Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[peter]

6 hours ago, Thom said:

Don't let the current look of it get to you. It is 'In Process' which is a normal part of any build. Some are cleaner - and some are messy as fuk! No matter how it looks now, remember the Mythbusters shining turds.

 

Fantastic coloring on those parts!

Actually, this is very true.  It's quite rewarding to see it slowly come out after all that work.

Started some sanding:

[peter]

Top of the saucer looks better, but still needs work.

Bottom of the saucer is a pain.

[pengbuzz]

Try spraying some primer to see what you actually have left to fill.

[Dobber]

Not too bad, what did you use to fill the panel lines?

Chris

[peter]

1 hour ago, pengbuzz said:

Try spraying some primer to see what you actually have left to fill.

Very soon.  I found some ugly gaps when I sanded the saucer.....then when I tapped it to get the dust off, some of the glue came apart, lol!  I guess I should have gooped it on.

Then when I test fit the neck to the secondary hull, it too came apart at the seams, so had to re-glue that as well.

Told you guys.....amateur hour with this build, hahaha.

 

[peter]

8 minutes ago, Dobber said:

Not too bad, what did you use to fill the panel lines?

Chris

I actually found a brand new bottle of Mr. Surfacer 500, still good as new.  Who knows what other goodies I have buried in my mountain of crap downstairs.  Oh wait, that would be an Enterprise D with the fibre optic kit, which I will not build, lol!

[Thom]

A little more filling and sanding, but she's coming along! You're just laying the groundwork for a fantastic finish.

[peter]

2 minutes ago, Thom said:

A little more filling and sanding, but she's coming along! You're just laying the groundwork for a fantastic finish.

Haha, thanks!  Actually the words of encouragement here are the only thing keeping me going.....to embarassing to quit now, lol!

Dug out the D for a quick pic.....

Anyone here build one?  As much as I loved TNG, I don't see myself building it.

[MechTech]

Gabe - Personally I love the TV version. Let's see, movie was almost two hours. TV series was how many hours/days long? Why does the movie get all the attention? Your model is looking great!

Peter - You're gonna have more filler than model It's coming along nicely. I had a friend build a D model (unlit). It didn't look too bad. There's not a lot of parts compared to other models. - MT

[peter]

Saw a guy on YT use Bondo on his, a lot of Bondo, lol!

[David Hingtgen]

22 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

Did you build it?

I took more pics of mine:

 

The yellow plastic is insanely inconsistent with spraying it gold.  The first few pieces (toes etc) turned out great, and I thought I could get all the painting done in a single afternoon.  That was days ago.  Neck, less great, but ok.  Chest pieces?  TERRIBLE.  I have stripped and repainted the chest so many times, I'm suspecting the plastic is contaminated or something.   Same issues in the same pattern in the same spots.   Weird, since they're all from the same sprue.  But the plastic had visible "flecks" of filler plastic in it, and I suspect it may be "randomly distributed around the sprue".   I gave a few pieces my "last attempt at gold" tonight, will see how they look in the morning.  If not ok---probably strip ALL the parts, and paint pearl deep yellow instead of gold.  (Since pearls are far less "flaw-showing" than metallics).   It was supposed to be a minimal-effort fun little kit.  5 mins spraying silver, 10 mins spraying gold.  But turned out to be 5 mins silver, 5 days gold...

[David Hingtgen]

3 hours ago, peter said:

Dug out the D for a quick pic.....

Anyone here build one?  As much as I loved TNG, I don't see myself building it.

The fiber-optic D?  Yeah.  To this day I'm annoyed they molded the saucer impulse engines in blue.  I don't recall ever seeing replacements for them.  (There's a lot of resin bits out there for the D, but those 2 pieces are an exception IIRC)    Also, I know I've seen replacement brass "pylon skins".  Find them, buy them.  They didn't exist when I did mine, but I know they'd answer a lot of prayers.  

::edit::  These: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/dons-light-and-magic-dlm-42-galaxy-class-photoetch-trench-covers--1259076 

I see Green Strawberry makes them too, but only as part of a larger set.  

