peter

Holy crap, that diorama is AWESOME!!!! It's effing Jenius (see what I did there?) using Kirk and Khan figured, just wow! And the background....perfect! I've always mickey-moused my display stands and bases....I should probably out in some effort sometime. The 537 has potential to look good, but the source material from AMT makes it a long and arduous road. I choose to ignore the inaccuracies and just aimed for better than my attempt in grade 8 BTW, contact Round 2, they offered to send me new decals. I just wanted them to acknowledge they sold a batch of crappy decals, because some other decals from AMT for other kits weren't this problematic.

A bit more paint today. I sort of like that splotchy look.

I covered it in brushed on flat black paint when I was a kid and just left all the parts on the runners, so when I dug it out last week, I wasn't even going to build it. I just needed something to practice airbrushing with, lol! But then I figured cutting the parts off and adding a bit of glue couldn't hurt, so I guess I'm building it, hahahaha!

Help! I'm getting in the weeds, lol! I found this old Bird of Prey I might refurbish. It's missing parts so I might battle damage it. Another victim to my future airbrush practice/experimentation Will have to sit down and focus on actually finishing something I stead of picking up another project.

Haha, thanks. It was hard getting things lined up, and the seam lines were huge. I was just going to slap the thing together and use it to practice airbrushing on it, but I think I'll go back and address the seam lines on the legs. It's pretty unsightly. MPC made some odd choices to have parts come together. For example the accordion neck thing......top dead center, across the top. I may just ignore that one, lol! Anyway, this may end up being a total non-canon experimental build......no markings at all on these things....I guess tanks and other armor don't have a lot of markings either, unlike fighter craft.

Still have to gloss coat these things to seal the decals in, then dull coat them to give them the flat look. I may weather the K'tinga, but if the Reliant and Refit still look like garbage after the dull coat, I may have to kill them both with some Wrath of Khan battle damage. In the mean time, I dug out another relic from my childhood. I started this kit wayyyyyy back in grade 6 or 7, so easily 30+ years ago. Not sure where I was going with this back then, but it looks like I brush painted the parts black while still on the runners. Have a feeling this might be another hate-build. There is barely anything holding these parts together, no pegs or holes....just a bunch of long rounded tabs and some flat surfaces that sort of line up. Roy's looking around like "WTF is this mess?" Apparently these two are both 1/100 scale, so those Speeders are TINY!! I still don't know why I brush painted the whole thing black, but it worked out great because I've seen people do this so it was a good chance for me to experiment and practice with my new airbrush. Have no idea what I'm doing. But it was a good learning experience and get some trigger time on the airbrush. Still have more to do, but I can already see the advantages over brush painting larger surfaces and even rattle cans. Not a horrible start.

They're getting there. Decals are cracked and fractured to hell, a lots of silvering. I should have gotten the surface smoother and more glossy for the decals to adhere to. Will have to remember for next time. Got a little brave with the Gundam marker to draw in the intakes for the nacelles. That was a mistake. Shaky hands and bad eyes equals crooked lines, lol! Plus the uneven surface from my bad decal application. I still have another Refit of the same size with the Enterprise set so I'll try to remember trying to pen them in before decals.

I do like a good Rib Roast. Cooked this one for Christmas. Well, that's just great. It's 0216, I'm hungry and craving a steak now.

Definitely!

I noticed that these decals have a different finish than the set that comes with the 7 Enterprise set. The ones that come with the Cadet Series have a flat look to them. When I opened the 7 ship Enterprise set, they have a glossy look to them. I think they may be printed on different decal paper. When Model Chili was building his kit, he was pulling saucer sized decals off the backing without them ripping or cracking. Anyway, for the rest of this kit, I've sort of learned how to handle the decals. Cut them into tiny manageable pieces. Let the decals tell me when they are ready to come off the paper, in this case I just let them float right off, lol! They don't break as easy, but are still sort of stuff as hell. But after drowning them in Mr. mark Softer, they eventually suck right in. Don't zoom in. Lol, honestly, the camera picks up more stuff than I can actually see with my eyes. In other words, they don't look this crappy in person, hahahahahaha!

Wow. I have one of these in my pile......really scared to build it.

Please don't zoom in, lol!

That looks like a lot more work than my little decal problem, hahahahaha!

Actually, I sort of figured out these decals after posting my rant. Cut them into smaller pieces, especially the large saucer sections, and even the nacelle sections. Let them soak in the water longer, almost to the point when they want to float away from the paper backing. Lots of water on the surface of where they are going. Don't fiddle when them too much because if you much as fart, they will break. A lot of decal softener. It's like they printed these decals on Nori (that brittle seaweed they use for sushi), lol!

Going back to read everything you did. Looks like way back around page 220 or so (Jan2020) is when you started. I was watching Model Chili and he sort of inspired me to buy the Enterprise set. Lol, he made it seem less crappy an experience, hahahaha!!

I dabbled with an airbrush 25 or so years ago, but it wasn't mine. I honestly don't know any airbrush terminology, lol! My buddy sent me a link for a decent one and I ordered it along with a compressor. It seems like good quality and I'm getting the hang of it. I like to keep my tools clean so I've actually done a bit more research on that than how to use it, lol! So far though, it's a lot of fun and I love watching how smooth the paint goes on

Lol, if you like stress, this is the kit for you

Lol, it's a good skill to have

I think AMT should be charged with crimes against humanity for giving us decals of this quality. And also for giving us the 1/537 Refit. This decal cracked just soaking in the water. Just a friggin cluster fuk. The saucer top of the Enterprise was in about 3-4 pieces. Reliant bottom wasn't much better. I sort of salvaged them, but the Reliant marking is pooched. It was just too far gone and there was no saving it. Good thing this is the bottom. More to follow.

So this kit has some really $hitty decals. You were absolutely right. They look great on paper, but how did AMT/Round2 think it would be a good idea to print them in such fragile paper? I have the Enterprise set in 1/2500 and I hope those decals are better than these things. First time using my own airbrush...just ordered it off Amazon....wow...what a whole new world. I've been rattle canning everything until now, but what a difference an airbrush can make. Some minor masking with this kit. And back to the brush to hand paint some of the feathers (not screen accurate, lol). First decal that cracked.....just from laying it down on the bump. I have a bad feeling about any parts that have a bend in it. The #8 in the registry is split three times. I did my best to re-align it but the more I touched it, the more the decal cracked. They look great once they're on, but they are kind of a nightmare, lol! More to follow.

Also I love steak:

love this illustration, and I either want a DX because of it, or build a model in fighter mode without the Super parts.

I totally agree, and I regret not jumping on the DX Kakizaki. I don't have any Kakizaki toys sadly, this is all I have to contribute, my first ever Kakizaki model:

Lightning from Big Trouble in Little China was more of a Raiden than Christopher Lambert version. https://youtu.be/spVQ0pB4HDU