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Since I used some reference material of your side to build my Bird of Prey, I thought I would send in some of the pictures I have recently
taken of my trek models. To be chronologically in the building order, I would have to start with the Enterprise-D, but it is much better to follow Trek history.
Classic Enterprise:
That's the old 18''
version of the kit. You know the one they used to have a damaged USS Constellation in "the Doomsday Machine". It was the second run on that kit for me. The first... well let's not talk about it. It was a
straight forward build. Only addition not included in the box was the sensor doom above the hangar bay. Only four colors are used for the hull: light grey as the primary color, black and two darker greys to paint
the details. Since there is an ongoing struggle of what the real color of the classic Enterprise is I think I'm still "within normal parameters", to quote Data. The bussard collectors are painted red with
streaks of a yellow/red mixture to simulate glowing. View ports are painted black and a sort of luminescent light blue. If the lighting is correct the blue ones appear to be lighted. I'm planning on building a
lighted version of the 22'' Cutaway Enterprise in the near future, check for it in about...???... month.
Enterprise-A:
Well that is the jewel in my model collection. It took me three attempts to get her
right. This one was build using A LOT of pictures of the original studio model, to get the paint job as accurate as it is possible on such a scale. I'm not going in to much detail now, since she's going to be (is)
posted on CultTVMan too, including a fairly detailed build up description. Let's just say that she's fully lighted down to the spot and running lights (only thing missing is the spot light to illuminate the lower
saucer registry number, but I'm working on that). It took about eight month and a lot of trouble to complete the kit, but it really paid off. By the way, except for ordering replacement decals, NO REPLACEMENT PARTS
WHERE USED.
Klingon Bird of Prey (BoP):
Mostly a straight out of the box build. Just added some detail under the wing shoulders I noticed in the book "the Art of Star Trek". Since I first saw the
BoP in ST:III I liked it. I never really got comfortable with the K'Tinga, from a model builders point of view (There is just too much miss fitting of the parts. I build it twice but was never really happy with it).
So I got excited when I finally could lay hand on the BoP. Using the books picture as main reference and some inspiration via CultTVMan, it proofed quite easy to build and paint. Main color is leaf green, feather
pattern on the wings comprises of various light green and a reddish brown for the lower wing section. More detailed build up description can be found at the Klingon section of this site (if already posted).
Enterprise-D:
As mentioned above that's the oldest of my Trek models. That's the fibre optic version of the Enterprise-D. It was my very first attempt to build a lighted model, but the second run on the Ent-D. I
got lucky on that, because the kit included two sets of the fibre optic material. Resources on pictures however where limited: just that big poster of her hanging in space accompanied by the words "Where no one
has gone before..." and several trading cards. Using an eagle's eye I tried to figure as much detail as possible of those pictures. I think I succeeded quite well, given the lack of information. Hull main color
is the same as the classic Enterprise; the Aztec is a mixture of light grey and green and was painted on to the hull by hand (Initially the Aztec was not as pronounced as it is now, the color got darker as I applied
a clear coat later). Some dark grey was used to increase the level of detail. Lighting the kit was quite simple. One problem however: I got carried a way a little with those fibres, because off the two fibre sets
included and suddenly there where not enough left to light the saucer top appropriately to the rest of the ship. So there are no fibres on the top of the saucer. I still like that model very much and since the
reminiscences of painting thousands of little tiny windows still lingers on... I'm not going to build her again any time soon!
USS Voyager:
That's the very first Voyager kit available after the shows
successful launch. I mention it, because it had no live boat decals, no tiny square decals or what ever additional decals came later to the kits benefit.
Just the usual decals: Registry number, Starfleet arrowhead, the transporter emitters and some red stripes. Any thing in addition you can see on the picture was done by hand! Again I used the same base color as on the classic Enterprise. That's because I thought of today's Navy, those ships always come with the same grey right? So back then I assumed it to be logical to paint all my Starfleet Vessels with the same base color. But again I faced the same dilemma as with the Ent-D: no real good picture was available. Only the one good picture that can be found in "the Art of Star Trek" and a "big" cardboard stand up at a locale sales shop, that's all I had. Turning on that eagle's eye of mine again, I painted on the hull what could be seen. The "Aztec", if you want to call it that, is based on what I believe can bee seen on those two pictures. Overall I'm very happy with here and before the Ent-A she was the most detailed model I had ever done (She is going to be posted too, so have a look for it if you like).
(I would like to add, that the pictures of the models have not been altered,
except removing the display stand and adding a star field!)
Thorsten Scholz
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