As indicated in the instructions, I begin with the shuttle bay. However, instead of using the colors suggested by PL, I took a couple of screenshots from the film (TMP). I used the airbrush for the big surfaces and a normal brush for detailing. After all the parts were completely detailed, I airbrushed Future to prepare the surface for decals. When the Future was dry, the decals were settled up and another layer of Future was airbrushed.

While the second layer was getting dry, I started building and painting the additional details: shuttles and figures. I got figures at 1:400 scale from a railroad model brand. I paint the figures with red (shirts) and black (trousers), according with the colors seen in ST II. I applied a dull coat to all the pieces and when dry, I used epoxy glue to fix everything on place.

3 5 mm LED will be used to light up the engineering section of the ship. These LEDs have a 360 degrees of lighting area, so they are really good for this application	All the pieces painted and detailed	All the decals on place, looking good	These are all the shuttles, workbees and pods, available and unassembled	Figures were placed on the PODs, have a look at the uniform colors
Liquid latex will be used to mask the windshield of the PODs and then paint them	Small vehicles all painted	Detailing parts ready to be used	So far so good	Everything glued together

Not very much time for modeling. I'm quite busy writing my PhD thesis, which is a very time consuming activity. I know that to build the PL refit is a very important thing to do, but right now I rather prefer to focus in this writing thing. So I have only the weekends to work it on.

So, when the shuttle and cargo bay were done, I decided to think about how to fix the wires from the base to inside the ship. I finally decided to fix a tube from the base to  the engineering hull, so that it would replace the plastic piece which comes with the kit. To make it so, it should be done in such a way that the tube supports all the weight of the ship. But a picture is more valuable than 1000 words, so:

I took a 8 mm (diameter) brass tube and with the help of a file I did two pseudo holes on it. I did also a hole in the bottom of the engineering hull, close to the blinking light	I took two brass tubes (4 mm diameter) and I did also some holes in the reinforcement walls of the inner side of the ship. This holes must be quite big to put the tubes through. The two tubes are located in the way shown in the pictures	I put the thick tube through the hole and I cached it with two thin ones. That way everything gets fixed and the thick tube supports all the weight. But the structure is still unstable because we made the holes in the walls are very big. I used Aves Apoxy to fill all the gaps. When it becomes dry every will be strong. During the curing time of the Apoxy, everything must be quiet, at least 24 hours	Final result

A lot of work done in the last weekend. I started the "real work": the lighting. Unlike all my former projects, for this one I will set different lighting circuits. In the base I will attach 6 different switches. Each switch will light up a different "thing" in the ship. How it works?, the negative pole from the power source is common in all the ship, while the positive pole is separate in 6 lines which run through the switches. The organization of the switches is:

Each positive line has its own cable colour, in order to make the work easier. The nacelles will be lighted with a light sheet and it needs a different power source.

So, before start the cable work, I painted the inner side of the engineering hull with black and a final layer of metallic white. Then I organized the cables which goes through the stand tube. This part of the work is a very hard one and, in order to don't become crazy, it is important to do it step-by-step. Don't try to do it all-at-once. The very first thing I did was to fix the lights inside the engineering hull, which will be done by two leds in the middle of the bottom part of the hull plus additional three ones in the top part of the hull. When it was done, I glued the blinking circuit to the hull and I glued the led to the blinking light on the centre of the bottom. When it was done, I organized all the necessary cables for the nacelles, and they are quite a while. The blinking lights for the engineering hull and the nacelles will be synchronized, all at once. The blinking circuit is only able to blink four leds at once, so the blinking lights of the saucer will have an additional circuit. The last part of the work is to fix the spot lights for the nacelles pylons. The ones in the outside are a bit more difficult because I find the orientation of the hole done in the wrong direction. But it is easily solved with a 3 mm drill bit.

