Boy that last post took a while to compose, it felt like a mini novel...lol. I digress.
I've been busy with my USS Enterprise 1701-A wiring harnesses. I was going to start the USS Brattain wiring harnesses
This post is all 'Challenger NX-03'. Columbia is complete and on my desk!
To review, Challenger is several sub-assemblies. Primary hull, Secondary Hull, Struts, Warp Core and Nacelles. A conscious decision I made was to paint this like the original USS Enterprise from the pilot.
NACELLES
As of the last update on this series, I had recently just assembled the warp nacelles. I've started to pre-primer or even pre-paint certain parts. Even though we have to often fill seams and joints with putty, it's easy enough to isolate using tape and blend a touch-up in, especially with panelling. The fit on the nacelle halves are crappy.
Since I'm going for a TOS look on this model, I needed to paint the domes at the aft end of the nacelles. To be accurate to the Pilot Version, it should have been flat...next time. The dome appeared often as white or even illuminated in the original Star Trek series.
(USS Enterprise - 'Star Trek: The Immunity Syndrome')
Supposedly those domes are supposed to be hull coloured. I usually do them that way.
This is my 1/1000 USS Enterprise from Space Seed.
I can assure you the domes are the same colour as the hull. The lightness of them is an optical illusion. On this model, I decided to paint them Pearl White (Tamiya Spray Paint).
I never noticed this on the show, 'Enterprise', but this is actually a canon marking. It was extremely subtle. On my build, I'm making it pronounced. This dark 'undercut' is on the original series Enterprise.
1/1000 USS Enterprise
Ready to paint more details.
The 'end caps' are getting the same tone of paint job present on the TOS Enterprise.
The forward grey 'ring' corresponds to the series of rings on the TOS Enterprise. The copper ring is canon to the NX Class. There is a 'greebly' section behind the copper ring which I decided to paint aluminum. It reminds a bit of an old WWII engine. (Please note this is still raw and require touch-ups).
The 'Bussard Collectors' (forward facing domes) have a a hole in the centre to allow a golden spike just like the 'Pilot' Enterprise.
(from Star Trek: The Cage - unaired pilot)
note the blue neck
The finished nacelles
SHUTTLE BAY
Something occurred to me, the neck of the secondary hull connects exactly where the launch bay is on the NX-01.
Shuttle pods are the primary method of planetside travel during this era.
(Screen shots from 'Star Trek: Enterprise')
So I decided this ship needs a new shuttle bay. And since I lost a part to the Columbia which I donated from this model from the shuttle section, I decided to scratch build my own.
First step was to remove material off the back of the ship.
I have sheet styrene with grooves cut about 1/16 of an inch lengthwise, so that will be my shuttle door. The door is roughly the size of the TOS Enterprise clamshell doors.
Then I trimmed it out with styrene plastic on either side and blended the whole thing to the hull.
I also flattened out the rest of this section of the ship; there was a raised ridge. I'm replacing it with two red pinstripes (decal) which will run straight back from the shuttle doors to the bridge, another homage to the TOS Enterprise.
On the underside I filled in the launch bay doors with red putty (3M Glazing Compound).
And I also added the 'triangular' markings on the lower section. They are identical in size to the Enterprise 1701.
These are supposed to be landing legs. In an emergency, the saucer can separate from the rest of the ship as it houses most of the living quarters with it's own engine. This was a feature the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, first introduced in the pilot episode, 'Encounter At Farpoint', except this feature was more standard than it was during Kirk's time. The landing legs hinted that the saucer could land on a planet. The third leg was supposedly hidden in the neck. On the Refit Enterprise (and Reliant, plus Excelsior/Ent-B) there are four grey rectangular sections which perform the same function. I digress, back to this build...
I made a bit of a goof on this build, since I had to recast the Impulse Engines since I lost a set (which I donated to the Columbia build), I did them twice. That was several months ago (I usually will cast multiple parts at a time so as not to waste resin). When I went to glue them into the openings, I used CA (superglue). There were noticeable gaps and looked like crap! So I decided to sand them flat and fill them with Ever Coat.
Then I found these...
Far from perfect, but they would have worked dammit!
So my resolve is to fill them flush and use a TOS styled black rectangle to represent each engine. I am trying to make this ship appear as more of a bridge between Enterprise NX-01 and Enterprise NCC-1701.
For the overall primary hull I've painted in the same colour as the Pilot version of the Enterprise which is a Krylon spray can and the paint is called 'pewter'.
For the saucer deflector dish housing, (resin re-cast) I painted it copper vs. illuminated blue.
WARP CORE
This is a simple four-piece part which attaches to the top of the secondary hull. On the old version of the NX-01/02 release, this was molded as part of the upper main main hull. This pod is a part of the 'governor wing' as it is referred to. With this kit, the wing is a separate piece which only get used if you build the model as a regular NX-Class ship.I decided to use the same paint scheme as I used on the Columbia NX-02. In most renderings I've seen of the NX-Refit, most of the gold and copper colours are muted or hull coloured. For me I figure the technology might dictate what materials are used. So here it is.
It is one of many homages to other starships named Enterprise.
ADDITIONAL STRUTS
Since I'm not Aztecing this ship, I decided some accents would be appropriate. These parts snap into both the primary and secondary hull.
SECONDARY HULL
This part of the ship had been complete for some time. What I did was paint the additional details and repair some paint scrapes.
Here is the Secondary Hull Assembly, together (snap fit) so I can still do additional painting.
So here is Challenger as it stands right now. (snap fit)
I figure there will be one more update prior to final reveal on this project.
BONUS
As I've been working on the wire harnesses for my 1/1000 USS Enterprise-A an Brattain build, I pushed forward with more work. Here are some broad strokes:
That's it for now, happy model building my friends!!
Cheers!
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