Count me in! The Reliant has always been one of my favorites. You've done a great job on the parts. Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.
I don't thinks its any kind of violation to post links... I just went through that thread over there and I'm even more excited... The gentleman doing that build is obviously a reliant guru... I'd probably not do all of the "corrections" he's doing rather build it pretty much straight as it comes with the addition of lighting. To my eye your kit is close enough that unless you're a Reliant fanatic (like him, and you) - it definitely will look the part. OK I might steal a couple of revisions from his build
OK received the Reliant Kit - WOW its is really nice. The fit is excellent so far just pressing pieces together. The casting is very clean, just the normal amount of cleanup to do on light mold lines. hollow piping molded into the engine pylons - THANKYOU.
super nice. I haven't started it yet - just pulled it out of its extremely well packaged box and foam peanuts. I have to dig my 1/350 refit out of the stash for the saucer and engines and we're good to go.
My ONLY complaint is that it will be difficult to light the rear shuttle bay areas.... might have to get creative there If it were cast with that back panel/ shuttle bay doors area as its own piece that would have made things a lot easier to light... but I really can't complain - its pretty awesome. This is the model of the Reliant I've been waiting for!
If any of you are on the fence - don't be. Well worth the investment if you are any kind of Star Trek fan.
Thanks for the kind words about the kit....it REALLY makes my day when someone reports they're happy with it.
I have an idea about the shuttle bay area...the parts shown below are the original 3D-printed parts before assembly into the final blockhouse:
What if I have these re-printed and include them in the kit as separate parts, cast in translucent resin? The kit builder could cut them to fit as desired and replace the solid-cast portions of the blockhouse with these. It would take some work to do this, but it would make lighting the alcove a snap...you'd just need to do light-blocking around the fixtures. I would send these out to people who already have the kit for just the cost of postage.
That would be pretty damn cool! Although I do admit - the idea of cutting off almost the entire rear of the model does give me pause Its also kinda like dropping the gauntlet
Do I have the guts to potentially completely screw this awesome kit up... Do I have the skills... Guess I'm gonna find out
I was looking at the rear of the kit tough and that U shape is where the "mechanical" parts on the back go... that will be a tricky cut.... one worth trying though.
These parts are 3D prints from i.materialise for my 1/350 U.S.S. Reliant conversion kit. Wanted to post them to show the quality of pieces you get from this company. All parts I've previously had printed were done on Objet machines in VeroWhite material. Those parts were pretty damn good, done in high resolution, with an average of maybe an hour's worth of cleanup spent on each part. These were done in i.materialise's Prime Gray material and are the best 3D printed parts I've ever gotten, mainly because of the minimal cleanup time. These are nearly finished with just a few minute's work per part. Not knocking the parts I've previously received as the accuracy was terrific...but these are just as accurate and they cleaned up more quickly.
The top 2 parts are pieces already included in the kit...I need to make new molds for them. The bottom parts are for an add-on package I'm doing...these pieces will be cast in translucent resin to make it easy to light the inset light fixtures around the shuttle bays as well as the grillwork at the outer edge. The idea is to splice these pieces into the existing rear hull (you can splice in the whole parts or just cut them down to smaller bits and do what you want), paint over the areas you don't want lit, and add lights to the rear of the parts to shine through the translucent, unpainted area. Note the bays doors are open...I'm also working on a shuttle bays based on the Federation Frontiers blueprints.