AMT/ROUND 2 USS DEFIANT as seen in 'THOLIAN WEB' 1/650 scale Update #3

Greetings, it's sorta funny that an unpainted, un-puttied, model would take a few months...well as I mentioned in my last blog entry on the 'Tesla', some unfortunate luck and genuinely busy work has kept me away form blogging...so here are the results.

Finishing up the details on the Defiant's saucer/engineering hull

The Impulse Engine.  I used pieces of old screen material to simulate the texture surrounding the impulse engines.  I marked out the 'blank section' with Tamiya Tape and made a template for the openings from the 1/350 Enterprise, scaled to 1/650.

Deflector Dish and Housing

As I previously mentioned, I decided to build my own housing and modify the dish to be as close as accurate as I could.  It also means I can paint is separately from the model.

The housing:

The dish:

To make the antenna and rod I used a simple piece of sprue for the back side (I didn't bother with the 'hinge joint' as it's difficult to see when mounted) and used a brass rod for the antenna shaft.  Another piece of sprue shaped into a cone makes the base and the ring at the front of the tip is a piece of heat shrink glued to it.

And with a bit of paint...

Moving forward and completing the primary & secondary section

NACELLES

This part of the ship has a lot of parts considering most Trek models are just half sections.  And for this model, I was able to modify most of the nacelle pieces.  I left a channel to feed wires front he secondary hull through the pylons for lighting for the Bussard section.  I found this section difficult to cement together as the to halves of the cylindrical nacelles were quite warped despite using the boiling water technique to fix them.  CA fixed that (aka Super Glue).

Below you can see them masked off for painting.

The 'reactor loop' as it is often called is part which goes on the inboard cutout section.  The part is not quite accurate and I re-sculpted it to be more accurate as well as adding a front piece using my 1/350 version as a reference, cut from pieces of the model's stand (way too lightweight to hold this model).

Ready to be attached to the Defiant.  It should be noted that the large dome on the dorsal side of the secondary hull is actually a Bussard Collector from a leftover piece of 1/1000 NX-Class Refit model I will be building very soon.

The End Caps - this section of the model always bugged me, even as a kid because it's not at all accurate to what the model looks like on screen.  While I was casting new globes for the 1/350 Enterprise I will eventually build, I discovered the domes were roughly the same size as the 1/650 Bussard collectors.  This got me thinking 1/650 to 1/350 is similar to 1/1000 to 1/650 scale wise.  Since the 1/1000 USS Enterprise Kit has many different nacelle variations and I have bought 4 of these kits over the years (a built one as a gift, Space Seed version, a half built USS Intrepid and future kit-bask), I have lots of nacelle parts, specifically unused Bussard collectors.  So I took 2 of them, cut them off and cut off the inaccurate little bump on the back of the end cap and filled it in.

The dome I used was a 'pilot' version so there was a hole to be filled with a piece of sprue and Evercoat.

The 'intercoolers' had a lot of clean-up as the it looks like the mold used to make it doesn't akin properly.  Also even though, normally the inset is painted 'hull colour', in this case would not be painted, I felt it should be darker just to add some dimension to the part.

Forward of each of these intercoolers is a rectangular section which I cut out of the stand.  These are only present on the 'production' version of the TOS USS Enterprise, which this is supposed to be.

The Bussard Collectors - I had some time to experiment with this, I could have ordered aftermarket parts but that wasn't in my budget for this model.  I spent a few hundred bucks on it already, not to mention just buying the model.  When I discovered the glow in the dark plastic transmitted light extremely well, I decided to do a basic lighting using only warm white LEDs and would paint the exterior of the domes with clear red.

The first thing I noticed while building my other 1/650 AMT Enterprise (named USS Constitution) is the 3 rings/indentations on the nacelle should be 3 rings, 4 indentations and the distance between the dome and the rings is too long, by about 3/16 of an inch or so.  So I cut that down and chamfered the edge to make it conical.

I rationalized that since this Defiant was caught in the Tholian Web, the fan blades wouldn't be spinning (easy way out...sort of), I decided I would paint them on with metallic silver and paint the whole Bussard with clear red.  To do the blades, I borrowed making templates I bought for my 1/350 which I won't be using - I have the brass etch set and don't need masks for the inner domes.  I applied it to the dome, cut off the overhang and masked the base.  Sadly, they didn't fit right (it wasn't made for this scale and the paint bled through.  That's what sandpaper, files and sharp X-Acto blades are for.

Once I cleaned this up, I painted it with clear red, then frosted it with multiple coats of clear satin and matte finish.  I also drilled out the unlit running light which is on the top of the Bussard collectors, a detail I only recently realized was there.

The following video shows the model ready for decals, with the deflector just sitting there.

The Decals

I really like the fact Round 2 supplies a huge decal sheet for all of the windows and markings on the model.  It beats painting them.  I also bought a saucer gridline decal from Acreation models.  I made a few other decals, including the 3 concentric circles on the lower saucer, the triangular landing legs and a few modified decals to properly fit this model as well as TMP style docking ports.  (I figured since this model is 1764 vs. 1701, technology would have improved and there may be additional features.)

