Enterprise NX-01 Refit---NEW VIDEO!

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Slowly grinding along...

masked the upper secondary hull and the outside of the starboard pylons...


IMG_6245 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6243 by trekriffic, on Flickr

The other pylon should go faster. Then the nacelles and lastly the underside of the secondary hull.

 

[jimbo_kirko]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Incredible, what else could be said about this build. It's good to see others with the same passion that I have for building models!

 

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Incredible, what else could be said about this build. It's good to see others with the same passion that I have for building models!

Thanks jimbo!

Quick update...

Got the wings and pontoons masked off. Just need to finish the nacelles and lower secondary hul. Those should go pretty quick... I hope...


IMG_6246 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6248 by trekriffic, on Flickr

Something neat happened when I flipped my SOTL calendar over for February and saw this:


IMG_6253 by trekriffic, on Flickr

Very cool! Doug Drexler's box art appeared, only this time the ships are over a planet battling Romulans. I was stoked! Then I noticed a feature of his rendering that would look good on my build so I cut a couple of short pieces of half-round Evergreen rod, rounded the ends, and glued them into the large emplty slots on the outboard edge at the upper wing joint of each nacelle:


IMG_6251 by trekriffic, on Flickr

Just need to glue a rectangular bit in the center of each slot now to look like the calendar.

More to come!

 

[Quaralane]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Nice added touch, Trek.
Nice choice of calendars, too

 

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

At last! Finished the masking!


IMG_6254 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6256 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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IMG_6261 by trekriffic, on Flickr

I went ahead and brushed on some MM Titanium metalizer on the endcaps and a strip behind the bussard dome as an underpaint layer. Big deal, the next coat I airbrushed mostly covered it up.
Here it is after airbrushing with MM Steel metalizer:


IMG_6267 by trekriffic, on Flickr

After a half hour I shot her with Tamiya AS-11 Medium Sea Grey:


IMG_6268 by trekriffic, on Flickr

Next I'll mask off panels for some of the Medium Sea Grey. Then when that's dry I'll remove all the masks and airbrush with a thinned mix of Testors Insignia White and IJN Sky Grey enamel so the panels are just visible underneath. Then I'll go back and retouch the endcaps, bussard stripe, nacelle trenches and other areas with a darker grey for accents.
The scalloped panel under the front of the nacelles and the the front of the dorsal will get painted a more light to medium grey color, maybe mix in some MM Hellblau for the doral.
Still deciding on the mixing ratio for these accent colors.

 

[Quaralane]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Looking forward to seeing the final result of all that masking

 

[texastony1946]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Awesome build. I like the clear rod idea, I may have to borrow that one.

 

[ModelMakerMike]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

SWEET!

 

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

It's been slow going with outside distractions slowing my progress but I've just about finished the last of the second round of masking.
Just need to finish the lower secondary hull, the pylons, and the nacelles but that should go pretty quick compared to the slog that was the saucer...


IMG_6276 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6278 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6280 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6281 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6282 by trekriffic, on Flickr

I got a pack of Testors trim tape at Michaels for 40% off with my coupon. Woohoo!
Came in 3 sizes, 2 of which were narrower than my Tamiya tape sizes.
I can see where the Testors would be nice for masking pinstripes; it's a little stiffer than the Tamiya brand so would lay down nice and straight more readily.
Where Tamiya has it beat is in flexibility, it lays down MUCH better over irregular and curved surfaces.
Still, I have been putting it to good use over the flatter sections.

By this weekend I should be ready to airbrush the first layer of the hull basecoat.

 

[Quaralane]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Going to be interesting to see how it all turns out

 

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

OK fellow Addicts. I spent about 4 hours removing all the various bits of masking tape with tweezers over the last 3 days. I will need a neck massage from the cat this evening. Yeah... riiiight...

First though here's the wee beastie (Do I sound like one of our UK brethren?) oversprayed with Imperial Japanese Navy Sky Grey:


IMG_6288 by trekriffic, on Flickr

After de-masking:


IMG_6299 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6300 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6301 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6303 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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IMG_6310 by trekriffic, on Flickr







IMG_6311 by trekriffic, on Flickr

The only masks I left on this ship are the ones on the engines (warp and impulse), the hole where the matter/antimatter reactor pod crystal fits on the backend of the secondary hull, the blue deflector dish ring (the one I scratch-built), the bow sensors (also a scratch-build), the bottom saucer dome, the hole for under the top dome I made, and the warp bussards.

Here's a cool tool. These little polishing sticks are like a chamois on a stick. They work well for getting into tight places . I'm using this one to knock down the rough borders left after mask removal:


IMG_6298 by trekriffic, on Flickr

After I've given the whole hull a nice going over with polishing pads and sticks to smooth out any remainig rough tape borders she'll get her final coat of thinned hull color to blend and mute all that paneling.

 

[Quaralane]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Paneling is looking good so far.
Nice work with all of those masks

 

[Ozzman78]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Good gravy I would go mad with all that masking. I'm impressed by your will to do all that work. Great results.

