USS Enterprise E from Star Trek Nemesis

[trekriffic]

The flashing starboard formation light got a dollop of neon green enamel using a toothpick. This is done top and bottom on the saucer:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Formation Light Detailed and Painted by Steve J, on Flickr

The flashing port formation light got a tiny dollop of fluorescent red enamel using a toothpick. This is done top and bottom on the saucer. You can also see the TOS enterprise wing ding in this pic:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Formation Light and Ent Wing Ding by Steve J, on Flickr

Love how the deflector dish glow turned out… and the Raytheon Effect… and the base:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Glossy Ship and Base by Steve J, on Flickr

Gratuitous shot from a little while back. Love those porch lights:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Final Pointing Ups by Steve J, on Flickr

Oh yeaaaah.This marathon build is almost done...I can feel the tape of the finish line pulling on me now...

 

[trekriffic]

OK. One more thing ...

I used this CGI image of the lower impulse vent frame's grey panels for reference:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - CGI Impulse Vent Panels by Steve J, on Flickr

Using white decal paper painted previously with the lighter hull color, I cut a thin strip to fit each of the lower frames of the impulse engine vents then masked along the edge before painting two shades of grey stripes using a mix of white and neutral grey:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Impulse Vent Panel Decal Painting by Steve J, on Flickr

After applying the decals to the lower impulse vent frames an enamel clear coat was brushed over the top. I'll let the clear coat dry overnight then brush on a few coats of Future. This was the last item left on my detailing list. All that's left are the clear finishing coats and this beauty is DONE!


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Impulse Vent Grey Panels by Steve J, on Flickr

Sprayed the underside with flat lacquer. I'll spray the top next after I fix a few of the red striped spine decals by adding new red stripe pieces on top. The ones on the model are a little thin in spots:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Ventral Dullcote by Steve J, on Flickr

The top was sprayed with flat lacquer. All glossiness is gone now which means she should take some great photos I think; better than a semi-gloss finish too. After it dried I placed the model back on the stand. Just need to set up and take the finished pics with my DSLR camera:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Dorsal Dullcoted by Steve J, on Flickr

She looks great with her flat coat:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Undersaucer Matte Finish by Steve J, on Flickr

The Dullcote's dullness blends the different shades of grey as a unifying layer. Looks good from so many angles:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Under Secondary Hull Matte Finish by Steve J, on Flickr



Here you can see some of the detail decals added like hatches, small panels, and the detail added to the shuttle bay 2 doors:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Aft Secondary Hull Matte Finish by Steve J, on Flickr

Here you can see the tiny warning markers along the phaser strips:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Upper Saucer Matte Finish by Steve J, on Flickr

Almost finished but really 99% done:


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis-WIP - Teasers by Steve J, on Flickr

More to come with finished photos and a video.

 

[KINGSLUG]

This is pretty amazing...or as spock would say.....fascinating...

 

[andrewdick68]

Well I'm impressed...

Well done

 

[trekriffic]

Finally got around to taking some photos with my garage camera setup. I have four videos but have to look them over and see if they are worth posting.
Hope you like the pics...


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis - Finished Image by Steve J, on Flickr


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis - Finished Image by Steve J, on Flickr


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis - Finished Image by Steve J, on Flickr


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis - Finished Image by Steve J, on Flickr

I do love the porch lights...


USS Enterprise E - Nemesis - Finished Image by Steve J, on Flickr

More pics here on page 5 of my Flickr album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29607470@N08/albums/72157713648650493/page5

 

[trekriffic]

If you guys want to see the higher resolution (3300 x 2000 approx) images go to the Imgur link below:



You can really zero in on the details.

 

[rastanz]

Wonderful build!!! Love the lighting!!!

 

[stevethefish]

If you guys want to see the higher resolution (3300 x 2000 approx) images go to the Imgur link below:

You can really zero in on the details.

Hey, I know this is an old thread I'm resurrecting, but I am late to the party. I had seen some of the posts back when you were updating this, but yesterday I went through the whole build process on here because I have this kit and am interested to start working on it sometime soon. You did a fantastic job, especially with all the modifications you made. Currently I am building the 1:2500 scale Ent. E kit and I've got it in subassemblies with the two saucer halves and the rest of the ship. I've just primed it so far.

