Constitution Class Starship

[David G.]

 

I received this as a birthday gift from my son.

 

I have three name options, I'm leaning toward Potemkin but I'm open to suggestions.

 

This is a big model. Here's the Jeep I built recently as a size reference.

 

When people buy a model kit version of the truck that their dad owned in 1980 and ask me, "Can you build this for me to give to my dad for his birthday?" I kind of chuckle. Because if you just want me to glue it together, then no problem. If you want me to actually *build* it then you're looking at as much as $100.00 in paint and supplies and about 40 hours of my time. Here's about $75.00 in paint and supplies for the Starship.

 

 

Working on the Bussard Collectors and housings for the Warp Nacelles. The clear bits are colored with translucent orange paint and a red Sharpie.

 

 

The discs behind the collectors are covered with Bare Metal Foil as are the ridges on the orange collector. I added the radial lines with Sharpies to the disc to help simulate the "propeller" effect as seen in the TV show.

 

 

It should look pretty good when complete.

 

 

The internal radial lined propeller effect shows better in person... but only slightly.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

[peteski]

I like what I see. A clean and clever build!

[Jim N]

Your doing a great job!  I am not a Star Trek fan by any means, so I was a bit surprised to see 3 building options on the decal sheet.

[David G.]

15 hours ago, peteski said:

I like what I see. A clean and clever build!

Thanks Peter, I'm glad you like it.

6 hours ago, Jim N said:

Your doing a great job!  I am not a Star Trek fan by any means, so I was a bit surprised to see 3 building options on the decal sheet.

Thank you Jim. I wish that there were a few more options but I think I can be happy with Potemkin.

 

David G.

[Jim B]

Great start so far.  Looks really nice.

[David G.]

On 9/12/2018 at 8:37 PM, Jim B said:

Great start so far.  Looks really nice.

Thank you James.

David G.

[David G.]

 

Hello everybody, here's another update.

I got the prep mostly finished on the saucer section. Finished enough to shoot some primer any way. The dark lines are drawn with a mechanical pencil. Once the final color is applied the lines should show as slightly darker panel shadow lines. Hopefully.

 

 

Test fitting the primary hull or saucer section with the secondary hull and scanner array. Oh yeah, I got that painted too.

 

 

Though the Enterprise looked white on the old TV show, it was actually light grey. I followed directions I found online for mixing an appropriate color and this is the result.

To my eye, it's a bit too dark- and a little green. On the saucer section, test dabs can be seen where I tried lightening the grey by adding more white. This obviously wasn't working.

The bridge section is grey primer straight from the can. It's closer to the correct shade but still too dark. I should have just followed my instincts and mixed my own color starting with white and adding black until I hit the right proportions.

 

 

The model kit is molded in plastic that seems very close to the desired color, but to leave the plastic unpainted and still achieve the desired look is sometimes more of a challenge than mixing a good color and painting it. 

 

Thanks for looking, comments and suggestions are always welcome.

David G.

[Jim B]

Really nice job on the hulls.  Try here for other decals & P/E parts: https://starshipmodeler.biz/shop/index.cfm/category/51/trek-decals.html

[David G.]

On 9/15/2018 at 5:41 AM, Jim B said:

Really nice job on the hulls.  Try here for other decals & P/E parts: https://starshipmodeler.biz/shop/index.cfm/category/51/trek-decals.html

Thanks you for the kind words and the link. I'll check it out but I think I'll be using the Potemkin set.

David G.

[David G.]

Strangely, the directions call for painting and assembling the base as one of the last steps in building the kit. I decided to build my base earlier in the process so that I would have a place to lean the dang thing when I;m not working on it.

The base is in the form of the uniform badge worn by the crew and will be painted in black and gold. Definite early 60's Art Deco style.

 

Test fitting the base and stand.

 

Though actually reversed in this particular instance, the Star Trek insignia is one of the most recognized images on the planet.

 

A suitable resting place for a Starship. I'll have to see if I can touch up that gold bleed-under. 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

[Scalper]

cool... me and my dad started a enterprise before I was even into models. sadly it was never completed.

nice work on your so far.I really like it.

looking forward to more. and one day I will get one.

 

[unclescott58]

Looking very good so far! 

[vamach1]

Very cool.  Next year it will be a Klingon battle cruiser.  

[Jim B]

I like the base.  Well done.

[David G.]

23 hours ago, Scalper said:

cool... me and my dad started a enterprise before I was even into models. sadly it was never completed.

nice work on your so far.I really like it.

looking forward to more. and one day I will get one.

 

Thanks Andre, I'm glad you like it. I don't know if this kit is still in production but it is still available.

12 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

Looking very good so far! 

Thank you Scott.

11 hours ago, vamach1 said:

Very cool.  Next year it will be a Klingon battle cruiser.  

Thanks Rex. I was actually thinking that same thought.

8 hours ago, Jim B said:

I like the base.  Well done.

Thank you James, I am rather pleased with the way it turned out.

David G.

[David G.]

I have mixed what I think will be a suitable shade of light gray. I used  a 1/3 oz bottle of Tamiya X-2 gloss white with 12 drops of Tamiya X-18 gloss black. I darkened the panel lines with a fine point Sharpie and I also devised a pin set-up for the joint between the primary and secondary hulls. 

