46" DeBoers Enterprise x 3 - WIP

I have added 8 new Pics in the DB Enterprise album. I do have to say that this is NOT the PL enterprise kit at all. Even though there are fewer pieces to build the model, there is a lot more drilling and sanding to do just to get the model started. Definately take your time on this model. It should not be rushed at all. Hope you enjoy the updates. Will have more soon.

~NemVia~

In my update this week, I've begun working on the cargo bay section of the hanger deck. I had to take a lot of interior measurement od the DB Engineering section to make it as large as possible and also make sure it is to scale and that it will actualy fit into the model when I'm finished building it. Then I had to take a lot of measurements of the PLE hanger to scale it up to the DBE size. Everything is being built as a master so that I can make some casting molds. If you look at all of the detail that I'm adding, you'll see why I'm going to be making casting. To put the details on just the upper and lower cargo bay stalls on just one wall took me a little over 3 hours. It's a bear to do but worth the effort. By next update I will have the details on the upper part of the cargo bay added in and all of the strucural wall braces or "ribs" as I'm calling them will be added and then I can start on the ceiling and begin moving to the lower hanger deck starting in the middle section of the hanger. The New Pics start on slide 38 - 47. Hope you enjoy the updates and I'll see you when I have new pics.



~NemVia~

I've added a few test fitting pics of the hanger bay pieces fitted into the Engineering hull. Because each of the DeBoers models has variances on the insides of the hull I have to be very carefull with the test fitting. I found out that the middle wall section that I've built are going to have to be trimmed so they can fit into the hull space. The upper part of my scratch build part hits the inner wall of the hull and causes it tonot allow the pieces to fit properly. Sometimes you just cant rely on mathamatics to enlarge a piece for the models. These scratch build models need to be built with great care as the DeBoers model and all of the pieces must be very customized to fit in there properly. But... with a little TLC and some tweaking it will all work out. I should have a complete hanger model to show you next week or so and then start casting 3 of them for the other Enterprise models. See you next update.



~NemVia~
 

6 new pics added to my site. More work done to the Hanger bay. I'm working on the Turbo Lift tubes and the ceiling details right now. Soon I'll be ready to cast this beastie. It is a very tight squeeze into the main hull of the ship. I've had to trim some of the pieces back just to get it inside the model. The effort is paying off though. I Should be finished with this hanger by the next week or so if all goes well. See you next update.

Mark

My update for this month is a little late, but I've been working on my master molds for the hanger and am going to be starting the casting process. I have a pic of the test casting for the Starboard side of the hanger deck as well as the rear wall. Both test pieces came out very well and I will start the final casting this coming week. I had a few issues with resin I was working with and had to adjust a few things to get this part of it set up right. I also have some of the lighting effects ready to be installed after the pieces are ready and primed and then painted their final colors. I'm trying to match as closely as possible what was seen in TMP, but I'm going to be adding a few of my own touches for the realism effect. I've also started working on the Botany deck. Since the secondary hull comes pre-assembled, it's a little bit harder to make measurements except by trial and error for the proper fitting of the deck inside the model. I've also cast some parts for the ceilings for the opened hatches on the saucer section. I'm also mapping out the officers lounge to begin construction of a master to be cast later on. The PL officers lounge does not match entirley what was seen in ST:TMP. So, I will have a few of my own touches to put in this piece as well. Also on the list of things to do is the creation of the crew rec-deck. I've seen several versions of other modelers re-decks for their PLE models and will be using some of their ideas for these models.

In preparation for things to come, I've purchased some of the lighting tubes and EL lamps and about 250 LEDs that I will be using to light the models, also trees and shrubs, rocks and other items for the botany deck, various resins and silicon rubber for casting multiple scratchbuilt parts.

Here's what the totals for these models will be that need to be built. There will be 4 officer's lounges, 3 for the DBE's and one for the DBReliant. 4 rec-decks, respectively for these models. 3 Botany decks, and 3 Hangers. 2 of the DBE's will have the opened hatches detailing. I'm recasting the main deflector dish and housing with a clear resin rather than the milky white or transparent blue versions.

So, even though you may not see a lot of new pics these last few weeks, there has still been a lot of prep-work being done to beautify these models. As I complete them, I will add more pics. Keep checking the site. You won't be disappointed.

