|
| Home | On the bench | Done | Awaiting | Gallery | Decals |
Store |
Contact |
 |
 |
U.S.S.
ENTERPRISE - N.C.C. 1701-D
AMT/ERTL - 1:1400 Ongoing |
|||||
|
To
build this kit I followed more or less the same I did on my other
Enterprise-D. That being said, I won't be writting all over again.
Instead, I'm just goin to write these thing I'm doing differently. The first thing I've done different it the lighting. Intead of using such amount of FO as I did before, and I remember it was a pin in the ass, I'm using here these 360º white LEDs I'm using for a long time and with good results. I'm also trying here to avoid this "window-filling" work. On the neck of the ship, I drilled the windows but I haven't filled them with epoxy glue. I want to see how it works out and see if I can avoid all the filling and masking windows. From these two changes, I have no pictures but I'm confident I have make myself clear here. Next thing I'm doing differnt is the painting. Once I painted the base coat on the ship, I'm beginning with all the panels. Instead of doing everything by hand, I'm going to use masking tape here to achieve better results. Instead of printing the patterns on the computer, cutting and using them on the ship, somehow, I'm using another technique. I'll take advantadge of the raised panel lines. I stick the tape on the model and, using a pencil, the lines are marked on the tape. Next thing is to cut them out and airbrush. That's it, very easy, nice results. Much easier than printing the patterns on the computer and exterminate your patience trying to hold it steady on the ship.
Don't you even think I haven't done nothing at all, quite the oposite, I've been keeping busy with this kit. As I explained the masking technique I'm using here is quite diferent from that I used before. It takes more time, but the result is more satisfactory. Since tha last update I've finished the painting of the engineering section and I've finished the upper half of the saucer section. When I finished the engineering section I coated the part with Future to protect it. In the while time I found a bunch of detailed pictures of the studio model which allowed me to draw more accurized decals for this kit. For instance the thrusthers, the phaser banks and the escape pods. Therefore when I finished the engineering section, I invested some time drawing new decals. When the decals were finished I began masking and painting the saucer section. As I write I'm halfway to mask and paint the bottom of the saucer section. Now, I know the colors I've chosen are not accurate to the studio model, but I don't really care very much. You can use your own colors. Now allow me to give you one advise: If you are going to do what I've done, please don't do all the masking on one sitting. Just a bit at a time, give yourself a rest and continue. Just to give you some pointings, I took one week to mask all the top-half of the saucer section (one of the reasons I'm not updating all that much). So why is that?. Some years ago, I did a masive masking on one model. The very next day I got a HUGE contracture on my neck muscles and it took me 2 weeks to heal. So, I've learned my leson and I won't put my health in jeopardy again. Also, please be sure you have two light sources, one on the right and one on the left. Otherwise you will force yourself in not advisable positions that could lead to contractures as well. That was an advise from the physiotherapist who helped me.
Update
15.05.2011 Well, a long time has passed and also a lot of things have happend. I was on holydays, I got a job, etc. All in all, I repeated the painting process for the bottom half of the saucer. It has been a pain in the ass, but I have to admit that the result is well worth the effort.
After everything was painted, I applied the classic coat of Future over the whole model. I, then began to apply the decals. I used the stock decals for the kit in addition to some detailing decals I have designed myself thanks to the new pictures available from the studio model. I've been able to draw accurized escape pod decals and also the thrusthers and strips for the phaser banks.
So, after the decals were on place, I coated again with Future and then two or three coats of top coat. It was now time to join the engineering and saucer section together. I did the light test and everything was fine until I put together both sections. I don't know why but they didn't match, the fitting was awful!. I had to remove the joining pins and do some major sanding and even so, the fitting is far from nice. I had to use 2 component epoxy glue and apoxy putty in order to glue both parts together. Now only the base is missing, but this report is already finished. Have fun!
Thanks for dropping by...!!! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Home |
Top |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last updated: 15.05.2011 |
||||||
