Star Trek: 3 Piece U.S.S. Enterprise Set; 1/2500; Stock # 6618

I would use a white primer, as it will make the lighter colors stand out more. As for painting on the sprue, that is a topic of debate for most modelers. I prefer to paint in sub-assemblies, as it makes it easier to get an overall feel for the color scheme. In addition, you don't have to touch up as much as you would by painting on the sprue. However, if done on-sprue, at least you have a convenient handle...

demono69

I have never been a fan of painting on the sprue. I would much rather get some of the "handling" out of the way before I apply the paint. Airbrushed finishes are moderately durable but still susceptable to scratching, rubbing and all manner of other accidents, especially gloss colors. The less you touch the parts after painting, the better.

White has always been my favorite primer color.

-Mark

Thanks for the speedy replies. I am going to paint in enamel because I have never painted in acrylic and don't even own an airbrush. Is that going to make it more difficult?

Well, for me, enamel always produced better results than acrylic. It doesn't matter if I used the airbrush or a regular bristle brush (or even a spray can). For some reason the enamel always turned out a smoother finish and was easier to apply successfully. Now, cleanup is a different story. You can't beat the ease of water wash-up with acrylics. Now that I have experience with both types, I use acrylics for opaque flat colors and enamels for all my clearcoat, metal flake, gloss, and metallic colors.

As far as the airbrush is concerned, for any surface area larger than a few square inches I *strongly* suggest the use of an airbrush or, at least, a spray can. It is much easier to get a nice finish free from brush marks if you spray the paint somehow. If you are curious about airbrushing there are probably a hundred different topics on the subject in the other forums here.

-Mark

Thanks to all for your replies. I am still reading them and looking forward to more replies as to priming or not and whether enamel is best or acrylic. I have no experience with acrylic and am just now washing the model to remove mold release oils and plan to use Plastruct to remove the residual oils because I noticed this particular model is very slick and oily. I'm thinking of leaving the parts from the two smaller ships on the sprue and priming them there but taking the large ship off the sprue and file away all the chaf before I prime so that I won't have to file after I have primed and possibly have to re-prime because of any bald spots or plastic dust adhesion. I hope I'm doing it the right way.

Hey gang, I made a mistake in the above reply when I referred to the plastic cleaner as "Plastruct." I should have said "Polly S Plastic Prep" by Floquil. Sorry for the mistake. Now, let me get myself to my work table and start doing what I've been talking about for months.

This question is for demono69 and memeau: I will prime in white and I have already taken the parts of one of the smaller ships off the sprue so I can get a feel for the fit and so I can work in subassemblies as you put it, however, there are things such as nacells which come in two parts and I would like some advice: do you prime and paint before you assemble something that comes in two parts, that is, a right and left side to a part, or do you assemble the thing and then prime and paint it? Hope this question doesn't sound too silly. I ask because I really don't know and I want to do a good job.

I usually paint the interior of any clear plastic first, then assemble the nacelles, then paint the whole ship-- to get that "overall" one-color finish. Any additional detail can be added to the whole ship after final hull coloring.

Polyphenus: Thank you for the reply to my question; your advice will be remembered when I come across the clear parts. I assume you mean parts that are actually "clear" and not just light in color?

mannyhern--

Yes, I meant clear plastic parts, i.e. windshields, canopies, and the pieces of the larger scale starship warp nacelles. I did this painting trick for the Runabout I built once and it turned out very nice. A small light bulb inside the nacelles would have given the appearance of them being lit as in the TV shows...

Good luck and I'd love to see pics of the finished products. :)

mannyhern,

One of my general rules for modeling is: Assemble first, then paint. This method becomes very important in cases where you may need to fill and sand any gaps or creases between parts. This happens a LOT with AMT/ERTL's sci-fi kits. I like to glue the pieces together, putty or otherwise fill the seams, sand and smooth, and only then put on some paint. This way you won't ruin your paint job with all the sanding that you know you'll have to do.

I can think of at least two more advantages to painting after gluing:

1. Paint reveals hidden cracks, seams, gaps and crevices that you may not have known were there. A primer coat after construction is useful not only to prepare the kit for the final color but to reveal these otherwise hidden flaws. Once you see them, you can fix them!

2. Glue will NOT stick to paint. If you paint the parts before gluing you run the risk of getting paint on the gluing surfaces. If this happens then you need to scrape and sand all the joints prior to gluing; an extra step which may have been avoided by gluing first.

Of course, these are only suggestions but they work for me and I learned the techniques in FSM!! Hope they help. Let me know when you're ready to talk about masking...