~Mark~

In this update I've begun the building of the Flight deck pieces for the Hanger. I've started to build and assemble the Chase lighting effect or landing lights. I realize that this type of lighting was not seen in TMP, but my client asked me to add anything to the models that would enhance it's realism. I've already opaqued 2 of the decks and tested this lighting effect to see how it would look, and I think it works very nicely. In my next updat I will include a small video to show you the effects. Right now I have to finish opaqueing the 3rd flight deck, then paint it it's appropriate color, then add the landing strip details. After that I'll post the effect.

In other news, I've started on the Officer's Lounge piece. This piece is not going to look like the PLE officers lounge. I've been studying some stills from ST:TMP and building my lounge according to the movie. On the PL piece the viev screens are huge and out of scale with the lounge. I've made mine a lot closer to what is seen in the movie. Many of the walls in the movie are actually paneled walls in what appears to be a very light tan color. When you see DR McCoy in the shot, behind him are some more chairs, tables and a couch, and behind the couch are windows. They appear dark but I believe. at least in my version, that it is because no one is in the lower lounge area. You will be able to see through these windows on my version and will also be able to see the right side view screen some-what, whereas the wall on the PLE version almost completely blocks out that screen, being a solid wall.

By my next update I should be able to show you a painted Hanger Deck, possibly one of the Officers lounges finished, I'll have the molds done for these pieces as well as the Botony deck and I will be starting on the the Crew Rec-Deck. I've really been looking forward to building this piece because it is very intricate and is on of my favorite set pieces in the movie. I only wish that that had shown a lot more of it on the screen including a better view of the Warp Nacell outside the rec-deck windows that was barely seen in the movie.

See you next update!

~Mark~

As promised I have a lot of updates for The DeBoers Projects. This time there are 28 new pics of a lot of progress that has been made. Photos 69 to 96 are all new and they begin on page 2 of the DeBoers Project photo album. I have finished casting all of the pieces for the Hanger deck and they are now opaqued and painted their appropriate colors. I've added the turbo lift tubes and scratch built the railings for the catwalks surrounding the cargo bay area. I now I promised a video of the lighting effects for the landing deck, But I ran into a fitting problem. Because the DeBoers models are all individually cast they all have variances in the thickness of the hull so I have to shave a lot of these problem areas down and it's taking some extra time to get this done. But for sure I will have something for you the next updat which won't be too long from now.

I've also continued work on the Botany section. I've added some walls and other details and am now begining the landscaping of 3 of these bays. One for each of the Enterprise models. This part is actually kind of fun. I'm beginning to see why model railroading is a big hit.

I've also made the Crew rec deck. This is a very complicated piece because there are so many different shapes to it and a whole lot of furnature to be put into it as well. I'm starting to get the hang of the resin casting and I now have 3 complete piece castings for the entire rec deck, 3 castings of the botany deck and 4 castings of the officers lounge. All of these pieces will of course need to be painted and detailed and that will be in a future update. I will also work on that video of the lighting effects for the hanger. It's all starting to move now. The tough part is making the masters for the molding process. After the molds are made it gets much easier to make these pieces.

Let me know what you think of the progress.

~Mark~

_________________

Hi I just finished up one of the botany deck pieces. I just have to do a little touch-up work and add a few benches. But for the most part this piece is just about complete. Let me know what you think.
Mark



 

Those are nice.  How well will you be able to see them through the ports?

m@

Well, I've put them inside the model and you can see a lot of the stuff in there from different angles. I'll get a few pics of that and post 'em here soon. You won't be able to see everything, but at least you'll know it's in there if you could.

Mark

Thanks Mark!  I'm looking forward to those pictures. :)

 Okay, I forgot to post an overhead shot of the Botany deck so you can get an idea as to how similar it is to the PLE piece, only it's a lot larger. I also added some pics with this piece inside the hull of the ship. Not as clear as I would like, but I'll work that out later with the proper lighting.
 Click on the pics to enlarge.
Mark.

