Constitution Class Refit USS Eagle NCC-956 1/1000 Polar Lights - UPDATE# 1

Greetings!!

So this is a build I am doing concurrently with my ongoing 1/350 USS Olympia build.  Why you may ask?  Isn't it the same ship but only smaller?  Well that may be true, but the reason for me to do this build at the same time is to test some paint colours before committing to a larger model and therefore wasting a lot of time and materials on a more expensive kit I've been working on for about a year now.

Why USS Eagle?

I have built and still plan to build a number of Constitution Class both Refit, Phase II and TOS versions.  It would be very boring naming them all 'Enterprise'.  In fact at some point I do plan on building a 1/350 studio accurate refit USS Enterprise as seen in Star Trek The Motion Picture, but I feel my skills aren't there just yet.  Again, expensive and time consuming build.  So each Constitution Class ship I've been giving them a unique name, one that is in the Star Trek canon.  I have a tiny 1/1600 scale USS Farragut NCC-1647, a 1/1600 USS Constellation NCC-1017, etc.  The USS Eagle was never actually shown on screen, but appeared in a planned 'Operation Retrieve' from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, in which a task force rescue Kirk &  McCoy by force.  Also in the novels, a young Commander James Kirk was first officer (Number 1) aboard this ship before taking command of the Enterprise.  It just seems somewhat fitting.  It is also a reference to the LM from Apollo 11.  A great name nonetheless.  Also on the geek end, I think it would be visually interesting to see a 3 digit vs. standard 4 digit registry, much like my Olympia is a 5 digit vs. 4 digit registry.  Now onto the build!

I won't be super detailing each step in this, it is going to be a static model - no lights.  This is pretty straight forward stuff.  Let's get started!

POL820 - 1/1000 USS Enterprise - Refit NCC-1701

Here's the model kit!

And this is what you should get when you open it, 4 bags (these pictures are from my blog on my 1701-A build - btw).

OK, 4 bags from this kit, not problem.

OK, here's the full layout I like to take pictures of for the purposes of documenting what comes out of the box, and for the blog.  From 1701-A build.

Here's the layout of main parts (not including the base, clear parts and decals).  Anything missing?

I noticed I got duplicates of something, which I was saying to myself, 'Cool!' when I noticed an extra secondary hull section.  This is golden for kit bashing!  I will come back to this...

I bought for this build and my 1/1000 1701-A build a supplemental decal sheet.  I do a lot of custom decals for all of my builds.  Actually, every build I've done in this blog and a few personal ones as well, I've blogged about it since 2010 when I got back into building models again.  The only build I didn't end up using my custom decals was my Avro Arrow build because I found a great source for professional decals, made in Canada.  Although, I made decals for the base so that counts, a repurposed Round 2 dome base.  ;)  Wonder where I got that...

At first glance, these are real nice decals.

I like the fact they give you the NX prefix and -A, -B, -C to make your own registries.  The nitpicker in me will say this, the NX should have the long dash, and the -A, -B, - C should have the short dash. I have seen this mistake many times.

This is what a registry with -A should look like...

Custom decals I tested out for my 1/1000 builds of Enterprise-A and Brattain

OK, now the remaining marking decals.  I like them, but on closer inspection there is a glaring typo, can you spot it?

"NCC-1371  NITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS"

NITED??? 

Someone dropped the 'U'.  Could you imagine if this were markings for, a modern day ship and it said 'NITED STATES OF AMERICA'?   Poor job Round2!!!

The rest look good though.

I like the fact they give you alternate colours for the strong back.  This detail got repainted on the studio model as it had battle damage applied to it during Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan.

Also they give you the window decals both in black and white.  Nice touch.

One thing that is missing are all the pendant decals.  In the middle of each pendant is: 

STARSHIP U.S.S. (ship's name) - UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS.

My decals for USS Olympia

The USS Reliant aztec decals take care of this oversight by providing all of the names in the pendant decals.

The new USS Excelsior Aztec decals also provide full names for the Hood, Melbourne and Valley Forge.  I digress, let's build a model!

Assembly

This is very straight forward.  It is a snap together kit, snap together are for kids.  A solid model should be glued and glued it shall be.

I next turned my attention to the pylons.  Minimal fuss here.

Next the saucer.  Even though this is small, I find a good saucer needs to have even pressure to minimize the seam.

Once everything was dry, I snapped together the secondary hull, trapping the pylons.  Then I snapped on the neck and saucer getting ready to prime it grey to look for faults and then I asked myself, 'where are the nacelles? Where are the nacelles??'  Then I remember this:

As it turned out, I got an extra secondary hull in place of the warp engines...oops.  Well, Round 2 has an amazing replacement program when there is something wrong with the parts.  I went on their website and made my request to get my nacelles for this kit.

In the interim, I turned my focus to the clear parts.  I used product made by Rust-oleum called 'Mirror-Effect' to coat the backside of most of the clear parts.

This will allow me to tint the front, giving it an 'illuminating effect'.

I next turned my attention to filling the windows on the secondary hull and neck.

The decals have window marking in them and from experience, the window decals don't exactly line up with the markings on the hull.

