Here's a quick shot of Kodiak with a little paint, accompanied by USS Farragut NCC1702, and an as yet unnamed Jenghiz class destroyer

June was never a hard finish date. I still have more painting, and then decals before I'm done, and it's July already! Keep working on it, and it will be done, when it is done.

Well, duh!, the AMT "Reliant" kit doesn't have the saucer rim view ports cast into the saucer. I, for whatever dumb reason, never caught that before assembling and painting the primary hull! 96 holes, and 48 cutouts later....!  Been reviewing the movies, looking for any details that might be missing, in addition to the view ports, and making notes on what painting has to be done that wasn't in any of the kit instructions. "reliant" doesn't get a lot of time in "light" so it's hard to tell.

I am getting close to a coat of gloss, so that decals can be applied. So far, so good. The Podesti class cruiser is assembled. The scratchbuilt section of the secondary hull, came out well enough. I am slowly learning how to fabricate "rounded shapes" with sheet styrene.......it's been an "interesting" learning curve.

I don't think I mentioned before, but I use Autocad, for drawings. When I cut in the windows of the botanical section on the secondary hull, I first printed out the drawing, taped it in place, and then cut out each window with a #11 Xacto blade. The resulting cuts in the Styrene, became the cutting guides for the window edges. A second printout, taped to a piece of masking tape, on a glass plate, enabled me to cut the exact same window pattern into the strip of masking tape, which then was laid over the windows, and burnished down.

I used the light ghost gray FS36375, applied to a "cosmetic wedge", to stencil in the windows. What's a "cosmetic wedge"? you ask? Why its a very smooth foam "rubber" pad, 1" X 1-3/4" X 3/4", that tapers down to 3/16" X 1", at one end, that the girls use for liquid foundation application, and other makeup, available at any place where cosmetics are sold. It's amazing what you learn with four daughters in the house. It worked far better than expected! I'll have to set up and try to get a close up picture of the windows. The "stencilling" helps prevent paint from creeping under the edge of the tape, and the wedge is fine enough and soft enough to hold the paint well....like a superfine "foam / disposable" paint brush.

That is looking better & better!  When the 1/1000 Refit comes out, I can't wait to try these classes out.

Decals are done. I used some of the decals from the Reliant kit (OK, but not spectacular), and the generic TMG set from starshipmodeler (much better, but I did have some problems with the ink, easilly damaged, and rubbing off the clear backing) Once the setting solution dries thoroughly, I'll shoot a second clear coat, and then decide whether or not to shoot dullcoat. Neither set had the red "pinstriping" for around the bridge area, so had to paint that in. Pictures when done. If this group build stays open, I may pick up from where I am with the Podesti class cruiser.

Well done and I love the design.

Before I go another step, one thing must be understood. I am retired, and my time is mine to spend as I wish. I haven't slept much since the actual completion of Kodiac, which was several days before I posted the pictures.

The Jenghiz class destroyer will be; USS Shaitan NCC 519, the Podesti class Cruiser will be; USS Newport NCC 2418 (I've posted pics of those two before), and the Hatfield class Command Cruiser will be; USS Navarone NCC 2021. Here's the Navarone, most of the major assembly work/modifications are done, and these shots show her with primary and secondary hulls finally joined.

I'll post a few more shots of Navarone when the glue sets hard, and I can move her around. 

I removed close to two inches off the aft end of the "Reliant" hull, the detail above the port landing bay was also removed, and the blank area filled in. The megaphasers,and pylons were left over from Kodiac, the secondary hull, left over from the Newport, the warp engines and primary hull were another "reliant", and the only scratchbuilt parts were the three warp pylons. Hey!, I was on a roll!  I also have now completely depleted my stash of TMG Star Trek kits, so it's time to find another project...........most likely that HO scale 2-4-2. :) :)  I'm waiting for decal sets to be restocked, so I can detail the three ships. 

Prince of Styrene II wrote:

Apologies for not commenting earlier, but I just got back from vacation.  Your Kodiak looks marvelous!  Clean, solid, muscular... just a great build all around.

Apologies accepted, but were not required.......It was a fun build, and I really like the look of the battleship class. I reported, in error, that I had used the last of my "Trek" stash, there is one "Enterprise" kit up on the shelf. I'm considering using the primary hull, and warp engines, for a "Dakota Class" heavy shuttle carrier. Some of the removed detail parts from the last "Reliant" could become masters for some resin castings. I'm looking at a model that will be 26-1/2" long!

Started work on a new set of three,HO scale modules....(National Train Show is in Milwaukee, next year, and I'd like to have something new to show there)...it may be "a while" before the carrier gets started. Still waiting for decals for Navarone, Shaitan, and Newport.