1/350 Polar Lights K'T'inga

[johndon]

Well that's everything I need for my first Trek build in over 20 years, the 1/350 Polar Lights K'T'inga with photo etch from Paragrafix and a lighting kit from Cozmic Scale Models.

 

 

I thought about adding the PE set for the shuttle bay but as far as I recall, we've never seen the shuttle bay on screen so decided against it.  I've gone for Cozmic lighting kit as I figured for a first go I'd rather have all the components together rather than having to source them all my self.

 

As the kit comes with paint callouts for Tamiya acrylics (which I use exclusively) I'll be using those, how accurate it is I don't know but, whilst I'd never paint it pink, given the huge difference in the colour of the physical model compared to how it appeared on screen, I'm not one to get hung up about it.

 

I'm not the fastest modeller in the world but looking forward to getting this one started...

 

John

[Carts]

Great looking set of stuff for a great looking ship.Will follow this👍

[johndon]

Made a start with the bulb and bridge and the first light is in. Most of this is just slotted together and no attempt has been made at light blocking yet.

 

 

 

 

John

 

[johndon]

More lights done,  Again, no light blocking or diffusion yet.

 

 

 

John

 

[johndon]

Mostly still held together with tape, she's be a big girl when she's finished...

 

[johndon]

Bridge windows are done and this part of the model is ready for sealing up and a coat of paint.  I'm going to leave gluing the bridge dome and window strip in place until after painting which saves having to mask the bridge windows.  I ended up not using the PE strip for the windows and just sprayed the clear part then removed the paint on the windows with a took pick.

 

The main window strip has been painted black/green so I can mask the two 'troughs' that the windows sit in, far easier than masking each window individuallysk

[Thom216]

Love the red up there. Look's like a Cylon's eye.

[johndon]

More lights done.  A couple of light leaks to sort out and, as always, the camera makes the LED hot spots look worse than they are in reality...

 

 

John

[johndon]

Work continues at my usual glacial pace, the top part of the bulb is now all put together and in it's base coat of Tamiya XF4.  Window lights are a bit bright so I'm hoping a couple of coats of matt varnish on the clear windows will tone it down a bit...

 

 

 

John

 

[johndon]

I have a tendency to jump from part to part when building so, this evening, I have been working on the impulse engines with some of the Paragrafix photo etch for the grills.

 

As you can see from the first photo, the PE parts are a little smaller that the openings that they fit into:

 

 

so, I fitted an internal frame to not only hold the PE in place but also to fill the gaps round the edge which also provides a handy ledge to fit the kit clear parts, which have been treated to a few coats of matt varnish to diffuse them, to:

 

 

and a coat of paint disguises the frame although I may fit another .5mm frame to the outer side of the PE to completely hide the fact that it's not quite large enough:

 

 

John

Edited October 2, 2023 by johndon

[johndon]

Botton of the bulb is now lit, some light blocking still needed.

 

[johndon]

Lots still to do but its beginning to look a lot like Klingon...

 

 

[johndon]

The main hull halves of the KTinga have been glued together and I was pleased to see that all the lights still work. I'm particularly pleased with the effect the PE grilles give on the impulse engines, some light blocking still to do.  The rear torpedo launcher does light up but I've put it on a separate circuit so it is not on all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John

 

[johndon]

Started detail painting on the KTinga, paint is Tamiya acrylics thinned with isopropyl alcohol and almost dusted on to reduce the chances of bleed under the masking.

 

 

 

John

 

[johndon]

After even more masking, I'm very nearly there with this part. Some very small touch ups needed and the bit under the hanger bay entrance needs painting but, once that is done, it's be decal time then this will be put to one side as I'll weather the ship as a whole. I'm not trying to replicate the studio model and I figure that there would have been lots of variation in paint schemes so I'm not following the instructions too closely with regards to colours.

 

 

 

John

 

[johndon]

The upper rear part of the hull now has it's decals. They went on well but are quite thick but I'm pleased to see that after a coat of gloss and then two coats of matt varnish, the carrier film has all but disappeared. Detail painting on other parts has now started...

 

 

 

John

 

[Mike Sacklyn]

John, I will be building this K'tinga with the Cozmic lighting set in the near future. How did it work for you?

[johndon]

On 12/22/2024 at 12:42 AM, Mike Sacklyn said:

John, I will be building this K'tinga with the Cozmic lighting set in the near future. How did it work for you?

 

It worked very well, I had no problems with it and it was easy to put together assuming that you have some experience of soldering.

 

Just realised that I've not touched the model in over 12 months, I really should get back to it.

[Mike Sacklyn]

Excellent! I do have some strong soldering skills so the overall application is what I was curious about. Looking forward to more posts as you have been doing a great job with it so far!

[johndon]

After 12 months of no progress at all, I've just finished the lighting install on the KTinga, I'm particularly pleased with effect on the impulse engines.

 

 

 

[S-boat 55]

Those impulse engines look great, should imagine they look even better in the dark as well, 

[johndon]

38 minutes ago, S-boat 55 said:

Those impulse engines look great, should imagine they look even better in the dark as well, 

 

They do but I'm struggling to get a photo as they LEDS tend to blow out the lens on the iPhone so getting a photo isn't easy...

[Mike Sacklyn]

Fantastic! Very happy you have picked this back up again!

[johndon]

Launch aft torpedos!

 

The addition of the Paragrafix photo etch part has made a huge difference here although I made it really hard on myself by not installing it originally so it is fitted on the 'outside' of the kit parts.

 

[Gimme Shelter]

wow - 100% love this - great sized kit

 

It's going to look superb once completed