My second pass at filling in the window demarcations.

Then I started work on the saucer.  I'm filling in the RCS inscribed lines as they are too deep.  In fact so are the gridlines on the ship too.

Taping off around the RCS thrusters is one way to prevent getting red putty in the gridlines.

Under wraps on the left is the saucer of USS Olympia

I also filled in the opening at the front of where the bridge attaches to the saucer.  The bridge part was designed to snap into place.  I left the back opening in place to align the bridge once I'm ready to glue it into place.

That wraps up this entry.  I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays, for those who celebrate!

Happy Model Building!


Star Trek and all related marks, logos and characters are solely owned by CBS Studios Inc. This fan blog (production) is not endorsed by, sponsored by, nor affiliated with CBS, Paramount Pictures, or any other Star Trek franchise, and is a non-commercial fan-made blog intended for recreational use.  No commercial exhibition or distribution is permitted. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against CBS or Paramount Pictures.

Constitution Class Refit USS OLYMPIA Polar Lights 1/350 scale UPDATE #17 - Finishing the Saucer: Part 5

Greetings!

So I originally planned to finish the Olympia entirely before I would decal it.  A bit of ambition, and a realization some areas would be extremely tough to decal, I decided to decal the saucer entirely before I attach it to the secondary hull.  I have three main reasons: 1) applying a continuous band around the perimeter of the saucer would be easier if that part was separate from the rest of the ship; 2) the model is 3' long when completed, it would be difficult and possibly structurally unsound to leave it on it's back with any weight on the nacelles/pylons as I have seen a few seams pop already; 3)   I have heard the kit decals can be very tricky, can tear and to add to it, I'm using custom decals I've made and other aftermarket decals I've bought to supplement this.

Decalling...here we go!

This model kit comes with 5 decal sheets, 4 16"x16" wall paper decals and 1 set of marking decals for USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A.

Sheet 1 - upper saucer aztec

Sheet 2 - lower saucer aztec

Sheet 3 - strong back, neck secondary hull

Sheet 4 - nacelles, pylons, misc saucer decals and sensor bands.

Sheet 5 - marking decals

I'm only using the pinstripes, not the pendants or registries.

I also ordered the sensor band replacements made by JT Graphics.

This is the USS Olympia NCC-21576, so these marking decals are custom made by me.

Also included on this sheet are decals for the USS Eagle, a 1/1000 build - a test build for decals.

And impulse engine decals.

This is the USS Olympia NCC-21576, so these marking decals are custom made by me.  Down the road I will be using strong back decals, which you can get from Starship Modeller on their website by   Carlos 'Arthur Pendragon' Zangrando, which is a free download.

Let's get started!

The key to doing any decals is a clean working area, free of clutter, and a few tools:

• sharp scissors
• clean bowl with warm water (I do a mixture of 10:1 water to white glue)
• tweezers
• x-acto knifes (both a curved blade and a sharp #11 straight blades)
• paper towel
• setting solutions
• 
• decal bonder
• 

I coated all of the decals, which are old decals with Testers Decal Bonder.  This helps give strength to the decals.  When I built my model of the Vulcan Warp Shuttle six years ago, I found the decals tore. I've also heard the same thing happen to these decals.

The first group of decals I'm using the aztec decals.  For those who are unaware, the term 'aztecs' are a form of breaking up the surface detail on an otherwise smooth surface with an alternate checkerboard pattern.  This pattern creates what would seem like a random pattern of panels making up a whole surface.

from the original release of this Polar Lights kit in 2005.

Since Star Trek The Motion Picture, all Star Trek 'Federation' ships have this form of surface 'break-up' to add detail and scale.

My first task was to install the sensor band details, an aftermarket product by JT Graphics.

The reality of the applying the saucer edge was one of the main reasons for me doing this first before finishing the whole ship, and I must say, it is much easier rotating the saucer on it's makeshift base (two 4x4 dimensional lumber covered with a microsoft padded fabric).

Next, the aztec decals.  The aztecs come as 'pie-shaped wedges'.

The instructions indicate to cut up each decal.  This makes the decal less likely to tear but also easier to go around compound curves.

There is the first strip I've added to Olympia.

The process of adding each pie section is to apply the positive aztec to every other wedge section.

The next hurdle was to cut around the impulse deck.  I cut up the decal into smaller pieces and added each one separately.

Next step was for me to start added the 'negative' aztec, again starting at the fore section of the bridge.

Once I completed the task, I then turn my attention to the impulse engines.  I lit them up so I see the grills clearly as I placed both decals.

You can see here the sensor bands to the right of frame.  The sensor bands don't actually butt up against the engine, but there is a gap around it.  I suspect when the studio model was built, this was done to make it easier to seam the engine piece with the saucer's edge.

Here is the impulse engine completed with the custom decals I made.

And now with the lights off.

Next step was to add the decals to the bridge section.  I am using up the original decals which came with the 2005 Polar Lights kit as the marking decals.  That means I also had to search the internet for the original instructions as the numbering for the decals have changed.

