So, after some days of resting due to some muscular problems I go into the building-up of the Voyager. This is also a commission for a customer and he wants a highly detailed and heavily weathered model. I do not expect a difficult lighting, because seeing the series, there are only two or three blinking lights... To achieve a nice result I ordered the aftermarket deflector dishes from Don's Light and Magic because the dishes provided in the kit are opaque.

• Voyager_1: Some details inside the saucer.
• Voyager_2: More details.

On the second day of work, the light blocking has been applied. Ready to be lighted. When everything got dry I glued together both halves of the engineering section. The join on this section seems very thin to me, so I also used some strips of styrene sheet to achieve a stronger bond. Glued at the same time I also fixed the frame for the main deflector dish. It helps to keep both halves together at the correct position.

Also the LEDs in the nacelles have been fixed with epoxy glue, ready to work,

• Voyager_3: Light will not be seen.
• Voyager_4: Additional work done today..

I've been very busy at work lately and I have only a little time in the evening to work something out. Nevertheless I had time in the 3rd day to do all the connections on the nacelles. After fix the CCFL tubes with epoxy glue I let it cure overnight. Next sptep is to fix both halves of the nacelles together and fix the to the pylons...

• Voyager_5: CCFL tubes getting fix. So far so good.

Very prolific weekend ! The building up was straight forward without any problem. First of all the nacelles were finally glued. A little bit of putty-sanding has been required but easily done. The pylons of the Voyager have some kind of movement so that it doesn't mess up the sub-space... So in the model the pylons have also a bit of movement. This is achieved in a hinge-like connection but it was a bit modified in order to let the wires from the nacelles go to the engineering section. Fortunately there is room enough to do that.
While the nacelles and pylons were getting cured, I started drilling the windows in both the saucer and engineering sections, it needs a bit of patience. Fixing the nacelles together with the engineering sections was a bit tricky but after some tests everything went just fine. To end the weekend the epoxy putty was applied in the pylons-engineering join.

• Voyager_6: Nacelles and pylons process. Surgery on the pylons hinges is also shown.
• Voyager_7: Pylons section getting cured and windows work is also shown her. The last picture shows everything coming together.
• Voyager_8: Epoxy glue is used to fill the windows. Some epoxy putty is easily applied on this join.

Well, one week without updating doesn't mean that I've been doing nothing... well, actually I got the flu and I was a pair of days out of order, but after that the building up was straight forward. Fortunately I got an order from the USA at time: a wonderful new white LEDs, with 360º of viewing angle!!!. For people use to work with LEDs now what I mean. LEDs have usually a very close viewing angle in front of a normal bulb, so in one model there is needed up to 3 LEDs to light a saucer section... an each one costs 1.5 euros. With these new LEDs I need a single one to light up the same place...
Well I finished to add the electronics to the engineering section and everything went fine. A single 360 white led is used to light up this section very nicely. Next step was to build up the saucer section. Position lights (green and red) were located without problems, two blinking LEDs were located in front of the secondary deflector dish and around the bridge according to the TV model. Inside the saucer I used a 360 white LED to light up the full saucer and additionally a normal white LED in the front window as spot light, to light the name and registry number. Once all the electronics were done and both halves of the saucer glued, puttied and sanded, I finally glued together the saucer section and the engineering section. When dried, I finished up all the electronic connections and finally closed the model with the last piece. The day after I finish some putty@sanding on the last join and Masked all the windows with liquid latex and masking tape... Ready to primer coat!

• Voyager_9: Final electronic surgery in the engineering section. Have a look at the blue clear part from DLM.
• Voyager_10: Saucer section curing after the glue.
• Voyager_11: After the sanding work.
• Voyager_12: Everything getting fix. Light looking good.
• Voyager_13: Liquid latex getting dry.

It hasn't been possible to work during the week. Too much to do in m y normal working place. So the forward steps have been done last weekend.  After apply the primer coat and let it dry overnight, I airbrushed black on the panel lines as pre-shading. If I airbrush the base coat nearly perpendicular to the surface, then a nice shadows will be shown in the lines. So after the pre shading the base coat was applied. In that occasion I used Createx AutoAire Middle Grey. Nice to work with that paint. Finally when the base coat was dry, the detailing was started: phase strips, some darker areas in the bottom, thrusters, and so on...
I'm waiting for a detailed decals from JTGraphics (available from federationmodels). I ordered them 15 days ago and I still haven't got them... but in the while time I will do some weathering: pastel and airbrush.

• Voyager_14: Pre shading and final look after the base coat. The desired look has been achieved..
• Voyager_15: Detailing in the bottom of the ship.
• Voyager_16: Phaser strips and sensor arrays are also detailed.

Another weekend is gone but the Voyager keeps going forward. Since last to do was mainly airbrush weathering I was not able to do it during the week... I starter Saturday morning with the dust effect in the panel lines of the saucer and the engineering section. When finished some additional details were painted, such as the nacelles, the non-lighted windows, and so on. Also all the masking in the windows was removed and light tested once again. Fortunately everything is still working. The bad news of the day is that when I ordered the decals I chose the wrong scale and I got a wonderful 1/1400 scale decals and the model I work on is 1/677... So I will have to do my own decals. And it doesn't mean to scan the decals I got, scale them up and print them. I don't do so because of two reasons: one it is not right, the original producer of the decals invested a lot of time on them and two, it would show pixilation. Instead I will take all the references of the ship I own and I will design my own decal set for this scale. Fortunately I still have an additional voyager kit to take the measurements. Hopefully the model will be ready next weekend.

• Voyager_17: Airbrush weathering process. I did it the same way it is shown in Thomas Sasser's web page (Thomas Models) but with another colors.
• Voyager_18: Final result with day light.
• Voyager_19: The light still works.

The last weekend of work has been straight forward. Before to apply the decals a layer of Future floor polish was applied. It will help to achieve a perfect setting of the decals and, therefore, avoid silvering. To do so a second layer of Future must be applied after all the decals are on place. When this layer is dry the model is ready for the last flat clear coat. All the decals have been applied using setting and soften solutions. The first solution helps to slide the decal over the model and the second one makes the decal soft and helps the decal to take the shape of the surface. And that was all, the model is ready for shipping to the costumer.

• Voyager_20:  front of the Voyager.
• Voyager_21:  from the side.
• Voyager_22:  stern from above.
• Voyager_23:  a closer look.
• Voyager_24:  left side from the rear.
• Voyager_25:  left side from the front.
• Voyager_26:  let there be light.
• Voyager_27:  from above.
• Voyager_28:  another shot.
• Voyager_29:  and the last one.

Thanks for dropping by...