AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG (Finished 8/30)

[Ruddigger]

Voyager is still on hold, but with my Metal Gear model finished I'm moving on to the TNG era Romulan Warbird. This is my first time working with lighting and electrical, and I thought that would be the toughest part of this build, but so far the hard part is turning out to be the horrible fit of this kit.

First things first, lessons learned from my Voyager build, wash the darn thing before you paint it. Lol. Then I light blocked the inside with Rustoleum primer and white enamel, and primed the exterior with Tamiya primer. I mixed up some green and threw it in the airbrush.

I'm using LED strips from Modeler's Brand Hobbies. Warm white in the head and tail, and green in the nacelles.

And the head all seamed and primered.

I did some more paint work on the recessed areas of the hull and mounted it on the base. The pole is from Home Depot, some faucet pipe that has a nice chrome finish on it. It's secured to the model with dental acrylic inside the hull, so it's not removable. The base is a clock face from Michaels Arts and Crafts. I gave it a light stain with boiled linseed oil, but I think I'll stain it darker. I sealed the two lower hull halves together, and set to work trying to get rid of the awful seams and gaps. This model fits terribly. Much filing and body filler was necessary.

The nacelles didnt line up either. There were big gaps and steps on them, although I didnt take any pictures of that.

I got the nacelles soldered on and the right side is glued into place. there were some big gaps around it after mounting because of the poor fitment of the hull, but I filled them with Tulip paint. This stuff works great for light blocking and gap filling.

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG

Did a little bit more before calling it a night. I got the left nacelle mounted permanently. You can see how much better that side fit by the lack of black acrylic around it. I also sealed the upper hull, hopefully I'll be able to get back to this tomorrow night.

 

[jimpeachey]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP

I just know this one is going to hurt................ me that is! Looking good Rud, mine was at this stage too so will be interesting to see where this goes from here.

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP

Thanks Jim. I see why you had so much trouble with this model, the kit is really poor. Excess flash everywhere, inconsistent thicknesses, warpage, etc. As for getting hurt, I'm afraid it's me and not you who got hurt, the model drew first blood last night. Haha.

I reseamed the lower hull and the upper hull, and the nacelles, and managed to jab an Xacto knife through my thumb. I had to redo the nacelle seams because they split open when I test fit the upper hull. That was last night's progress. Oh, I also opened up the front of the nacelle with a dremel to allow the forward sections to light up.

Tonight I super glued my wound closed and I've sanded the seams and reprimered. I may have more progress tonight, depending on my level of ale consumption.

 

[jimpeachey]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP

I had plenty of blood moments too trimming off the excess flash and also drilled the nacelles. its not a good kit but i cant blame my efforts on that, it was the paint job that finally did me in and i did have to crack her open a few times to sort wiring and lighting issues, i'm looking forward to your interpretation of the paint job.

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP

Updates!

Here's a shot of where I drilled out the front of the nacelles to allow the forward bussard collector section to light up.

Aaaaaand more putty and sanding, trying to get rid of all the gaps and hide the poor fitment of this kit.

I mixed up a new shade of green, I wanted it more grey, and gave it a quick airbrushing.

The upper hull came out great, but the lower hull is still plaguing me with seams that just wont go away. I'm going to try filling them with canopy glue tonight and painting over that. Hopefully that will do the trick. Here's a shot of the culprit.

She's getting there though.

 

[jimpeachey]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP

What is also a pain, and i should have thought of it but didnt, is trying to paint anything on the inside of the hull once the bird is fully assembled. if you want to do any detail in there do it before you finish assembly. I spent so much time worrying about the lights and the finish that i fully assembled it before i had done the detail i wanted............... ggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP

Thanks for the tip Peach. Luckily I thought of that before hand. The interior of the two hulls is detailed already, I've got the tail attached and lit, and now I'm working on lining up the upper hull and gapping the tail. More pictures tonight.

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP

Update!

So I've done a lot to this model and haven't had the time to post pictures, so here come a bunch

The tail is wired in and permanently attached. The mistake I made here is that I at first glued it in without placing the upper hull on. So when I later test fit the upper hull it didn't line up, it had a natural tendency to lean to the left. I had to break it free and re-glue it with the top dry fit in place to make sure everything lined up properly.

