Building the Enterprise Part 6

The Enterprise is finished. I must admit, I nearly burned out on the painting phase as I kept having to adjust and correct it as I went along, due to the fact that no-one seems to know exactly what it should look like. It was subtly different in each of the three films in which it appeared, and the instructions that come with the kit did not seem to be accurate, as I found out after doing a bit of internet research. So I gathered all the reference material I could find, and got down to the business of painting.

Painting Large Areas

Several different shades of grey were needed, and these were obtained by mixing. However, the model is of such a size that a lot of paint is required, so I`d have to get the painting of a whole colour done before I could leave the model, as mixing that colour up again would probably not result in exactly the same shade. This of course happened several times. Moreover, painting the kit in acrylics meant that several layers were necessary in order to get a reasonable smooth look. In future, I probably wouldn`t try to hand brush a model of this size.

My first round of painting was far too dark. So out came the acrylic retarder and the paint was cleaned up. The nice thing about acrylic paint is that you can actually do this fairly easily, although it`s a bit messy. I mixed up some lighter paint and tried again. This time the greys looked to be about the correct shade, and comparing with my references, I decided to let it stand at that. The whole model was then painted in these shades of grey. This took the better part of two weeks, as I had to paint and let it dry in layers. Very time consuming!

Detail Painting

Next came detail painting. This was much easier and quite good fun to do, although the windows were a bit of a slog. There are hundreds of them! I decided to paint some in black and some in white, as I assume that in the future people don`t leave the lights on when no-one is in the room. Just like we do now, right?

Decals

After detail painting came the decal stage of the model. Again, I ran into a few problems. Some of the decals do not exactly fit into the recessed areas on the model where they are supposed to go and require some trimming. This was very fiddly and frustrating. I used warm water and found that the decals applied easily enough, although some absolutely refused to adhere to the model. I had since learned that this is probably due to the matt finish. Apparently a gloss finish is best for getting decals to stick. Unfortunately, the Enterprise is not that shiny and I didn`t want to go through so many layers. However, with some perseverence I managed to get all the decals to stick down.

 

Top-coat

Now comes the final stage, Top-coating. I`ve never top-coated anything before.  First I masked off the clear plastic parts of the model. Outside we went. I tried to spray evenly all over the model, moving horizontally and not staying in one spot too long. It looked OK but I knew I would have to wait for it to dry first. Once it was dry, I found that there was indeed a nice overall matt finish to the model. But…the decals didn`t look so happy. They had started to peel at the edges. Also, in some areas of the model, things looked a little cloudy, and there were some tiny paint runs. I decided to let it go at that however.

Conclusion

Overall, I think it turned out OK for a first attempt at a kit. It looks the part, if you don`t look too close. I`m not sure if I`m proud enough to display it though, as there are many rough patches. Eight things I have learned in the making of this model:

1. Hand-brushing very large areas is not easy. Masking and spraying is probably better. I might invest in an airbrush sometime.

2. Better masking on clear areas. Paint does not come off clear plastic once it is on!

3. Use setting solution on decals. I don`t have any of this, but I`m going to try to find some for next time.

4. Apply decals to a gloss finish.

5. Spend more time on the filling and sanding stage. There are still some unsightly seam-lines that I didn`t fill properly.

6. Mix up plenty of paint so I don`t have to try mixing the same shade later.

7. When applying top coat I need to be more sparing.

8. I would probably choose a smaller, easier kit for my next project, and try to build up my skills a bit. 

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Tags: enterprise, Model Kit

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