Sovereign Replicas USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E
1/650th Scale


Page Number
We're gonna need tape, lotsa tape...
The Inevitable Pinstripe Problem.
Howdo all.

Well it's pinstripe time for certain and here's where we get a bit squinty eyed and so on.

Now the thing about this is that putting about the pinstripe stuff is
a fairly serious part of the paintwork and there's almost no easy way to go about it.
The pattern is fairly specific as you can see from the screen cap below...

So nothing else for it.
With 1/2mm tape, scalpel, tweezers and much squinting of peepers,
off we jolly well go...

Well that's just one bit of it and this hoo-ha was continued around the saucer.
It was then that another problem i'd seen coming arrived.
The problem in this case being the following red ringed area...

Now the lifeboats are decals but that's about it.
There are instructions on where they should go but the area they go on is flat and
featureless and the pin striping sits very close to them.

Well how to deal with this.
Firstly a colour photocopy of the decal sheet was needed and the specific decals identified.

These were then cut out from the paper and placed in the relevant positions and just tacked with some masking tape.
Just to be different, I placed the forward lot of lifeboats a wee bit further back
than they should be but i'm a contrary bugger like that
but the overall deal still holds true.



So, bits in place, a pencil duly sharpened and the outline drawn on template style.



Sorted.

Now the inner and outer limits of the pin striping for this section had to be laid out
so using the curvature of the phaser strip as a guide,
the inner line was lightly drawn on.

The outer limit line was also lightly drawn on,
using the edge of the pencil tip and just lightly going along the line like so...

Well, much laying on of tape to be a gettin' on with.
Excess pencil lines were gently removed with a tablet eraser once the tape had been laid on.
The following pics have been adjusted with colour,
lighting and contrast to better see the tape.





Acceptable in the layout so onward with the additional masking,
painting etc. and that will be shown next time people as me peepers have had about enough for one day.

So joineth me next update time if you feel so inclined,
catch ya then and go easy!


Page Number