Aztecing Question

This subject was brought sometime ago, and someone posted a link to information written by the artist who originally did the aztec pattern on the 11' motion picture model. My only concern using a vinyl "mask", is after each step you should smooth down the lines created by paint "surface tensioning" up the edges of the mask.

The first release of the "motion picture era" Enterprise, had the pattern sort of cast on the hulls, and engines, and really didn't look good. On  my  Kodiak/Kodiac, NCC-6000 (jackill's has both spellings)class battleship, I chose not to attempt the aztec pattern. As I recall it was a combination of faint tinting, and level of gloss, that made the pattern what it was.

I have used the vinyl masks with excellent results.  I used flat white topcoat with a base coat of one bottle of flat white + 25 drops of light ghost grey.  It came out fine, of course its not exactly like the shimmering pearlescent effect seen in the motion picture, but it was toned down to shades of white, grey, bluish white, etc. for star trek II onward as there were too many light kick offs from the original paint job. Since I'm modeling the enterprise-a it looks just fine to me.  As for using the masks, make sure the undercoat is absolutely dry, and, the technique that works best for me is to remove each mask from the backing paper, put it on my hand and then onto the model.  This applies just enough of the oils from the back my hand to take the stickiness down to about half of what it is straight from the backing paper.  It's then much easier to take off the model, and much less likely to mar the paint job.

Have fun with it, hope to see some pics when it's done!

David

Kugai's advice is spot on.

The only other advice I'd add is to vary your colours as well when you're pre-shading.  The original refit model was painted with a variety of blues, greens, and even reds.

If you're building a movie-era ship, I recommend using variations of blue, green, grey, and silver when doing your pre-shading.  Hit it with flat white afterwards to blend in the preshading.  You'll get a much better sense of scale this way than just applying the masks to a white hull.

Good luck!

I've never used the vinyl masks, and only done a little experimentation with adding hull plating effects, but I do have a few suggestions.

With all due respect to ap me, I do like the sense of scale a well-done aztec pattern adds to a model.  The catch is that the masks still have a regular pattern to them and fellow modelers are familiar enough with it that it's lost its effectiveness at appearing "random."  Unless you're building a TNG-era ship, aztec alone won't match the on-screen appearance.

To match the look of the movie-era ( ST:I-VI ) hulls, what's needed is an added bit of work.  Preshading randomly-placed radiating bands on the saucer ( and other patterns as needed to match the different patterns on other areas ) that mesh with the notches of the aztec, and follow-up layers after with andomly-placed rectangles, will break up the aztec's regular pattern to better match the on-screen appearance than aztec alone.

Have fun with the project, whatever techniques you decide on, and I look forward to seeing the results!

sorry, but i have seen aztecking for a couple of years.  i truly think it sux.  i will never use it and i think it is a gross waste of time and money.........although, that is just my opinion.  good luck