8 replies to this topic

[Destructor!!!]

The lengths to which I will go to procrastinate are alarming. I went to the garage to get the mower. There was masking tape there. There was model sealant spray. PROCRASTINATION!

I'm masking it off and cutting the aztec out of the tape. I'm making the aztec up as I go along, I started on the right with one pattern, but, unsatisfied with it, changed to another in the next sector. I think I'll leave the different one there and mirror it on the other side. I'm spraying sealant on as I go, I don't intend to colour it (until I get a decent airbrush anyway). I'm fairly pleased with how it looks!

[Commodore Kor'Tar]

That looks awesome so far. I can't wait to see the finished product!

[Destructor!!!]

I took some of the tape off... may try to sand down some of the lines I cut, they grid it a bit too much for my liking. Hope I don't mess up the sealant too much if I do. What do you guys think?

[Commodore Kor'Tar]

I think it looks good with the grid lines personally. Do what you think will look best though.

[Destructor!!!]

I've finally come back to this and given it a little attention.



I actually screwed up the pattern in a couple of ways, but if I mirror the screwed up version on the starboard side, I'll just have a different pattern on the back of the saucer than on the front. I can live with that. I can live with it.

Firstly, the battery ran out on my netbook, which had the pattern on the screen, and I ended up just repeating the "saucer rim" panel design all the way to the centre. Then, on one of the panels, I just messed up the pattern, took the wrong bits of tape off. It blends well enough, and I'm happy to have a little variation.

As you can see, I'm using new, blue tape. It's thinner, and much easier to work with. You can see how the curve of the saucer is better translated to the design than on the forward port quadrant.

The tape is very blue, though, and I had a little fun with that fact when initially masking it off.

[Destructor!!!]

More progress!

I continued masking the aft half of the saucer. I think i was a little drunk or something when I did the starboard side, some of the lines are a little skewy and a-symetrical. It's not too noticeable, but I wish I had done it better.

Anyway, I hit it with a couple of coats of sealant:


Apologies for the poor quality photographs from here on out, my old phone decided to stop responding to button pushes, so I've switched to a better phone, with a crapper camera.

Anyway, when the first few coats of sealant had dried off, I came up with an idea, to hit it with a thin mist of chrome spray paint - to imbue the aztec with a little extra specular reflection, aside from the gloss of the sealant. I sprayed the starboard aft quadrant first, just a puff, and you know what? It looked pretty nice!

So I went ahead and puffed the port side. SPLAT. The can sneezed a big burst of solid chrome onto the ship! ARRRRGH!!!!

Note to self: shake can well before each application.

Well, I scrambled to grab a cloth or something, chanting "shitshitshitshitshit!" the whole time. Eventually, I found a tissue in my pocket and dabbed at the model. Luckily, the last coat of sealant was in fact not dry at this stage, and the chrome was merely floating on top. Most of it came away, but it's dry now, and you can see the difference. I stripped the tape off - a process that took longer than the masking took to create... almost.

There is only 3/4 of the forward starboard quadrant left to mask and seal. I'm so pleased with the chrome effect (starboard side, anyway) that I intend to re-mask the port forward quadrant and chrome-mist it too.

Check it out:



I made this Gif just now to illustrate the specular properties of the aztec. I took two photos, with the phone stationary, relative to the ship, but having twirled around between the two, so that the lighting is different. See how the hullplating reflects the light differently:


I realise this emphasises the over-painted port side, but that's only because those were the only photos that lined up this well. The light-dark dichotomy works just as well on the starboard side, which I think you'll agree, on the evidence of the flat-light pic up the page, is much more subtle and effective.

For a ship design that I'm really still a but iffy about - I can't put this toy down today!



The Aztec doesn't always jump out at you, it blends into the hull colour well enough.



Anyone got any ideas on how to bring the aft port quadrant in line? I was thinking a light airbrush coat of colour-matched paint, to bring it back to the hull colour?

[sbamah]

Aztec'ing a a starship is a freakin' long and tedious job ... I tip my hat to you on your patience and workmanship.

[Destructor!!!]

Thanks guys

sbamah, I'm doing this in part to prepare for doing something similar to my Playmates Enterprise-D, eventually. I am not looking forward to that saucer or engineering hull. A perfectly circular saucer like this is a help in itself, very easy to keep the lines parallel (not that I succeeded 100% of the time). Not so on the oval saucer and sinuous body of the Galaxy class.