Mach,

I got it!!

I found this on sale at my LHS. I love this bird, I just wish there were more to it.

This is officially my entry.

Steve

So for Father's Day you got 'the bird' Steve? 

All joking aside that's a very nice haul. 

Nice Steve!

I'll add it to your name.

It may be a simple kit, But its not an easy kit. I look forward to your Build.

Classic!

Right?

Steve,

Have you opened the box yet? R2 has added correct nacelle caps and added the plasma weapon.

Have plenty of filler, the gaps are huge, but I love this kit if only for nostalgia.  

Mark,

Yes, that was the first thing I opened after my Fathers Day spree. The instructions give you an option to attach the old engine caps, or replace them with clear plastic parts. They also state the Plasma weapon is an option. What in the world (space) would I be doing galavanting around in the neutral zone, in a sublight spaceship WITHOUT a weapon,... geesh.

Steve

I will be starting on the Bird of Prey after I complete the Musashi or the 24 pounder cannon, whichever comes first. I have however, been researching and am going to do some modifications. The AMT kit is lacking detail such as front hull observation windows and sensor ports as well as missile launcher ports in the wings (I've been studding the blueprints...I know....nerd). I am also going to use a lighting kit of my own design. So I'll be starting her soon.

Steve

Looking forward to this Steve, personally as to Romulan ships I like the looks of the Warbird better than the BoP but this is going to be cool!

Yeah, The AMT kit leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to accuracy, but what the heck. I got it sale, and I really beginning to enjoy modifications and improvements.

Steve, I'm really looking forward to your build!

Some modifications that can easily be made are:

Beveling the front of the ship

Adding the indentation/concave on the lower aft section

Adding the "step" around the top of the ship.

Are you planing on lighting just the nacelle caps? or the sensor/windows also?

I'm Planning on lighting both. As far as beveling the sides and adding a step, I wasn't going to go that far. What indentation on the lower aft hull? I hadn't run across that yet, oh and the tail fin needs modification.

If one really wanted to go all out, one could scribe panel lines and add impulse engines as seen on some renderings on an internet image search. Although, I thought the BoP was sub-light, so what's the need for impulse engines? The original show model doesn't have impulse engines or panel lines. "OK Chewy, lock in the sub-light engines". Sorry, wrong Galaxy and time frame.

Here is my crude lighting circuit. The LED's on the wires (yellow, red and blue. I could have sworn I had green in there) will go to the engine nacelles, Although, again, the original model just had a white glow, but were's the fun in that? I will frost the nacelle caps and hopefully the different light colors will have the results I want them to. The rest of the LED's will bathe the interior of the hull for the windows (I added blue just to see what that would do, probably nothing). I'm going to paint the interior of the hull with chrome and line the windows with wax paper to diffuse. I will leave the senor holes black by placing a piece of styrene behind them.

OK, so I guess I've officially started.

Steve

Oh... those LEDs are gonna look cool!

Right?

I've started on the BOP, well on the kit that is, I already completed the lighting circuit.

I drilled holes for view ports and sensors, then I painted the inside black. I will paint a coat of chrome on the black, hopefully this will stop any light from shining through, if not, I'll line some aluminum foil on the inside. The view ports will then be lined with wax paper for light diffusion and the sensor ports will be backed with sheet styrene to prevent light from shinning through. I also coated the engine nacelles with black and they will follow the same process.

A great start!

This is what I meant by the lower aft concaveing.

Oh.

Yeah, I'm not going that far. I was thinking of doing all this cool stuff to it, but then I thought differently.

With the exception of the lights, it will be pretty much an OTB build. One day I go all out. I really like this ship, always have.

By the way, I started a WIP thread in case your interested.

Yah, you can go nuts on this kit. There is just so much to fix.

I think AMT was just phoning it in when this kit came out.

I finished painting the interior and ran the wires in to the wings and nacelles. I also epoxied the light board onto the bottom hull, I laid the top hull down to show what the lights will look like. I must say, this is turning out better than I thought.

Steve

That's got some coolness goin' on there Steve! Nice...

Looks really nice all lit up!

I forgot to mention that I still need to block off the sensor holes, so not all of the holes will be lit.

Steve

Looks pretty cool to me!

Not sure I'd want to go though all the work to make the kit totally correct either.

Before I close it up for good I wanted to show the wax paper and how it is defusing the light.

I guess the blue LED's in the hull do make an interesting hue. I didn't think they would make a difference.
Now to button it up and do some filling.

Steve 

I put everything together this weekend, filled and painted. It looks like I have some more filling to do. Now I'm assuming the BOP is an atmospheric craft, so I am going to weather it accordingly.

Oh, you're making great progress!

Never really thought about it but the BoP does have those wings and sort of lifting body type of hull so I guess she could be atmospheric, interesting idea!

Yeah. The "blueprints" of the ship show landing pads, however, that is the version with warp engines. It seems all the Star Trek ships were able to fly and swim after watching "The Edge of Darkness"

Fast work! She looks nice.

Silly question, when you prime/paint will you mask the windows or will the depth of the hull

keep them clear of paint?

And yes, It is a putty pig!

I like the idea of weathering, I've never considered it before but it sounds like a good idea.

Mach,

Ya know, I was thinking about masking, or placing a drop of film in the windows, but I think the depth will help. If a little gets on, the light will still shine through.

I think a little weathering will look sharp.

I never quite got the whole idea of the BoP being impulse only myself. I mean the nacelles on the wings look just like the Enterprise's warp engines and if the Romulans didn't have warp their empire would be tiny.

The only thing I've seen to back this up is Scotty's comment on the BoP power being 'simple impulse'. Personally my interpretation is the cloak pulled so much power that with it up it sucked all the power from the warp engines leaving them only able to move under impulse. That is they'd have to drop the cloak to go back to warp. And with the Enterprise sticking to them like a remora to a shark they never got the chance.