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This is my first Voyager Model and I'm no modeling professional but I think it came out pretty good.
My first
concern was the color scheme.
I wanted it to look realistic so I used the color scheme described by Rich Sternbach (can be found on many websites). My only problem was that the color names have changed since 1995 so I had to some legwork to dig up the new names for the colors. The hardest was finding Deckhouse blue for the main hull color. I ended up getting Deck blue but soon decided that it was just too blue for my tastes. Instead I used Camouflage gray for the main hull. I still have not delved into airbrushing so all my painting is by brush. All the rest of the colors worked well, especially using "concrete" for all the phaser strips. I used "Jet Exhaust" for all the clear plastic inset windows. For the small windows along the hull I just used light gray to make them stand out for the main hull color. The escape hatches proved to be an interesting challenge. I could not find a color I liked so I mixed my own color for the hatches. It was basically a mixture of brown, yellow, and flat white. I used many downloaded pictures as comparison and color matching. For the darker gray area of the hull (mostly underneath), I used light sea grey. Following the Rich Sternbach color scheme works very well but I found that making a few personal decisions on color worked better! Having many pictures to compare with helps greatly!!
I did a majority of the painting before construction which tends to work very well, as well as using a crack filling cement to smooth out the seams between pieces. The most difficult part
of construction came when I finally attached the saucer section to the secondary hull. The fit was not perfect but a bit of sanding and using the crack filling cement, it ended up fitting
nicely.
My first real setback came with the decals. Since this particular model was produced back in 1995, the decal glue ended up not drying clear but instead as a brown haze under
each decal I applied. I quickly decided not to use them and simply reordered the decals from Monogram for $3.00. Once the new decals arrived, they went on quickly and easily.
All in all,
I'm very pleased with how this turned out. I do want to try again once I learn how to airbrush because I really like the look of this particular ship.
Also I want to try and tackle the fiber optic voyager.
Steve Hart
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