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The project was based upon my local Star Trek Fan Club, the USS Omega Glory. Being a chapter of Starfleet International (or
SFI), each club (also called a 'ship') is based upon a particular starship, ours being an Ambassador Class, named the Omega Glory, NCC 26197. I had just joined the club several months ago and offered to
take on the job of building a model of our 'ship.'
I started off by finding a reasonably priced Enterprise-C on e-Bay and buying some extra aftermarket items on the Federation Models website. I
purchased the red resin Bussard Collector Ram Scoops for the Ambassador Class from Federation Models and most importantly some custom decals by JT Graphics, which allowed me to submit the name and NCC
numbers based on the Ambassador class decal set and had them custom printed. This set also came with the lifeboat decals, an added advantage for extra detail. Unlike the Enterprise-C decals, JT Graphics
has the ship name and NCC numbers outlined in red line, instead of the black line ERTL decals. Given liberty by the club on the paint scheme, I decided against the 'blue' based paint scheme and decided
to go with various grey tones. Simply, I did not like the look of the blue. My belief is that the blue tones based upon the TNG model is more based upon the need for filming and less on what looks better
on display.
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Since this model is going to be more than simply put on display, being moved around to conventions, display cases, and generally
being an active 'tool' for the club in promotion efforts, I realized before building I would need to beef up the display stand and how the model would be able to be taken on and off to transport. My
experience with most Trek models shows pretty flimsy stands and how the model gets secured to the stand. While that might be ok for normal static display, it would not for repeated removal and
reattachment. I took one half of the secondary hull and reinforced it with a styrene tube about and inch long and glued it into the provided opening at the hull bottom and with some sheet and strip
styrene for added support and 'brackets', I secured it to the inside of the hull. Again, this was keeping in mind a lot of use on and off the display stand, so it would last a lot of use and be secure at
the same time. On the display stand itself, I removed the pin at the top of the display arm, drilled a large hole in its place and ran a wood dowel straight up from the base, thru the display arm and
leaving about ¾ of an inch of dowel exposed. The dowel was the same diameter as the interior diameter of the tube styrene I glued in the hull. Mating perfectly, this would provide a secure attachment and
simplicity to attachment and remove. I also spent a few hours grinding off the Enterprise name and numbers from the display base and painted it the 'traditional' gold and chrome silver (just like a
commbadge.)
I started the model by painting the inside of the nacelle's clear side panels with 2-3 coats of acrylic blue paint (Tamiya) and then a coat of regular copper (Humbrol). Since I already
had the red Bussard Ram scoops caps, I did not have to bother painting with the clear end caps provided. The red resin ram scoops look much better to me than any paint job one could manage. I had neither
the time or budget to even think of lighting the model, so this all turned out really well.
Next up was the forward sensor/deflector array. I know for many, this part usually becomes a focal point
for viewing (when looking from the underside), so I wanted it to look something more than just 'painted blue' on the inside. What I did first was to use some very fine artist foil tape (about 1mm in
width) and ran strips behind the 'ribs' of the array on the inside. I made sure the center of the array was not taped. Then, making a palette of various blue and white paints, I painted the inside of the
array, starting with the darkest blue on the outside edge to the nearly white center. This process had me using a lot of brushes, mixing the hues of blue as I went along (and wasting some paint in the
process) until I had the proper 'fade' of blue to white from the edge of the array to the white center. The result was awesome. While not lighted, the fading of color looks great and the reflective foil
under the clear plastic reflects nicely.
Next, I assembled the nacelle pylon pieces and the saucer sections to end up with five sub-assemblies for individual attention and painting. The
sub-assemblies were the two nacelles, the single nacelle pylon assembly, the secondary hull and primary hull/saucer. *Note: I kept the Bussard Ram scoops and deflector Array off, wanting to avoid
accidental over spray. Using a lot of liquid masking and tape, I blocked off the areas I wanted for other colors and applied the base coat color of Model Masters Camouflage Grey. By keeping the model in
these assemblies, it was much easier to mask and paint, even allowing me to work several assemblies at the same time, usually masking one part while a freshly painted assembly would dry.
On the
saucer, the color palette from the outside to the center runs: Camo Grey, Flat Gull Grey, Light Sea Grey, Flat Gull Grey and then using Gunship Grey for the dark inner ring and deck three 'roof' (all
paints by Model Masters.) On the underside of the saucer, the colors from outside to center run: Camo Gray, Flat Gull Grey, Camo Grey, Gunship Grey (thin band), Camo Grey, Gunship Grey (2nd thin band),
Lt. Sea Grey, Gunship Grey (3rd thin band) and Camo Grey in the center. I used some metallic colors (antique bronze, polished steel and jet exhaust, all by Humbrol) to detail some of the features on the
'upper deck' (aft of the bridge.) On the secondary hull, I used the Flat Gull Grey inside the 'grid' lines, and the Lt. Sea Grey on the corrugated part of the dorsal. By doing a lot (and I mean a lot) of
taping and masking, I painted (not sprayed) the grid lines and some detail lines using the Lt. Sea Grey all around the secondary hull. I used florescent red paint (Model Masters) on the inside of the
clear part of the impulse engine and painted the impulse engine housing with polished steel. On the nacelles, I decided to avoid doing a lot of painting, so I simply painted the Bussard Collector vents
(on the sides just behind the red scoops) copper (Humbrol), and painted the top of each nacelle between the ribs with an Intermediate Blue (spray by Model Masters). For the nacelle pylons, I used Flat
Gull Grey and Lt. Sea Gray on the raised panels (upper and lower.) I added the hangar landing 'runways' back by the fantail hanger by using some thin masking tape to make the 'runway' makings for added
detail with the runways painted Gunship Grey.
With the primary painting completed, I did a little detail painting in areas that I knew would be awkward to get to once assembled. I put all the
components together, added the last of the pieces (ram scoops, sensor array, phaser strips to the pylons and bottom of the secondary hull and the clear dome w/ silver paint coating the inside to the
underside of the saucer. Using some Signal Yellow (Humbrol), I painted all the thrusters quads, Gunship Grey to all the phaser emitters, and silver, red and green (Testors) to the running lights. I used
a Pilot Black Ultra Fine marker to do all the 'windows' and a red one to outline the yellow thruster quads.
Lastly came the decals. Using Micro Set and Micro Sol, I went about doing the decals,
which (including numerous lifeboat decals) took the better part of a full day. *Note - The photos were taken before the upper saucer lifeboat decals were added.
Finishing with last minute
touch-ups, the Omega Glory left the shipyard after about 5 and ½ days of work, totaling about 60 hours of labor. Total cost of the model and accessories and materials came to about $110.00
If you
are interested in the USS Omega Glory - Star Trek Fan Club, located in Denver Colorado, feel free to visit our website
Wayne N Snyder
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