U.S.S. Thunderchild

I feel the same way. I have never been a fan of the blue theme. (And they never look that way on the big screen either.....)

I am not following the reference photos I found either, but such is life.
 
Thanks for the comments!!! After getting the spray booth done, I got back to work on the Thunderchild. Here is the latest update:

Thunderchild part 10

I did get the micro sol, micro set solutions backwards!
 
Looking good.
The decals can be a pain some times, but you've got some good technique going.
Me, instead of my finger, or a knife, I use the back end of the brush for moving the decal off the film and into position.
My fingers tend to stick more to the decals.
 
You know...
I haven't seen the actual model, but if you try a wash slightly darker than your basecoat, you could probably fix up some of those lines you're talking about.
Whenever I have tiny details to paint that didn't come out as clean as I would have liked, I just hit it with a wash, and all it does is settle into the groves and covers up any dirty edges. Just a suggestion, again without seeing the actual model, I couldn't say for sure but thought I would throw in a couple of cents.
 
ScreamingSamuraiStudio: Great suggestion! Only one problem, this is a Star Trek model, they are usually pretty clean models. If it was star wars, it would get a wash for sure. But, you have me thinking, and I do have some very light grey oil paints, so I could do a wash with one of those. I will have to think about it. Here are a few photos, but they are not the best, my camera was being a bit wonky.

Quaralane: I "lost" three of the decals because they stuck to my finger when I was moving them. The carpet monster tried to eat one, and two others stuck to my blue jeans. Luckily I found them. I might have to start using the back of a brush.

20100930_99.jpg
20100930_101.jpg
20100930_110.jpg
20100930_113.jpg

I am not quite done with her. She needs a dull coat, I still haven't cleaned up the future over spray, the stand needs to be sanded, acrylic rods glued down and a display plaque made. Should be done this weekend, then back to the NX-01.
 
Hey, Grendels
I should clarify..This wash wouldn't be to "dirty" her up per say, but just to add some depth to some of those recesses. And looking at the pics, I would say starting off with a very light ghost gray wash..again, not to add any kind of grittiness, but it would just had some shadow to those raised areas. Or even a dusting of some light gray pastel.
I promised my son we would do some tutorials one day, and a wash tutorial may be the first one..I think it's a simple technique that anyone can use with a little practice. Just one of those faux finishing techniques I picked up a long time ago that applies when to models.
But the Thunderchilde looks good. The Nacelle caps came out great. And you're right, I think I'm more of a Star Wars guy...I'm the one that made the NX-01 look dirtier than the Millennium Falcon.
 
After taking one more look, I don't think I am going to do that wash. I have done them before, most recently on my viper build. It is in the gallery.

I am just going to finish up this one and get back to it. I have a habit of spotting a mistake and creating two more trying to fix the first one. Eventually I get them all taken care of, but it just takes a long time. This one was suppose to be a quick build and for fun and it turned into a chore.

ScreamingSamuraiStudio: You did a wonderful job on the NX. I will go back and read your thread before I paint mine up.
 
This looks awesome. I have 4 of Starcrafts kits in my stash. Just picked up U.S.S. Rhode Island at Modelpalooza last weekend. Got to meet the owner of Federation Models there. He convinced me not to be afraid of resin kits. I watched all your videos and appreciate the tips as I will be using them on my upcoming builds. Thanks again. It looks great. Post more vids soon.
 
noc5659: Resin is different from plastic in many ways. Most kits have fewer parts, and putting them together is less of a challenge. The difficulty come in that they are not plastic. There are often voids in the casting, which must be filled. I wouldn't say that they are harder, just different. I have quite a few resin kits in my stash, and will start working on one or two soon.

I had a set back last night. I was taping her up for the dull coat and when I pulled up some of the tape it pulled up some of the decals. I am going to order new ones this weekend. The sad thing is, I could have had her done today.
 
Part of why I always try to seal them up after decalling.
Nasty setback, though.
 
There were four coats of future on top of those decals. I didn't think they would pull up with that many coats! And the future had set up for three days before I did this. Not really that big of a deal. Just slows me down.
 
D'oh!


Hey, I was watching your video on youtube and posted a comment before it ended..
Man, I've had days like the one you just documented..and I applaud you for not throwing it against the wall in frustration. You can ask one of my 350 scale Enterprises how that went.
But I've never had any luck masking over decals sealed with anything..they pull up every time, but I did learn a VERY valuable lesson from the Lovely and Talented, ModelManTom on youtube. And if you use Post it Notes for masking you can avoid that problem. I know, I know Hindsight is always 20/20.
I like to reset my decals before working on the model anyway, so I usually have a spare..or a few. Since I've been working on some kits that are ten + years old, I just scan the sheets in and re create them in illustrator. That way, I can change ship names, numbers and colors if I need to.
But sorry for the set back...just remember what Rocky says.."It's not how many times you get knocked down...it's how many times you banana.."
Remember, he was a little punch drunk, but you get the point, right?
 
Yeah, this model has had a lot of frustrating parts. It will NEVER get entered in any contest. My first instinct was to not mask any part but to just dull coat it, and then hand paint in the shinny parts again. Should have listened, but this is how you learn....

Here is the latest update. The stand will be done today, and there will be only one more video of the model.

USS Thunderchild part 11
 

Similar threads

D
Revell U.S.S. Voyager
Replies
3
Views
2K
Grendels
Grendels
Uncle_Bang
AMT U.S.S. Enterprise Set
2
Replies
27
Views
5K
Uncle_Bang
Uncle_Bang
Uncle_Bang
AMT U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-C
Replies
3
Views
2K
Grendels
Grendels
ScreamingSamuraiStudio
U.S.S. Impervious
2
Replies
32
Views
4K
ScreamingSamuraiStudio
ScreamingSamuraiStudio
TrekWorks
Round 2 Models 1/537 Scale U.S.S. Reliant build with custom lighting
2
Replies
31
Views
5K
TrekWorks
TrekWorks

Latest posts

Back
Top