Well, It’s that time again. Time to start a new project. How can you top building a PL Enterprise in the Drydock? By building a DeBoers Enterprise in a larger Drydock. I’m really looking forward to this project as I will be able to add even more details to both models on a slightly larger scale. I’m doing this project for a client and his specifications. It will be displayed a little differently and built with a few different materials and yes, this time I will be using some resin casting for some of the drydock parts. Right now I’m gathering information for detailing and lighting and how I’m going to approach building this model. At this point I am drilling out all of the view ports and hatches as well as the hanger bay and torpedo launchers, etc. This model is quite different from the Polar Lights version as far as what needs to be done. I do have a couple of pics posted on my site comparing the Deboers with the PL kit. More pics will follow very soon. Keep checking!
Well, work has finally begun. I have 12 new pics in this update, 11 for DBE and 1 for DBR. This build is quite different from the PLE kit. All of the portholes and viewports as well as the hatches and the hanger bay need to be drilled out on both kits. This is what I’ve mainly been working on. The DBE has much more work that needs to be done on it than the Reliant, So I will be having updates of DBE first. Both ships need some additional scribing done as there are a few hatches missing on the saucer section. It is actually good to have the PL kit nearby for reference. An interesting thing about these kits are the metal saucer supports and plating used to support the warp engines. Both kits should definately have all parts test-fitted before assembling. I’ve been finding that a lot of them do not match up to well and need to be contoured to fit. The engineering hull has already been assembled by DeBoers and the bottom of the hull needs some serious re-working. Additional puttying and sanding will need to be done as well as some more scribing. The kit comes scribed on the bottom as 1701-A version just FYI. I should have the DBE holes finished by the end of the month and the DBR will be closley behind. See you next update.
I have added 8 new Pics in the DB Enterprise album. I do have to say that this is NOT the PL enterprise kit at all. Even though there are fewer pieces to build the model, there is a lot more drilling and sanding to do just to get the model started. Definately take your time on this model. It should not be rushed at all. Hope you enjoy the updates. Will have more soon.
In my update this week, I’ve begun working on the cargo bay section of the hanger deck. I had to take a lot of interior measurement od the DB Engineering section to make it as large as possible and also make sure it is to scale and that it will actualy fit into the model when I’m finished building it. Then I had to take a lot of measurements of the PLE hanger to scale it up to the DBE size. Everything is being built as a master so that I can make some casting molds. If you look at all of the detail that I’m adding, you’ll see why I’m going to be making casting. To put the details on just the upper and lower cargo bay stalls on just one wall took me a little over 3 hours. It’s a bear to do but worth the effort. By next update I will have the details on the upper part of the cargo bay added in and all of the strucural wall braces or “ribs” as I’m calling them will be added and then I can start on the ceiling and begin moving to the lower hanger deck starting in the middle section of the hanger. The New Pics start on slide 38 - 47. Hope you enjoy the updates and I’ll see you when I have new pics.
I’ve added a few test fitting pics of the hanger bay pieces fitted into the Engineering hull. Because each of the DeBoers models has variances on the insides of the hull I have to be very carefull with the test fitting. I found out that the middle wall section that I’ve built are going to have to be trimmed so they can fit into the hull space. The upper part of my scratch build part hits the inner wall of the hull and causes it tonot allow the pieces to fit properly. Sometimes you just cant rely on mathamatics to enlarge a piece for the models. These scratch build models need to be built with great care as the DeBoers model and all of the pieces must be very customized to fit in there properly. But… with a little TLC and some tweaking it will all work out. I should have a complete hanger model to show you next week or so and then start casting 3 of them for the other Enterprise models. See you next update.
6 new pics added to my site. More work done to the Hanger bay. I’m working on the Turbo Lift tubes and the ceiling details right now. Soon I’ll be ready to cast this beastie. It is a very tight squeeze into the main hull of the ship. I’ve had to trim some of the pieces back just to get it inside the model. The effort is paying off though. I Should be finished with this hanger by the next week or so if all goes well. See you next update.
