Enterprise NCC-1701 Refit- 1/1000 scale

trekriffic

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Jan 6, 2012
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996
So while I wait for CultTVMan to ship me my lighting kit for the 1/350 Enterprise (money order mailed Friday) I thought I would go ahead and put together the 1/1000 refit that's been sitting inside the cupboard over the clothes drier for the past few years:

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I figured it would keep me from losing my modeling "edge" while I assemble the aftermarket bits I'll need to do justice to the big Grey Lady.

Anyway, the first thing I did was spray Testors Flat Black to the inside surfaces of the parts. Although this model will not be lit I remember someone doing an unlit build awhile back who didn't light block and noticed when looking at the model with backlighting the light shined thru being as how the model plastic is white and the paintjob is white too:

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I also painted the inside surfaces of the clear parts. I brushed Tamiya Sky Blue acrylic on the deflector housing, impulse crystal, and arboretum windows. The Warp grills were painted with Testors Napoleonic Violet. The impulse engines were painted Testors Italian Red. I'll paint a coat of fluorescent white acrylic behind the blue on the deflector dish and the impulse crystal. I'll probably do the same for the warp grills. The impulse engines will get a coat of yellow behind the red. I may try and sand a little of the red off to thin it before painting it yellow so the center would have a yellow glow but that might be tough with such a small part:

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I glued the nacelle pylons and dorsal halves together with Testors liquid cement. Then I glued the dorsal to the lower saucer to get a good tight snap fit before dobbing CA around the inside of the joint. Then I brushed on some Tenax liquid around the outside where the dorsal mates to the saucer. Then I glued the saucer halves together with Testors cement and clamped the edges to dry:

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That's it so far. Comments welcome as always.
 
Well so much for having it all together by now...

I didn't care much for the look of the clear bits for the deflector dish and impulse crystal with just the acrylic paint on the backside so I painted the exterior facing surfaces with a mix of small bottle Testors Sky Blue and Model Master Navy Blue Gray mixed with thinner.
The problem with clear parts like this is wherever the locking snap fit tab is you end up with a spot where you can't apply paint and it shows thru as a void on the opposite side. I like the color better and the coverage is better with no damn voids!


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Next I'll thin down some Model Master white enamel and see if I can drop it into the center of the deflector dish and swirl it around to simulate the glow.

I taped off the inward facing warp grills with thin strips of Tamiya tape:

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Then I brushed on some Future to seal the tape edges afterwhich I brushed the grills with flat black.
Once that dried I removed the tape.
It looked okay but it was hard to see the violet from the backside so, after snapping them into place in the nacelle, I brushed them with some Tamiya Purple acrylic thinned with alcohol onto the front of the grills:

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After snapping in the impulse engine piece to the back of the saucer I masked the vents and sealed with Future.
I located the decal for the vents on one of the three decal sheets (there are a lot of decals) and, is it just me, or are the decals a tad oversized? Methinks I must needs do some trimming down the road to get them to fit:

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The clear piece for the officer's lounge was snapped in. Man is it basic.
I'll have to cut some tiny oblong pieces of masking tape if I want to make the windows look right.
Get out the magnifying glass boy!

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After taking these pics I brushed on some Mr. Surfacer 500 to the impulse engine vent housing, the saucer rim, and the dorsal.
I'll need to putty the sides of the impulse vents as there are some pretty good gaps there. Otherwise, the seams are not very nocticeable at all.
Once I get the warp nacelle halves glued together I'll work on their seams before attaching them to the secondary hull which I even haven't touched yet. Then will be time for more puttying, sanding, rinse, repeat.
You guys know the drill...
 
Spent some time today puttying around A deck and the impulse engines with AVES. I glued the nacelle halves together and puttied around the pylon joint.

I also remembered this pic of the refit in drydock from The Motion Picture..

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... and thought, man, my purple grills don't look like that so I went to Michaels and got a bottle of the Lavender craft acrylic paint. Then I repainted the black stripes and painted the aft end of the grills inside the concavity so the lavender color woudl form an ovoid shape like that seen in the picture. Then I masked off the all the black:

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After that I brushed on the lavender paint:

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After removing the masking this is what I had. Not perfect but closer to the screen image than before:

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Here's the deflector dish after adding a mix of white to the center and blending it with MM Navy Blue Gray and Testors Sky Blue. Hard to see in this pic but the color darkens slightly as you go out to the perimeter of the dish.
I puttied the outer deflector ring with Tamiya Basic Polyester Putty where it snapped into the main housing. Need to sand around the collar:

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That was it for today. Tomorrow I'll work on sanding the puttied areas and the seams on the nacelles. Maybe get the pylons glued into the secondary hull and the saucer attached if I'm lucky.

