XitanAhmar

The Good news is that the interior painting of the model was done in less than 2 days. I used aerosol paint cans which save time in cleaning the airbrush. The bad news is that the paint has reacted with the masking tape and ruined all the clear parts which were fixed to the model. Could be the heat or the paint used that caused this reaction. I had to remove all the clear parts and I have to replace them. I have a couple of ideas how to replace these clear parts. First idea is emailing Revell Germany asking if its possible to buy replacement sprue. If this fails I will try to build the clear parts with Crystal Clear, the openings aren’t that big so this is Paln B, Plan C consists of buying another kit. I am not one to give up easily. Any suggestions how to replace the clear parts are most welcome. I have started soldering the LED’s which is a job not as difficult as I thought.

Word of warning: If you plan to illuminate this model, don’t paint the clear parts as per Revell instructions. Tip: scan page 5 of the Revell instruction sheet, enlarge the part of scan of the sketch of the clear parts sprue and print. This will make it easier to distinguish the parts on the clear sprue. The clear parts are cemented in place before the coats of paint are applied; this to avoid problems later on of trying to cement the clear parts on painted surfaces. I used Humbrol clear fix to stick the clear parts to the rest of the model. I must admit, that this was the first time I used this product and I was very impressed. The product is easy to apply and when dry gives quiet a good bond. It can also be easily cleaned with surgical spirit from the model or the clear parts. Masking tape is used for masking the back of the clear parts a task that really tests one’s patience with all the small windows and openings on the Enterprise. To make the model opaque, the insides of the model are to be given a coat of resurfacer, a few coats of matt black to render the model opaque and a coat of silver to act as light reflector. The next item on the agenda is to start painting of the interior model. This will take a few days to finish because of the number of coats. Whilst the coats of paint are drying I will start the assembly Artemis illumination kit. Will keep you posted.

Returning to the hobby after 25years of trying to catch up with life, I will try to go where few have gone before. The Revell 1:600 Starship Enterprise. The iconic starship from the 1960’s, Sci Fi Series, Star Trek. I am also going to try my hand at lighting this model So fingers crossed The starship Enterprise is supposed to be built sometime between 2243 and 2245 A Constitutional Class type Starship, which in its first 20 years of service was commanded by Captains April and Pike. The Enterprise is best known, when it was commanded by Captain James Tiberius Kirk. The Revell model depicts the USS Enterprise of the original 60's series of Star Trek. It stands at 48cm when built. On opening the oversized box, for the contents inside, the first impressions are; overall nice recessed surface detail which might be a little oversized; crisp, clear and non-clear moldings, with a few tiny sink marks; and an extensive decal sheet for three versions of the Starship. On checking with my references, the Haynes workshop Manual (believe it or not Haynes has a workshop manual for the Enterprise) and checking pictures of the original model, which is exhibited at the Smithsonian museum (thanks to the internet, What did we do before we had the Net ) The model seems accurate enough with the original, even amazingly, the recessed surface detail, I still think that the surface detail is a little oversized, but nothing a couple of coats of primer could not fix. Artemis Lighting Set For the internal lighting I found a lighting set on eBay, it’s surprising how many different lighting sets are available for this model, though not cheap (around Eur 40) I chose a set by the German company Artemis Designs Instruction sheet for the installation of the lighting set is in German and unfortunately Artemis are not big on answering emails.Problem was solved with a software called SimpleOCR and Google translate. With translation done, the instructions look straight forward enough and I will be giving my impressions on the lighting set as I go along the built. I am also waiting for the Paragrafix Photoetch detail Set to arrive which I will also will comment on this product as I go along