[Chronocidal]

That old kit still does come across as a pretty decent representation of the ship, but sheesh if the ejector pin marks on that one aren't horrible.  I don't recall mine having that issue.

If the plastic wasn't probably insanely brittle, I would probably like to build one of the transparent versions, rather than the fiber optic kit.  

[pengbuzz]

9 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

The fiber-optic D?  Yeah.  To this day I'm annoyed they molded the saucer impulse engines in blue.  I don't recall ever seeing replacements for them.  (There's a lot of resin bits out there for the D, but those 2 pieces are an exception IIRC)    Also, I know I've seen replacement brass "pylon skins".  Find them, buy them.  They didn't exist when I did mine, but I know they'd answer a lot of prayers.  

::edit::  These: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/dons-light-and-magic-dlm-42-galaxy-class-photoetch-trench-covers--1259076 

I see Green Strawberry makes them too, but only as part of a larger set.  

Don Matthys used to make replacement parts for both the D as well as the Refit/A, but he passed away some time ago. :( Not sure if anyone took up his molds and whatnot, as I don't frequent Starship modeler as much as I used to.

[slide]

18 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

The fiber-optic D?  Yeah.  To this day I'm annoyed they molded the saucer impulse engines in blue.  I don't recall ever seeing replacements for them.  (There's a lot of resin bits out there for the D, but those 2 pieces are an exception IIRC)    Also, I know I've seen replacement brass "pylon skins".  Find them, buy them.  They didn't exist when I did mine, but I know they'd answer a lot of prayers.  

::edit::  These: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/dons-light-and-magic-dlm-42-galaxy-class-photoetch-trench-covers--1259076 

I see Green Strawberry makes them too, but only as part of a larger set.  

There was some discussion when they first hit the scene about whether GS pilfered some of ParaGrafix photo-etch sets, they seem to have grown since then.

 

ParaGrafix [who made the photo-etch in question for DLM] is still in business AFAIK. Maybe try contacting them, if you're looking for some?

If someone is, and they need people to make up numbers for a Run, I need at least 2 sets of those!

 

 

22 hours ago, peter said:

Haha, thanks!  Actually the words of encouragement here are the only thing keeping me going.....to embarassing to quit now, lol!

Dug out the D for a quick pic.....

Anyone here build one?  As much as I loved TNG, I don't see myself building it.

I have one of the clear re-pops... She mocks me from the stash... reminding me of the nightmare amount of windows I shall have to mask/scrape paint off... but at least I won't have to drill/file them out!

 

[Photogirl]

I just finished my Hasegawa 1/4000 SDF-1

[peter]

20 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

I just finished my Hasegawa 1/4000 SDF-1

Nicely done.  I never got the TV versions, but seriously considering it now.

 

Have the Hasegawa Storm Attacker mode waiting in my pile of kits to build.

[peter]

A bit more progress, reinforced one of the pylons a bit more because it was sitting so loosely when I test fit it.

Mucked around until both were a snug fit without needing the support from a jig .

Pylons lined up and snuggled down, but left ugly gaps.  I'm horrible when it comes to gaps, even more so when it comes to unusual shapes.  Been on the fence all day about whether I could live with this because if I try to fill it, it'll probably come out a mangled mess.

I remember the saucer made the model really nose heavy and the thing would not balance well.  So I did what another guy I saw do and weigh down the back end.  I didn't have any nice lead weights so I just threw a bunch of crap down the back and poured glue on top of it and drizzled a bunch more glue onto the pylon tabs.

 

[arbit]

35 minutes ago, Photogirl said:

I just finished my Hasegawa 1/4000 SDF-1

Photogirl. Welcome to MW. Your SDF-1 looks AWESOME. We need more photos and closeups from all sides. I love your weathering with different shades. What is your painting method and art background?

[peter]

Threw some Tamiya Surface Primer on most of the parts just to show me how bad the gaps and other errors were.

Added some more Mr. Surface on a few spots I missed then sand again.

