Jasonb13

Thanks everyone! Unfortunately, I haven't got to the Saucers yet, with real life getting in the way. I'm also struggling to find a 3rd party LED lighting set that will work for me, so that's slowing me down a little. I'll update again as soon as I can!

A quick update, as I'm slowly working away with this. I now have the lower hull/tail sanded... And the "rear neck" is also sanded... The top half of the "neck" doesn't need to be sanded, as it'll be attached to the lower saucer. I was wondering if I should leave the few recessed panel lines alone, or fill them in. In the end I've decided to leave them alone, I can decide in future if I'll put a panel line wash in them or not. Some of these parts aren't as smooth as I'd like, with some 'shadows' of the raised lines still there. I need to decide if I'm happy with that or need to work on it some more. Apart from that, the upper and lower saucers await!

A little bit of a sanding update... Firstly, I got a few rough bits filled and sanded on the rear of the tail (for want of a better word!) and here's how it looks now... And then I decided to try the upper hull. I couldn't just sand away at this, as I wanted to keep the windows so I didn't want to smooth them out. Thankfully, there weren't as many raised lines, still a few alright, but less than on the nacelles for example. So I used a sharp scalpel to scrape away as much as I could, and only then used the sanding sticks. I got rid of most of the grey primer on it too. Here's how it looks... That's not too bad. Not perfect by any means, but it could be worse! It might need some more sanding when primed, but that's a while away yet. That seems to have given me the technique to use when I'm trying to keep detail (windows/lifeboats etc.) - use the knife first to get rid of as much of the raised detail as I can, so then I can use the sanding sticks sparingly. What I have left to do now is the lower side of the "tail" (which also includes the lower hull - which has windows/lifeboats), and the rear of the "neck" and the two saucer sections. So, progress is being made, slowly!

The kit wiring isn't too bad actually, though my thoughts on that might change if I go with LEDS instead. The only issue with the kit lighting really is the Fibre Optics give pinpoints of light (which look really cool!) but the windows are long rectangles, so the Fibre Optics won't light the whole window. Hence me looking into other options. I have managed a little more on this, have started sanding the upper half of the "tail"/pylons... It's a little rough. I'm not too worried about the phaser banks and other sections (Transporter arrays maybe?) still being a little raised, as they'll be covered by PE and Decals respectively. And the panel lines near the front of the Pylons are recessed, not raised. They'll also be replaced by PE, as that section is where you cut out space to run the wires up to the Nacelles. I haven't done that yet, as I don't know what wires I'll be running yet. I need to get my light system finalised first. Speaking of PE, the PE set also arrived... Looks nice! You can see the two wide pieces in the lower PE Sheet, these replace those recessed panels on the front of the pylons. The Phaser Bank PE looks nicely detailed, but it needs to be curved along its length, so that might be interesting to do well. So, that only leaves me waiting for the replacement decals (already ordered) and what to do with the lights. I've found a few LED Lighting kits, but as I've said, the Nav lights in those kits are far too toy-like. I have tried another site, with a different set, but they're out of stock. And yet another site haven't responded. So, no progress there. I could still use the kit lights and figure out how to light the windows fully using the Fibre Optics, but so far I don't have that sussed out. Once I have some windows drilled I can do some tests. Speaking of drilling windows, I still have to figure out how to paint the model with them all drilled out, will I need to mask them to stop the paint going inside, or are the windows skinny enough for it not to matter? AND I need to figure out do I fill them with Krystal Klear *after* the paint is done, to give them 'glass'. Lots to ponder! I can see what they brought out the clear plastic kit. More to follow...

Not an update that needs a pic (how many sanded nacelles do you need to see?) but the last nacelle half is sanded. So that's the nacelles done. That leaves me with 5 (larger) parts left, the upper and lower saucers, the back of the "neck" (the sides of the neck don't have any raised detail) the top of the rear and the lower rear/pylons. Most of the lower rear/pylons doesn't have any windows, but the rest do, and that's detail I don't want to sand away. There are also raised phaser banks and barely raised lifeboats. The phaser banks I *think* need to be sanded off (they'll be replaced by PE), and the lifeboats are really only there to show me where to put the decals that cover them. But it's going to take some very careful sanding to get rid of the raised detail and keep the rest.

Another bit of an update. Firstly, I got these today, they'll be needed... With those new sanding sticks, I got working on the other lower nacelle tonight, and it's now done... A far more interesting update (not that that would be too hard) is that these arrived.... Now, that's a *lot* of masks, but of course I *had* to go with the 4 colour ones, the 2 colour ones wouldn't do, oh no! So that's going to be a lot of fun at some stage in the future... Anyhow, the new sanding sticks worked well, so I'll get the final nacelle done soon, and then it's on to slightly more interesting parts. Some sections will be very awkward, as I want to get rid of the raised lines, but not the other detail that I want to keep. But we'll see how that goes when I get there. I'm also looking into LED sets, but the only ones I can find seem to have Navigation lights that are basically a LED tower bulb sticking on the top and bottom of the left and right side of the saucer. They look very out of place and far too big, and it seems weird that someone would even think they would be acceptable. So, I'll continue to look and see what I can find...

Not much of an interesting update... Now have the first lower nacelle sanded. It was a little more awkward due to the corners/angles involved. I did a lot more scrapping with the scalpel with this one, which of course led to a lot of small, statically charged pieces of plastic... And then sanded it down as best I could, with some more black super glue for filler in a couple of small sections.... So, one Nacelle done, a lot more to do. I'm trying to come up with some sort of faster/tidier way of doing this, but no luck so far!