Before I did all the lighting thing, I arranged the shuttle bay doors. I cut the door off by the middle and then once again in the extremes. That way they will look half-opened	Parts in black to block light leaks	Parts in metallic white to reflect the light in the inside	Blinking circuit is glued and some cables have appear
Cables for the nacelles are going in their way	Two leds on the bottom already fixed and more cables messing everything up	A test on the spot lights: test OK

So now is everything nearly ready to get fixed, but before to glue all the parts together, the arboretum must be done. It is quite a nice job to paint and detail everything and the result is beautiful... The challenging thing is what to do with the walls. Well, in one of the walls I gave a green look, simulating green plants. On the other wall I simulated rocks. How did I achieve that? easy, I went to the kitchen cupboard where we keep the cooking species and I took some green thing, like oregano or something like that. It simulates the plants. The rocks were simulated using sesame beans... and it looks very good !!!.  Some of the threes were simulated with green foam I got from a railroad hobby shop, and they look great.

The shuttle bay on it place to check the fitting an so on. Notice how many LED I'm using to light the whole thing. They are 5 white leds with a emission angle of 360 degrees. I put 2 leds in the middle and glued to the bottom half and additional 3 in the "roof", so that they also light the shuttle bay	A detail of the arboretum. A very nice details with a lot of potential. I did a basic design...	The transparent roof of the arboretum. I added some detailed with a permanent marker, to simulate some pipes or something

Once everything was fixed, I went to the fatal step: fixing the engineering hull. It is a very difficult step if you have cables here and there... But I finally succeeded. I'm sorry I have no many pictures, but it was a very stress moment and I couldn't left the thing to take the camera. The gluing process was the following:

1. I glued the external halves of the pylons to the corresponding hull pieces: (#42 + #25) and (#40 + #24). A incision was necessary in all the pylons halves to let the cables to the nacelles through.
2. I glued the inner halves to of the pylons to the top of the hull: (#41 + #43 + #23) and I let it cure
3. I used polystyrene cement (the more dense one, not the liquid one) to fill the joining pins between parts #24 and #25. I glued them and I let it cure a little bit. The reason to use the dense glue is that it needs more time to cure and we need a little bit flexibility to finish the proces.
4. I used the same glue to fill the pins of the pylons and join the parts #23 with #24 and #25. When the pins of the pylons are together I use the liquid cement to glue all the joins: between all 4 hull pieces an the pylons.
5. I fix all the structure with all what I can: adhesive band, cable binders, clamps, whatever...
6. I give a deep sight and I check that everything is ok and I eventually fill some glue gap.
7. If I smoked, now would be the perfect time for a cigarette.

The shuttle bay is fixed on place before the complete assembly	The aspect of the result... so far so good	That's myself touching up some minor details

The day after the assembly, I took care of the shuttle bay door frame, which was a hard piece to glue because the fitting was not good at all. The very next step was to fix the deflector dish. I used a dull clear coat to give a frost-look to the transparent piece. That way it will look like the movie prop. Before I fix all the pieces, I give it a try and the result is quite nice.

Before I fix all the deflector unit some other lighting must be done: the position lights surrounding the deflector dish. Dismissing any other possibility, the only way to light it up was with fiver optics connected to a white 5 mm LED, glued in the inner side of the dish. All the inner side of the dish section was painted in black, to avoid light going through the hull. Finally I masked with the dish with masking tape tape before because it thought it was easier that way.

The shuttle bay doors frame on place... looking good	Transparent piece of the deflector after and before the frosting process	The first test of the dish... looking good

After the frame was fixed I realized that I forgot to fix a red LED to light up the position lights on the shuttle bay. I managed to put a cable trough and I fixed a rectangular red red to the roof of the shuttle bay. To avoid the leaking of light I glued a paper in a piece of styrene sheet with alu paper on it.

Led fixed, piece of styrene-alu film and final look	The led is connected in the dish section and everything is finally closed	The shuttle bay doors are fixed on place	Dish with masking tape before being glued

Although the general design of the model is superb, there is always some area where putty-sand is necessary. So I gave an afternoon session to putty and sand some minor details in the engineering hull. Nothing too serious, since Thomas Sasser tried to put all the actual joins according to the joins in the studio model, which is great !