I filled, sanded and glued these spots over and over again and I think I've resigned myself to the fact that my Enterprise will simply look like a toothless crackwhore.

I ended up filling the gaps in the pylons.  

The parts where I filled won't be pretty but at least the pylons are lined up and aren't sagging.

Will give it another burst of primer and then see what shades of white I have on my paint rack.  

 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by peter
Edited for spelling

[Photogirl]

32 minutes ago, arbit said:

Photogirl. Welcome to MW. Your SDF-1 looks AWESOME. We need more photos and closeups from all sides. I love your weathering with different shades. What is your painting method and art background?

Thanks.
i just started building again after a 10 year break. The isolation since March got me building again. Mostly cars. Actually, i've been building cars that the original 1985 Autobot cars were based on. 
I always wanted an SDF-1, so got the kit, along with a few other older kits from Ebay.
Right now i just use shaker cans, and Tamiya brush paints. Weathering is just various washes from Tamiya and Citadel 

[peter]

4 hours ago, Photogirl said:

Thanks.
i just started building again after a 10 year break. The isolation since March got me building again. Mostly cars. Actually, i've been building cars that the original 1985 Autobot cars were based on. 
I always wanted an SDF-1, so got the kit, along with a few other older kits from Ebay.
Right now i just use shaker cans, and Tamiya brush paints. Weathering is just various washes from Tamiya and Citadel 

SDF1 looks nice. 

I built the movie version in cruise mode a few pages back .  Also just recently got back into model building after a 17 yr hiatus, and also only using rattle cans and brush paint.

Let's see the Autobots

[peter]

I ran out of gray primer on my second coat of primer, so I started using white primer.

The little refit in the back is my brother's Bandai kit.  Just using it as a paint guide.

There are still a few imperfections......actually, quite a few, but this thing has already sucked up a lot of time.  Besides, it looks way better than the kit I built when I was a kid

Dusted on some gloss white.  There's already maybe 100x more paint on this model than both refits I build back in grade 8.

Some of the grid lines are still visible, but I was actually curious how the Aztec would look over top of faint grid lines.

More paint tomorrow

Edited July 25, 2020 by peter
Edited for spelling

[Gabe Q]

@Photogirl That SDF-1 turned out great! It has quite a presence in that first pic you posted.

@peter It's good to see you post more progress pics on your build. I feel like you're enjoying it a little more now. It looks great after that white primer!

[arbit]

8 hours ago, Photogirl said:

Thanks.
i just started building again after a 10 year break. The isolation since March got me building again. Mostly cars. Actually, i've been building cars that the original 1985 Autobot cars were based on. 
I always wanted an SDF-1, so got the kit, along with a few other older kits from Ebay.
Right now i just use shaker cans, and Tamiya brush paints. Weathering is just various washes from Tamiya and Citadel 

Thanks for sharing the pics. I knew the close ups would be great. You have a very soft touch with the weathering, but it really brings out the overall feel. (Even more pics would be welcome )

[pengbuzz]

10 hours ago, Photogirl said:

I just finished my Hasegawa 1/4000 SDF-1

 

  

9 hours ago, Photogirl said:

Thanks.
i just started building again after a 10 year break. The isolation since March got me building again. Mostly cars. Actually, i've been building cars that the original 1985 Autobot cars were based on. 
I always wanted an SDF-1, so got the kit, along with a few other older kits from Ebay.
Right now i just use shaker cans, and Tamiya brush paints. Weathering is just various washes from Tamiya and Citadel 

REALLY nice job on this, Photogirl!! Just blown away with the detailing and weathering!!

Edited July 25, 2020 by pengbuzz

[Thom]

10 hours ago, Photogirl said:

Thanks.
i just started building again after a 10 year break. The isolation since March got me building again. Mostly cars. Actually, i've been building cars that the original 1985 Autobot cars were based on. 
I always wanted an SDF-1, so got the kit, along with a few other older kits from Ebay.
Right now i just use shaker cans, and Tamiya brush paints. Weathering is just various washes from Tamiya and Citadel 

WOW! Awesome work, Photogirl! Welcome to MMW! Global would be proud to captain her.

