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Zathras's model building projects


Zathras
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This morning, I finished my 1:1000 Enterprise-A model, and its base. I am pleased with how it turned out. Hopefully, some of you might like it too. :)

 

Here is what the base looks like originally....

 

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I painted it to look like a Class M planet, and here are a few shots.

 

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Thank you guys! That means a lot coming from you all! When I get a chance, I will post a few more.

 

A LOT of this is just patience and taking my time and attention to detail. No real special talent on my part. My examples are all done with paint brush, rattle cans, and good quality water slide decals. A lot of it IS in the decals, which have vastly improved in the last 15 years or so. One of these days, I want to get an airbrush, which will allow me to improve the looks to be more realistic. There are folks out there that can really build some great, and very realistic looking models.

 

Just a little background, I used to build models when I was a teen. I even had dreams of working as a star ship prop designer, but that was all it was, dreams. Then my interests changed like all teens, and I stopped building for almost 30 years. I picked the hobby back up about 5 years ago, back when I was in grad school and needed a hobby to help me keep my hands active, while I thought about writing essays/thesis papers and how I was going to attack them. I started out with a couple of my old models that survived in my dad's garage (the few that didn't melt in the 30 years of heat, that is!) and stripped them down of paint and glue, rebuild them, and repainted them. These were the larger 1:537 Enterprise-A and the 1:2500 pictured above.

 

After that, I started buying more models that were using pretty much the same molds as when I was a teen, though some improvements have been made to those models. In many cases, due to new laws regarding model glue purchasing, some of these models are now snap together, which is fine. Anyway, it just became a hobby of mine off and on, which I am now using to help manage stress levels, as well as just being fun for me to do!

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Yeah I used to do muscle car models, too! Most of them got pitched or didn't survive storage. I love the 1989 Batmobile (my second favorite), but i have to say the 1966 version is my all time favorite. I love the 1955-1972 era for American cars , especially muscle cars. I have a 1972 Chevy Nova, which is my first car, still. Years ago, I used to have a 1966 Pontiac Lemans, that I had hopped up with a GTO 400 V8, a TH400, and posi 4:11 gears. That sucker was torquey and fast.

 

I have a number of ERTL American muscle 1:18 scale cars on my bookshelves, too.

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Here is a pic of my Nova. I had built a model that looks pretty close to it years ago, but I have it packed away somewhere. Also, in the post I made with the Romulan battle cruiser, the pic with the Constitution class ship is NOT the USS Enterprise. It is actually the USS Nova, registry NCC-1972, in honor of my car! I am such a nerd it is not even funny! LOL!

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Thank you, Goat! Yeah, in the early years, they were grocery getters. Then someone figured out they could put something bigger than a 6 cylinder or 283 V8, and since they were light, could actually hang with (or beat) the popular muscle cars like GTOs, Chevelles, Chargers, and even Camaros and Mustangs. They were often called the poor man's Camaro. Nowadays, even Novas can be worth a pretty penny. I'm glad I got mine in 1987, because there is no way I could afford something like that, now! I'd just be building models of them. LOL!

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Here is a pic of my Nova. I had built a model that looks pretty close to it years ago, but I have it packed away somewhere. Also, in the post I made with the Romulan battle cruiser, the pic with the Constitution class ship is NOT the USS Enterprise. It is actually the USS Nova, registry NCC-1972, in honor of my car! I am such a nerd it is not even funny! LOL!

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That is a fuckin ride yo

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Much appreciated, Odine. :) That's my weekend cruiser, now.

 

I know most people don't care what others drive, and I am certainly not trying to be arrogant or anything. Just sharing, since the topic of muscle cars came up, and that happens to be a big interest of mine.

 

Still, it is nice to get a compliment every now and then!

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I do like 60s, 70s and 80s muscle cars. I don't know much about them, but I know good aesthetics when I see them.

 

The models are also sick, but I was never a Trekkie so..ya know. Got any sweet star destroyers?

I never had any Star Destroyers, unfortunately. I did once build a model of Vader's TIE fighter. I would love to do a Star Destroyer some day. But home space is at a premium, so it will have to wait until I get more room. I live with my fiance and her cat, so I am always outvoted 2 to 1! LOL!

 

 

Awesome, dude! I had a vintage Enterprise model when I was a kid that my dad and I put together. This was in the early '90s, and I want to say the model was from maybe the '70s?

That's cool! I wish my dad and I did something like that when I was a kid. ! My dad was always busy and he wasn't all that interested in model building. Even now, when I show him my builds, he's polite, but I know he couldn't care less and he's thinking something like "why does he waste his time on that junk!" LOL!

 

Here are a few more model builds, based on the TMP Enterprise refit. These are 1:2500 scale and would fit in the palm of your hand, hence the lack of detail compared to 1:1000. I built these in 2016-ish.

 

USS Enterprise

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USS Enterprise-A

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Also, ***nerd alert**** I wrote out some back stories for some of those ships a few years back. These also don't have the traditional refit decals, but rather the TOS versions, and a few miscellaneous decals. I was going for the Star Trek Phase II look (the revival TV series that never was, and ended up becoming Star Trek The Motion Picture...and some scripts were re-used for TNG).

