getting started, the first thing I wanted to tackle was the secondary hull. I started with the top deck piece. From pics of the studio model, I believe the hull bows out a bit more than the kits hull. So I added 1mm strip to each side, starting from about the center of the neck to the center of the shuttlebay control tower. These strips were then lightly sanded at the leading and trailing edges to match the curvature of the hull on this piece. Thus "bowing" out the middle of the hull a bit more here.
If you look closely you should be able to see the white strip on the left side in this pic:
Once those pieces were glued on I flipped the piece over and began working on the extra "step" between the deck and the lower hull.
Pic of the studio mode (the blue stripe)l:
I added 2mm strip along the edge of the hull on both sides starting from
where I added the strips above and followed the new curve along the hull. At about the neck indent on top, I began to gradually curve the strip inward until it formed the lip and then reversed this for the opposite side. (I eyeballed this for the most part so there may be some cleanup necessary later but for now it turned out pretty well) This also added the extra depth needed in this area:
I began working on the lower sec. hull next. I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to tackle this. The kit part is too shallow compared with the studio model. It lacks the "pregnant" look. I collected some ideas from other board members and in the end went with a combination of all the suggestions I got. I needed to add 1mm strip to the top edges to account for the extra width I gave to the top deck. From there I just started experimenting, working my way down the hull following the contours. What I ended up with was the entire belly of the hull covered in 1mm strip styrene stopping just beneath the deflector well and continuing up each side. The front of the hull, from the top of the deflector well up, was then sanded slightly to steepen it's angle to the deck. Putty was then applied and smoothed on and I got to work sanding everything smooth. The end result was a more stubby, bottom heavy hull but still has that smooth, graceful slope:
Here it is with the deck attached:
You'll notice that the deflector well has been covered over. The shape of the well on the kit is inaccurate. While experimenting with correcting the shape I got a little carried away and wound up with an extremely large, extremely disfigured hole. But a little plastic and a little putty and we're fixed right up.
Some observations about the secondary hull. While the ERTL kit was definitely lacking in depth along the belly i.e. the pregnant look, it appears to me that the shape of the deflector well (squat, smushed triangle) and the 2 blue panels running underneath the well play much more into that look than just more depth. I don't know, maybe a trick of the eye? From a side perspective, the hull is still pretty sleek but look at it from a front or quarter view and it looks very bulbous. I don't know how accurate that is, it was just something that occurred to me while building.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the first update. More to come as I progress. Comments and suggestions greatly appreciated!
Last edited:
