Scale Models:The Starfleet Project

[ArcticFox]

I found this picture of one of the studio models:



I believe this is the 4 foot model, but as far as I know the opening credits of Star Trek: The Next Generation were filmed using the older 6 foot model.

[ZappierVirus]

Cool.

I was bored a few days ago, so I made the USS Kelvin in Minecraft.

[BlockHeadLewie]

I have been watching your progress for a bit now and I'm quite impressed!
For the record, the "NCC" actually stands for "Naval Construction Contract".
From the topic title I was expecting you to build the ships in order, but surprises are nice, too!
Are you planning on any of the different shuttlecraft? Maybe some other ships, like Klingon or Vulcan or even Romulan? Maybe even DS9? How about space stations?
Not suggesting, just asking...

[ArcticFox]

Cool.

I was bored a few days ago, so I made the USS Kelvin in Minecraft.

I saw that. Very cool. (I'm unixknight on the MC server.)

I have been watching your progress for a bit now and I'm quite impressed!
For the record, the "NCC" actually stands for "Naval Construction Contract".
From the topic title I was expecting you to build the ships in order, but surprises are nice, too!
Are you planning on any of the different shuttlecraft? Maybe some other ships, like Klingon or Vulcan or even Romulan? Maybe even DS9? How about space stations?
Not suggesting, just asking...

Thanks!

My overall "plan" is to focus on Federation starships until I get sick of doing it, with a primary focus on doing the ships named Enterprise. I may also do the Voyager soon as well as the Defiant.

[ZappierVirus]

Neat!

[ArcticFox]

So as with the Enterprise-A, the color of the hull is something of a challenge. The studio model is a light gull gray while the ship looks much more like a dark bluish gray when lighted for filming in "space."

So I think what I'm gonna do is mix a light gray/blue shade for the hull to split the difference, and take a little artistic license. Since some of the windows will be painted white to look illuminated form the inside, I want them as well as the dark unlit windows to contrast well with the color of the hull.

The part I'm kinda dreading is the Enterprise-D has a lot of illuminated parts, like the navigational deflector and warp nacelles. I don't want to do a lighting kit, so it's up to the paint.

[ArcticFox]

Initial assembly is done. The warp nacelles and saucer section aren't glued in place yet, but they hold together just from friction well enough to look at it. I want the parts separate so they'll be easier to paint.



The basecoat I'll prime it is a bluish gray. After it's primed I'll decide whether to stick with that color or not.

[ZappierVirus]

Looking great!

[ArcticFox]

So the old images may or may not be back. I had been hosting them on my gaming club server which got brought down by cyber attack, and I'm still in the process of recovering the data.

In the meantime, I have some time of over the next while so I'm going to resume work on this fleet. My current subject, Enterprise-D, is going to be built in 2 sections, the primary hull (saucer) and the secondary hull (everything else). I want to build Enterprise as I think she'd have looked like shortly before the events of the movie Star Trek: Generations. That means she'd been in service for 8 years and would have considerable weathering on the hull. So I'm going to make the ship look weathered but not damaged... as we know that Enterprise saw regular visits to starbases and drydocks, and had a highly competent and efficient engineering crew.

What I want to try is using an airbrush, to spray it lightly with a black Vallejo wash first to pick out the details, and then maybe hit it harder with the same wash to achieve streaks. I'll do it a step at a time and see how it turns out.

[ArcticFox]

Okay, so here are my steps so far...

First, the initial assembly just for the emotional rush of seeing it together. The primary/secondary hulls are not glued together and the warp nacelles aren't glued on.



This is the initial primer coat of the Vallejo USN Light Ghost Grey #70.615 on the primary hull:



I like the shade, and it'll be a great basecoat.

And this is the test wash using Vallejo Game Color black wash #73.210 mixed 50/50 with water:



This is only a test, since I'll be hand painting the Aztecing before applying the final wash using a slightly darker gray.

When I experimented with using the wash to do dirt streaks down the hull of the ship the result was a disaster, so I may switch instead to a powder pigment or maybe pastel chalk. I'll try both maybe and see the result.

The thing with the Enterprise-D is that it's almost effortless in terms of construction. The real challenge is in how you paint it, which is why I'm trying to be so meticulous.

[ArcticFox]

So in deciding precisely how I want to do the colors I looked at a few shots from the TV series of both the 6 ft and the 4 ft models. I have to say there's a clear winner, in terms of aesthetics...



I hate this one. Man... you can even still see the decal outline on the registry number in this lighting. Pretty sure this is the 7 foot model. (Correction: I learned that this is, in fact, the 4 ft model.)



I like this one better. I believe this is the 4 ft model. (Correction: Turns out this is the 6 ft model.) Notice that in this lighting, the ship is actually a sea green on some of the panels in the Aztecing, with a blueish gray on the others. I know that in full lighting the ship would be a light blue as is the case with most models of the Enterprise-D, but as I mentioned before I'm going for a somewhat more artistic look and I want the ship to appear more as it would be seen in the darkness of space. I've always felt that the Enterprise-D looked her best when under minimal lighting... And that isn't a knock to the design of the ship, I just like the darker hull look and the contrast with the ship's own illumination.

[Comotto]

https://pre00.deviantart.net/5ae5/th/pr ... 9gt7p1.png

CARZ

[ArcticFox]

I started with the colors in a test on the upper saucer. I'm using a basecoat of Vallejo Model Air 71.108 UK Azure Blue applied with an airbrush.

I only applied it to about 2/3 of the saucer as a test.


Next, I'm brush painting the aztecing using Vallejo 70.895 Gunship Green. It's a little sloppy since it's just a color test.


The effect is VERY high contrast, higher than I wanted, but over that I'm airbrusing a few coats of Vallejo Model Wash 76.524 Blue Grey. This is to darken the overall shade as well as lower the contrast between the two colors. Here's the first coat. I don't want to do too much on just the one patch before finishing the rest of the basecoat and aztecing on the rest of the saucer, or this one patch will be noticeably darker than the rest.

[ArcticFox]

Alright, so I found the winning combo:

Base Coat: Vallejo Model Air Azure Blue 71.108
Green Aztecing: Army Painter Goblin Green
Wash: Vallejo Model Wash Blue Grey 76.524



I did a little extra shading around the phaser emitter, along the Deck 3/Main shuttle bay bump, the Deck 2 bump and the impulse engine exhaust.

[Chozon1]

Oh, that is nice. ^_^