DeBoers Refit Enterprise WIP

[NemVia]

I've been working on this project(s) for the last year as well as the Reliant. I've been trying to keep pace with all 4 of these builds, but after the engines are finished, that is where we will part, at least until I start working on all of the saucers. For right now in this thread I will keep posting updates for my progress on 3 refit Enterprise builds. One of these builds will be put on a display stand and the other 2 will have Drydocks built for them. I have scratch built several interior rooms for these ships like the officers lounge, the crew rec-room as seen in ST:TMP the botaqny deck and the hanger deck. Each of these ships are 42" when fully assembled so there's a lot of elbow room to work on them as compared to the 35" polar lights kits. Right now, I'm in the middle of these builds and have completed most of the Aztecing for the warp nacells and support pylons. It took about a month to do all of the masking required to add 4 separate colors to the detailing of these pieces. By my next update I should have all of the other details painted and finished up as well as the decals required for the engines. You can check out the progress of this build on my site as well under the DeBoers Enterprise project in the photo album section. The newest pictures for this update are pics 139 - 148. Let me know what you think. Feedback is always welcome. See you next update!

Mark

[Nefud]

Really beautiful work.

[MIB41]

Superb work! Awesome pics! Very impressive skill you possess.

[NemVia]

Superb work! Awesome pics! Very impressive skill you possess.

Thanks very much!

In this update, I've added 15 new pics to the Enterprise album. It took about 2 weeks to mask off all of the engines for the detailing work. I've added 3 new colors as you will see, plus I did touch-up work on the warp nacell grills. I think the pics turned put good. Next I'll have to paint the front nacell grills copper, the inside stripe on the pylons will have 2 more shades of gray added to finish off that detail. There is some putty work that needs to be done on the basses of the pylons then I will put a very thinned out off-white color over the Aztec pattern to tone it down just slightly. It will look sharp when it's finished. Then I can add the decals to the rear of the engines. I've made my home page so that you can access the DeBoers Enterprise project from the side bar on the left. The new pics are on page 3 pics 149-163. Let me know what you think!
Mark

[NemVia]

Warp Nacell paint job Completed!!!


OKAY EVERYONE!!!!! Big update this month! I have added new pics to the Enterprise (16 Pics) album! A lot of energy and work have gone into these engines and I'm happy to say that other than a few pieces that will be added later on, the Engines are all basically done!

In the Enterprise update, I've had to spray the engines with a very light and thinned out coat of off white. This will tone down the Aztec colors just a little bit but will allow the sublte shapes of the Aztecing to show through. I've also painted up all of the misc. details such as the inside stripes that run up the support pylons. This took 3 different colors to make the stripe look perfect, Then I've added the decals which in this case are only 2 decals to the rear of the engines. The only thing I need to add to these now are the small domes for the warp crystals and the strobes on the rear ends of engines. So now I can finally put these in mothballs for a while and start working on the next part of this project, which I'm looking forward to, and that will be the "Engineering Hull". At least in this case there are only 3 pieces to work on, so the updates might be a little closer together.The new pics are on page 3 of the Enterprise album pics 164 - 179.

See you next update!!!!

Mark

[detroitdave]

Simply fantastic work NemVia. The detail is outstanding. I think I would literally go crazy trying to tape and paint the intricate hull details.

[Chris]

Your model looks better than the actual screen used prop. Excellent work.

[NemVia]

Last update for this year...

Your model looks better than the actual screen used prop. Excellent work.

Wow, really? That's quite a statement. I had better finish it then!
Thanks, Mark.

Well, everyone! This has been a busy year for me. The projects are coming along nicely and I feel I'm gaining some momentem. Unfortunately because of my peak season which will be starting sometime this week, I'm afraid I won't have much time or energy or the will to do much on these projects for the next two weeks or so. However, I've been able to get a lot of things accomplished since the last update. Noteably:

In the Enterprise build: I've added 26 new pics starting on page 3 slide 180 thru page 4 slide 205. I've begun working on the engineering hull. Like the warp engines there is a ton of putty and sanding work that needs to be done and redone. The bottoms of the hulls are the worst parts. They have a little bit of a valley in them which makes it very difficult for a nice smooth and rounded finish. I've had to fill in the old mounting holes on the 2 shipd that will be mounted from the saucer section in the drydocks and the other ship needed a larger bore hole for the mounting rod that will be used for the Mutara Nebula diorama. I have also added some new nacell mounting holes for when the engines are finally attached to the hull. I'm also going to add the lighting effects that are seen on wither side of the travel pod docking ports. To do this I had to drill out the old hatch doors and have rebuilt my own doors so that I can re-cast them in clear resin to allow for the small but interesting lighting effect.

