Sovereign Replicas USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E
1/650th Scale
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After a necessary but intrusive DIY job of sorting this out...
It's Time To Get Into A Masking Muse Frame O' Mind.
Or out of my tiny mind after all this lot is done.
Now then, a small rant to begin with.
BLOODY POST OFFICE!!!
Sovereign Replicas does a set of masks/painting templates for this gal,
sadly twice in a row the postal services and I use that term in a loose fashion,
have managed to make said masks vanish into thin air.
TWICE for cryin' out loud!
So enough is enough, sod all this knees bent running about advancing behaviour,
it's going to be a done by hand with much time that I don't currently have spare expended on a project that,
thanks to them, will now slow down to a speed equal to a limping snail on valium...
or much like me first thing in the morning before I get some coffee down me neck.
OK, now I feel better now
First things first, just wanted to mention that the plastic strip behind the
etched brass piece that makes up the shuttle bay at the rear of the
saucer was scribed where the door is supposed to be as I noticed it has a 'ribbed' effect
to it while sitting through Star Trek Nemesis...
Some tortures never end...
and so it was done.
Now that's out the way...Some masking tape expenditure on the relevant bits of the nacelles,
impulse drives etc. then came the thorny problem of window masking.
I did mention there are a lot of windows on this thing didn't I?
I think I did,
anyway this had to be sorted but how?
Well diving into the multitude of boxes o' bits any self respecting modeling maniac
has laying about the place, I found several rolls of vinyl self adhesive trim line.
It's the sort of thing R/C modelers and so on use for nice and neat coloured lines on models.
Varying widths on each roll but the 1mm width was my target.
Lo and behold the said width existed so then to the model.
The windows vary from 2mm long to 3 and 4mm and in some areas 5, 6, & 7mm.
After a cuppa and a think I just decided to make some marked gauges of a very rough sort to help.
Some 2x4mm strip styrene was brought into play,
marked with a scalpel blade at the above mentioned measurements,
rubbed over with a pencil to darken the division marks and we get this...
and in use it sort of comes out like this.
Perfect? not even close.
Adequate for the purposes of this screamin' match? yep.
So then, mask all the windows.
Did I mention there are a lot of windows on this thing?
I believe I may have said something about it at some point...
I know I said something about all the windows and how many there were...
Yeah, I did
So this work plods on and on top of this,
all the little shapes and so on have to be done.
So along comes the frisket film, Paintshop and the redoubtable printer.
Well then, all I can say at this point is that it's going to be a time of much wailing
and gnashing of teeth and I would like to thank the following folks for their help so
far in keeping what little sanity I have left intact and for what trials
involved in the task to come.
So in no particular order...
All employees of Nescafe (coffee production).
W.A. Mozart.
Park Lane Tobacco Company Ltd.
L.V. Beethoven.
Jack Daniels Distilleries.
Johann Strauss (both of 'em)
Swann Morton
Wagner (occasionally)
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (if he did invent the snack then good on 'im coz it works for me at 3am)
The entire list of artists that make up my MP3 play list.
All makers of strength 5 Cheddar cheese for the sarnie filling.
If it don't make your teeth itch, it isn't worth it
Eddie Elgar.
The inventor of the Zippo lighter.
William Blake for the words to 'Jerusalem'
(always good for a sing-a-long)
Various scale models and other BBS around the net and their excellent inhabitants
for giving an excuse to slope off for an hour or so and go look at more interesting stuff.
P. I. Tchaikovsky for the 1812 Overture and others that I can stand in the hellhole,
conducting with a length of dowel.
Just about everyone else that I could mention but I reckon I've bored you enough.
Stardate 091516.34 Captain Slog...Additional...
Well ain't it just bloody typical!
I finish masking the windows & cutting the frisket and the bleedin' masks arrive at my door!
Better late than never I s'pose.
Mind you, from the state of the mailing tube,
I reckon they have done the world tour.
Looked like it needed a good shower and some downtime to get over jet lag 'fore I even opened it.
Well that said at least we now be back on some kinda track if nowt else.
More on these outstanding bits of work later.
So then, one wee additional detail piece, that's the small white thingy under where
the main deflector goes.
No idea what it's supposed to be but it seems present on the effects model
so with a little bit of plastic strip,
a razor saw and some deft scalpel work,
all is okedoke.
Right then, all masking of windows and suchlike sorted...
And finally, much splattering on of the self etching primer,
NOW we can see this bad motor scooter a bit better !
One or two small surface flaws showed up but that will take very little time to sort
And that, as they say, is it for this update,
i'll be slingin' up a quick review of the painting templates I
just got and a few other things the next time around so untill then...
You goodly lot keep safe and go easy!
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