Next step was to add the marking decals I made, which includes the circular docking port decal which reads "NCC-21576" and "OLYMPIA" on either side of the red circular decal.  That's the first custom decal I added.  Next was the larger decal, just aft of the VIP lounge (4 large windows).

Next was the larger, more legible decal just aft of the 4 large windows (VIP Lounge).

 A quick comparison of the kit's "NCC-1701-A" decal and my custom decal...

Next I moved forward and concentrated on the forward decals, or as I refer to them as the main decals of the ship.  From the time of the TOS Enterprise, this is the 'hero side' which clearly shows the name:  U.S.S. OLYMPIA NCC-21576.  Unfortunately due to a printing error, the 'U' in U.S.S. had a smaller marking crossing through it, making the decal unusable.

I placed the 'U.S.S.' decal in conjunction with the 'OLYMPIA' decal to determine spacing.  I staggered the distance between the two decals as the registry is a big registry, 8 digits, like NCC-1701-A, or any other 24th Century registry like Voyager, NCC-74656.  It visually will look better.

Moving forward on the larger registry decal, I referred back to the centre point on the VIP decal to see were the centre line is.

Starting with the number '2', found it's centre line.  Also note, I've added the pinstriping around the phaser banks as well.  Working left to right, I continued to align each number individually, ending with the number '6'.

Next I matched the 'N' to same opposite side of the centre line where the last digit '6' is in the registry.

Here are the results:

And now with the internal lighting.

For those who are not 'in the know', all Federation ships have a registry number.  The registry for the Enterprise is NCC-1701.  Unofficially the NCC stands for Naval Construction Contract.  Experimental ships are called NX, like the USS Excelsior NX-2000, USS Defiant NX-74205, etc.  When the designer, Matt Jefferies came up with the number, NCC-1701, supposedly it was partially based on his registry number for his Cessna NC-17740.  The NCC has been considered an amalgam of both US and USSR civilian craft registries: NC (US) and CCCC (USSR).  The actual numbers though, from a production standpoint, 1701 were probably used for their legibility on screen at a  distance.  That said, on one such draft by Jefferies showed the the Enterprise was the '17th design' and the '1st ship'.  Next modification would be 1701A.  My registry for Olympia is purely conjecture. I picked 5 digits to make it 24th Century, keeping it in a similar line to USS Brattain NCC-21166.  I digress...

I unfortunately had 1 led burn out on the port side of the docking port.  Too late to do anything about it now.  Besides, it's hardly a deal breaker.

Once the upper saucer was dry, I turned it over to start on the lower side.   I started to apply the lower markings to the sensor array.  I used a paint scheme I found in the Trek Modeler's paint guide I purchased a few years ago.  This has been the basis for me painting this model, my 1/1000 Enterprise-A, and the USS Eagle, which is more of test bed for finishing the Ent-A and this model in terms of finishings.  Eagle will be a future entry, and will tie into my next big project, the Eagle Transport from Space 1999.  I digress, the markings/aztecs didn't register on the lower sensor dome.  That meant I had to make my own.

Here is the primary reference material for coming up with the new aztecs.

 Here is the start of the decals being applied.

Once I finished the lower sensor array, I returned to finish the 'U.S.S.' on the upper saucer.  I then left the model a full 24 hours to let everything set.

Time to flip the saucer over.  I haven't added all the custom decals yet but I'm working on all of the main decals first.  Time to restart the process all over again on the underside of the saucer.  I started the process again cutting up the pie shapes.

I then started on the centreline, working in a starboard direction.

When I got to the neck, I had a similar obstacle, like the impulse deck, although much easier to deal with than before due to the shape.  I literally treated these decals like putting wallpaper in a bathroom.  Lots of cuts, folds and test fitting.

Decaling the saucer with aztecs can be a very boring process.  This pattern which repeats 16 times on each side of the saucer.  (28 times on the TOS Enterprise.)  I started to fill in the areas with the negative aztec so I can get the area ready for marking decals - which is more exciting to put down.

The first decal I put down was the name 'Olympia' which just fore of where the neck connects with the saucer.

Next, I moved onto the forward facing registry, again beginning with the '2' in NCC-21576.

Again, I applied each character individually.  This is how the studio model was decalled.  Also, the original series Enterprise AMT model kit from the 70s until the 90s, you had to apply each decal individually as well.  Applying the decals individually eliminates the carrier film which is often a sign that this is a decal vs. a painted on marking.

To figure out the placement for the 'N' on the opposite side, I place it over the last digit to see where approximately I would need to place it on the opposite side.

Moving forward, I unfortunately tore one of the wallpaper decals despite trying to fix it.

This is where I will wrap this up for another day.  I have 4.5 partially laid down 'negative aztecs' left to put down.

That wraps up this entry...more decalling on the way!

Happy Model Building!

Star Trek and all related marks, logos and characters are solely owned by CBS Studios Inc. This fan blog (production) is not endorsed by, sponsored by, nor affiliated with CBS, Paramount Pictures, or any other Star Trek franchise, and is a non-commercial fan-made blog intended for recreational use.  No commercial exhibition or distribution is permitted. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against CBS or Paramount Pictures.