 

Out of Mothball: Rebuilding the Fleet

 

Shortly after being promoted to Admiral, and after Starfleet saw that the Constitution class ships were starting to show their age when the Federation lost a handful of border skirmishes to the Klingons and Romulans, Admiral Kirk was put in charge of the Constitution Class refit project. First to be refit, was the Enterprise. Once that refit project was deemed a success, Admiral Kirk, selected more of the aging constitution class ships for refit.

 

Concurrent with the Enterprise refit project, the namesake of the class, USS Constitution was also refit. Unfortunately, while on a shakedown cruise, the USS Constitution suffered heavy damage and casualties, when it entered warp. Like the USS Enterprise during the V'Ger incident, the Constitution also suffered from an antimatter imbalance and was caught in a wormhole effect, where it collided with an Antares Type Freighter. This resulted in shearing off one of its warp nacelles, the loss of 347 crew members, including its captain and first, second, and third officers, and the complete destruction of the freighter, the SS MacNally's Hope. The USS Constitution was eventually repaired, but due to irreparable structural damage, it was relegated to the status of a training ship.

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The Excalibur, after having been nearly destroyed by the M5, sat in mothball for several years. Feeling a sense of responsibility, as he was captain of the Enterprise at the time of the M5 incident, Admiral Kirk pulled her from mothball and slated the Excalibur for refit. Captained by Joseph April, son of the legendary Robert April, Joseph April was the second youngest officer to attain the rank of captain in Starfleet history, after Admiral Kirk. The Excalibur saw 12 years of distinguished service before being decommissioned, having made first contact with 32 different species, and was victorious in 4 separate engagements with Romulan D7 battle cruisers.

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The USS Farragut, one of Admiral Kirk's early postings was selected next for refit. Unfortunately, 3 months after her rechristening, the Farragut was destroyed in an ion storm, with the loss of all hands.

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The USS Potemkin, which also had a distinguished history, was refit, and selected to be the UFP Presidential ship. Also known as Federation One, the Potemkin was outfitted with an experimental warp drive, which increased output by 33%,over its original configuration, and was able to sustain a maximum warp of 8.75 for 12 hours. It was outfitted with an additional 6 phaser banks more than a standard Constitution Class ship, and its interior was configured for diplomatic missions, with lavish quarters and amenities, unrivaled until the Galaxy class, nearly 75 years later.

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Thank you guys! That means a lot coming from you all! When I get a chance, I will post a few more.

 

A LOT of this is just patience and taking my time and attention to detail. No real special talent on my part. My examples are all done with paint brush, rattle cans, and good quality water slide decals. A lot of it IS in the decals, which have vastly improved in the last 15 years or so. One of these days, I want to get an airbrush, which will allow me to improve the looks to be more realistic. There are folks out there that can really build some great, and very realistic looking models.

 

Just a little background, I used to build models when I was a teen. I even had dreams of working as a star ship prop designer, but that was all it was, dreams. Then my interests changed like all teens, and I stopped building for almost 30 years. I picked the hobby back up about 5 years ago, back when I was in grad school and needed a hobby to help me keep my hands active, while I thought about writing essays/thesis papers and how I was going to attack them. I started out with a couple of my old models that survived in my dad's garage (the few that didn't melt in the 30 years of heat, that is!) and stripped them down of paint and glue, rebuild them, and repainted them. These were the larger 1:537 Enterprise-A and the 1:2500 pictured above.

 

After that, I started buying more models that were using pretty much the same molds as when I was a teen, though some improvements have been made to those models. In many cases, due to new laws regarding model glue purchasing, some of these models are now snap together, which is fine. Anyway, it just became a hobby of mine off and on, which I am now using to help manage stress levels, as well as just being fun for me to do!

You know, a little bit of kit bashing, a 3D printer-- you could be making stuff for fun. Check out The ROF. That's been my lightsaber place but there's a ton of model makers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great work!

But man oh man do I hate the Abrams/Kelvin starship designs. The classic TOS movie era ships are the best. Kelvinverse, Discovery, even the 24th century prime designs... nothing is as good as the TOS movie era. Enterprise/A, Reliant/Saratoga, Excelsior/Ent-B, and Grissom... it was always so cool how they were completely unique, and yet you could see the same elements on each that made them specifically Starfleet by design.

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Yeah, the TOS movie era ships to early TNG era (when all we saw was the Galaxy class, Nebula Class, and Excelsior class) are my favorite designs as well.  That was when everything felt like they were all from the same fleet, yet each class had its own design.  The TMP Enterprise is still  my all time favorite incarnation, followed by the TOS Enterprise.

I used to HATE the Kelvinverse Enterprise, and still isn't my favorite by any stretch.  But having the model has giving me an appreciation for it, I didn't have otherwise.

I have always liked the NX design, too.

 

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I should include the Ambassador class in the early TNG era, as well.  In fact, I am partial to that design.  It is the perfect bridge between the Excelsior and the Galaxy classes.  The later TNG era (EG the Enterprise-E, Voyager, Defiant) are nice, and I do like them, but not as well as the earlier TNG designs.  

 

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