 

5 hours ago, peter said:

I ran out of gray primer on my second coat of primer, so I started using white primer.

The little refit in the back is my brother's Bandai kit.  Just using it as a paint guide.

There are still a few imperfections......actually, quite a few, but this thing has already sucked up a lot of time.  Besides, it looks way better than the kit I built when I was a kid

Dusted on some gloss white.  There's already maybe 100x more paint on this model than both refits I build back in grade 8.

Some of the grid lines are still visible, but I was actually curious how the Aztec would look over top of faint grid lines.

More paint tomorrow

Real nice getting most of those grid lines knocked down. I was also wondering if some ghost lines still showing would add to the look. As for the cracking around the window insert - super glue! I use one with a brush applicator and go around the crack. Dries quick and not bad to sand as long as you don't wait too long. The harder it gets the harder to sand.

[Dobber]

Wow, I’m impressed you are keeping up with it. It’s looking great!

Chris

[peter]

Lol, it looks pretty awful in person, but I'll finish it as long as nothing catastrophic happens.

So I ran out of white paint, to give it that pure white look.  I decided I'm not going to the local hobby shop to buy more, and I'm not waiting to order more.  This kit gets finished with whatever I have on my paint rack, lol!

I'm going to tell people I'm going for that Max Watanabe 1/20 VF-1 splotchy look, even though I don't know the first thing about shading, hahahahaha!

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by peter
Edited for spelling

[wm cheng]

Hey @peter its looking great in the photos and I think the faint panel lines will add interest and texture to your aztec decals.  If you're buying spray paint, why not get the Tamiya Pearlescent White TS-45.  It should give that sheen underneath your aztec decals (is what I want to do if I ever get around to building my 1/1000 E)

I admire your tenacity!  Since you've already invested so much sanding, don't give up on it, its looking like it could turn out great.

[derex3592]

I agree with @wm cheng, I think the faint panel lines will add something under the aztecs.  I also agree the TS-45 would be the way I would go on old 1701. 

As far as my .02 on the clear Entgerprise D model, I had one, tried to paint and scrape windows years ago and threw it into a wall and shattered it out of sheer frustration.  Now that I am older and somewhat wiser and more experienced, especially with lighting, I have another one in the closet along with all the add on parts, trench covers, resin parts, LED lights etc to try again someday. 

 

@Photogirl, welcome to the MW boards!  Your SDF-1 looks amazing! 

Edited July 25, 2020 by derex3592

[peter]

Lol, will definitely keep going in this kit, and won't give up unless something catastrophic happens.  Most of this model will be covered in decals, but I am curious to see how the Aztec looks with faint brick panel lines under.  

As far as more paint goes, well, I may just finish it with what I have in hand.  

I actually thought about the pearl white, but I sort of embarked on this project (and the last few kits) to use up the paints I had sitting around for the last 20-30 years.

I found some of the older Tamiya rattle cans don't spray as evenly and smoothly as their newer products, but I want to use up the old stuff before buying new stuff.  I actually threw out half of my paints already, because the spray nozzles were clogged or the paint bottles dried up. L  What you see here is about half of what I used to have.

Btw, is it just me, or is the slot for the neck canted towards the left?  Lol!

Unreal.....hahahahahahaha!!!

 

[Chronocidal]

I mean, the kit in general has all the refined precision of a drunken viking dual wielding lawnmowers.

I noticed on my build years back that for all the work I did leveling the warp nacelles, the saucer was what needed leveling, and straightening.

[peter]

Started masking for the minor colors.

This is a pretty close match.

This one, not so much, but it's what I have.

[Dobber]

Thank you for posting your progress on this kit for the following reasons:

A) It’s great watching your progress and dedication.

B) it’s a wonderful reminder to never EVER even think of getting this kit again! No matter how much I think I’ve learned or how far I may have come. This kit just sucks!

Chris