Mark

Thank you to polyphenus and memeau (Mark). All of your suggestions will be printed, reread and read again, and hopefully, absorbed. I really appreciate you all taking the time to respond. Mark: you can begin giving me all your sage wisdom anytime you have time. I have a lot of masking materials already: I have the 3M Parafilm, tapes in various widths and the paint-on masking agent from MicroMark. Now, ask me if I've used them yet! I too subscribe to FSM but can't seem to make time to read them and when I do, I usually fall asleep because it's the end of the day and I'm in bed. Besides, I live in NYC and there are so many damn distractions in this city that I get distracted. What I really need is discipline the way I had when I was a teen and used to make a model every two or three weeks, only I didn't have all the paints and exotic materials we have today. Anyway, ready when you are.

Okay, I can think of a couple of quick things about masking with maybe more to follow later. I have had only bad experiences with "magic" tape. It would probably work okay if you removed it from your kit quickly after painting but I used to leave the tape on too long. Eventually, the adhesive sticks better to the model than to the plastic part of the tape! I messed up a couple of finishes that way...

Regular masking tape or "freezer" tape used to be my favorite. It is what I used to mask all the crazy aztec patterns on the hull of my Enterprise-D. I remember being very careful to use a sharp knife to cut the tape because of it's tendency to fray at the edges under a dull knife. Masking tape can be too thick, too, especially if you need it to snuggle down into recessed areas.

I, too, recently picked up some Parafilm and some liquid mask, but haven't used them yet. I hope they work well. Have you ever tried masking with rubber cement?

Keep us updated on your projects!

Good luck,

Mark

mannyhern--

Hey-- the help is no problem. I'm glad my own limited experiences could be of some assistance. In regards to masking, I, too, have had similar problems with so-called "magic" tape. The adhesive magically sticks to the model and not to the tape! I used masking tape but I guess I didn't trim the edge with a sharp knife. The paint edge was a little blurry and not so defined. I've seen (but never tried) the masking stuff by Testor's. Does anybody know if this works well? Rubber cement sounds like a good idea. It should just peel right off, huh?

Yeah, rubber cement works okay but be sure to check it before you apply the paint. The cement "mask" actually shrunk on me a couple of times.

Mark

Be warned I used some liquid mask on a robot kit i was building [a Zoid Blade Liger to be exact] and I often use Dupli-color automotive touch up spray paints on all of my glossy models. they have a large selection of colors and i don't use an airbrush. Anyway i found that with Testors Model Masters enamels in the rattle can the liquid mask worked great. But with the Dupli-color i couldn't even get the mask to peel off![:0]
Not only that it totally ruined my cockpit windsheild![:0] After poking and lifting and scraping with an exacto knife I was finally able to get it off the clear part and i found that the paint/liquid mask combo had some how made deep "scratches" in the window [beleive me they were NOT from the hobby knife] and the window was now practically opaque! My wife was looking at me like "What the hell is wrong with you?" because of the expression of horror i had on my face. I was highly ticked! Anyway, after I got this crap off the window, I recalled someone in forums mentioning Future floor polish can help marred windows and since I had been experimenting with it for about a week i had nothing to lose by dipping it. I dipped the window in some Future and like magic the Marring was almost totally gone![At least it was no longer noticable.] So once again the info in these forums saved my a$$ bigtime. Anyway long story short liquid mask works with some enamels but not all, so be warned. [Now that i think about it i believe auto paint is a "laquer"[sp?] but I have no idea what the difference is between that an enamel.]

That brings to mind another mishap I experienced. A few years ago I built Monogram's 1/48 MiG-29 Fulcrum kit and used Testor's Model Master Gray (don't remember which shade) from the spray can for the first coat of paint. I must have put it on too thick because after the paint dried I found deep "scratches" in the kit wherever the paint touched. It was almost as if the paint had melted into the plastic like acid! It was a total disaster.

The lesson I learned: Apply several light coats of paint, not one heavy coat.

yep, weirdest dern thing i had ever seen. Looks just like straight lines or rather gouges and theyare all parallel. Go figure. the modleing Gods or devils work in mysterious ways indeed.

Hello to Memeau and Polyphenus. Went back to our original notes and your suggestions on how to get this model done and I can't believe it was back in November that we communicated. Tempus Fugit! Was re-reading the notes last night and I noticed a gentleman named MartianGundarmModeler had a few good observations and suggestions about masking and rubber glue as a masking agent. Still procrastinating about making the model and since it was for wife's cousin and I wanted it to be perfect, I actually contacted this fellow whose website shows some remarkable work. He lives in Canada and he wanted $250. US so I said to myself "self, you can make this and save your $250.' But I have to admit, he makes some really dynamite models. I forget his website but I was looking at the Cultman website at the same time and I think there's a link to his website there. Anyway, I'll eventually get to it, hopefully. I'm trying to find a modelers club anywhere near NYC. Any suggestions.