My kit-bash/scratch-build of the Movie Enterprise

[wraith1701]

I don't want to blow up the thread with a lot of pictures, so here's a link to an updated album of the progress I've made on the build-

Here's a link to the updated album of the project-

http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t91/wraith1702/EnterpriseProject/

..Well, here are a couple of the updated pictures-

Neck & pylons-

another angle-

rear-

front-

A lot of the rough look is due to the combination of styrene & aves; once I get a coat of primer down it will look a lot sharper. Don't know if anyone can tell, but I've drastically altered the angle of the pylons- On the original kit, they stood out at sharp angles to the secondary hull.  Using the boiling water method, I reshaped the pylons into the curve of the movie enterprise, then used styrene & aves to change the shape of them.

-Eric

[Feathers]

Yup, it was the pylons I was looking at. Looks good!

[Rico]

Looking super man!  I want to pick up the new Enterprise by Playmates.  Might grab it tomorrow.  If I do, I'll post a bunch of pics of it.

[Bryancd]

Looking great, Eric! Keep at it!

[Bryancd]

Looking super man!  I want to pick up the new Enterprise by Playmates.  Might grab it tomorrow.  If I do, I'll post a bunch of pics of it.

I might hold off on that Rico. DS might still get a shot at it and QMX will be making some high end stuff. The Playmates one looks really cheaply made for the $.

[Rico]

Looking super man!  I want to pick up the new Enterprise by Playmates.  Might grab it tomorrow.  If I do, I'll post a bunch of pics of it.

I might hold off on that Rico. DS might still get a shot at it and QMX will be making some high end stuff. The Playmates one looks really cheaply made for the $.

I won't be buying the Qmx version and for now, Playmates is the only choice around at a low cost.  They have the license.  Maybe in a couple years when another film comes out someone else will take a crack at it.  But that's a long time to wait.

[Data]

Awesome work wraith

Love the QMx stuff but its going to cost so much

If you can you guys should heat to there facebook page and chat with them about what they are doing.

[jedijeff]

I bought the Playmates version of the Enterprise. For the Cost, I thought it was alright, as it was not to expensive. I agree, that when a Diamond Select one comes out, that it will be much better and more detailed. For now I am ok with the Playmates one, it seems very solidy put together and some nice sounds and lights..

[Rico]

Thanks for the info Jeff.  Nice to hear from someone who has the new Enterprise.  I'm going to swing into Toys R Us today and probably get one.

[wraith1701]

Got some more work done over the weekend.

The nacelles were a big stumbling block, but I think I came up with a passable solution. I spliced the nacelles that came with the original 1/1600 kit with bussard collectors from a spare 1/2500 Ambassador class ship.  I used layered sheet styrene cut into alternating elongated wedges to help get the tapering effect. I then sanded 'em down, applied epoxy to fill in the seams, and used a file & sandpaper to reshape them.





The 'racing-fins' on the end of the nacelles are sheet styrene.

Here's the old girl with the modified nacelles and bussard cowls-





The JJ-Prise has some pretty complex contours & layers on the primary hull and neck. I'm fairly happy with my efforts at reproducing them. 




I still have a LONG way to go, but I think I've finally got a workable 'rough draft' of the model I'm envisioning.

Next step- A generous application of sanding, seam-filler, and more sanding to get rid of the imperfections.  Then a coat of 'pre-primer' to help me track down the final 'hard to spot' imperfections, followed by adding some details to the nacelles, primary, and secondary hulls. 

Then the real fun begins:  Painting & Decals!  I've already got the paints & markings picked out! :)

-Eric

[wraith1701]

After realizing that the proportions of my initial effort were way off, I decided to save what I could & rebuild everything else from the bottom up. 

Here's a comparison picture of my first pass at the ship, and what I have so far in my second version-



The image on the left is the first attempt.  In an effort to reproduce the shape of the hull, I added strips of styrene and built over it with epoxy.  This resulted in a hull that was too fat.  For my second attempt, I took the opposite approach:  instead of adding, I carved away from my base shape, replaced some areas with styrene, and built back up using epoxy.

Here are a few more shots of Ver. II, still in progress-















For anyone interested, here's a link to all of the photos of my efforts going back to the beginning-

http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t91/wra...erpriseProject/

I'm not done yet.  I'm going to keep fine-tuning the nacelles, pylons, upper saucer, and lower secondary hull before I start working on finishing/cleaning up the surface.

-Eric

[Meds]

Oh that is awesme work Eric. I want to play with it hee hee. brilliant stuff.

[Feathers]

There's something supremely elegant about those curved nacelle pylons.

[wraith1701]

Oh that is awesme work Eric. I want to play with it hee hee. brilliant stuff.

LOL Thanks!

There's something supremely elegant about those curved nacelle pylons.

I agree, I think they look more organic than the TOS pylons.  They were actually quite a pain, I had to use the boiling-water method to modify them.  I took the pylons from the original kit, and submerged them in boiling water to slightly soften the plastic.  I then had to ever-so-slightly bend each pylon before the plastic stiffened.  Dip & repeat about 20 times until the desired curve was achieved, and until both were symmetrical.  Then I used a scaled pattern derived from online profiles of the ship to cut styrene 'extensions' to the pylons to widen them at the base.  2-part epoxy was added to make the thickness of the pylons uniform; sanded after the epoxy cured. 

-E

[M-5]

That looks totally awesome!  Wraith1701, you are the man!