I see lots of filler and sandpaper in your near future!  But it is a nice-looking ship, reminds me somehow of the "Spindrift" from Land of the Giants.  I look forward to seeing it done.

Now, go and get that filler

Mustang, I admire your tenacity and willingness to build this kit. I bought this same kit at a swap meet six months ago not really knowing what I was getting myself into. When I opened the box and saw how big it is, I just closed the lid. I passed off the kit to a friend who is an internet reseller. I'm waiting for Modelpalooza in October to find a 1/1000 Polar Lights Defiant kit. Much more my size and speed. Keep us posted as your build progresses. I really want to see how the Defiant looks when you're finished.

..and the build continues.  Worked on the seams using Vallejo putty.  First time using it, not bad.  Have to remember how to work with water based putty versus Tamiya's putty.

SAM_8439 by Darren Keller, on Flickr

SAM_8440 by Darren Keller, on Flickr

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Here are the bussar collectors.

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Awwwwwww cool!!! My third favorite SF ship!!!

Good luck with her!!! I've got the same kit, started work on her years and years ago and got frustrated and put her back in the box and shelfed her.

Okay, so I had to breakdown and use some Tamiya putty for the nacelles and the nose section.  Still coming along alright.  I "attempted"to airbrush Vallejo's Model Air Copper.  yeah, that didn't go so well.  For some reason, I just can not spray their metallic colors.

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Buddy, my hat's off to you; that kit looks just like I remember it when it arrived in the late 90s. Squadron white putty was used throughout the hull halves. I always thought it would have been neat if they had issued this kit in clear plastic like they did with the Enterprise-C as the Yamaguchi. That way we could have done a "cloaked" version.

I thought the USS Excelsior was the best starship kit that AMT/Ertl produced. The Enterprise-B being just as good and the -C/Yamaguchi being close in quality.

Rob Gronovius

Buddy, my hat's off to you; that kit looks just like I remember it when it arrived in the late 90s. Squadron white putty was used throughout the hull halves. I always thought it would have been neat if they had issued this kit in clear plastic like they did with the Enterprise-C as the Yamaguchi. That way we could have done a "cloaked" version.

I thought the USS Excelsior was the best starship kit that AMT/Ertl produced. The Enterprise-B being just as good and the -C/Yamaguchi being close in quality.

 

I have the Enterprise B and the C somewhere in my stash.  I might have to tackle those soon.  :)  Even with the putty it's easy to assemble, just all of those seams! 

Again good luck with it! She looks good!

I've half a mind to find mine, tear her back apart and try to light her. I still have a FSM issue where a guy did a really cool job on his with fiber optic cable and LEDs.

Still fighting th seams, but they are coming along.

SAM_8490 by Darren Keller, on Flickr

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Painting the stand the gold color… hopefully the color will even out as it dries.

 

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She's looking fantastic!!!

The Chief would be proud!

Finally have something to show.  Started to prime the model and worked more on the stand.  Taped off the gold and started to spray the silver down.  Also had to remove the paint on the bussard collectors and redo it, this time using silver as an undercoat instead of black.

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Stand

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Bussard Collectors

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SAM_8513 by Darren Keller, on Flickr

It's good to see her together!

The black undercoat makes her look like she's from the Terran Empire from the Mirror Universe though! (Yeah I know they did have a Defiant and they used the same stock footage so she was the same Federation pale grey). 

Here we go, primer is done and setting and just awaiting the application of the base coat.  The silver is done for the display case.  The bussard collectors look better in person then how the pictures came out.  One thing, I found some tutorials by Don Suratos on how to thin the different Vallejo paints that was a life saver.

SAM_8537 by Darren Keller, on Flickr

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Very nice work!!! 

Coming along nicely!

Thanks for the reference to Don Suratos recipes for thinning Vallejo paints.  It's something I have been experimenting with to get the right consistency. 

Oh those seams!  I cringe just looking at them, but they are still better then what they were when I started the build.  As for the Vallejo putty I used, I am on the fence on how it came out.  Maybe with another build using it I will have a better idea on how I feel about it.  Personally I feel it's operator error! 

As for this build, a couple of coats of the base color have been applied.  A couple more to go.

SAM_8551 by Darren Keller, on Flickr

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Regardless of challenges with the putty I think it is coming along nicely. 

