PURCHASED:
080215

BEGUN:
0080304

COMPLETE:
080707.16

GALLERY
SHOTS

CONSTRUCTION LOG



080213.23
Rather than saving the money for the Star Destroyer, I got this kit while I could. It was released a couple of weeks ago and is actively shipping. I could get it soon. It could be a while. It will be a nice piece. I'm going to concentrate on the paint job for this one. The build is simple enough. I've got an idea for paneling. Mostly, gray and silver overtones though the original is orange.


080226.00
Shipped in the standard atomic city box and is exceptionally well packaged. A couple of parts look beat, but paint should fix it. I had to look up the photos online to see how it went together!


080229.00
I taped the body together and it’s the size of the 1664 sitting next to it. It looks good. The tail fins could be a hassle.


080312.01
It was all assembled and washed over the weekend. I blacked and silvered it out. The aft seam needs to be covered with styrene. A few other spots could also use styrene. I'm going to leave some molding issues as meteorite damage.


080330.23
Over the last few weeks, I've done some filing and slicing, some priming and more priming. The filing left the surface very scuffed up. I took the flat of the X-Acto and shaved a lot of surfaces down. In doing this, I made several gouges in the cargo modulel. These gouges I am dumping heavy paint onto the surface. After some more layering, I will begin sanding the surface down.

Styrene strips will be required around the Drive Module. The seam is too ugly and not sandable. I may give some putty a try but I'm not hopeful. I will still drop meteorite damage here and there, but overall I'm going for a pristine shape. I may even super detail the final paint job with a pencil paneling and such.


080407.03
I did a pile of sanding and shaping on the bulk of the cargo module. I'm now using an electric sander and will do more on one serious pass. I may sand off the panels on the top sides for total evenness. I would trace them first and styrene them later. There's more styrene coming from Scott for some panels on the rear cargo modules.

It turns out the original model was orange with serious black smudges. I don't know that I will duplicate that or do something else entirely.


080704.08
I started up the modeling mayhem with work on the Bot this morning.  It has been sitting patiently on my tv set for some months now and I finally broke down and gave it some work.

Initially, I was only going to power sand a couple sides of the cargo modules so that I could return the sander to the owner.  However, as I went along I did more and more, going so far as to snap the tail and its 'bridge' off and inserting a wooden dowl down the entire length of the ship before resealing it.

Also, I did sand off the panels from the top of the cargo bins.  I had traced them some time ago, but that scrap bit of paper is likely lost, though I may have had the foresight to pop it into the model cabinet. I will have to look.  Otherwise I can fake it easy enough.

I had to slice the aft engine greeblies off and sand that module seam as it was too glaring. They snapped in a few places, but gluing them back on hid any deficencies.

I left some paint layers on as I think that will add to the hundreds-of-years-old-drifting-in-space look when the final paint comes along.  There is much bare resin exposed again along with patches of black and silver. I will cover the bare resin with some black, but will leave as much of what is there paint-wise as I want the final coats to have some tonal variety when they go down.  I am going to try and not go heavy with those.

The ship is reassembled and better than before.  It is ready for some spot primer and I think final paint.

Over the last couple weeks while looking at it, I've come up with an idea for a second kit.  I want to get enough spares from Scott so that I can do a 'full cargo' load. That will involve the fore octagon being complete and I don't yet know if the ship will support a second set of modules just behind the fore modules.  I will find out.

Naming convention.  As this one is the Botany Bay of the DY-100 class, I am thinking of naming the next one a 'Bay' as well. Michael perhaps? (haha). 'Biscay' is the obvious one however the word order is wrong.  'Montego' next popped into my head and I like that, but it doesn't have any connection to me.  'Santa Monica' is just down the street and therefore a relevant name, however it's a mouth full and I want the name to be simple like the Bot is.  We'll see. Pix to follow.


080706.01
Here's a handy template for most of the oddball stuff.


I should have referenced the original model before I went ahead and bought 'orange' paint. I knew it was more of an adobe color, but got a straight up can of orange anyway. I became momentarily used to it before seeing the original model and that was enough to ruin the illusion for me. I'll be doing the whole thing over in black and silver before doing the final paint job again.


080707.06
Spent an hour or so this morning cutting the sail hinges and slicing the sail panels out of their frames.


I used a fine drilll bit as a band saw and dragged the piece along the inner edges.  It worked very well.  I bought a piece of brass mesh some time ago and used that to replace the resin that was cut away. I still have to prime and paint the frames before inserting the brass as I want that to retain it's golden hue.


080727.11
And by the way it has hung finished in the living room for the last twenty days.  You'd think I mighta notated this earlier...

I didn't get quite close w/ the rustoleum, but once sanded down and buffed up, the orange subdued.  I did  sharpie smudging pass, then some scratching to pull up some silver. Finally took the ab to it, but more as tests than anything. 

I am sure that the next kit will be the Santa Monica and it will be a medical ship.  Hmmm, maybe it should be the Montego Bay ;)

Yeah, I can see some good stuff for it now. 
Of the 16 pod pods:
8 Medical -white plus RC logo
3 Stores - Desig 'S' Blue (representing 'water')
3 Habitat -Desig 'H' / Bright Yellow
2 Cargo, Bulk -Desig 'C'  / Orange/Rust color (per Khan)

I've just decided that Khan rigged cargo pods with life support thus fleeing under the radar. 

BB: A fun and simple build with good rewards.