A little bit of putty sanding

Before I went any forward I worked up a little bit the base. Since I added an extra brass tube to put the cables through, I had to modify the base in order to adapt it. I cut off a piece of 3mm thick styrene sheet, and I located it on the bottom of the base. I had to cut off some seams to fit this sheet. On this sheet, I added some tabs to make the gluing stronger (when done) and with more styrene sheet I managed to create a lock for the tube. I will wait until it is dry and then I will use Aves Apoxy to finish that lock. When done I will glue all that on the base.

The styrene sheet, cut off at the right size	2 additional tabs will help to glue that piece strongly to the base	The tube has where to rest

The very next step is the neck. I have done as usual: paint in black, paint in white and fix the windows... after that I prepared the torpedo bay. I enlarged the holes in the transparent piece #217 in order to fit two rectangular red LEDs. They will be the torpedoes and will be activated via a pressing switch. Additionally I have to do two holes in the neck pieces #19 and #20 in order to have room for the LEDs. When all is done, I fix the pieces #217 + #19 + #20 + #21. All the lighting will be done when it is cured. There is place enough.

	The LEDs fixed on the torpedo bay	Holes must be done in the neck to allow place for the LEDs

The neck was a straight forward build because it is so simple. It only has two spot lights (each with a 3mm LED), the torpedoes and a only one 360 white led for the windows. Once everything was connected to the right cable I glued the neck to the hull. The fitting is nearly perfect and only a bit of putty is required to fill some leaks.

	The lights are being fixed on place	The neck on the right place, waiting for a bit of putty

The next step to build up was both nacelles. In the beginning I though about to use a CCFL tube but the cable for the inverter was too short and I switched to a pair of light sheets. To fix the sheets was the tricky part, finally I came up with the solution, to fix a rectangle of styrene sheet and use it to fix the light sheets over. And so I did.

Additionally the each nacelle is equipped with 3 spot lights, one small blue dome, a blinking deacon and a group of position lights on the small wing on the nacelle. These positions lights are lighted up with a single led and some bits of fibber optics. The tricky thing to take into consideration is to use aluminium sheet all around the hole where the led is placed. That way the light does not come trough the plastic as easy as usual.

All the other leds were connected without any other special trick.

All connected to the right cable and double-checked, I glued both halves of the nacelle. When cured, I proceed to putty-sand the seams. THe left nacelle did not required much putty, in contrast to the right one, which was quite difficult.

The light sheets are fixed to the styrene one with epoxy glue	The sheets are still working	The connections I did through the ship were correct	Schematic placement of the lighting elements

I took me three days to do one of the nacelles, but the other one I did in in a single day, because I knew what to do. The very next thing to do was to solder all the connections between ship and nacelles and glue them to the pylons. It was done in one morning without further considerations. Very careful when soldering, the soldering points must be isolated, so that they don't do any short-circuit. When all the cables were fixed I glued the nacelles to the pylons and I let one day of curing time. So far so good.

Ready for the electronic job	Once connected everything is still working... cool !!!!	Looking good

Now the ship is ready for masking all the windows and start painting. I've decided to paint the saucer and the rest of the ship separately, as it will be much more easier. I will use liquid latex as a mask for the windows and tape for the bigger surfaces.

While the nacelles were curing I started to work up the electronics of the base. I fixed six separate switches, one of them a pressing one for the torpedoes (the ship would not launch torpedoes all the time, I suppose).

It looks pretty cool, doesn't it?	Not so complicated as it is the inner ship

Well, I applied the white primer coat to the ship after masking all the windows with liquid latex. Unfortunately the surrounding areas of the windows let the light come trough and it MUST be solved. I took flat black and I airbrushed all around the windows. It gives the ship a cow look, which would like somehow cool, but it is not the target of this project...

