Wrapping up my 1/2500 Enterprise D before the new year. Had a marathon session last night applying the wallpaper decals. What a PITA! Flimsy and fragile. Lots of piecing them together…
Rob
Iwata Padawan
6 Likes
Congrats on getting it over the line, Rob! Looks great.
Wow! That’s badass! Nice work!
The secret?
Q-tips. LOTS of Q-tips… 
Nice job!
Gary
Nicely done! Congrats!
Great job, so far. Looking forward to seeing this finished. My sister in-law gave this AMT kit and that’s what got me back into hobby.
First thing I did was sand down all the raised panel lines. Assembly is pretty straightforward.
Rob
Iwata Padawan.
Well, calling it done. Had a few touch-ups to fix and then paint the base to look like a nebula.
Rob
Iwata Padawan
5 Likes
Nicely done, Rob! How did you paint the nebula?
Thanks Tim.
Started by turning the pressure way down on my airbrush to get the splatter/star effect with white paint. Then I used my ARTOOL ‘organic’ templates to create the nebula ‘clouds’ with thinned white paint. They give you a nice random pattern and hard edges. I also use them when painting dinosaurs. 
Then I applied a coat of transparent blue over the nebula and finished with another application of ‘stars’ to give it some depth. This one I wanted monochromatic, but others I’ve done with various colors really makes them pop!
Rob
Iwata Padawan
6 Likes
I’m totally trying this with my next base sci-fi starship base. Thanks, Rob!
1 Like
That’s a really cool method for creating a nebula.
Wow, Artool has quiet the selection of templates. New wishlist item!
Thanks for sharing Rob!
Excellent work on both the Enterprise and the base. I need to see some of your dinosaurs on this site.
LOL - was just thinking about posting some of my dinos…
Rob
Iwata Padawan
1 Like
Wow, that nebula. Simply awesome.
Looking at your Enterprise-D, I’m getting heart palpitations thinking of trying to accomplish that myself. I don’t think I have the patience for decals to that effect. So the alternative would be to mask all of that for airbrushing, which sounds equally, perhaps even more so, daunting. Beautiful work.
RE Nebula: Thanks. It’s really a lot easier than it looks.
As far as the wallpaper decals vs. paint masks, pick your poison.
Rob
Iwata Padawan
Are there places that sell pre-painted bases like that? I’ve been trying to find one for quite a while.
Not that I’m aware of. Polar Lights/Round 2 used to sell the bases separately, but I can’t find them anymore.
Tim Kidwell has asked me to write up my Nebula Painting Technique for FSM, so give me a couple of weeks.
Rob
Iwata Padawan