My update for this month is a little late, but I’ve been working on my master molds for the hanger and am going to be starting the casting process. I have a pic of the test casting for the Starboard side of the hanger deck as well as the rear wall. Both test pieces came out very well and I will start the final casting this coming week. I had a few issues with resin I was working with and had to adjust a few things to get this part of it set up right. I also have some of the lighting effects ready to be installed after the pieces are ready and primed and then painted their final colors. I’m trying to match as closely as possible what was seen in TMP, but I’m going to be adding a few of my own touches for the realism effect. I’ve also started working on the Botany deck. Since the secondary hull comes pre-assembled, it’s a little bit harder to make measurements except by trial and error for the proper fitting of the deck inside the model. I’ve also cast some parts for the ceilings for the opened hatches on the saucer section. I’m also mapping out the officers lounge to begin construction of a master to be cast later on. The PL officers lounge does not match entirley what was seen in ST:TMP. So, I will have a few of my own touches to put in this piece as well. Also on the list of things to do is the creation of the crew rec-deck. I’ve seen several versions of other modelers re-decks for their PLE models and will be using some of their ideas for these models.
In preparation for things to come, I’ve purchased some of the lighting tubes and EL lamps and about 250 LEDs that I will be using to light the models, also trees and shrubs, rocks and other items for the botany deck, various resins and silicon rubber for casting multiple scratchbuilt parts.
Here’s what the totals for these models will be that need to be built. There will be 4 officer’s lounges, 3 for the DBE’s and one for the DBReliant. 4 rec-decks, respectively for these models. 3 Botany decks, and 3 Hangers. 2 of the DBE’s will have the opened hatches detailing. I’m recasting the main deflector dish and housing with a clear resin rather than the milky white or transparent blue versions.
So, even though you may not see a lot of new pics these last few weeks, there has still been a lot of prep-work being done to beautify these models. As I complete them, I will add more pics. Keep checking the site. You won’t be disappointed.
[H]In this update I’ve begun the building of the Flight deck pieces for the Hanger. I’ve started to build and assemble the Chase lighting effect or landing lights. I realize that this type of lighting was not seen in TMP, but my client asked me to add anything to the models that would enhance it’s realism. I’ve already opaqued 2 of the decks and tested this lighting effect to see how it would look, and I think it works very nicely. In my next updat I will include a small video to show you the effects. Right now I have to finish opaqueing the 3rd flight deck, then paint it it’s appropriate color, then add the landing strip details. After that I’ll post the effect.
In other news, I’ve started on the Officer’s Lounge piece. This piece is not going to look like the PLE officers lounge. I’ve been studying some stills from ST:TMP and building my lounge according to the movie. On the PL piece the viev screens are huge and out of scale with the lounge. I’ve made mine a lot closer to what is seen in the movie. Many of the walls in the movie are actually paneled walls in what appears to be a very light tan color. When you see DR McCoy in the shot, behind him are some more chairs, tables and a couch, and behind the couch are windows. They appear dark but I believe. at least in my version, that it is because no one is in the lower lounge area. You will be able to see through these windows on my version and will also be able to see the right side view screen some-what, whereas the wall on the PLE version almost completely blocks out that screen, being a solid wall.
By my next update I should be able to show you a painted Hanger Deck, possibly one of the Officers lounges finished, I’ll have the molds done for these pieces as well as the Botony deck and I will be starting on the the Crew Rec-Deck. I’ve really been looking forward to building this piece because it is very intricate and is on of my favorite set pieces in the movie. I only wish that that had shown a lot more of it on the screen including a better view of the Warp Nacell outside the rec-deck windows that was barely seen in the movie.
As promised I have a lot of updates for The DeBoers Projects. This time there are 28 new pics of a lot of progress that has been made. Photos 69 to 96 are all new and they begin on page 2 of the DeBoers Project photo album. I have finished casting all of the pieces for the Hanger deck and they are now opaqued and painted their appropriate colors. I’ve added the turbo lift tubes and scratch built the railings for the catwalks surrounding the cargo bay area. I now I promised a video of the lighting effects for the landing deck, But I ran into a fitting problem. Because the DeBoers models are all individually cast they all have variances in the thickness of the hull so I have to shave a lot of these problem areas down and it’s taking some extra time to get this done. But for sure I will have something for you the next updat which won’t be too long from now.