 

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Good gravy I would go mad with all that masking. I'm impressed by your will to do all that work. Great results.

It's not so bad really. Big masking jobs are a marathon not a sprint. You just need to pace yourself.

 

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

So not a lot to show for this update but here goes anyway...

I wanted to brighten the longer windows along the saucer rim so I inserted 2 fibers, each about half inch long, into each window opening to grab some light from nearer the center of the saucer.
I pushed them in so the ends sat just inside the opening:


IMG_6323 by trekriffic, on Flickr

I then cut little teeny window panes out of clear styrene sheet:


IMG_6326 by trekriffic, on Flickr

I glued each window pane into the opening with Elmers clear craft glue:


IMG_6325 by trekriffic, on Flickr

Yeah...I like the illumination level better now:


IMG_6330 by trekriffic, on Flickr


IMG_6331 by trekriffic, on Flickr

I love the little blue and red lights at the front of the cowl:


IMG_6333 by trekriffic, on Flickr

The view from above. I trimmed off the fibers on the upper saucer and did some cleanup on each one:


IMG_6358 by trekriffic, on Flickr

Keep in mind I still haven't gotten around to spraying her with her final grey coat yet.

 

[Quaralane]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Might have wanted to do the final coat before trimming the fibers, Trek.
Likely have to mask them now. Be tricky

Effect you have so far with the lights does look sharp, though

 

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Might have wanted to do the final coat before trimming the fibers, Trek.
Likely have to mask them now. Be tricky

Effect you have so far with the lights does look sharp, though

Oh yeah I figure on masking the windows on the top of the saucer. I'll use a nail set to punch out tiny round masks from Tamiya tape. Shouldn't be too hard. I wanted to do the final cleanup on the fiber nibs witrh the xacto knife so I could touchup any boo-boos with the brush before the final coat. The rim won't need any more paint so the windows will be covered by one long piece of tape over the whole rim. Easy Peesy!

 

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

OK. Got some work done last night and at lunch today...

I pulled the leftover ParaGrafix 1/350 TOS Enterprise photo-etch brass sheet out of the bin and concluded I could do something with the bridge rails:


IMG_6342 by trekriffic, on Flickr

I discovered that the distance between the legs of the rails matched exactly the width of the slot at the bow of the NX-01. So, after cutting them loose from the fret and bending the legs together to form a triangle, I ended up with six struts that I glued into the slot to meet the sides of each sensor cylinder at an angle:


IMG_6363 by trekriffic, on Flickr

After painting with Testors steel and dry brushing the struts with aluminum:


IMG_6370 by trekriffic, on Flickr

They add a little more interest to the array I think. Once I remove the tape covering the illuminated blue panels between the sensors (with the PE screen visible behind the panels) and the tape covering the cylinders themselves it should look pretty neat with the sensor array all lit up. The cylinders are aluminum tubing which should look nice too once the tape is off and I've cleaned up any paint leftover from around the tubes.

In preparation for applying the final coat of hull color I punched out some tape using a nail set and grabbed each tiny disc with my fine point tweezers:


IMG_6365 by trekriffic, on Flickr

Here you can see them going onto to each port that I had previously trimmed and cleaned up on the upper saucer:


IMG_6366 by trekriffic, on Flickr

Something that caught my eye with the excellent image of the Refit from the February SOTL calendar were these three blue lights on the stern:


IMG_6373 by trekriffic, on Flickr

I liked the look of those so I have drilled out three holes into which I will insert .020 dia fiber once I'm done with painting. After drilling I was pleased to note there is plenty of light to light the fiber strands inside the aft end of the ship; light that comes from the LED I mounted under the blue crystal atop the matter/antimatter pod:


IMG_6374 by trekriffic, on Flickr

So got to finish the rest of the window masking and she'll be ready for her final coat of paint; final except for the accent colors I'll apply.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Quaralane]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Getting close to the finish here, Trek.
Looking forward to it

 

[trekriffic]

Re: Enterprise NX-01 Refit

Getting close to the finish here, Trek.
Looking forward to it

Thanks Q! Got a ways to go yet but getting there, slowly but surely.

Shot her with a 60/40 mix of IJN Sky Grey and Floquil Flat Base thinned with airbrush thinner. The upper saucer went on a little too heavy and needed a little sanding afterwards to bring back some of the paneling so after drying overnight I used some 600 grit on it this morning. Then I used a fairly wide soft brush and some more of the airbrush mix thinned even more and almost dry brushed it on to smooth everything out to a grey uniform texture but with the paneling still faintly visible underneath. I haven't done any fiber snipping or finish sanding to the rest of the ship yet so it's at the very early stages of how the hull will eventually look so don't worry if you see some rough masking edges. I will probably shoot her with Dullcote after more light sanding and touchup (and applying the secondary accent colors-can't forget that) and then apply some gunmetal and silver weathering pastels. So this Grey Lady is still very much a WIP:


IMG_6375 by trekriffic, on Flickr


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IMG_6382 by trekriffic, on Flickr