Star Trek 60

Main hull and supports are ready for priming, as are the two saucer halves.

A fair amount of sanding (who am I kidding - a LOT of sanding) was needed to overcome the hump where the pylons meet the body. :grin:

Mike

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In my opinion, that hump is the worst part of a fairly rough model. I look forward to seeing what you do with it. (I really need to finish mine from the previous Star trek campaign!)

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Great start. Good to know you beat that!

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Silly me. I didn’t think I had any light or dark ghost gray, but I do! Went looking through my cabinet of paint sets and low and behold, a set of Hataka USAF, USN, & USMC Modern Greys (so, how do you spell gra(e)y??).

The ā€œhumpā€ is going to need a little more work, but mostly on the seams.

Light ghost gray:

I’ll ā€œtintā€ the lights for the saucer and the upper/lower center pieces will get masked, painted, and installed. Then I can seal up the saucer.

Mike

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Americans generally use ā€œgrayā€ and in the UK ā€œgreyā€, as in ā€œEarl Grey, hot.ā€

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The character known for that phrase was French, though. :wink:

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Then it seems Patrick Stewart can’t play a Frenchman.

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I believe the character was originally meant to be French Canadian, but some scriptwriters didn’t get the memo… As it was, apart from the name his Gallic origins were only indicated by the occasional Merde! when things got stressful, but that was preferable to an ā€œInspector Clouseauā€ impersonation.

Cheers,

M

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Big change in color. Based on the link Stephen posted, I’ve repainted the main parts light gray. The Light Ghost Gray is just too dark and doesn’t look like the Enterprise I remember from TV.

This, IMO, looks much better. All of the other bits have been primed or painted in light gray. Once I mask, paint, and install the clear parts I can start the real assembly.

The ā€œhumpā€ was removed for the most part, but the seams were too noticeable, hence the filler.

Mike

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I’ve spent a couple of days fiddling around with bits and pieces. Clear parts are painted. The filler on the body has been taken care of and some detail painting.

There’s still a lot of detail painting to do once I’ve given the nacelles their final light gray (after working the seams). The inner sides of the nacelle pylons are still light ghost gray - I’ll make a tape template to cover the LGG, spray the light gray, and leave behind the four (per pylon) darker gray rectangles. The nacelles themselves have a variety of areas that get different grays and silver. Much masking and probably more cussin’.

Mike

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This morning, I made the masks for the darker gray rectangles that go up the inside of the nacelle’s supports, installed them, and painted the light gray.

The nacelles and saucer halves need their detail paint, but everything else is ready to be assembled. The body turned out pretty good regarding the hump and seamlines. Heh, I could probably spend another couple of days trying to make them invisible but I’m not seeing the value in that.

I’m going to gloss coat the two saucer halves and body in preparation for the decals. Once the decals are on, I’ll do a sealing coat (perhaps semi-gloss), install the clear parts for the top and bottom of the saucer and assemble them. Hopefully there won’t be too much in the way of seam/gap filling.

Mike

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The Enterprise has gone together really well. And very quickly too!

Looking forward to seeing it come together. Good luck with the decals. Test one of the spare unused ones to see how it holds up. People have had success giving them a coat of Tamiya clear gloss to stop them cracking.

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Stephen,

Remember the can on the left? The old and discontinued Testors Decal Fix. The replacement for that is on the right. I’ll see how that works on some scrap decals before I jump right on with that.

Mike

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Gray rectangles on the nacelle pylons, some of the detail painting on the nacelles themselves, and the Enterprise’s display base’s base.

Mike

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I have found Testor’s Dullcoat works well for decals too. A light spray at first, followed by two heavier coats. In case the Krylon Fixatif doesn’t work.

Gary

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No, I don’t think Testors products ever had much of a presence in the UK. I don’t recall my LHS growing up ever stocking them (we had 1 shop that only stocked Humbrol). Maybe some specialist retailers had it.

Hopefully it will help out with your decals.

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I forgot to mention this, so far, really handy tool from Green Stuff World - their refillable paint pen (0.5 & 0.7).

I’ve used it for the first time to do a bit of the detail painting. Filling and use are pretty straight forward. The tip is stiff unlike the AK paint markers so a straight line against a stiff edge gives a nice clean line. Once the Enterprise is done, I’ll find out how easy (or not) it is to empty, clean, and use for a different color. They come in packs of six and the price is nice. Not connected to GSW, but thought it a nifty product to pass along.

Mike

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I think I am going with this kit for the campaign. I may add more depending on how quickly this takes. I’m doing Voyager for the Sci Fi XII campaign.

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Good choice. Is that the 1/2500?

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1/1400, although I wish the larger Enterprises were 1/1000 like the TOS version, the Klingon and Romulan ships.

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