When I checked and re-checked everything again, then I sprayed white primer coat once again over all the black spots.

The cow looking ship	everything is on its place once again !

When everything was white again with primer, I used steel-wool to achieve a perfectly smooth surface. Once it was done, the hard work was about to begin: mask and paint.

I started the detailing work by the nacelles. First of all I airbrushed Tamiya flat white. It was quite difficult, as the primer is also white. When the paint was dry I sanded the surface again. I started with the Bussard collectors. The most difficult part was to get the right blue color. After painting the Bussard collectors three times, I used a (1:1) mixture of Tamiya XF-23 and flat white (diluted for airbrushing). It might be not the correct color, but it strongly depends on the light. The lateral grids of the Bussard collectors were painted by hand (normal brush) whereas the lateral long grids (black ones) were painted with an airbrush..

Masking #1 of the Bussard collectors	Masking #2 of the Bussard collectors	Only the inner clear parts are missing, which I will paint them with "clear black"	A closer shot

I know it has been a long, long time since I've done some update on that kit, but I've been very busy. I've finally found some time for myself and I spent it all in the Refit Enterprise.

If I'm not mistaken, I left it on the painted nacelles, ready for aztek panels. Well, I certainly did the aztek panels on the nacelles some time ago, but I did not like the way it was. I used Createx Pearl White for the panels, but when I was finish with the whole thing, I realized that this pearl white was a way too dark for the panels. The panels must be not too evident. Unfortunately I have no pictures from the frustrated effect.

The only possible solution to the disaster was complicated: sand off the paint and start all over again. And so I did. I removed all the paint, painted the base coat again and I finally used a mixture of flat and pearl white in order to obtain the proper pearl white. I believe it was successful and I'm sure it was a lot of work: removing, masking, painting, etc... In addition to the pearl white I also used a pearl blue to obtain a nice effect. To get the perfect effect you will have to use the patterns once again. It is a lot of work, but it is worth of the effect.

Final effect from the aft of the nacelles	As you can see, depending of the light and point of view the panels become more visible or not	I also used a random pattern to increase the effect
Another shot		And an additional one

Once the nacelles are ready, I moved forward to the pylons. Due to the geometry, they were much more straight forward to get ready. The procedure is exactly the same as that of the nacelles: white base coat, pearl white panels and finally pearl blue panels. In that case, though, I painted the other elements of the pylons (see pictures).

Masking the pylons for the pearl white panels	..for the inner side	The blue elements
More blue things		A general view nacelle + pylon

While the aztek patterns I'm using are done and kindly donated by Carlos Zangrando (aka Arthur Pendragon), the color pattern I used are from the stills available of www.cloudster.com. Beware that the color stills on this page are those from the Enterprise-A, not the refit. While the general thing remains the same, some things are changed. Check the B&W pictures as well.

The next step on this beauty is the engineering section. I decided to start with the pylon bases (the blue parts where the pylons are attached). To obtain a nice result it is very important to have two things: patience and a nice variety of blue paints.

Before I started masking, I created my blue paint stock, it is very easy and effective and you can do it yourself. I took a flask of Tamiya Medium Blue (XF-18) and I did several dilutions with Tamiya flat white. For instance I did (1:1), (1:2), (1:3), (1:4), (1:5) and (1:6) blue:white respectively... and that is it. I took Arthur's patterns and started from scratch: first of all a base coat with the (1:6)-blue, and then step by step with the help of the pictures from www.cloudster.com. IT TAKES A WHILE, IT IS IMPORTANT TO FOCUS IN EACH STEP AND TRY NOT TO GET NERVOUS. What I also consider very important is not to make yourself too much trouble with the right color. I tried to obtain a nice thing and effect, but I don't care too much if I don't get the exact color as in the pictures. What to know why?, because what you see in your computer's screen is not reliable. It can vary a lot from one monitor to another. Therefore we don't really know what the actual model used in the films looked like. Beside the very same color can look different with differents sources of light. In conclusion: try to get something that looks nice and similar to what you see, but as you will see, once the complete model is finished it will look great ANYWAY

Base coat with the (1:6) blue. I protected the nacelles and the pylons from possible accidents	Patience is required to cut off all the patterns. I print the patterns in a transparency and I cut over Frisket film. That way I can use spare Frisket film pieces	First step done !
Nearly done		and DONE !