Next I did the interior hull detail painting. Like Jim said, I didn't want to get stuck trying to paint all this after it was too hard to reach. This is the upper hull, I did some grey panels...

...And some green panels...

...And I did the darker green shading on the forward section.

Then I did the same grey and green on the lower hull.

Here is what those paneels look like when the hull is dry fit together.

I re-sprayed the top of the upper hull in the new base color.

Then I toned down the contrast panels with an over spray of the original base color, so they wouldn't stand out so much.

Then I had to repaint the mechanical looking bits with a drybush. A base coat of black acrylic, and then a wash with flat steel enamel, and a touch of mineral spirits to make it bubbly and speckled.

Then I took down the panels even more. I also wired in the upper hull, and redrilled the lights I had made for the lower section of the upper hole to make them a tiny bit bigger. I then filled them with canopy glue.

I bought some apoxie sculpt to fill some of the more major gaps. There's a 1/4" gap between the lower hull and the back of the tail that needed to be filled, as well as a substantial gap all around the tail itself where it meets the insides of the hull. I've never used this stuff before, I had a hard time getting it where I wanted it. We'll see how it looks when it's all dried. Hopefully I can sand it into some sort of usable shape.

And just for fun here's a shot in the dark. Keep in mind there is painter's tape covering the nacelles and tail windows aren't filled with clear yet.

Thanks for looking. Pointers, tips, criticisms, and praise welcome.

 

[jimpeachey]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/24)

Damn she looks good and i like the very subtle paint scheme. I re-primed mine again last night while some of the D7 bits were drying, i may even give this another go. One of the nacelle lights is inop but i think i could manage a decent enough paint scheme apart from the insides obviously. At the worst case it would look decent in the grandsons bedroom once finished!

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/24)

Do it Jim!

 

[MKWJTC]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/24)

Looking good. I love this ship, magnificent, a good foe for the Ent-D.
I've just looked up some photos and eisodes fragments. The windows in some are yellowish rather than white, and as I remember the wallpaper:

those colors match each other.
The model will look nice in darkened room.

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/24)

Thanks. I used warm white LEDs ao it wouldnt look so blue-white. I think they came out pretty close, but they will get a bit yellower when i fill the window holes.

The upper hull is permanently attached now, working on seaming, and I have pictures with the nose section dry fit and lit. She's almost there now. More pictures to come.

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/24)

Update!

Permanently attached the upper hull.

Filling the light leaks with Tulip.

The upper hull split at the seam on the left side when I attached it. It had come out so nicely too. Oh well, one more thing to take care of.

Shaping the apoxie sculot after it cured. I used a chisel and sandpaper for this.

Putty.

Dry fit the nose.

Lights wired up.

In the dark.

This morning the putty was dry, so I put a little time in before work. Sanding...

And a coat of paint to see how it came out. Not bad, it's still wet in these shots so it looks shiny.

And the nose is now permanently attached.

Next I have to reseam the upper hull, gap the section where the nose attaches, then detail paint the "feathers" on the top and bottom and weather it. Then I can fill the windows and it will be DONE.

 

[jimpeachey]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/27)

Looking very nice indeed Rud, now when are we going to see some progress on that voyager?

 

[MKWJTC]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/27)

Mighty fine

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/27)

Looking very nice indeed Rud, now when are we going to see some progress on that voyager?

Someday, when I work up the willpower to redo all those windows. ;-)


And thanks MKWJTC.

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/27)

Update!

Made a first pass at seaming the neck. Again, Apoxie Sculpt and bondo. Gave it a shot of paint to see how it came out. It's close, but not quite right. Gonna need another pass.

I'm very happy with how all the blends came out on the tail section though, especially since the gap was at least 1/4" and required me to sculpt the lip back in.

Just for fun a shot of it next to my Hallmark ornament. The difference in the nose section is interesting. The ornament is way more pointy and elongated.

And as of this morning she's back in putty, gotta get it right.

 

[jimpeachey]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/30)

She is looking bloody good though mate, nice job indeed.

 

[Ruddigger]

Re: AMT 1:3200 Romulan Warbird TNG WIP (Update 8/30)

Finished the blend on the neck and the seams on the forward wings.

Also darkened up the base a little.