Well, I've officially started, and already have a sense of how long this is going to take! I have to sand off the raised panel line details from the parts. These lines are meant to represent the Aztec scheme on the surface, but that's going to be painted anyhow, and the lines themselves, while adding detail, aren't subtle. In fact, scale-wise, they'd be the equivalent of raised sections about 1.4 metres high. Anyhow, they need to go as they'll only get in the way of the paint masks for spraying the Aztec pattern. It's taken me nearly an hour to do one half of one nacelle, so clearly this is going to take a while. Here's how it looks now, with a non-sanded one for reference... The black blobs are some superglue that I'll sand off, just covering a few slight dips in the plastic. Apart from the black dots it is at least looking a lot smoother! Just three more nacelles, two pylons, the underside of the ship, the upper hull, the rear of the neck, and the two saucers to go!

Ok, so I'm not saying it's been months since I was at the bench, and I'm not saying middle age is taking its toll, but I only just remembered that I moved to Google Photos near the end of my last build! So here are some pics... The Box... The Saucers (you can see in the second pic that the outside is primed, and the inside isn't) ... The rest of the main parts... The clear parts and a few other bits and pieces... The Fibre Optics, battery box, wiring and reflective material... Old decals... Some of the Instructions... The decal instructions and some of the paint scheme (two tone) ... And the wiring map... More than enough to be going on with, eh?

Hi all... Ok. I've been meaning to do this for a good while now. And I *think* I'm finally going to start it. I built this kit back in '96. Straight out of the box, brush painted one colour all over the hull, no gloss coats, and the fibre optic lights only lit a pin hole in each window, not the whole window. It was still easily the most impressive model I'd made at that time. The finished build eventually died and is long gone. But last year I found another one and bought it. It's been on my mind since then, and I think I'm finally biting the bullet to start it. Obviously, I'd like to do a better job of it this time! I've spent the last few days doing research, there are lots of excellent builds of this out there, though most of them are the later, clear plastic, kits, which helps with the lighting of the windows. I have some box pics etc. but am struggling to find a new Photo Hosting site (preferably a free one!) so I'll keep them until I find one. I do have a basic plan, but it's liable to change. I've ordered the 4 Tone "Generations" masks, so I'll be painting the Aztec scheme. I've also ordered replacement decals from Jt-Graphics, as the kit decals look very suspect at this stage. And I've ordered the Green Strawberry PE set, which will add some nice detail, and cover the trenches I have to cut for the wiring up to the pylons, So the first part of my plan is to throw money at the problem! Next, the windows. I want to have them lit full-length, not just pinpoints of light from the fibre optics. Current thinking is to drill out the windows that will be lit and fill them with Kyrstal Klear. However, they'll need to be drilled before painting/assembly obviously, but the Krystal Klear will need to be added *after* painting, so that might be a little awkward to do. And I have to decide is I'll still use the kit light sources/fibre optics, of if I'll go for LEDs inside instead. I've no experience of LEDs, but nearly all online builds are using them. Firstly though, I need to strip primer off the kit (I bought it second hand) and I also need to sand it all down, removing the raised panel lines depicting the Aztec pattern, as the masks will sit much better with a smooth surface. Of course, I want to remove the panel lines, but not the other detail (lifeboats etc.). So that will be fun. This thread really is the first step though, and sure now I have to start work, as I'm writing about it! I'll post pictures as soon as I can figure out how...

Fair play, those Airfix 1:1 kits are excellent, so realistic! They need a lot of work though, and go on for years! Well worth it though... Hope you get back to the Ent-D soon...

Where does the time go? Over a year later, and I might just be getting close to starting my Enterprise D Project. Current "plan" (for want of a better word) is to use the Fibre Optic Kit (which I built once in the mid 90s, but hope to do a better job of now!) with the Aztec 4 Colour Masks (ordered and on their way from Federation Models) along with replacement Decals from JT-Graphics (not ordered yet) and the Green Strawberry PE set (also not ordered yet). That will easily bring the total cost up to my most expensive build ever. I have to remove some primer from the plastic (I bought the kit second hand), sand down the panel lines (to make the Aztec masks easier to apply) and drill out the windows, in that awkward way of making them look like long rectangular windows, not points of light. I will probably only drill out the lit windows, and put black gloss in the dark windows to represent dark glass. Something like that anyhow. Don't know yet if I'll stick with the Kit's Fibre Optic lighting kit or get an LED light kit. And right now I'm thinking some Krystal Klear in each drilled window to make it look like glass. But already I'm wondering how to do that, the kit will have to be painted *before* I add the Klear! Anyhow, that's the beginning of the plan, if I get near it soon I'll start a WIP! Did you ever get yours finished @Mikey-1980?

Ah, I'm afraid I've had to admit defeat on this one, I just don't have the time, energy or motivation to get to the bench. In fact, I've actually decided to sell some kits, including this one, so it's definitely not going to happen now! My apologies for entering the GB and then not getting involved at all, very rude of me. Best of luck to everyone else working on their builds!

Sigh... Ok, another month gone, and Plastic not even cut. I was away for a few weeks, and the heat and Jet Lag has left me with no interest in modelling at all. First world problems, I know! However, I *think* this should be a fairly easy-ish build, so I haven't given up on getting it finished, I have two months left. Getting it started would be a good first step though!

Unfortunately, I've gone from a Throat Infection to Covid to a Sinus Infection, so I have been in no mood to get to the bench at all. Hopefully I will get to this over the next few weeks, and hopefully it'll be a quick enough build so I can get it done in time!