Star Trek - USS Defiant

This is the USS Defiant as featured in Star Trek DS9. I completed the model some time ago (Late 90's) and the basic construction was very simple, however the paint job was a different kettle of fish altogether. I think this was one of the first models I used filler to any effect. The basic construction was quick but left a few joins around the edge so I used a ready mixed filler that dries when exposed to the air.

Most model makers seem to favour car filler so I might look at this in the future. The problem was the details on the model surface got sanded away which made painting difficult. When I came to painting the Defiant I first sprayed it grey to give a good surface for the rest of the details, then I started to pick out the other colours, but as I said, most of the boundaries had been sanded away so I used masking tape to try and recreate them. It soon came apparent that I could not be as accurate as the original lines so I decided on a new tactic.

I decided to go for a really dirty looking ship which meant the lines did not have to be perfect. I just imagined the Defiant had visited a particularly inhospitable planet and had to take the ship down to the surface and landed in a swamp. Of course they haven't found a Spaceship wash yet! This is the Bottom of the Defiant with some of the white windows just about visible. I used gloss white enamel on these so they would stand out more against the matt weathered look of the rest of the ship. Once I had decided on this approach I could then be a bit more careless with the blue and yellow panels knowing I could hide the lines with dirty washes later.

This was a great project for learning new techniques but I think I would like another crack at it just to make a 'cleaner' Defiant that Sisko would be proud of ! The decals were quite difficult on this model because the was a lot of long, red lines which have to be kept straight.I like the finished result but I love the shape of this ship more than it's paint job. I am sure this would be how the Millennium Falcon would look if it was designed in the nineties, it's got that 'Hot Rod' look about it.

Star Trek - (ETRL) USS Enterprise-D Model

Star Trek - (ETRL) USS Enterprise-D Model

This is my USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. I completed it about fifteen years ago and it was the first model I had attempted since I was a boy. I started it when Star Trek The Next Generation was showing on Sky Television every day at five PM. I used to work a split shift and it was during the middle three hours when I did all the work.

As this was the first model I had attempted for many years I had to develop techniques on the fly. I had now glue or paint and no idea what to expect. the first problem I came across was when the saucer section did not fit the main engineering section. Instead of filling the gaps I poured glue into them and painted over the cracks to hide the joints. The technique worked well but in later models I used filler as the paint tended to shine a little over the 'glue' cracks!

The colors are not 100% true to life but I was more than impressed with the finished model. One of the things I would have liked would have been lights in this kit, however ERTL did not issue any until some time later. My brother eventually got the kit with lights, but he has not finished it yet.

DLP Guitars - Handmade in Birmingham, England

NASA Space Shuttle

NASA Space Shuttle

This model was very quickly constructed and painted whilst I was finishing another model. I was getting fed up and this seemed like the ideal diversion. The bay originally opened to reveal the Canada arm and a small satellite but I sealed the doors in the closed position. The basic construction was very simple but required a little filler around the bay doors and wings. I properly spent more time painting the base than the Shuttle itself, it is modelled like the earth so I spent a little while on the polar cap and clouds.

I once saw a Space Shuttle waiting to lift off on it's launch pad but was unable to stay to see it take off. I would like to see one launch one day but of course I would really love to fly in one! My Shuttle is called Discovery, with the kit you have the option to use the names Atlantis or Endeavour as they supply decals for both. I would have liked it if they had included the prototype name Enterprise.

With the shuttle Atlantis currently in orbit on it's mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope it is apt that I publish this model. I made it many years ago not long after I had been to the Kennedy Space Centre and there was a shuttle on the launch pad. it was a fantastic sight but I cant imagine what it must be like to actually be on board let alone see it take off.

I have been watching the current mission on NASA TV and following one of the Astronauts via Twitter (Astro_Mike). It's strange the momentum of of progress into space seems so slow, when the actual vehicles are so fast!

Star Trek - USS Enterprise NCC1701E

Star Trek - USS Enterprise NCC 1701 E

Here is the U.S.S ENTERPRISE NCC-1701-E. I completed it at the end of 1998 after about 4 months on and off. It was such a daunting paint job and I wanted to get it right so I took my time and I think it paid off. This is how I would have liked the Defiant model to have turned out but it took so long and I still have Voyager to build yet which is very similar. With the picture above I just held the model in my room with one hand and photographed it with the other, then imported it into PhotoShop and cut out the background and replaced it with the star background. I then added a bit of a glow to the warp nacelles and a blue hue to the white windows, then added the lens flare and darkened everything a little.

The construction was quite involved and required quite a bit of filling and a little re-modelling around the nacelle pylon area. I painted the clear plastic pieces on both sides with clear red and blue paint and then backed them with self adhesive silver reflective tape to give them some life. The tape was left over from another model with a lighting kit and they look great in natural light. One problem I had was the deflector dish did not stick properly and fell into the hull of the ship.

I had to use a bit of Blue-Tak on the end of a pen to pull it back into position and glue it properly. Once everything was glued, filled and sanded down I sprayed the whole thing with a couple of coats of grey primer (after masking the clear plastic bits). I then sprayed the final light grey, using car spray paint, and left the thing to dry for a few days. Then came the tedious job of picking out all the panels with three different shades of gray. This was all done by hand, following the guide in the kit, however looking at the finished model now it is not as accurate as it could have been and some of the panels should be darker.

Once I had finished the hull panels I started on the windows, painting them Gloss white or matt black at random. There are hundreds of them and some are so tiny I used a cocktail stick to dab the paint on. I found the best approach was to paint the window and then re-paint the gray panel to cover up any mistakes. I had to do this in lots of short sittings because after about twenty minutes I got so bored that I would start to loose my concentration. The windows alone took a couple of weeks

The final task was the transfer decals. There are quite a lot of these and this took a couple of sittings to complete. The main difficulty here was getting all the red lines straight and I found they did not stick to the light grey areas very well so they had to be completely dry before I could handle the model or else they would slip. The main NCC 1701-E logo's on the top and bottom were a bit of a challenge also because they lie on top of little ribs that stuck up out of the hull, so I just had to be patient with them.

I finished the decals with the life pods and the very tricky red arcs around the edge of the phaser banks. I need to give the model a coat of lacquer but I will wait till the weather gets a little warmer first. I enjoyed this project but it did drag on a little but the finished model is superb, Picard would be proud !