1/3200 Romulan Warbird

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Tick-Tock

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Hey everyone, I have a bunch of basic questions I was hoping some of you might be able to answer before I start my build of the AMT 1/3200 Romulan Warbird.

--What size of drill bit do I need for the windows?
--What brand/color of spray paint do I need for the primer?
--What is the brand of red putty I've seen most of you use to fill gaps and seams?
--What colors would work best for the lighter and darker shades of green for the final paint job?
--What kind of glue/epoxy do most of you use for your models?

Thanks a lot for any help and advice any of you can give me!
 
I'll try to answer some of these as best I can, but I've not built this model. However I do have the old version from the Adversary kit in my stash, it's one of the first kits I want to build once I'm able to do it justic. I love this ship!

--What size of drill bit do I need for the windows?

Have a look at some reference pics for accuracy. I always use a google image search, however the studio model can be seen in some nice detail here :- http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=9506

Drill bits below 0.5mm are very brittle and will be hard to use. However on this scale it would be necessary for accuracy. I don't think anyone could blame you for going larger than 0.5mm, though I would have some spares at hand in case the bit breaks.

--What brand/color of spray paint do I need for the primer?

I'm still very inexperienced to give advice on primers and paint tips. Tamiya is the best I've used and comes in grey and white (I think that's all there is). I don't think it matters which one you use for this model.

--What is the brand of red putty I've seen most of you use to fill gaps and seams?

I think that's Bondo spot glazing putty. Read Grendels Desslok's Command Cruiser build. He tries some different seam filling methods and this is one he tests.

--What colors would work best for the lighter and darker shades of green for the final paint job?

Again, a more experienced modeler could help more here. I'd say it comes down to your preference though. Do you prefer acrylics or enamels?

Also, there are different colour schemes for this ship. The early ones were very bright green, whereas the Warbirds seen in later series and DS9 were darker and had more detail painted in (I believe those were the CGI models).

I'd have fun with it myself. Try and find a mix of greens that you find suitable.

--What kind of glue/epoxy do most of you use for your models?

Personally, I've grown fond of Zap CA glues. They have different consitencies that you can get. The medium one is quite good for general use. I also like Slater's Mek-Pak styrene cement.

Epoxy resin? I use whatever is available in my local shops. 2 part epoxy resin is handy stuff, I prefer a 15 minute for most situations. 5 min doesn't give you much time, and 1 hour is too long for alot of stuff, it runs everywhere.

Apoxie is different. It's a putty. I've used Magic Sculp (no 't') in the past, and it doesn't really hold, but is useful for sculpting, supporting and strengthening models. Also useful for fixing LEDs, but don't use too much, because your model will become very heavy! I also use Miliput.

However, I've recently got my hands on some Aves, not readily available here in the UK, but it's by far the best and can be used for seam filling very effectively as well as sculpting. It's really awesome stuff.

Hope some of that helps. :)
 
Thank you so much for your reply Igard, it is most helpful! I'm going to look up that Bondo stuff.

I just went to a hobby store today and bought a Zona swivel headed pin vise as well as two .033 diameter drill bits for the holes. The guy at the shop seemed to know what he was talking about and said that with bits this small you can't use an electric drill, both because your bits will break and because the heat it creates will inadvertently make your holes bigger. Since this is a relatively small model I have to have really small holes for these windows, but I didn't want to go any smaller than .033 -- I haven't actually gotten the model in the mail yet. If I need smaller bits I'll go back and get them.

Anyone have any preferred spray paint primer brand they always use?

Thanks again Igard! The photos of that studio model are astounding. It's crazy how you can see that they just drilled the holes right into the ship and didn't even sand down a lot of the flashing sticking out.
 
Aye, the studio model is actually quite an ugly thing up close isn't it?

I forgot to mention about not using an electric drill for those small drill bits. I use an archimedean hand drill because I feel like it puts less stress on the bit. With a pin-vice you have to turn and apply pressure, but the archimedean, you only have to push down and the spring action turns the drill.

I wouldn't go any smaller than the 0.33. I'm not sure about different qualities of drill bit, but I would get a small collection of those maybe 4 or 5 just in case. Who knows, maybe they'll last, but they aren't expensive so why not stock up.

Good luck. I'm looking forward to your build. My favourite Trek ship, so it's a special one for me. Love seeing them get built.

Iain. :)
 
Yeah, that's it. Though I didn't spend as much as that. Maybe that's a good one, but there are cheaper elsewhere. :)
 
I would experiment with both to see which you prefer. You may not like the archimedean.

Also, the archimedean I've got doesn't take bits larger than 1.0mm. That's why I've also got a pin-vise for larger bits. :)
 
Good to know, thanks! I guess I should buy an Archimedean and hold onto my pin vise.

Here's hoping I don't screw this model all to hell.
 
