Constitution
NCC-1700
TOS
COMPLETE
070102.18
PURCHASED:
061101
BEGUN:
061105
061022
Another eBay win. This will be my two-dozenth plus of this kit. I'm looking forward to sanding down the topside gridlines as l hated them as a kid, but never could figure out how to get rid of them back then. I'll do a nice prime and paint and masking on windows as well. No lights for this one
061023
Arrived this afternoon. I did a quick test fit and began removing parts and razoring the flash.
I thought that I would dremel the gridlines off the saucer, but the flexi x--acto blade that I've got did the trick. I gouged a few spots, but this kit is so shoddy that I've got to razor and sand all the seam lines and putty it anyway.
I just completed the subassemblies and going to leave all the little bits off until all the finishing is done on the main parts. Then glue and putting them on. Then, off to priming this weekend.
I'll likely leave in four pieces until then, the primary and secondary hull and each engine. I'm going to do the decal experiment on this hull. If it works good, proceed with the 1/350. If it fails, I must rethink Bigger E's tactics. Airbrushed decal stencils?...
Experiment: paint, decal, matte seal. Desired result: decals don't disintegrate and have no shine relative to ship body. Considering reflect tape for windows. If it's not practical, I'll try to bottle the spray can version I got for my bike and paint that on by hand.
Next step: dremel, putty, dremel, prime, paint, decal, seal. The plastic has some interesting mottling to it. I don't know that the camera will pick that up. It is probably from a bad pour/ temperature/mix/batch. The kit was a little beat looking when I unsealed the plastic. Nothing broken, just beat.
Considering:
USS enterprise 1701.
USS Republic 1371.
USS Excalibur 1664.
USS Constitution, 1700.
061025.18 putty the hull and all seams.
061028.18
I went too heavy with the dremel's lightest buffers. Must prime again and determine where I'm at.
061030
Major sanding, repaint and another round of finishing, sanding then to the final paint, decal, seal.
061223.23
I spent three to four hours working on the whole using the new sculpting tools to resurface it. Sanding was the worst. I threw a white coat in there too. It's ready for another coat in the morning. I'm going back to a grey coat, then the lightest of white coats. It'll be tough to match. Fortunately, the white goes down subtle.
Depending on how the plan goes down tomorrow, I may be very close to finished or still have a little more surfacing to do. If I get the base down, then it's on to decals already. The subassemblies will need putty work as well.
061224.0359
I have enough grey to do all of one side of all parts including the engine detail and dish. The primary hull needs only one last sanding and it's finally all gone!
Giving all parts(after finishing this coat), a light sanding and investing in better paint overall. This two dollar can is good for priming, but not adequate for final coats
Hitting the perfect grey is going to be an utterly random event. I could go medium dark as bright lights will compensate. However lighter medium is my preference. White simply won't work for this era edition of the Enterprise.
I'll do the dark windows with a precise sharpie. I'll try cutting reflect tape for the rest of the windows. Should this prove to be too impractical, then the impossible must be achieved -masking the entire body off sans windows. I'll spray all the windows white, and then do a reflect coat and check the results.
I think Reflec tape would look better, but cutting to size and shape while maintaining stickiness will be highly difficult. Masking would be a huge challenge in time, but guarantees perfect results. Any mask leaks anywhere would be devastatingly obvious and patch/painting repairs may not be seamless...
Then, decals and final matte coat, hoping the decals don't disintegrate. But if they do, a full wash down a new printing from the 600 dpi masters I scanned will do the trick. Now that I think of it, I should line up the Constitution #'s and use those instead of cutting the Enterprises #'s away.... or, should it be the Excalibur???
061229.06
While more work could be done removing every possible blemish from the hull, I am satisfied enough to pass the ship on to the next stage of assembly and painting. Though, first I will gather some references.
I found the utterly random and perfect a grey for the ship. It is a 'home decorators' tone that I will generally use for all my battleship gray needs in future.
I painted the entire body on Tuesday and sat on it until tonight when I mulled it over some. First, a few spot colors that will be easier done before final assembly -- specifically the nacelle details. I may even decal them too now that I'm thinking of it.
Yeah. All decals and paint should be applied before assembly. Then, once assembled, all utterly final seams -- neck and pylons specifically -- will be cleaned up. I should probably matte seal all decals down before hand... Hmmm...
061231.02
Was going to paint details, but gave the nacelles and secondary hull a filing and sanding and painting again. I skimmed through several episodes for reference before any detailed painting -and it's a good thing too.... The ship is more bluegray than I painted it. Under bright light. It seems to even out.
Now that I'm looking for them, the details on the ship are mind blowing! I may even be willing to concede that there are gridlines on the top of the hull -despite 30 years of railing against that fact. The episodes are so grainy and washed out that it's difficult to tell. I have to get screen grabs and process them before committing to an opinion.
Also, up to three different versions of the ship are seen per episode! I never noticed that there was that much inconsistency before. I had always thought it was a different model per episode. Not all three different models PER episode.
I'm now ready for the maroons on the nacelles and the sensor dish. I put white reflect tape down on the bridge and the bottom nipple before gluing down the transparent domes. It looks good, but is every window worth doing? I've got some time to decide -getting reference pics is my first priority.
061231.18.
The screen capture wasn't going, so I opened five or six episodes and Premiere'd and trimmed all down to nine minutes and found a couple extra references and a couple funny gifs to make.
I'm going for the Constitution, I think, about to look for reliable registry numbers on the net (and get TMP, for D7 paint references.
070101.06
It's appropriate that the first model I should decal is the enterprise.
NCC -- 1700 USS Constitution.
I did some red and black sharpie to the body. I was going to matte seal. However, because I used so many markers, I'm not going to risk them bleeding all over the place.
A couple of the decals ripped while I was putting them on. But I was able to salvage them and they look good.
Otherwise, a dab of green sharpie on the hangar bay, red and green for the primary. I need to find a white paint marker for the windows. I'll try a reflect tape again, but it's very unlikely to succeed. I should also give the nacelles a second coat. But that's it. Four blobs of glue, and finito!
070103.03
I declare it finished! She now hangs from the ceiling as of yesterday. I've found little clear plastic bobs for primary hull running lights I still need to do the windows, but she is done!
070115 .18 I found the white paint marker and dab all the windows in. It looks good.