Recasting a LOT of parts. This model was not inteded for lighting that is for sure. That is why all of the port holes need to be drilled out. But also, there are other pieces that need to be redone. So far I've recast the torpedo launching tubes, the lighting housing for underneath the fantail, the strobe light covers or domes for the flashing light effects, the airlock piece which I built at the begining of this project and have now finally got around to casting it into a single piece. I only need two of these pieces, that's why it took so long to get to. And finally the largest piece I've had to cast: the main deflector dish and the dish housing. This too was originally to be done as two seperate pieces, but I didn't like the way the hole drilling was turning out and I do not want it to look like a drilled them out either. So I recast these two pieces into one clear resin piece. I will then follow a technique that was used while building the Spacedock in STIII:TSFS where the entire plexiglass model was first painted over and then all of the spots that were supposed to be windows or portholes where lightly scratched off to allow the interior lighting to come through. I tried this on a scrap piece and it works out beautifully. I will have pics of this later on.

I just have a few more small things to add onto the engineering hull by way of detailing and then I will be ready to begin the painting which I am looking forward to doing.

Well, that's it for this update. Please be safe everyone. I will see you in 2012!

Take care, Mark

[NemVia]

Updates For January 2012


As mentioned in my last update I have updated some of the features on my site to help make it easier for Members and Visitors to find my latest updates without having to search though too many photos. Starting this month, you will be able to go directly to the current updates by clicking on the UPDATES FOR JANUARY 2012 page on the left hand sidebar. I will probably leave 2 or 3 months worth on the homepage and then move them to the appropriate pages later on.
Also thanks to everyone who has visited my site. Last month My 100th member joined in. Don't be afraid to join up! More are always welcome!

Now for my first update this year, I've been doing some refining of the details on the secondary hull. I've added all of the re castings of the Travel Pod Doors and epoxied them in place, next the will be prepaired for opaqueing and painting. I've also started working on how to put the lenses on some of the lighting effects. In this case it will be the Lighting ouside the Hanger bay. My solution was to drill the holes out, then add clear resin into the cavities. Not a very easy process, but after the work is done it looks pretty sharp. I've taken a couple of pics to show what the lighting effects will turn out like in the secondary hull. The same goes true for the Thrusters. I've decided to cut out the wedges on the tops and bottoms of the saucers and re-insert them with clear epoxy resin pieces. Right now I'm still making the molds for these parts and I should have the first of them done in a few weeks. In the meantime, I've also been casting several clear and white resin shuttle craft that I will be using for the hangers and also the Drydock model for when I start on that project. So stay tuned. I will be opaquing the secondary hull in the up-coming weeks and then I can start on the Aztecing for the Secondary Hull.

See you next month.

Mark

[NemVia]

Updates For February

I have 16 new pics in the February update. I have spent a lot of the last month trying to smooth out the Engineering Hull. Ive been re-shaping a lot of the viewports and adding places for new lighting effects both to the Travel Pod Air-lock doors as well as the Hanger Deck. All of this is done in preparation for the Aztec patterns that will soon be added. To help protect some of the etched lines in the hull as welll as add some detailing I have begum masking out all of these lines and details. This process takes about 2-1/2 hrs per side. The pics in this months update show all of the detailed masking. I will then begin adding different shapes to different parts of the hull to begin some of the Aztec work.

Other updates this month include the spraying of the Main Deflector dish and housing piece which will also have some Aztecing put into it. Also I've sprayed the Bridge pieces in preparation for their detailing work. By the next update I hope to have at last 2 more color shades added to these pieces. See you in next months update.

Mark

[NemVia]

Update for March 2012 - 17 new pics!