_________________

Hi everyone,

I have several update pics in the photo Gallery. I've begun airbrushing the Rec-Deck, Officer's Lounge and a few other pieces. I'll be adding a few plants here and there inside these pieces, but more than likely they will not be viewable when they are placed inside the ships. But finally most of the interior work is getting finished up and I can begin working on the Outsides of the ships. Which I am looking forward to very much. I know there hasn't been too much news about the Reliant as of yet, but some of these pieces will be used in Reliant as well as Enterprise. I will be scratch-building a few corridors for a few of the other viewports but for the most part I am winding up on the interiors. The Reliant doesn't have the huge viewport windows to look into like Enterprise, so there isn't the need for as many interiors. I am putting the officer's lounge in Reliant because, believe it or not there are viewports on the back of the ship. On another Reliant build it was pointed out about the location of the officer's lounge. I went over all of the shots of Reliant in STII:TWOK and sure enough there was one pull-away shot through the ship's roll-bar where there were 4 light-gray windows in about the exact same position of the Enterprises only they were a lot smaller. So they are there and this is why I'm including the lounge in the Reliant model. There will be a few more pics of the interiors that I'm finishing up and then soon I can begin working on the ships hulls. See you next update.

Mark

What a month this has been! A lot of problems encountered with these builds, but eventually they were smoothed out and fixed. I've added a couple of pics for the Enterprise this month. I have to tell you it's been a tough month though. First I had problems with an order of 3mm yellow LEDs that I needed for the thruster effects. They kept sending me the wrong size and the wrong color LED which was becoming a problem and putting me seriously behind on my updating. Next I had one of the lighting circuits go out on me and it was difficult to isolate the problem, but I managed to finally find out what was going wrong with it an repaired that with no problem. I also managed to break 2 of the fluorescent tubes that light the warp engines..... GAAAAAH! Now I'm in the process of epoxying the engine halves together which is no easy task because of the nature of the epoxy and it's curing time. At first I tried to epoxy the entire engine pieces together in one shot, but found this to be way too messy and cumbersome and it left a few gaps I didn't count on. So in order to avoid the mess I decided to epoxy only small sections at a time. First, I'm epoxying the fron't and rear of the nacell then clamping those together over night to ensure agood bond. Then with 2 exacto blades I apply the epoxy to the top seam only. I use one knife to hold the seam apart then apply the epoxy with the other knife, clamp it together and let it bond over night. I repeat the same with the bottom seam. This allows me to avoid a lot of mess by doing it a little at a time. The pictures I've added show that I've used an abundance of epoxy to make sure the seam is over-filled. This will minimize the need for a whole lot of putty later on. But at least now I have the Warp nacells assembled. I will begin smoothing these out and preparing them for opaquing and their final paint job.

I really should have gone over the assembly instructions a little slower. It does say very clearly that this is not a model to be rushed or assembled in one night. Not that I've been trying to go that route, but I would have thought maybe just that tiny iota molecule sized bit of "faster" progress would help just a wee bit. Sometimes you have to step back and tack a breather or two to collect your thoughts and strength to re-group and get back into it again.... which I have.... Feel much bettrer now that I've solved a few problems.

The real problem with these kits is there are no guide tabs to line up the pieces so you have to be very careful when assembling this type of kit. I've read in other forums about those who have built these models and have had the same reaction as to the dificulty level. Some of the pieces don't line up exactly so there is some improvising to be done. I'm not complaining... Just venting. I myself can't wait to see them finished that's why I keep plugging along. Any thoughts on this are welcome. I should be ready to start putty work and a lot of sanding by the next update, then I can start opaqueing and final painting on these warp nacell pieces. See you soon!

Mark.

stunning build! those runway lights! WOW

park details are excellent. The mirror was a great idea.

Man, I'm speechless.  That is damned impressive. 

Warp Nacell Update for 07/31/11
I Apologize for not posting anything for a while, but let me assure I have been extremely busy on these ships. As of now I am working on the most difficult part of building these models and that's the starting of the AZTEC Pattern for the Engines. In the DEBOERS ENTERPRISE update I've sprayed the basecoating of FLAT WHITE on all of the endines and pylons, then I began with the first of up to 5 different colors I will be using for the AZTEC patterns. I have also started on the basic "Lightning bolt pattern" for the support pylons as well as the masking off of the first color that will be needed for the complicated shading of the engines and so forth. It takes about 3 hours per engine just to start this pattern off. To date I've completed the masking of all of the Port Side engines on the Enterprise models. Now I will be doing the reverse pattern on all of the starboard engines. I had a tough time deciding on what exact pattern would be for the pylons because even though there are many great pics of the filming miniature's details around many different parts of the ship, there are very few clear ones of the support pylons. So I had to scour the movies again, finally finding a good or at least a half way decent shot while the Enterprise is in Drydock. (Thank gooness for ST:TMP) The shot is about 3-4 seconds long but it showed enough of what I needed to get started. There are 5 new pics in this album #'s 133-138.

