USS Reliant - WIP

[NemVia]

Updates For July 2012

Greetings everyone! June has been an extremely busy month for me. We had visitors from out of town for a few weeks, so I did not get as much done as I would have liked. I was going to begin Aztec patterns on all 4 ships, but found that it would just be easier to concentrate on Reliant for now. So, all of the updates for this month are soley for Reliant! Sorry to those who are following the Refit Enterprise build, but next month will be mainly for Enterprise! Now because there are 2 different Aztec patterns on the saucer section it was just a lot easier to get this done and out of the way first. I will then be able to concentrate on the Enterprise Hulls all this month.
I am pleased to say that even though I had a slight mis-hap with the painting, I was able to salvage the work in a unique kind of way as you will see in this month's update pictures. The entire bottom of Reliant's saucer is now completely Aztec-ed and now I need to add some of the other details, such as the hatch doors, the positioning thrusters, lower dome details and some hull detailing for the engineering section, the impulse engines and the hanger doors. It's starting to look real sharp and I'm very happy with how things are looking.
I've also started work on the top of the saucer and these details should be completed by next month's update. I may even have some of the decals added on by then. There are 18 new pics in this month's update. Hope you enjoy! Comments are always welcome and so are new Memebers! See you next month!
Mark

[NemVia]

August Updates

This months update is very picture heavy!

For the Reliant update I've decided to tackle this model's Aztec Pattern first because there is a difference in the pattern from the Enterprise Aztec Pattern. Not only that but there is far more detailwork that needed to be done with the upper saucer section than with the Enterprise models. In fact the detailing on Reliant is the most detail work that I've ever put into any single model EVER! I was very pleased with the way it has turned out. I was also able to put on most of the Decals in this update. The one thing I didn't realize when I recieved this kit was that other than the markings around the hatches there were no red stripe decals that came with this model, so I decided to paint them all on myself. I was able to use Insignia Red as the color of choice and it turned out to be a good choice. There is very little difference between the Decal Red and the Painted on stripes as you will see in the pics. For the shoulder part or rear of the upper saucer there is a grid pattern that can be seen on the filming miniature, so I had to put this on the model first. It can be seen as very thin blue lines of masking tape. Then I was able to add all of the different shapes of pre-cut masking tape to the insides of each of these grid boxes. The results came out excellent when the tape was removed. I've also painted up the top and underneath aft section which at first threw me as to the color. A picture of the original Reliant revealed that some of these sections appeared to be a light blue or gray color. But when I reviewed ST:TWOK a saw that all of these details were dark. So, before I messed this part up I began to decide what this color was. It was very difficult to determine on the screen. I happened to have an AMT/ertl Reliant kit and was just curious to see if the instructions had any hints of wjat colors to use. In this case it suggested Intermediate Blue, which I had never heard of, but I looked it up on-line and found that Model Master Paints did in fact have this color, so I tried it out and then compared it to the pictures I have of the original filming miniature and sure enough, it was a very spot on match which was a complete relief to me. I also realized at this point this is a common color used on smaller parts of the ship such as the torpedo launchers and some of the Interior parts for the hatches that I am putting into the Enterprise builds. So with a big sigh of relief I can move onto to other parts of this model. I put a color comparison picture of both my build and the Filming miniature in the update so you can decide for yourselves wether or not the build looks as close as possible to the filming miniature. Let me know what you think.


See you next update! Enjoy! And as always comments and New members are always welcome!

Mark

[NemVia]

Updates for September 2012

Hey everyone! There are 26 new pics for this month's update! Please check them out! Comments are always welcome.

For Reliant, I've been so busy with the Aztec work on the Enterprises that very minimal work has been done on Reliant. I have started working on the Roll-bar and torpedo housing. The tops and bottoms have been epoxoed to their respective pieces and now I can begin the painting and Aztec-ing of these pieces as well. Everything is coming together and the models will all be finished pretty much at about the same time.

So, that's all for this update. I will see you again next update! Take care,

Mark

[NemVia]

Updates For January 2013

Hi Everyone! Sorry this update took so long to get uploaded. December was a very rough month for my secular work so very little was done on Reliant. I have 22 new pics in the Updates for January page

For RELAINT:

In this update I was able to add the LED spot lights on both the upper and lower parts of the saucer. All of the LEDs are now in place, I'm just waiting for some parts to come on for the flashing and strobe light effects. I've also been able to add the interior lighting to the saucer and main body of the hull. There are (8) 4" tubes and (4) 8" tubes being used to light the ship up. This does not include the (2) 4" and (2) 8" tubes that are in the nacells. They all run off of ballasts, 1 ballast for every 2 lamps. I have a nice lighting test shot of Reliant with these lamps on. I also focused in on the landing bay lighting which came out very nicely. I still need to add the flashing and strobe circuits to this model for the lighting effects, but I'm waiting on a few parts before I can add those in. In the meantime I will be working on the Impulse engine lighting effects as well as some additional lighting that is needed around the aft end of the ship including around the landing bay doors.

That's all for this months update. We'll see you next month.

Mark