I have the Tenacontrols lighting kit. I have done some simple model lighting before and I do have experience with making a strobe via a 555 timer chip, so I am not a total novice. I still don't have a whole lot of experience though. I have a question. When you have the inside all painted white with the lights in position, when you airbrush the primer and paint on the ship, I assume you don't have to worry about the paint getting inside much due to the small holes? Of course you masked off the impulse engines. I've just wondered that about Star Trek kits.

In my stash, I have this Ent. E, the C, the D, two Refits (I managed to pick up an original TMP "smoothie" for a killer price at Leonardo in Tokyo several years ago!), and the Reliant. I have the DLM parts for the 537 Refit and Reliant for lighting. I also have two other Tenacontrol chips with jumpers to select the TOS, Refit/Reliant, C/D, and JJ ships. Would the E be a good one to start out with? I know the 537 Refit needs its pylons reinforced and such. I'm wondering which is the easiest ship to try and tackle first.

 

[trekriffic]

Hey, I know this is an old thread I'm resurrecting, but I am late to the party. I had seen some of the posts back when you were updating this, but yesterday I went through the whole build process on here because I have this kit and am interested to start working on it sometime soon. You did a fantastic job, especially with all the modifications you made. Currently I am building the 1:2500 scale Ent. E kit and I've got it in subassemblies with the two saucer halves and the rest of the ship. I've just primed it so far.

I have the Tenacontrols lighting kit. I have done some simple model lighting before and I do have experience with making a strobe via a 555 timer chip, so I am not a total novice. I still don't have a whole lot of experience though. I have a question. When you have the inside all painted white with the lights in position, when you airbrush the primer and paint on the ship, I assume you don't have to worry about the paint getting inside much due to the small holes? Of course you masked off the impulse engines. I've just wondered that about Star Trek kits.

In my stash, I have this Ent. E, the C, the D, two Refits (I managed to pick up an original TMP "smoothie" for a killer price at Leonardo in Tokyo several years ago!), and the Reliant. I have the DLM parts for the 537 Refit and Reliant for lighting. I also have two other Tenacontrol chips with jumpers to select the TOS, Refit/Reliant, C/D, and JJ ships. Would the E be a good one to start out with? I know the 537 Refit needs its pylons reinforced and such. I'm wondering which is the easiest ship to try and tackle first.

Hey fish!
Are you asking if the 1/1400 E is easier than some other kits? Or are you referring to the 1/2500 E? What scales are the C and D?
Will you be lighting all of them? All with flashers and strobes?
Regarding your other question, I sprayed primer and hull color over the hull and over all the small windows therein. Not too much worry about spraying thru into the interior as thick as the plastic was. Once I was done with painting I applied decals and clearcoated before filling the small windows with Krystal Klear. Or maybe it was white glue for a more translucent effect. I forget.

 

[stevethefish]

Hey fish!
Are you asking if the 1/1400 E is easier than some other kits? Or are you referring to the 1/2500 E? What scales are the C and D?
Will you be lighting all of them? All with flashers and strobes?

Yeah, I was implying that these are all the larger-sized kits. Currently I'm doing the 2500 E, but I was asking about the 1400 E in regards to the 1400 C & D, 537 Reliant & Refit. I have Tenacontrols lighting chips to do the E or the other ships. I think the Refit will require the most amount of work. Someone on the SSM forum suggested that the Reliant would be easier than others. Over the weekend, I looked in my D box and saw that I've lost the PE panels from DLM for the nacelle pylons. Those will be necessary to cover up wires to light the nacelles. I am sure it must have fallen out of the box in my storage closet. I'll have to look for it in there.

 

[BattleScale Collectica]

Yeah, I was implying that these are all the larger-sized kits. Currently I'm doing the 2500 E, but I was asking about the 1400 E in regards to the 1400 C & D, 537 Reliant & Refit. I have Tenacontrols lighting chips to do the E or the other ships. I think the Refit will require the most amount of work. Someone on the SSM forum suggested that the Reliant would be easier than others. Over the weekend, I looked in my D box and saw that I've lost the PE panels from DLM for the nacelle pylons. Those will be necessary to cover up wires to light the nacelles. I am sure it must have fallen out of the box in my storage closet. I'll have to look for it in there.

looking forward to seeing some of this!