I’ve also continued work on the Botany section. I’ve added some walls and other details and am now begining the landscaping of 3 of these bays. One for each of the Enterprise models. This part is actually kind of fun. I’m beginning to see why model railroading is a big hit.
I’ve also made the Crew rec deck. This is a very complicated piece because there are so many different shapes to it and a whole lot of furnature to be put into it as well. I’m starting to get the hang of the resin casting and I now have 3 complete piece castings for the entire rec deck, 3 castings of the botany deck and 4 castings of the officers lounge. All of these pieces will of course need to be painted and detailed and that will be in a future update. I will also work on that video of the lighting effects for the hanger. It’s all starting to move now. The tough part is making the masters for the molding process. After the molds are made it gets much easier to make these pieces.
Hi I just finished up one of the botany deck pieces. I just have to do a little touch-up work and add a few benches. But for the most part this piece is just about complete. Let me know what you think.
Mark
Well, I’ve put them inside the model and you can see a lot of the stuff in there from different angles. I’ll get a few pics of that and post 'em here soon. You won’t be able to see everything, but at least you’ll know it’s in there if you could.
Okay, I forgot to post an overhead shot of the Botany deck so you can get an idea as to how similar it is to the PLE piece, only it’s a lot larger. I also added some pics with this piece inside the hull of the ship. Not as clear as I would like, but I’ll work that out later with the proper lighting.
Click on the pics to enlarge.
Mark.
Well, I finally was able to upload some test video of the landing light effects for the hanger deck. There are 4 total from a few different angles. Please not this is just the chase lights effect, the rest of the hanger lighting is not working in these clips. Let me know what you think.
I have several update pics in the photo Gallery. I’ve begun airbrushing the Rec-Deck, Officer’s Lounge and a few other pieces. I’ll be adding a few plants here and there inside these pieces, but more than likely they will not be viewable when they are placed inside the ships. But finally most of the interior work is getting finished up and I can begin working on the Outsides of the ships. Which I am looking forward to very much. I know there hasn’t been too much news about the Reliant as of yet, but some of these pieces will be used in Reliant as well as Enterprise. I will be scratch-building a few corridors for a few of the other viewports but for the most part I am winding up on the interiors. The Reliant doesn’t have the huge viewport windows to look into like Enterprise, so there isn’t the need for as many interiors. I am putting the officer’s lounge in Reliant because, believe it or not there are viewports on the back of the ship. On another Reliant build it was pointed out about the location of the officer’s lounge. I went over all of the shots of Reliant in STII:TWOK and sure enough there was one pull-away shot through the ship’s roll-bar where there were 4 light-gray windows in about the exact same position of the Enterprises only they were a lot smaller. So they are there and this is why I’m including the lounge in the Reliant model. There will be a few more pics of the interiors that I’m finishing up and then soon I can begin working on the ships hulls. See you next update.
I’ve finally started work on the Warp nacells of all 4 ships. This is the first project that I’ve done using Epoxy. At first I thought Ididn’t care for it so much, but after seeing the results and getting used to the smell, I believe I’m hooked. There are a lot of things you can do with epoxy resin that you can’t do with cement. For you seasoned modelers I’m sure you might feel the same way. In this update I’ve cut out a lot of the holes for the lighting effects, I’ve added the Warp effect grills and added the fins to the rear of all of the engines. I’ve been able to run the wiring necessary for 4 seperate lighting effects needed in each of the nacells. About 6 months ago I had purchased enough Micro Fluorescent tube lamps to light all 4 ships and now I’m finally able to add these items into the nacells and secure them into the models. At the end of the album I have an engine lighting test pic. I’m very happy with the test reults so far. In these models you will not be able to see any LEDs in the warp grills like you could with the PLE version I did. When All of the components are added into the nacells, I will be able to seal them up and begin the finall touches on the seams and cracks and dings that are in the hull by doing some extensive putty-work along with sanding and filing. After this I will be able to opaque the engines and start there final paint jobs. Talk with you next update.
