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.

• Picture 1: 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.
• Picture 2: All the pieces painted and detailed.
• Picture 3: All the decals on place, looking good.
• Picture 4: These are all the shuttles, workbees and pods, available and unassembled.
• Picture 5: Figures were placed on the PODs, have a look at the uniform colors.
• Picture 6: Liquid latex will be used to mask the windshield of the PODs and then paint them.
• Picture 7: Small vehicles all painted.
• Picture 8: Detailing parts ready to be used.
• Picture 9: So far so good.
• Picture 10: 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:

• Picture 11: 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.
• Picture 12: 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.
• Picture 13: 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.
• Picture 14: 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.

• Picture 15: 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.
• Picture 16: Parts in black to block light leaks.
• Picture 17: Parts in metallic white to reflect the light in the inside.
• Picture 18: Blinking circuit is glued and some cables have appear.
• Picture 19: Cables for the nacelles are going in their way.
• Picture 20: Two leds on the bottom already fixed and more cables messing everything up.
• Picture 21: 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.

• Picture 22: 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.
• Picture 23: A detail of the arboretum. A very nice details with a lot of potential. I did a basic design...
• Picture 24: 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.

• Picture 25: The shuttle bay is fixed on place before the complete assembly.
• Picture 26: The aspect of the result... so far so good.
• Picture 27: 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.

• Picture 28: The shuttle bay doors frame on place... looking good.
• Picture 29: Transparent piece of the deflector after and before the frosting process.
• Picture 30: 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.

• Picture 31: Led fixed, piece of styrene-alu film and final look
• Picture 32: The led is connected in the dish section and everything is finally closed.
• Picture 33: The shuttle bay doors are fixed on place.
• Picture 34: 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 !

• Picture 35: 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.

• Picture 36: The styrene sheet, cut off at the right size.
• Picture 37: 2 additional tabs will help to glue that piece strongly to the base.
• Picture 38: 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.

• Picture 39: The LEDs fixed on the torpedo bay.
• Picture 40: 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.

• Picture 41: The lights are being fixed on place
• Picture 42: 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.

• Picture 43: The light sheets are fixed to the styrene one with epoxy glue.
• Picture 44: The sheets are still working.
• Picture 45: The connections I did through the ship were correct.
• Picture 46: 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.

• Picture 47: Ready for the electronic job.
• Picture 48: Once connected everything is still working... cool !!!!
• Picture 49: 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).

• Picture 50: It looks pretty cool, doesn't it?.
• Picture 51: 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.

• Picture 52: The cow looking ship.
• Picture 53: 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..

• Picture 54: Masking #1 of the Bussard collectors.
• Picture 55: Masking #2 of the Bussard collectors.
• Picture 56: Only the inner clear parts are missing, which I will paint them with "clear black".
• Picture 57: 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.

• Picture 58: Final effect from the aft of the nacelles.
• Picture 59: As you can see, depending of the light and point of view the panels become more visible or not.
• Picture 60: I also used a random pattern to increase the effect.
• Picture 61: Another shot.
• Picture 62: 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).

• Picture 63: Masking the pylons for the pearl white panels.
• Picture 64: ...for the inner side.
• Picture 65: The blue elements.
• Picture 66: More blue things.
• Picture 67: 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.clodster.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.

• Picture 68: Base coat with the (1:6) blue. I protected the nacelles and the pylons from possible accidents.
• Picture 69: 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 space Frisket film pieces.
• Picture 70: First step done !
• Picture 71: Nearly done.
• Picture 72: and DONE !.

Next step will be the white part of the engineering section.

PLEASE: send me you feedbacks of this Enterprise. Any comment is appreciated. FEEDBACK

More to come... !!!