New Star Trek Sorta-Kinda Build.

[deathjester]

Looking nice!  Have you managed to find suitable donor kits yet?  And have you thought about lighting your creation?   There will be lots of spare room inside it - may as well put it to use! 

[Go4fun]

Sure thing deathjester. I found the Pegasus Jupiter 9 space ship to build 90% of the ship from. I'll use the Hindenburg end to cap the rear where the main engins were and the fins for the two engines for the forward section.
As for the saucer section some messurements to see what I need size-wise thyen it's off to the dollar store to find dishes or saucers that fit my needs.
The rest will (Hopefully!!!!) fall into place. That includes lights as it will simply beg for them.
The Jupiter is 1:350 while the Hindenburg is 1:720 but I'm thinking the ship will scale out about 1:1500. Still in all a big piece of kit.

[deathjester]

That sounds great!  The scale will be roughly similar to Polar Lights kits.  If you look up 'Modular Models' on the interweb, you'll see that they provide some great detail parts for scratchbuilds / kit conversions.

Have you lit a model before?  I'm sure we could give you some great tips if not!

Really looking forward to seeing this one finished...

[Go4fun]

That sounds great!  The scale will be roughly similar to Polar Lights kits.  If you look up 'Modular Models' on the interweb, you'll see that they provide some great detail parts for scratchbuilds / kit conversions.

Have you lit a model before?  I'm sure we could give you some great tips if not!

Really looking forward to seeing this one finished...

DJ thanks for the Polar Lights tip. I'll look into it.

The only kit I've lit before was a 1:12th scale Richard Petty 1973 Charger with the clear body shell. I painted half the body split length-wise down the middle, used Day Glo colors on the cage, interior, trunk and engine bay. The I lit it with two blacklights so I guess that would be 'Back lighting'.  I [i[did[/i] do N-Scale trains and scenery and had a lot of fun(?) figuring out how to get all the lighting right for night operations. Others in my club loved running on my layout so I must have done something right.  But I will ask for tips, believe me.
I'm looking forward into starting this build myself.

[Go4fun]

UPDATE.
I finally got the Hindenburg model but now I await the Mercury 9 Rocket to work out the scale of eah as compared to each other. This will affect which is the main Cargo/Drive section and which is the Command/Landing modual.
Here is the link to the file on the build so far with pictures of the Hindenburg kit and parts.

http://s189.beta.photobucket.com/user/liverite102/library/Princess%20Diana

Note the 12 inch/ 36 mm ruler in the background for scale.

[The Wooksta!]

1200th is the usual scale for most Trek kits - the AMT Enterprice C, D and E plus most of the entire Starcraft range is to that scale.

[Go4fun]

I wasn't planning on using the Hindenburg shell as I thought it would work out to be too big. The thin bothering me is those darned raised ridges on the hull. If I sand them away I end up with something very thin. If I fill them it will weigh a ton!
I wonder if there is a way to sort of hide a lot of this and use other parts of the ridges?
This is going to be one weird looking ship by Trek standards, but HEY! It's a freaking freighter! How smooth does a sub-Warp ship have to be? Here is the link to the whole album so far:

<div style="width:480px;text-align:right;"><embed width="480" height="360" src="http://pic2.pbsrc.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf" flashvars="rssFeed=http%3A%2F%2Ffeed189.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz102%2Fliverite102%2FPrincess%2520Diana%2Ffeed.rss" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" /><a href="javascript:void(0);" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_geturs.gif" style="border:none;" /></a><a href="http://s189.beta.photobucket.com/user/liverite102/library/Princess%20Diana" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_viewall.gif" style="border:none;" alt="liverite102&#039;s Princess Diana album on Photobucket" /></a></div>

[Mossie]

Skin it? Use thin plastic sheet, and cut sections to match the corrugations.  It'll be laborious and you'll have to fill and sand the joins.

Filler might not weigh too much in the end?  Alternatively, use gap filling superglue to fill.  It's lighter than normal filler and doesn't shrink so will sand to a smooth finish.  You'll probably need to build up it in several layers.

[Go4fun]

So I got the second kit and what a difference!


The Mercury 9 is 1:350th and is 7 & 1/8 inches (18mm) long by 2 & 1/4 inches (55.7mm) wide. That is just the main body.
Hindenburg is 1:720 and is roughly 12.5 inches long by2 & 1/4 inches wide at the widest.



I am most interested in the 'Hindy's" tail cone or nose cone though. How will one or the other graft on?


Hmmmmm