Mark

Well, this month has sure been a productive one! I've spent the last 30 days or more doing nothing but masking and painting the Aztec patterns on the Warp Nacells and support pylons of the (3) Enterprise models. I've put 4 different colors on each of the engines so there were three different maskings that needed to be done. After all four colors were finished I had to removethe masks which takes about an hour and a half per side. There are 6 of these engines, so I will be doing this a little at a time over the next week or so. I will need to do some minor touch-ups to these engines, fix a few cracks and chips in the seams and paint, then I can finish all the flush vents, intakes, control thrusters and other parts that need detailing and paint. I will also be adding some small domes for the strobes on the top rears of the engines. Then I can add the decals that go on the back ends of the nacells. All around, the paint jobs are turnng out well. Please feel free to leave feedback and let me know what you think!

After the engines are finished I will begin work on the engineering hulls which I think will be a lot easier than the engines and there are only 3 that I need to finish rather than 6. See you next update!

Mark

 

In this update, I've added 15 new pics to the Enterprise album. It took about 2 weeks to mask off all of the engines for the detailing work. I've added 3 new colors as you will see, plus I did touch-up work on the warp nacell grills. I think the pics turned put good. Next I'll have to paint the front nacell grills copper, the inside stripe on the pylons will have 2 more shades of gray added to finish off that detail. There is some putty work that needs to be done on the basses of the pylons then I will put a very thinned out off-white color over the Aztec pattern to tone it down just slightly. It will look sharp when it's finished. Then I can add the decals to the rear of the engines. I've made my home page so that you can access the DeBoers Enterprise project from the side bar on the left. The new pics are on page 3 pics 149-163. Let me know what you think!
Mark

Big update this month! I have added 16 new pics to the Enterprise album! A lot of energy and work have gone into these engines and I'm happy to say that other than a few pieces that will be added later on, the Engines are all basically done!

In the Enterprise update, I've had to spray the entire engines with a very light and thinned out coat of off white. This will tone down the Aztec colors just a little bit but will allow the sublte shapes of the Aztecing to show through. I've also painted up all of the misc. details such as the inside stripes that run up the support pylons. This took 3 different colors to make the stripe look perfect, Then I've added the decals which in this case are only 2 decals to the rear of the engines. The only thing I need to add to these now are the small domes for the warp crystals and the strobes on the rear ends of engines. So now I can finally put these in mothballs for a while and start working on the next part of this project, which I'm looking forward to, and that will be the "Engineering Hull". At least in this case there are only 3 pieces to work on, so the updates might be a little closer together.The new pics are on page 3 of the Enterprise album pics 164 - 179.

See you next update!!!!

Mark

Well, everyone! This has been a busy year for me. The projects are coming along nicely and I feel I'm gaining some momentem. Unfortunately because of my peak season which will be starting sometime this week, I'm afraid I won't have much time or energy or the will to do much on these projects for the next two weeks or so. However, I've been able to get a lot of things accomplished since the last update. Noteably:

In the Enterprise build: I've added 26 new pics starting on page 3 slide 180 thru page 4 slide 205. I've begun working on the engineering hull. Like the warp engines there is a ton of putty and sanding work that needs to be done and redone. The bottoms of the hulls are the worst parts. They have a little bit of a valley in them which makes it very difficult for a nice smooth and rounded finish. I've had to fill in the old mounting holes on the 2 shipd that will be mounted from the saucer section in the drydocks and the other ship needed a larger bore hole for the mounting rod that will be used for the Mutara Nebula diorama. I have also added some new nacell mounting holes for when the engines are finally attached to the hull. I'm also going to add the lighting effects that are seen on wither side of the travel pod docking ports. To do this I had to drill out the old hatch doors and have rebuilt my own doors so that I can re-cast them in clear resin to allow for the small but interesting lighting effect.