 

[trekriffic]

Hey fish,
As far as degrees of difficulty, I'd say the Refit would be number one if you go all in and paint a 5 color aztec paint scheme - that's a lot of masking. Better to buy or make your own aztec decals if you can.
Second I'd say the D mostly because of the raised panel lines which should be sanded off. Then you have the thin pylons which will need trenches carved out for the wires to light the nacelles. The PE covers will help a lot, hope you find them. The main thing with the E is all the aztecing. If you can find wallpaper decals for that it will save you a ton of work painting and masking the aztecs.
I can't say much about the Reliant since I've never built that particular model in that scale.
One caveat to the above, if you decide to fix the inaccuracies of the E like I did, making the Nemesis version with additional phaser strips and stern facing photorp launchers on the saucer and spine as well as building out the saucer shuttle bay then would make that my number one instead of the refit.

 

[stevethefish]

For my Reliant, I have the official AMT aztec decal set. For the Refit, I have the HDA Modelworx aztec decals. I am planning to get HDA's aztec decals for the E as well.

Several years ago, I was working on the 1:1000 Refit by PL and had some decal screw ups. Some of the decals on one pylon were cracked and now they look like buttpoop. I'd already applied the Micro Sol, so they wouldn't lift up with Scotch tape. gosh, it's been about 7 years already. I ordered replacement decals. Maybe I could just use something like 10,000 grit sanding sponges to gently remove the decals without damaging the pearlescent white paint job underneath?

Suddenly I've just been in a Star Trek mood and I haven't been in one for quite a while. I'm currently attempting to resume my work on the 350 K'Tinga kit I abandoned years ago due to a mishap with drilling out windows for the photoetch that doesn't match up with the holes in the plastic.

 

[trekriffic]

Maybe I could just use something like 10,000 grit sanding sponges to gently remove the decals without damaging the pearlescent white paint job underneath.

You could try soaking them in Purple Power or WD-40. Do a test in a small area on the offending pylon and let it soak into the decals for 15-20 minutes. You could also try using a stickier tape like that clear strapping tape used for sealing up cardboard boxes. There's also Gorilla Tape which purports to be strong as a gorilla.

 

[stevethefish]

You could try soaking them in Purple Power or WD-40. Do a test in a small area on the offending pylon and let it soak into the decals for 15-20 minutes. You could also try using a stickier tape like that clear strapping tape used for sealing up cardboard boxes. There's also Gorilla Tape which purports to be strong as a gorilla.

I've already attached the pylons to the nacelles. Plus I don't live in America and I'm not sure what sort of equivalents to Purple Power or WD-40 are. If I was to go the chemical route, I could try using Zippo lighter fluid since that works very well at removing difficult price tags and stickers off of surfaces without damaging the plastic, cardboard, or whatever surface it may be.

 

[trekriffic]

I had problems with fragmentation of the spine decal when I built my own 1/1000 refit. I didn't want to buy a whole 'nuther set of decals so I just coated the offending decals with liquid decal film to seal them off before mixing up some MM enamel and painting over the top where the decals were torn or missing. The color matched so well you'd never guess I'd painted over the decals.

 

[stevethefish]

My friend from Arizona flew to Japan and arrived Sunday morning. We spent the day together, hitting up the nerd shops together. From HDA Modelworx, I bought the Paragrafix photoetch set for the 537 Refit, the Paragrafix photoetch and Green Strawberry photoetch flux chillers for the 537 Reliant, and the aztec decals for the 1400 E. Shipping cost only $10 to have the stuff sent to him as opposed to $60 shipping to Japan.

Currently I am working on the 2500 E. I airbrushed the impulse engines red and the collector dish yellow, but I didn't care for the yellow, so I used paint remover to get rid of it as it looks better with a bluish white. I think I might use fluorescent paints for those. Anyhow, I think I'll either start on the 1400 E or 537 Reliant after I'm finished with this smaller E.