The final details to complete model included adding a custom 8 prong decal to the lower sensor dome and the 'probe' on it made out of a piece of fiber optic cord as well as attaching the deflector assembly and the 3 box-like structures under each Bussard collector, made again from the stand on the nacelles.  Here's a sneak peak!

The Stand

This is the biggest and most complex stand I've build for a model to date.  That said, it's easy for a guy who gutted and built his own kitchen with a background in carpentry.

When I last left off it was a basic plywood structure made of 5/8" ply with a threaded lamp tube as a rod (I have a brass tube to cover this).  I covered the edges with 1/8" styrene I bought in bulk, cemented with hot glue.

For the platform, I wanted a 'mirrored' effect.  So I used a "Chrome Paint" by Rustoleum and it is a glorified gloss silver.  And it looked like crap!  In the end after spending $35 on various paints, I decided to use another type of metal foil decal I had inherited from a commercial shoot about 6 years ago which has a brushed aluminium appearance.  I then sprayed this with a dull coat and it has a 1960's ish metallic look which is a happy accident.

Once I had the rest of the stand glued up, I treated the plastic just like a model by the same old process:  sand, fill, sand, primer, repeat until done.

I sprayed the base flat black and made custom decals for the button labels as well as the title of the display in photoshop and printed them on white decal film.

 The Tholians

It's funny, I will admit I'm terrible at losing parts and my goal for future builds is to be better organized.  I lost the 'Spinner' parts at least 3-4 times, but fortunately they are molded in glow-in-the-dark plastic.

I sprayed them in my 'chrome paint', making off the rear section to remain as glow-in-the-dark.

They mount to the stand via a thin brass rod in the bottom of each 'spinner' and there is a hole I drilled out in the back to accept a finer optic wire which will glow as if they are in mid act of spinning the web.

More to come, next update will be the final reveal!  Happy modelling!!

RETRO BUILD: AMT/ERTL Galaxy Class Tesla (Enterprise-D) Part 6

Greetings, its been a long while.  Things have been very busy with work and unfortunately I had a computer an iPhone and a camera die on me and that computer was the one I use to post on, so my blog has taken a back seat for the last while.  I'm back, with lots to update on.  Since I started writing this post back in July, I figure I'd finish it first before I continue with my USS Defiant build.  I digress, to the model!  And for those seeing this for the first time, this build occurred last year and was my first build with lights since the 1990s!...I digress...

As last seen in my previous entry on the TESLA retro-build, I finished the 'Stardrive' section.  Now moving on to the Saucer Section...

Of all of the canon Federation starships in the Star Trek universe, the Galaxy Class had the largest volume as it was essentially a 'hotel resort' with warp engines, and most of that volume was in the saucer.  So there are lots of windows, and lots of lifeboats.  This is the easiest part of the model to build but the most monotonous section to detail.

I sanded off the lifeboat hatches as they were uneven, some went through grid lines and the studio model the lifeboats appear virtually flat (on the 6 foot model, the 4 foot model had physical relief).  To put back the lifeboats, I decided to make my own decals based off the Round 2 decals included in the clear Enterprise-D release which came out a few years back and since i would be using clear decal sheets for my model, that means I'd have to paint the model tan and mask off the individual squares.  No small task.

Also I added detail which is on the 6' model at various points on the losel saucer.

The Azteking...

On Starship Modeler's website, there are many resources one can download, including decals.  I decided to use an available download decals for this model as frisket masks (in hindsight, it would have been easier, cheaper and faster to print these on decal film and apply it directly to the model.)

This is a coat of white primer.

Next layer of masking.

Originally I was going to apply this as a decal but soon realized it would not match so I had to mask these patterns off individually.

Final under coat!

Now with the hull panel masking removed...(sort of interesting looking if not circus-like)

And now, the base coat...

...and with all of the masking removed...

painting the life boat hatches first and then masking them gave them a 'stepped' appearance, I kinda like it.  For all of the effort, I would either order an extra set from Round 2 next time or find one by the many after-market suppliers.  That would also go the same for the Azteks.  It will be interesting when I finally get around to building my Enterprise-D.

Here is the lower saucer test mated to the Star Drive (Engineering) Section.

On to the Upper Primary Saucer:

This is the same process as before, for the bridge section, I unfortunately lost the dome (a pattern which I've recently found to be time consuming and expensive when you have a a build lasting over months) so I melted 2 fiber optic strands together to get the approximate shape.

It should be noted that I filled in the scribed line where the 5-bank lifeboats intersect the gridline and then re-scribed it after it was masked off...FYI.

Here is the whole model temporarily sitting together, the upper hull unmasked.

What I didn't chronicle are all of the touch ups where tape pulled paint.  Since I used aerosol spay cans to paint the model, I would spray a small amount on a surface like vinyl or something the pain wouldn't adhere to and use cotton swabs and brushes to touch up the sections.  Very effective.

So this is where I will be leaving this 'retro update' for now.   It's sort of funny, it was almost exactly a year ago I finished this model.  Oh well, I hope you are all enjoying this build.  Cheers and Happy Model Building!