I've had mixed results with creating these tiny windows. I've only done small windows on 3 of my models.

I've never really produced tiny windows that I've been happy with. That's one of the reasons I haven't built this Warbird yet.

You can apply the crystal clear inside the model, but that is very difficult to mask and requires touch ups after painting.

I did this with my Vor'cha build, and I'm not really happy with how it turned out.

So, in the future, I'm going to try putting the crystal clear on after painting. It would be the last thing you do to the model.

There are other methods. For example you could paint each piece and then apply the windows before construction. This would require you to go around the seams and do alot of putty work and painting on top of the previous paint coat and avoiding the windows. Might be quite messy for this ship. I did it with my Ferengi Marauder build and it worked ok because the seams were no where near the windows.
 
Igard said:
I've had mixed results with creating these tiny windows. I've only done small windows on 3 of my models.

I've never really produced tiny windows that I've been happy with. That's one of the reasons I haven't built this Warbird yet.

You can apply the crystal clear inside the model, but that is very difficult to mask and requires touch ups after painting.

I did this with my Vor'cha build, and I'm not really happy with how it turned out.

So, in the future, I'm going to try putting the crystal clear on after painting. It would be the last thing you do to the model.

There are other methods. For example you could paint each piece and then apply the windows before construction. This would require you to go around the seams and do alot of putty work and painting on top of the previous paint coat and avoiding the windows. Might be quite messy for this ship. I did it with my Ferengi Marauder build and it worked ok because the seams were no where near the windows.
Click to expand...

The last method that Igard presented is the one I see most often on the web. Where they do a coat of paint, put the model together and then fix the seams, and at the end use paint to fix this.

As for a drill, I use a Tamiya handy drill for my windows. No pressure on the bit, and it was designed for plastic models so the rotation speed is slow enough to not melt the plastic. The on limitation on the drill has been the collet but one of my YouTube subscribers told me that Dremel collets will fit and he was right. they do. I can now use any size drill bit and go at the windows with speed.
 
Thanks for the responses Grendels and Igard! I've been itching to buy a Dremel anyway, so this might just be my excuse. I was worried about whether or not they'd hold micro bits, but it sounds like they do. I'm hoping they can hold bits smaller than 1/32"...anyone know if this is the case?

The only thing I don't quite get at this point is how one applies crystal clear. Is this airbrushed or painted on, or applied in another manner? Does the clear go on behind the windows, on the side that does not get the paint job, or does it go on the outside, and if so, how? Does it require you to mask off all areas that aren't receiving the crystal clear? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated, and many thanks for all the help so far!
 
For windows of this tiny size, I'd put a tiny drop of crystal clear on the end of either a cocktail stick/tooth pick or a pin head. Something really small.

Crystal Clear is very much like white glue. Here's a Grendels vid to give a better idea :-

Nagoya Castle part 4: Roofs and windows
 
A dremmel will hold small drill bits, but the problem is it has a high rotation speed. So high that the drill bits will melt their way trough the plastic instead of removing the plastic. I would use a pin vice instead of a dremmel for the smaller windows.

Another thing you can try for the windows is to use clear decal film. Just put it on the inside of the model and instant window.
 
Thanks for posting this video Igard (and thanks Grendels for making it). It was a great demonstration of using micro crystal clear, I'll probably use that for my Romulan Warbird.
 
Grendels said:
A dremmel will hold small drill bits, but the problem is it has a high rotation speed. So high that the drill bits will melt their way trough the plastic instead of removing the plastic. I would use a pin vice instead of a dremmel for the smaller windows.

Another thing you can try for the windows is to use clear decal film. Just put it on the inside of the model and instant window.
Click to expand...
Good to hear, thanks! I just bought a pin vice this weekend, glad to hear that that's the tool of choice for these tiny windows. I know that Steve Neill and TrekWorks use Dremels for their windows, how do they get away with it? I'd only use a Dremel with variable speeds so that I could make sure it was rotating at a slow speed.
 
I don't use a dremel. I use the Tamiya handy drill. But if they are using a variable speed dremel, that might be how. Those small drill bits are pretty fragile, so you really have to be careful of them.
 
So my 1/3200 Romulan Warbird finally arrived in the mail. I used a Zona Spiral Hand drill to plug in a couple of practice windows. After looking at both the box art and the decals I realized there wasn't much rhyme or reason to the spacing or arrangement of the windows, so I'm simply going to put them in by sight and try to do roughly the same thing on the other side.

Attached is a photo of my first two windows. The lower window was made with a .033 diameter drill bit (not sure really what that number means) and the upper window was made with a .025 bit. I'm probably going to go back to the hobby shop where I got these and even go one size smaller for some of the front windows, maybe .02 or .019.

My cat decided to help out and gnaw on the plastic, which is surprisingly soft. She left some teeth indentations I'll need to putty up later.

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