Greetings everyone! Well, it's now March. Time is flying by quickly! This past month I've been working on the masking for the 4 different shades of Aztec paneling for the entire Engineering Hull. So far I've been able to do the first 3 shades and 2 seperate masks. I was able to spray the 3rd shade on this morning. After the paint has set for 24 hrs I can begin the masking for the final shade on the hull and do some minor masking for the Strongback features as well as the housing for the main deflector dish and the dorsals front and back. On a few parts of the hull, some of the small masks have come off or have moved a bit due to the handling and from what I'm seeing the painting is turning out very well. Unfortunately we won't get to see what it all culminates to until the final colors have been added, the paneling is toned down and then the masking can all be removed. I've also begun some more masking for the main deflector dish piece (that is not connected to the engineering hull). The Deflector housing and stronback will be done in slightly darker colors, but they will not stand out too much. I'm really trying to shoot for the look in ST:TMP where everything is more subtle. From WOK onward there have been different and duller finishes added to the miniature for filming purposes. After the painting is all finished for the Engineering Hull I can finally add the Nacells to the hull and start working on some of the wiring and lighting. I feel real good about how things are looking so far and even I am looking forward to my own future updates. It's getting there my fellow modelers. Just hang in there! To view the pics go to my site below!
See you next update,
Mark

[NemVia]

Updates For April 2012

This has been an extremely busy month. All of my work has centered on the Secondary Hull and the Strongback detailing. There are 4 different colors added to the Aztec pattern on the engineering section and then they were oversprayed with the final off-white color that will be the ships signature look. The Strong back was a little different though. I used about 6 shades on this part as well as the deflector dish housing. Although the final colors are not on these parts, the Secondary hull is now completely Aztec-ed. There are 26 new pics in the Updates For April page. I mounted the engines on the hull as well as the saucer to get an idea of how everything will look together. Check out the pics and let me know what you think. I will be finishing up the Strong back as well as the front part of the Deflector dish for next month's update. I will start assembling the Hanger deck, the botany Deck and some of the wiring for the engines. I will also finally begin to work on the Saucer section. So stay tuned and I will see you next month!



Mark

[Man of Action]

Holy Poop, that's alot of masking..Great work, she's gonna look breathtaking when done..

[NemVia]

Updates For April 2012

Holy Poop, that's alot of masking..Great work, she's gonna look breathtaking when done..

yeh,,,, masking... I hate masking.....

Thanks!

Mark

[NemVia]

Updates For May 2012

For the Enterprise update this month, I have been able to finish up most of the work on the strongback and the deflector dish detailing. I still need to scrape off some of the paint on the outside ring of the dish to allow for the lighting effects, but for the most part the painting is finished. I will now start decals on the engineering hull. There are only a few to worry about. I should have an update for this by next month. For this month I have started doing the prep - work for the saucer sections. The first thing I needed to do is to make sure all of the viewports are nice and even, then cut out all of the thruster pieces and replace them with clear re-cast pieces so the lighting effect will look half way decent. I will also be adding the bottom saucer domes. I've cut out all of the holes for the lighting effect and will replace them with some clear pieces. I will be adding the bridge pieces to all of the saucer top halves at this point as well as adding the warp crystal domes on the back end of the saucer. All of this is in preparation for the Aztec pattern to be added on the top and bottom halves of the saucers. The latest pics are now availible in the "Updates for May 2012" page.

For Reliant, I have begun working on the saucer section as well. I have cut out all of the thruster pieces and have replaced them with clear recast pieces. I have also added the bridge piece to the top hull and the lower saucer has the dome in place. These pieces are now epoxied in and ready for the painting process. The hull will have to be sanded down, then opaqued, and then I can prime everything up and begin the Aztec process on this model. I am not making the Aztec pattern the same as the Enterprise model, which I have seen a few others do. I had to take a reference pic of the filming miniature, make it into a negative picture and do some enhancing to help define the Aztec pattern a little better so I can make my own masks. There are in fact 2 different Aztec patterns on this ship. I posted a pencil sketching of what the patterns look like and then I have also begun creating some of the masks of one of the patterns of which I have posted a picture of what it looks like in this month's update. The other pattern will be started once this one is completed. Now that I've started on the Saucers of all of these ships I can see the finishing up of these models on the horizon for now. I am also looking forward to starting on the Drydock as well. I have also started some blueprints of the Drydock scaled to these models so things are progressing nicely. See you next update!

Mark.