Recasting a LOT of parts. This model was not inteded for lighting that is for sure. That is why all of the port holes need to be drilled out. But also, there are other pieces that need to be redone. So far I've recast the torpedo launching tubes, the lighting housing for underneath the fantail, the strobe light covers or domes for the flashing light effects, the airlock piece which I built at the begining of this project and have now finally got around to casting it into a single piece. I only need two of these pieces, that's why it took so long to get to. And finally the largest piece I've had to cast: the main deflector dish and the dish housing. This too was originally to be done as two seperate pieces, but I didn't like the way the hole drilling was turning out and I do not want it to look like a drilled them out either. So I recast these two pieces into one clear resin piece. I will then follow a technique that was used while building the Spacedock in STIII:TSFS where the entire plexiglass model was first painted over and then all of the spots that were supposed to be windows or portholes where lightly scratched off to allow the interior lighting to come through. I tried this on a scrap piece and it works out beautifully. I will have pics of this later on.

I just have a few more small things to add onto the engineering hull by way of detailing and then I will be ready to begin the painting which I am looking forward to doing.

Well, that's it for this update. Please be safe everyone. I will see you in 2012!

Take care, Mark

As mentioned in my last update I have updated some of the features on my site to help make it easier for Members and Visitors to find my latest updates without having to search though too many photos. Starting this month, you will be able to go directly to the current updates by clicking on the UPDATES FOR JANUARY 2012 page on the left hand sidebar. I will probably leave 2 or 3 months worth on the homepage and then move them to the appropriate pages later on.
Also thanks to everyone who has visited my site. Last month My 100th member joined in. Don't be afraid to join up! More are always welcome!

Now for my first update this year, I've been doing some refining of the details on the secondary hull. I've added all of the re castings of the Travel Pod Doors and epoxied them in place, next the will be prepaired for opaqueing and painting. I've also started working on how to put the lenses on some of the lighting effects. In this case it will be the Lighting ouside the Hanger bay. My solution was to drill the holes out, then add clear resin into the cavities. Not a very easy process, but after the work is done it looks pretty sharp. I've taken a couple of pics to show what the lighting effects will turn out like in the secondary hull. The same goes true for the Thrusters. I've decided to cut out the wedges on the tops and bottoms of the saucers and re-insert them with clear epoxy resin pieces. Right now I'm still making the molds for these parts and I should have the first of them done in a few weeks. In the meantime, I've also been casting several clear and white resin shuttle craft that I will be using for the hangers and also the Drydock model for when I start on that project. So stay tuned. I will be opaquing the secondary hull in the up-coming weeks and then I can start on the Aztecing for the Secondary Hull.

See you next month.

Mark

I have 16 new pics in the February update. I have spent a lot of the last month trying to smooth out the Engineering Hull. Ive been re-shaping a lot of the viewports and adding places for new lighting effects both to the Travel Pod Air-lock doors as well as the Hanger Deck. All of this is done in preparation for the Aztec patterns that will soon be added. To help protect some of the etched lines in the hull as welll as add some detailing I have begum masking out all of these lines and details. This process takes about 2-1/2 hrs per side. The pics in this months update show all of the detailed masking. I will then begin adding different shapes to different parts of the hull to begin some of the Aztec work.

Other updates this month include the spraying of the Main Deflector dish and housing piece which will also have some Aztecing put into it. Also I've sprayed the Bridge pieces in preparation for their detailing work. By the next update I hope to have at last 2 more color shades added to these pieces. See you in next months update.

Mark

This has been an extremely busy month. All of my work has centered on the Secondary Hull and the Strongback detailing. There are 4 different colors added to the Aztec pattern on the engineering section and then they were oversprayed with the final off-white color that will be the ships signature look. The Strong back was a little different though. I used about 6 shades on this part as well as the deflector dish housing. Although the final colors are not on these parts, the Secondary hull is now completely Aztec-ed. There are 26 new pics in the Updates For April page on my website. I mounted the engines on the hull as well as the saucer to get an idea of how everything will look together. Check out the pics and let me know what you think. I will be finishing up the Strong back as well as the front part of the Deflector dish for next month's update. I will start assembling the Hanger deck, the botany Deck and some of the wiring for the engines. I will also finally begin to work on the Saucer section. So stay tuned and I will see you next month!

Mark