I am just starting to learn how to use putties and gap fillers on my current build and can sympathize.  My model has spots were it worked and others, well not so much.  Puttying seems to be another art to master like painting.

..and the painting continues!  Base color done, now on to the panels.  Currently working on the "B" colors from the instruction sheet.  Plan is to do everything in shades of gray.  Plus this was an good chance to use my new double action airbrush.  So far, I am impressed even if it's a *cough* knock-off. :)

SAM_8568 by Darren Keller, on Flickr

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Great job! The different shades of grey really bring her to life. 

Just rolling along.  I've just about completed to colors labelled B and working on C.  After that it will be on to D, which are all variations of the color gray.  Slight bleed under the tape by the bridge but still happy with the results.  New airbrush is still taking some getting used to but overall I am happy with how things are coming along. 

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Super nice work!!!

It's coming along nicely!  It's amazing how much visual interest is created by adding panels of different shades of grey.

Getting tired of the sight of masking tape yet? ;)

Look forward to your next post!

PhoenixG

It's coming along nicely!  It's amazing how much visual interest is created by adding panels of different shades of grey.

Getting tired of the sight of masking tape yet? ;)

Look forward to your next post!

 

I am so done with masking tape!  At least it didn't strip off some of the paint like my Micro-Mask.  Words were spoken... and I meant them. :)  Working on the last of the gray then I will be addressing the tan panel and then whatever paint corrections.

SAM_8575 by Darren Keller, on Flickr

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Masking tape is one of those boon/bane things.  It makes some things much easier, but it takes a pretty significant upfront investment in time and patience.

I like how the pattern is turning out.  What are you using for reference or is it inspiration?

I am just about to call the painting stage done.  Any little touch ups might have to be done by hand if I can figure out how to apply the paint where it doesn't come off too thick or darker than what was airbrushed.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Already tried thinning my Vallejo paints with Vallejo Airbrush thinner, should I try Vallejo Glaze?

SAM_8585 by Darren Keller, on Flickr

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First off I've been really enjoying following this build.

I use Vallejo paints as well and I found the airbrush thinner to be a bit aggressive and had a tendency to soften the paint below even when well cured.  I haven't used the Glaze Medium but I have used a mixe of Thinner Medium + 1 drop Water + 1 drop paint. Will sometimes substiture Airbrush Flow Improver for the water since it has a drying retarder in it and is not as agressive as the regular airbrush thinner.

Life has kept me away from the bench for the last couple of months and your quandry got me curious and was a good excuse to get back to the bench, so I set up some tests to see how easy/hard it would be to correct.

Hope you don't mind an illustrated guide of my own attempts.

I had a "scrap" model hanging around that I had primed with black and gave it a good coating of "medium sea grey".

I then used a black sharpie to make some additional lines that I would attempt to clean up a little.

I made up a batch of the regular thinned paint with water.  This usually takes a few coats to get a good solid color but has the benefit of leaving near zero in the way of paint ridges.

I could already tell it was was lighter than the rest of the base color.

Sometimes the flat coat will even out the color but it didn't really do much in this case.

I then mixed up another batch of thinned paint.  This time using the Flow Improver and added just a smidge of black to it to darken the paint to better match the underlying black primer.  What's on the toothpick is what I added.  I did that twice. This mix tends to be a little thicker as the Flow Improver has a slightly higher viscosity but still goes down nicely.

Painted that as crossbars for comparison

Looking pretty good.

Hit it with the flat coat and this time the issue was reversed.  The second attempt came out too dark.

I think that with such a dark primer coat this is going to be an issue of too light or dark if try to fix with the base color.  However, you may have more success if the cleanup is done with the other colors you applied on top of the basecoat.

Hope my little test was of some help.

Mustang: Somehow I missed this last post- but fantastic job there! Love how the different panels came out. 

Phoenix: Good luck! Brushing paints on anything other than figures gives me fits! 

... and I shall now call her done!    Interesting build, fun having to deal with decals that were from the 90's hence why some of them have a red sheen.  I am happy with the build.  I was able to get the paint thinned enough to hand brush some places, yet at times I still had to hit it again with the airbrush.  Alot of things learned on this, I am happy with the build yet as with all things, I can see the mistakes but I do hope to do better on the next one. 

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