Klingon D-7, 1/1000, Polar Lights

[opus999]

Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser | 1/1000 | Polar Lights 

 

Finished 3/13/2020.  I'm back after a few months absence. I didn't model for a couple months because I just couldn't get into it. This D-7 was 95% done for those couple of months and there's nothing quite like an unfinished project to guilt me back to the bench.

Since this kit is a snap together, seams were a major issue. So there was a lot of superglue and sandpaper in the building of this model. Another major problem was color: First, good reference photos of original series Klingon ships are practically impossible to find. Second, the instructions called for Testor's Napoleonic Violet, which I couldn't find a lacquer equivalent of.  I went to the LHS and found Testors apparently doesn't make Napoleonic Violet in enamel anymore, but they had it in Acrylic (which I refuse to use).  The LHS had several shades of purple in the little Testors bottles and I matched one to the Acrylic Napoleonic Violet -- Lilac.  It wasn't perfect, but close.  Other parts of the ship were Light Ghost Gray (Mr. Color 308) and a 50/50 mix of Light Ghost Gray and White (also Mr. Color).  The Lilac turned out to be comically bright, so I dusted light ghost gray over it until it looked right to me.  I quite like it, actually. 

 

The other problem I had was that there were chrome plated parts in the kit, which I think look ridiculous, so I used bleach to strip them (and boy, it didn't take long! Just a few seconds!) and then used Alclad Duraluminum on them (with a base coat of gloss black).  The parts on the warp engines got a dusting of Alclad steel as well.

 

With a little care to overcome the kit's deficiencies, it builds into a beautiful model. and it was fun, which is good because I have another in the stash waiting to be built into a Romulan D7.

 

One last thing - I picked my own registry number for this ship.  Everyone does the one that looks like a styliszed "TCS" and I wanted to be different. (It's "A49" if you want to know)

 

No WIP for this build.

 

Finishing: Seam filling with Super Glue and Squadron white putty
Paints: Mr. Surfacer 1500 black | Mr. Color  308 (FS36375) > 50/50 Mr. Color 308 and 1 > Testors Lilac enamel with a dusting of Mr. Color 308 > Alclad Aqua Gloss Clear coat > Testors spray Semi-Gloss (Decanted) for final coat
Weathering/Wear: A little bit of streaking with Tamiya Weathering pastels.  While it seems laughable to have weathering in space, it looked too toy-like otherwise.  Although I suppose you could argue that going through cosmic dust clouds at high velocities could deposit something on the surface!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had to mask the impulse engines in the back.  I think they turned out OK!

 

 

 

Thanks for looking; hope you enjoy!  Questions and comments always welcomed!

[Ben Brown]

That turned out great! Well done! 
 

That’s a great kit. I wish they’d release a 1/1000 version of their 1/350 K’Tinga to go with it.

 

Ben

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Excellent D-7  Opus

Edited May 5, 2020 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[opus999]

22 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Excellent D-7  Opus

Thanks!  and Qapla'!

[opus999]

On 5/2/2020 at 6:45 AM, Ben Brown said:

That turned out great! Well done! 

Thank you!

 

On 5/2/2020 at 6:45 AM, Ben Brown said:

That’s a great kit. I wish they’d release a 1/1000 version of their 1/350 K’Tinga to go with it

Without a doubt!  I thought that more than once while I was making this.  I even experimented with putting a faint tile pattern to match the one on my bigger AMT K'tinga... very faint, kind of like the Aztek paneling on Federation starships.  Couldn't get the look I was going for so I abandoned it.