I remember I finished painting the engineering section as described above back on May 2007, but I didn't have the time to update this page because I had to prepare my doctoral disertation presentation which was due on the 8th of June 2007. After all that was over, the model was packed up and I didn't do a thing on it for more than 18 months. Approximatelly on December 2008 I was motivated enough to apply all the decals on the engineering section. I did that as usual: First I applied an overall coat of Future over the model and allowed 24 hours to dry up. I somehow lost the setting and softening solutions I had to apply the decals correctly, so I came up with to home-made solutions which turned out to work just as well: as a setting solution (helps to apply the decal) I used Future instead of my beloved Mr. Mark Setter (from Gunze Sangyo) and a solution of acetic acid (vinegar) as a substitute for my beloved Mr. Mark Softer. After the decals were on place, I allowed 24 hours to dry up and I coated with Furure again. After 24 additional hours, I finally applied the final clear coat (Flat coat from Gunze Sangyo). I applied 3 thin coats. It should suffice.

The engineering section is ready	Another shot

So I think it's about time to beginn with the saucer section. After so many time I feel a bit rusty, but doing one step at a time, everything comes to my mind again, slowly though.

To get the feeling again, I started with the small Vip Lounge located in the aft side of the upper saucer half. Nothing to glue together there, just painting a bit. To be honest, I didn't put too much effort on it because, if you look at it and where it is sipposed to be, it's just not worth it. You can hardly see it once put on place. Anyhow, I tried to be loyal to the look of the movie (very 70s-like if you ask me).

The VIP Lounge. Note that the decals are missing. I placed them after I took the shot in the same way as described before

Bottom dome rods gone!	Liquid latex was used as a masking aid. Works wonderfully!	Primer coat.
Black coat.		White coat.

First of all, I glued the trusters clear part, wich I modified only to be clear where it is supposed to be (see references, like the movie)	LEDs are fixed on a drilled hole with Aves Apoxy putty	Each LEDs will light up 6 light spots

The FO is bended to an adecuate angle. A groove is needed to fit thr FO inside the saucer	All the upper half saucer blinking lights are FO-zied. That of the bridge section is still missing

Before Lady Inspiration visited me	After Lady Inspiration visited me	All the side parts on place

The LED was fitted into a light-isolated styrene rod	I tried two different locations for the spot light. I've chosen the one on the top	All the surroundings were light-isolated	Nearly done with the spot light
The long Fo will be used as a blinking light and will be join the other blinking lights	The final result. On the darkness	I used this piece to isolate the LED on the saucer dome

Here the dome's LED is already on its casing. The FO are routed to the light source and everything is looking great	Light test on the darkness	Two red LEDs are used for the trusthers. I added three 360º white leds for the general lighting of the windows. A little bit later I will glue the VIP lounge and I will add a 3mm white LED to lit it up. Here you can also see that I've painted the casing for the dome's LED in order to isolate the light. I don't want the dome iluminated with other LEDs	The other half of the saucer is much easier. Only the FO for the blinking lights and a 360 white LED to iluminate the spot lights on the very bottom og the saucer	The piece for the spot lights at the bottom is glued
Doing some light test, all pieced together	I have also done a casing for the thrusters. It'll be also painted	The wires which connect the spot lights and blinking LEDs are finally soldered	Finally, glued together. One IMPORTANT tip: On the upper half (where all the wiring is), there are some tubes where the pins of the other half are going to clip when glueing both parts together. I drilled a small hole on each of these tubes. That is in order to avoid the vacuum effect when the pin is inserted, together with the glue. It could not allow the fully insertion of the pin	Working place, after cleaning up

Some days have passed since my last update, but I have been keeping myself busy.