I'm now ready to fire up the airbrush and get some painting done!

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

[David G.]

 

Though this color may not be technically correct, it looks right to my eye, and that's what it's really about, isn't it? I'm even happy with the way the panel lines worked out.

 

The top saucer section will need another coat, but other than that, the color and sheen look right to me.

 

Well, I got the color situation worked out so it's time for the model gremlins to move on to the next activity... Airbrushing.

I have a Paasche VL using a #5 needle with about 18lbs pressure. I first thinned the paint with about 50% Tamiya acrylic thinner and started getting these droplets when I sprayed. So I added a little more thinner and the paint came out of the brush like dirty water. At that point the paint was obviously waaaayy too thin, so I mixed a bit more paint and reduced it until I was back where I started.

Any tips or observations will be appreciated. I'm sure that I can smooth these spots out to get a reasonable finish, but it sure would be nice if I didn't have to.

Thanks again,

David G.

[Jim N]

4 hours ago, David G. said:

 

I have a Paasche VL using a #5 needle with about 18lbs pressure. I first thinned the paint with about 50% Tamiya acrylic thinner and started getting these droplets when I sprayed. So I added a little more thinner and the paint came out of the brush like dirty water. At that point the paint was obviously waaaayy too thin, so I mixed a bit more paint and reduced it until I was back where I started.

Any tips or observations will be appreciated. I'm sure that I can smooth these spots out to get a reasonable finish, but it sure would be nice if I didn't have to.

Thanks again,

David G.

David, the model is looking real good.  Great progress.  As far as the paint spots, you might try turning up the p.s.i. a bit.  It kind of looks to me that you may not have enough air pushing out the paint.

[David G.]

27 minutes ago, Jim N said:

David, the model is looking real good.  Great progress.  As far as the paint spots, you might try turning up the p.s.i. a bit.  It kind of looks to me that you may not have enough air pushing out the paint.

Thanks Jim, I'll give that a shot.

[Jim B]

Looking really nice.  If my painting came out like that, I'd call it a success!

[David G.]

On 9/24/2018 at 1:29 PM, Jim B said:

Looking really nice.  If my painting came out like that, I'd call it a success!

Thanks Jim.

On 9/24/2018 at 10:54 AM, Jim N said:

David, the model is looking real good.  Great progress.  As far as the paint spots, you might try turning up the p.s.i. a bit.  It kind of looks to me that you may not have enough air pushing out the paint.

Normally I use a #3 needle but changed to a #5 believing that it would help me to cover the larger area of the saucer section. I still had my air pressure set at the level I would use with my #3 needle, 18 to 20 lbs. Knowing that I can get a good job with the #3, I switched back and got an immediate improvement. Then a thought occurred to me. Would the larger diameter #5 needle require more air pressure, maybe 20 to 25 lbs? In some ways, that would make sense. 

Obviously I don't get a lot of practice with my airbrush so almost every time I use it, it's a learning experience.

I Now that I believe I have the spatter problem is sorted, I think I'll try to smooth out the rough areas and hit it again.

Thanks, 

David G.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Looking good. Nice build diary with lots of helpful info. I think I just may have to get one of these. Thanks for the inspiration. 

[Agent G]

6 hours ago, David G. said:

Thanks Jim.

Normally I use a #3 needle but changed to a #5 believing that it would help me to cover the larger area of the saucer section. I still had my air pressure set at the level I would use with my #3 needle, 18 to 20 lbs. Knowing that I can get a good job with the #3, I switched back and got an immediate improvement. Then a thought occurred to me. Would the larger diameter #5 needle require more air pressure, maybe 20 to 25 lbs? In some ways, that would make sense. 

Obviously I don't get a lot of practice with my airbrush so almost every time I use it, it's a learning experience.

I Now that I believe I have the spatter problem is sorted, I think I'll try to smooth out the rough areas and hit it again.

Thanks, 

David G.

Bigger orifice = more paint flow. It needed a bit more PSI to fully atomize that paint.

G 

[David G.]

9 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Looking good. Nice build diary with lots of helpful info. I think I just may have to get one of these. Thanks for the inspiration. 

Thanks Bill. 

There are a few differences I discovered between building this starship and a model car kit. On this kit the windows must be placed into the hull sections from the inside before assembling the hull. This doesn't leave many options for addressing the seams between the sections. I just assembled the secondary hull yesterday and there some visible seams. I'm still trying to decide if I want to go back and address them.  They are minor but they are there and they are visible.

 

4 hours ago, Agent G said:

Bigger orifice = more paint flow. It needed a bit more PSI to fully atomize that paint.

G 

Thanks for the confirmation on that G.

David G.

[David G.]

I think I've hit the stage of the build where things begin to come together more quickly; the "Tipping Point" as I like to think of it. For my automotive projects, the tipping point is usually when I get the wheels under the chassis. For this model I've decided that the tipping point is when all the prep work and painting are done and most of the minor assembly tasks are completed.

I'm just not happy with the seams on the warp nacelles. Looks like I'll have to do some filling and sanding.

 

The secondary hull is assembles and properly weighted. Also, I'm very happy with the way this photo came out.

 

Thanks for taking the time to look.

David G.