What a month this has been! A lot of problems encountered with these builds, but eventually they were smoothed out and fixed. I’ve added a couple of pics for the Enterprise this month. I have to tell you it’s been a tough month though. First I had problems with an order of 3mm yellow LEDs that I needed for the thruster effects. They kept sending me the wrong size and the wrong color LED which was becoming a problem and putting me seriously behind on my updating. Next I had one of the lighting circuits go out on me and it was difficult to isolate the problem, but I managed to finally find out what was going wrong with it an repaired that with no problem. I also managed to break 2 of the fluorescent tubes that light the warp engines… GAAAAAH! Now I’m in the process of epoxying the engine halves together which is no easy task because of the nature of the epoxy and it’s curing time. At first I tried to epoxy the entire engine pieces together in one shot, but found this to be way too messy and cumbersome and it left a few gaps I didn’t count on. So in order to avoid the mess I decided to epoxy only small sections at a time. First, I’m epoxying the fron’t and rear of the nacell then clamping those together over night to ensure agood bond. Then with 2 exacto blades I apply the epoxy to the top seam only. I use one knife to hold the seam apart then apply the epoxy with the other knife, clamp it together and let it bond over night. I repeat the same with the bottom seam. This allows me to avoid a lot of mess by doing it a little at a time. The pictures I’ve added show that I’ve used an abundance of epoxy to make sure the seam is over-filled. This will minimize the need for a whole lot of putty later on. But at least now I have the Warp nacells assembled. I will begin smoothing these out and preparing them for opaquing and their final paint job.
I really should have gone over the assembly instructions a little slower. It does say very clearly that this is not a model to be rushed or assembled in one night. Not that I’ve been trying to go that route, but I would have thought maybe just that tiny iota molecule sized bit of “faster” progress would help just a wee bit. Sometimes you have to step back and tack a breather or two to collect your thoughts and strength to re-group and get back into it again… which I have… Feel much bettrer now that I’ve solved a few problems.
The real problem with these kits is there are no guide tabs to line up the pieces so you have to be very careful when assembling this type of kit. I’ve read in other forums about those who have built these models and have had the same reaction as to the dificulty level. Some of the pieces don’t line up exactly so there is some improvising to be done. I’m not complaining… Just venting. I myself can’t wait to see them finished that’s why I keep plugging along. Any thoughts on this are welcome. I should be ready to start putty work and a lot of sanding by the next update, then I can start opaqueing and final painting on these warp nacell pieces. See you soon!
It’s been a crazy month for the Reliant and Enterprise. The Nacells are quite a job to get just right. The problem is with the seams on the top and bottom of the nacell. They do not join together in a nice straight and even seam unlike an injection molded kit. I’ve had to do a lot of sanding on almost all of the engine pieces. Remember that there are 8 engines total for 4 models, so it’s a lot of work. I’ve only been able to opaque 3 of the engines so far and am still working on the final sanding for the other 5 engines. I do have 4 pics in the Enterprise Album, #'s 129-132 and 3 new pics in Reliant #'s 34-36.
As I’ve stated in my last updates, there is a problem with the grills on all of the models. The filming miniature has 5 lines of lighting effects on the warp grills whereas the DeBoers only has 4. The Polar Lights model has 5 grooves rather than 4. To me this is a huge mistake that would take a monumental amount of work to fix the problem so I’ll just have to allow for the difference. Also, the pictures I have of the Warp grills show that the lighting effect only goes back so far on the engines and not all the way to the end of the grills. There is a little bit of difference in opinion as to which part of the grill actually lights up. I’m sticking with the deep grooves since it matches up with the movies stills I have. It’s too bad this error is so obvious, at least to me. But what can I do. It will still look sharp when they are finished.
By my next update I should have the base colors started on the engines. See you then!