I left curing the glue for one week while I was updating my website. When I got back to the workbench, first thing I checked was a nasty fit in the area of the thrusters, where the neck is supposed to fit. I took the neck of the other model I have awaiting and checked that fit. I was not bad. Then I began preparing everything for painting, that is to say start applying putty on the fits and masking the clear parts. One way to apply putty on small seams is to use polystyrene putty (I use Mr. White putty from Gunze Sangyo). I apply the putty on the seam, don't carying whether it looks nice or not. Then with a earstick dipped in isopropanol, I remove the extra putty. Since the earstick doesn't fit on the small fit, while one brushes only the extra putty is cleaned and a very nice seam is obtained effordessly.

The neck will fit properly. It's important because both part will be painted.	Small seams being filled up with putty.

On the fit of both saucers there was a a couple of very wrong joins and I had to add some putty to make it look nice. I used masking tape (paper) to mask the trims on the sidewalls of the saucer and I applied putty at my own discretion. Once cured and sanded off, I only had to do some touch-ups in these lights on the edge (see pictures). The clear part was no longer on the edge of the saucer, because of the bad fit and the putty. I masked all around the clear part and I filled the "hole" with clear 5-minute epoxy glue. Once cured and the masking tape removed, the final result was really satisfactory. Ready for painting.

Fitting problems being solved.	After sanding off, it looks much better.	Clear parts being filled with epoxy glue.	Ready for painting!

After everything was masked, I applied a first coat of white primer. Once cured I tested lights again. As I expected, there were some light leaks, where the light came through the plastic. I masked these areas and I painted over with black paint, in order to solve the problem. I tested again and, happyly it was ok then. In the areas where I applied black, I applied white primer again. Before I began with the white paint (Tamiya white) I brush the whole thing with steelwool (#000) so that all the surface is clean and smooth. Ready for the final step: painting.

Overpainting with black where the light leaks are.	Once primed again, it must be smoothed up for the final step.	I fix a painting station for the saucer. That way the saucer will be nearly vertical for painting which will make things easier.	A first coat of white paint. Looking good.

Update
26.01.2011

I've been putting a lot of time on this ship lately but, unfortunately, there is not much to be told. Once the ship was snowy white it was time to began with the details on the surface. For that detailing I was able to use the set of paints I prepared four years ago. I began with the position lights on the saucer's walls, then I moved to the bridge section and so on. I prepared a lot of pictures in order to not miss a thing. One thing I found useful to have is a kind of ruler with different sizes of circles. That way I could measure some rounded thing (such as the bridge's dome) and then cut the masking tape with the appropiate curve.

This is the uselful piece. Really useful-	Lights where painted with a mixture of metallic copper and yellow.	Masking of some part of the brige.	Looking good.
Lights still work.	More masking.	Upper half of the saucer done.

Hald way to painting I tested the lights. I was glad to see that everything was still working but also disappointed to see that some of the LEDs are leaking light through the wall. Unfortunatelly not all the light-blocking systems did work properly. I considered getting really angry with myself, but it would accomplish nothing  so I just promised myself to be more careful next time.

Detailing of the bottom half.	Masking the center of the saucer before applying the azteks.	This is an example of the azteks printed on a transparency film. It's kept on place by masking tape,
This are the random paterns I cut and airbrushed with blue.		The "official" azteks over the random pattern gives a realistic look.

Bottom already finished.	Note that the patterns can vary with point of view.

Random pattern on its way.	Ready for the oficial Azteks.	Ready !

Masked windows to prevent frosting.	Future doesn't alter the pearl effect.	Another shot.

Decals on the top half of the saucer.	On the bottom half of the saucer.	Preparing the stand.	Everything on place, curing the glue. The Duct Tape helps to make some pressure between the engineering section and the saucer.

Thanks for dropping by... !!!