i need some help i just got a model of the enterprise next generation. if any of you ever built one did you leave it the color blue it was molded in or did you paint it and if you did what color did you paint it? thanks wayne
Hi wayne i have this kit but i hav;nt built it yet. for reference there was a build article in scale models international some years back i will look for the issue and let you know how they painted it. i bought an almost complete collection of smi and i am sure i have a spare copy of this issue (are you interested?) i will let you know if i find it…Gregers [8D]
Just had a look. that mag is the july 1988 issue and the colours are stated as f.s.35622 (humbrol hg13) and f.s.35630 (humbrol 64)and i do have that spare issue …Gregers [8D]
You might check out Jim Small’s “D” before deciding on color. I’ve decided to use his colors for my Nebula(if I ever get off my keester and build it!). I think it better represents what is seen on TV, rather than copying the studio model. Now if I could just paint as well as he does…
Here’s the link
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Gallery/Extrasize/Extrasize.html
thanks for the feedback if you guys find out anything else please let me know thanks wayne
Got to agree with you. it looks more accurate than the one in the mag …Greg
I used Light Gull Grey and Dark Gull Grey insted of the 2 blues and I thought it looked more “accurate”.
Hi Claymore . I’ll keep those colours in mind when i build mine. thanks …Gregers
I built the model years ago and believe that I used the colors in the instructions. I’ll take a pic of mine tonight and post it here and abroad. 
I built mine many years ago and seeked out as many reference pics as possible at that time. I used Testor’s Enamel then, Duck Egg Blue (FS 35622) for the overall color with a Camouflage Gray (FS 36622) for the accent paneling. For the Phaser emitters I used a dark battle grey and for the lifeboat covers a tan or sand. However, this is YOUR kit. Paint anyway your most comfortable with. I heartily recommend doing research if you wish to be accurate. Check out old magazines, Star Trek Magazine, Star Trek Communicator come to mind. Also check out such websites as CultTVman’s or Starship Modeler. There is pleny of info there.
Here are some links: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/
http://www.culttvman.com/index2.html
Also, here is a list of colors specs reported to be from Rick Sternbach the Star Trek designer who fleshed out Andrew Probert’s original design for NCC-1701-D. You can’t get more accurate the head man himself.
PMS is Pantone printing ink colors
FS is the federal standard color paint chart
AREA HUE FS COLORS
PMS
HULL (plastic) BLUE FS-15526
290
HULL GREEN FS-24516
565
Lifeboat Covers TAN FS-36595
413
Phaser Banks GREY FS-34201
455
Photon Housings GREY FS-36307
423
Sensor Strips BLUE FS-35450
278
Shuttle Bay Decks GREY FS-36270
430
Nav-Deflector Dish ORANGE FS-22246
166
Nav-Def/Housing BROWN FS-10115
154
ENGINES
Front-End Caps RED FS-22203
159
Neck (serrated) Yel/ORANGE FS-33538
130
Power Coils Copper Metallic –
Coil Gaps (between) BLUE FS-35231
542
PAINTED AREAS
Insignia/Graphics RED FS-21105
186
Hull Lettering BLUE FS-25065
281
Hope this helps.
Rogue
You have a lot of information here, FWIW I used Light and Dark Ghost Grey. The contrast looked very subtle which was the effect I was after. For the most part I think it is personal preference…
I take it you’re talking about the base color for the hull.
It depends on which appearance you want to give the ship. The ship’s color changed due to inconsistencies in the production. The studio miniature is a two-tone light blue-green scheme, but these colors were “bleached” to gray in the early shows due to a decision by studio execs. Even when the color was shown in later seasons, the “gray” footage for the opening credits was still used.
I decided to make mine true to the studio miniature’s true colors and the ship’s appearance in “Generations.” The recommended mix in the instructions was nowhere near the correct colors, so I ended up spending about 4 hours with the VCR and a few bottles of paint, tring different combinations until I got it right. The fun thing is that about two months after I finished the thing, Testors came out with its foreign military colors line and 2 of the Russian colors exactly matched what I’d mixed. I’m sorry that I’m going to have to post a second time to actually get the right names, but I don’t have the pains here and will have to check at the store.
Got those Model Master colors for you, sorry it took so long.
Follow the pattern given in the instructions using Fulcrum Light Blue and Fulcrum Medium Blue. These are the ones that match the hull colors as they appeared in the saucer crash scene in “Generations.”
Have fun.
If you read my little writeup here:
http://www.inpayne.com/models/agtd/agtd.html
you’ll se how I found close-enough matches for Sternbach’s colors as Rogue reported above.
I agree that the “True” colors are completely subjective. How good is your tv? how did you have its colors adjusted? How good was the printing of the magazine where you got the reference photo from? etc. etc. etc. When I did mine, I used a light gull gray but added a tinge of bluegreen. If you use the same premise that many ship modelers use in “Scaling down” the colors to compensate for size/lighting, then you might want to lighten it further. As many others have mentioned… It’s up to what YOU think.