Romulan scout ship

[YOULI]

Here is a resin kit I started years ago (2006).

It's a Romulan starship first seen on Star Trek TNG. I bought it at Federation Models website in 2004.

And here is the reason I wanted to do it in the first place : 5 parts. It look like some fun to do, a week end or so build and paint... My Was I wrong...



I started to wash the parts and painted it black with a Citadel spray can. And Tamiya spray bomb whit for the engines...



I started with a Green from a Gundam Marker (Zaku 2 color)



And then ?
It waited a very long time in its box because the part bended, really don't know why since they are very thick. I had to bend it over and glue them in place hoping for the shape to stabilize. I discovered it in my stash some days ago and I'm very please to say it worked. So here we go again with the paint job.

 

[Grendels]

I like this design. Keep us posted!

 

[Igard]

As a fan of all things Romulan, I'm looking forward to seeing more! Love this design.

 

[YOULI]

I've been busy on this one, but i'm not happy with what i've done with the paint job.

Will show you why... Soon (tomorrow ?).

 

[YOULI]

4 years later, I inspect the parts I glued, hoping to see the twisted resin part re-aligned. It worked ! yeepeeh !

The wings are aligned, the engines too... It's a little bit twisted, but it's no big deal.



But there's still some gap here...



I used some Mastic Plastic from Prince August, that you can work with a wet finger, to spread the white putty and fil the gap easily, without sanding !



It's really easy if the gap is not too wide. You really have to do the wet thing, because onece dry, it's a hell to sand correctly.
But finally on the upper side I used some regular Tamiya Putty and spread it with acetone and a brush. It's a tip to follow only with RESIN KITS, never plastic, for you don't want to see your plastic kit disappear !
The acetone tip allow you to save some time : no sanding here !

 

[YOULI]

I had to sand though, a little, to flatten the surface between the fuselage and the wings.

I forgot about a mold line too on the engines. problem solved !

 

[Igard]

Excellent seam bashing Youli! She looks close to paint now.

Are you going for screen accuracy with the paint, or taking some artistic license?

 

[YOULI]

Somewhere between the two things I think

I really don't like the flat green color of the ship in the TV series, but I don't want to go for a colorful feather surface like the Klingon bird of prey (even though I KNOW that the ship was designed to be the movie type of the romulan starships, before staff of the third movie decided to replace the romulans by Klingons).

Here is what you can find on the web for reference.
The real thing in Star Trek.

For some online game here...





So that will be some feather with red or rusty colors, a variety of green colors. That has been done some days ago. So it's nearly finished. I simply need some time to post all the pictures and informations.

Thanks for watching...

 

[YOULI]

Here is the paint work.

First you may know that I mostly build and paint at night, and even with the help of a natural white light bulb, it's not like painting in birght light. The quality of my work is really, really down here...
Plus, I used some foundation Citadel paint, very bad choice since it's a not a fluid paint. And it reacts badly to thinner like alcohol.
The result is a bad painted too dark color, that would be good on a Klingon ship, not romulan. I need to be back to a colder green...



In bright daylight. Not that dark but really too maroon, too much red in this green.I still paint some feathers here and there, with different red and green colors...



The engines has been repainted, in white first, and then with a yellowish fluorescent green from Rakham (a trademark taht no longer exists). The effect is good.



So in order to reduce the darker color, done a white drybrush. I was really too heavy on that phase... Silly me.



The hull is lighter in color, but in birght daylight it's really not a good paint job.
And when I wanted to use some "shade" from Citadel, the equivalent of the inks and washes, I discovered something strange : it dissolved the white drybrush (done with Prince August white base).
So "goodby white drybrush" and "hello Gundam Marker Drybrush".
There is this green from the Gundam Marker line that is somewhat perfect for the Romulan Starships, it's for the Zaku actually.
I've done almost all the surface, the details are to be done again, around the edges, the engines, but te result is not that bad.
The kit has been stocked to be resumed later. It's too hot this days. The paint dry too quickly, the resin is soft...



With the naked eye, the almost "final" result is that.
When the details are done, I'll use some home made washes (oil paints, with Mineral spirit), a matt varnish, and paint the windows in Tamiya Smoke Sreen.

 

[Grendels]

It is looking good, and I like the color you ended with.

 

[YOULI]

Thanks Grendel, you're too kind

I'll use what I ended up with to have a "used" render on the starship surface but, believe me, it's really not a good paint job.

That's why I like Star Wars Starships better, you can be a bit messy, it's no big deal. With Star Trek, total different story, except for the Klingons...
All in all, a "simple" garage kit that will be added to my "done" list.

 

[Igard]

Yeah I found it very difficult to build a clean starship when I built my Rommie Stormbird for the contest. Really the best models are those with lots of detail and weathering, but then it's a nice challenge to build an interesting clean model too.

I also like the final colour. I'm sure with a bit of weathering and some final touches, she'll be something to be proud of.

I'm also very familiar with those old video game models. I think most were designed for the Homeworld mod and have been converted since for use with games such as Starfleet Command, Galactic Civilizations, and more recently Sins of a Solar Empire.

Actually I believe I also used that ship graphic for my Star Trek mod for Distant Worlds (Yip I don't just build models y'know).

My Distant Worlds mod thread :- http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2497781

 

[YOULI]

Since I return to Paris things are a lot more complicated than expected. One need space to work, and the proper tools to do so...

But, anyhow, I managed to move some of my last kits, the Romulan Scout sip is among them.

Here at Dijon Saiten 10 days ago.




It really didn't enjoy the ride, some paint were scratch and the right wing was broken... I glued it as clean as I can...

 

[Igard]

Anymore pics of this Youli? Looks great. Shame about the damage.

 

[YOULI]

No can do... For the moment

My "good" APN is still in the mountains (I miss my sony numeric apparel), and the "bad" one was forgoten in Orleans.
So my choices are limited and taking pictures of the Romulan Scout ship with my Cell phone would lead to a messy work.

But, that's a promise : as soon as I go back to the Pyrenees Mountains, I will take all the pictures you can dream of.

And start recording, filming my buildings.

 

[Igard]

Cool, I can wait!

 

[YOULI]

My romulan scout ship was lost in the basement of my mom flat.
I recovered it and put it in an exhibition in Geekopolis Festival.

The paint has been compromised but even so, it looks good to me.
The repair will be done as soon as I'll be back to Paris.