barry136 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Wow. Finally managed to find this kit. The best looking starship from the best Star Trek film, I will be happy to debate this if anyone thinks differently. This kit is the usual easy build, very few parts, but the lighting is the key in making this a real stunner of a model. I put together this lighting loom for another kit. using a simple 555 timer and high intensity blue LEDS. I will now adapt this loom for the Reliant, add a few more lights. I intend to run all the lighting from and onboard 9v battery using a push to make switch fitted under the kit. I will not mount the kit on its stand. Done a lot of research on this and will not be lighting the warp nacelles, the warp engines were never used in the film. I will not be buying the add on kit for the Aztec markings, as I have no money. I will attempt this myself with vinyl masking. I now have to source the paint. Federation ships are a 'stone grey' with a blueish silver tint. Anyone have any ideas? Cant wait to start this. If anyone has done one of these and has any tips or ideas please let me know. I may need help on this as I am not an expert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khimbar Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 (edited) I've seen a few of these built up on Youtube. They look so good when lit! Trekworks did a superb one. Be watching this one closely. And yes, a lovely design. Edited January 10, 2013 by khimbar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarky Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Yup, agree on the movie but the ship, close second I reckon to Voyager Not tried the vinyl method...I'm too much of a coward to try this so usually go for the decals... ...anyways, welcome to the WIP forum and have fun with this - looking forward to seeing her come together - I have one in my stash so hopefully will pick up some tips myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 Speaking of You Tube check this out..... Wets the whistle I think. I have seen the build videos, great stuff. a little too much chat and not enough build but these guys really do know how to put these kits together. I shall upload a finished build video to youtube to show off the lighting properly. Also check out the USS Saratoga scenes in Star Trek 4, good shots of the Miranda class starship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarky Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 ...and on the colour,,,assuming it's the same as the Enterprise...this may help: http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/what-color-is-the-tos-enterprise/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chablar Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 There is a lot of good resources online about the colour scheme, and good call on the aztecs. Im not sure why but would always want to do it myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMChladek Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Reliant, the best? I will concede that it is the best looking ship that isn't marked "Enterprise". In some ways I like it better since the arrangement is more compact and seems a bit more practical than the big E. At the same time too, Reliant adds enough new wrinkles to Federation craft design to make things very interesting (although I do think ILM might have greeblied it a little bit too much on those gray sensor trenches on top). That being said, I love AMT's kit and the tweaks that Round 2 did to it (not perfect, but certainly better). I certainly can't wait to see what you do with yours. You plan to order the aztec finish "wallpaper" decals from Round 2 as well? I concur with your idea not to light the nacelles, especially if you want to light the impulse engines. I always thought the Reliant and TMP era ships looked better with dark engines at impulse as opposed to the "always on" blue glow of TNG (works for TNG ships, but not for ones in TNG from the movie era as they looked a bit oddball). Can't wait to see what you come up with! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Started to build the nacelles. Decided to put two beacon lights at the tail of each nacelle. Using two 3mm blue flashing leds at 9v causes them to pulse rather than flash, this is the effect I wanted. Hole drilled and some flat black to combat light leak. Bluetack for holding wires in place.. Very fine wire needed here to feed up inside the pylons attaching the nacelles to the body. A bit of work with the dremel and the wires can be positioned ready for connection. All the way I use Bluetack to hold the wiring in place. The poor quality molding will need a fair bit of filling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowler0000 Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 What plans do you have for the two shuttle-bays? Just lighting up the 2 clear parts at the rear gives a shallow & somewhat unrealistic appearance, & i speak from experience. I built & lit mine when the kit was 1st released in the mid 90's, & they just looked wrong.... It made the ship look like the WHOLE of the sauce section was hollow. So then i to the saucer apart again (Deep Joy!!), blanked off the rear about 1" forward of the clear parts with some silver painted plastic sheet, & lo & behold: Looked even worse!!! I saw a build on starshipmodeler where a guy knocked up a very basic bay in plastic sheet including a box for the warp crystal to stop the blue glow from affecting the impulse engines red lights. Otherwise, best of Brit(modeller)ish luck on her, & lets hope she ends better than her screen counterpart!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 I am thinking about clear blue..Tamiya x23 on the clear parts. The lighting inside which will be a couple of high intensity white leds can then light the shuttle bays as well. Masking off using foil will sort any leak into the impulse engine red leds. It a real pity the shutlle bays wont take a 9v battery, I will need to think on that one. I stumble along and hopefullly sort these issues as I go. When you see different examples of this kit, and when portayed on film or tv, there are suttle differences. My aim is to get as close to the original STWOK film example. Talking of the film I think they missed a real trick there. They should have kept Khan alive. He could have popped up in future films causing the federation all sorts of problems. They could have written some good stories around him instead of rescuing whales or looking for god. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMChladek Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Paragraphics makes an etch set for the Reliant that produces a realistic strip lighting effect in the bays (lights coming from the surrounding alcoves in the bays rather than the bay doors themselves). It's worth considering for a project like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Cracking on with the build. Attached the warp engines to the primary hull. This is an absolute pig. Trying to get the pyons to line up. They do need a better way of locating these things to the hull. The wiring looks a mess but it works. Everthing is held in place with blu tak. The individual leds are isolated with foil tape in the impulse engine area Test fitting the primary hull, you may notice what appears to be a new shuttle bay just behind the warp engine pylon. This is for housing the onboard battery. Soon be able to fix down the top of the hull and begin the painting. I have a few ideas about this. Cannot wait to start the paint. Thanks for looking 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted January 31, 2013 Author Share Posted January 31, 2013 Oh no. I have managed to cockup this fifty quid kit. I first used a grey primer, then a Revell Aqua light grey. Not happy with the look I used a lighter grey. Still not happy I used a Humbrol spray acrylic white. Now the paint is too thick. The Humbrol spray came out like treacle. The molding detail on the kit is almost filled in. Does anyone know how I can strip this kit off completely? It looks terrible I feel such a foo-foo cocking up this expensive kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smyfe Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Tesco value all purpose cleaner works well at just pence for a bottle. Also see here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234920412-stripping-acrylics-from-a-plastic-kit/ Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted May 26, 2013 Author Share Posted May 26, 2013 Made a right pigs ear of this kit. My brother offered to complete the build and presented............................. The model does have lighting but he has fillled most of the windows which I took hours to drill. It needs to go back to square one and I will now try and dismantle the kit. First step is to remove the paint. I have a spirit cleaner to try this. Hope I dont end up with a mass of melted plastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowler0000 Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Don't look too bad, but if you're gonna strip her, i suggest either Fairy Power Spray (£3.00 a bottle) or the Tesco value cleaner (40p a bottle). Both are plastic safe. The power spray is faster acting, but the value stuff can be sloshed into a washing-up bowl with the kit parts weighted down with an old plate or summink & left overnight. & as we all know, it's always better 2nd time around...... Obviously, remove the electronics 1st..... (you'd be surprised....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colbee2004 Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Try mr Muscle oven cleaner. Its always worked very well for me. Also, there is an article on Starshipmodeler written by the guy who painted the TMP Enterprise and in it he stated that the base colour for that is Pearlescent White, which would explain why its never looks the the same colour in any two pictures. I did a 1/1000th scale movie Enterprise in that colour and personally i think it looks just about right so I will be doing my Reliant kit in the same colour. Finally I've covered the whole of the inside of the body in self adhesive aluminium foil and i will cut out the areas where the lights illuminate the hull and put LED's in to give the impression of the lights on the hull. Hope this has been of some help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chablar Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 I think that looks really good mate. If need be you can always airbrush some very diluted ink into it to weather it and accentuate the details without adding too many layers of paint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Hi Baeen a while since Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 I will try again, Hi Been a while since I have worked on this project. I have started to adapt this kit to a damaged starship. Lots of destruction, huge holes in the primary hull etc. I need to think up a new name for this one. Looked at the Memory Alpha list of starship names, lots of Americana in there. Anyone have any ideas for a catchy starship name? Something representative of the whole earth or federation, no USS Paris Hiltons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragtag Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 How about as the Saratoga with battle damage from the DS9 pilot? http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_(NCC-31911) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moggy Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I will try again, Hi Been a while since I have worked on this project. I have started to adapt this kit to a damaged starship. Lots of destruction, huge holes in the primary hull etc. I need to think up a new name for this one. Looked at the Memory Alpha list of starship names, lots of Americana in there. Anyone have any ideas for a catchy starship name? Something representative of the whole earth or federation, no USS Paris Hiltons. USS Trygve Lie (first UN general secretary - norwegian) USS Lux Aeterna USS Commander Shran (Andorian officer who had an important part in leading to the creation of the Federation) USS Jonathan Archer / The Archers (father / son) USS Bayoran Maquis USS Thucidides USS Marathon USS Plataea USS Thermopylae USS Lepanto USS Atlantic / Pacific / Indic / South Seas / North Pole USS Southern Cross USS Ashoka (Indian warrior founder of Indian Empire (Asia) USS Marcel Bloch (aircraft designer and Resistance fighter extraordinarie... better known as Marcel Dassault) USS Furious (first aircraft carrier ever - RN) USS Varyag USS Ormen Lång (Classical longship of the viking sagas) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 WOW. lot of names there. Thanks for the suggestions. I like the idea of a USS ASHOKA. I have always thought that a starship name should be of something representative and worthy of human or federation achievements or honouring a person with a space exploration or space technology link. How would you explain the name USS Lexington or Valley forge to an alien race, 'ohh thats where some of us had a fight once'. I think a name should sound good also, you would not want to open a negotiation with the words ' I am captain Smith of the USS Honey Boo Boo'. Off now to the printer to set up some decals and see what some of these names look like in print. I have managed to find a great font online called Final Frontier which is just the ticket for starship decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 here are a few piccys of my attempt to rescue the Reliant model that I managed to screw up. I have renamed her the USS Ilyshin, after the cosmonaut not the aircaft designer. Sorry for the poor photos they will get better. As you can see there is massive damage to the primary hull and one warp nacelle completely gone. This is early experimentation with paint and decals. The decals I will remove. They are printed on vinyl and the edges stand out too much. I have ordered some water slide decal paper to improve the look of them. Not sure about the blue areas they look too blue to me, may need to be toned down a bit. More detail to go into the damaged sections, bits of deck etc. A lot more to do. May put her on a dio base, crashed rather than derelict in space. Any Ideas would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry136 Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 Spelling mistake. This is the USS ILYUSHIN after Vladimir Sergeyevich Ilyushin. He may have been the first man in space. Anyway, about to start some more paint in the hull. Will use some filler to build up a little around the damaged sections to replicate melting of the plating. Hole in the saucer with support struts on show. You can also see how naff the decals are in this shot. They will be removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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