Cheers!

:)
 
Update for today...

I tinted the grills using Future tinted with a drop of purple water-based ink. The color change is subtle but it does make them more purplish:

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The lower sensor array had some pretty good gaps so I filled them with Tamiya Basic type polyester putty and sanded smooth:

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The subassemblies were glued together after masking. Now we're getting somewhere:

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I used liquid mask on the deflector dish, impulse crystal, and the bussard grills on the front of the nacelles. The arboretum windows and officer's lounge windows on the back of B-C deck will be taped off like the warp grills.

Next step is more filling of seams where the subassemblies mate. Then sanding and priming, and repeat seam filling if needed. Then it will be time for the basecoat of white with pearlescent gloss overcoat before decaling.
 
Quaralane said:
Starting to look like a starship

Thnaks! I think so too!

This morning's progress...


Spent abut 45 minutes this morning puttying seams on the secondary hull with AVES Apoxy Sculpt. It went on so smooth I shouldn't need to do much sanding at all:

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Once it's dried I'll sand and brush on some Mr Surfacer to see if I have any gaps left. If I do, I'll fill them with Tamiya putty. I also need to mask off the hangar bay doors which I painted steel using MM enamel. Think I'll mask them with liquid mask.
 
OK addicts! Here she is Sunday after shooting with a second coat of grey Tamiya Fine Surface Primer:
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And today after I finished polishing the white Tamiya primer coat with sanding films:
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Look Ma! No seams!
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She'll make point 5 past light speed....She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid....
But seriously folks, looking good. Scotty would be proud!
 
Thanks MMM! Thanks Q!

Well Monday was "Screw Things Up Day" for yours truly! :mad:
I sprayed Testors Pearlescent Clear Overcoat over the Tamiya white primer but I got carried away and put on too much pearl which puddled in places and turned yellowish.

Argggghhhhhhh! God! sometimes I screw up worse than a newbie! :'(

After lettting it set for about an hour I was able to handle it enough before it fully cured to dip a brush in paint thinner (not lacquer thinner) and drag out where the pearl coat had puddled in spots. It looked better but I noticed a few spots where the pearl had softened the underlaying Tamiya primer such that, while brushing out the pearl, it had thinned the white layer underneath causing some of the underlying grey primer to show thru just enough for me to notice it.

So at that point I decided I'd had enough for a day and let it sit overnight.Tuesday morning arrived and gave her a light sanding then I broke out the Testors flat white enamel in a rattle can and sprayed that over the pearl coat. It went on nice and smooth with no blemishes and only a few dust strands that must have floated down while it dried; easily dealt with using 1200 grit sanding film. Today I gave her another once over with the 1200 grit before applying another coat of pearl being careful not to go too heavy this frickin' time.
She has a real nice sheen now. 8)
Check it out:

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Next I'll lay on one more coat of gloss clear before painting the front around the bussard grills, the indents on the front of the sides, and the rear fins on the nacelles; the base of the nacelle struts; the backside of the bridge; the first ring of the deflector housing; and the top of the neck with MM Hellblau. Basically wherever the instructions indicate should be painted Duck Egg Blue. I compared Hellblau to Duck Egg Blue and liked that it's similar in tone but a little darker. Besides I needed the Hellblau for my 1/350 big E build so I could use it on both builds and it saved me $3.75 for a bottle of Duck Egg Blue! lol.
I'll also paint flat black on the outward facing warp grills and the grill at the base of the neck on the back. Those rounded grills on the front sides of the nacelles in the indents will get painted rust.

Once I'm done with the painting phase it will time for a buttload of decals to be applied.

Wish me luck folks!
 
Painitng stage is done. After a shot of Glosscote she's ready for her decals...

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Actually, there may be one thing left to paint and that would be the radial ribs around the circumference of the deflector dish.
I think I'll use a white acrylic on them so any holidays could easily be wiped off with a moistended micro-brush.
 

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