Taj' class scout

[mophius]

Not quite finished yet but a little run down as to where I am with this one and how I got there.

So Tesral advertised this as his last one and I whipped it out of his grasp. Lovely little Klingon scout in an almost Bird of Prey stance for cruising. (I am unsure if wings are repositionable)
So I started with an etch primer to give the base colour a good hold. (Full-size pics in Mo's Shipyard)

DSC_0036.JPG (25.72 KiB) Viewed 1832 times

DSC_0037.JPG (25.78 KiB) Viewed 1832 times

So then I cleaned up some edges around the leading and trailing edges of the wings and around the sides of the neck. I also gouged out some Impulse exhaust ports.

Colour was next. It was a mix of three different greens from the humbrol acrylic range. You could ask which ones and in what proportions but I am still unsure which three it was. It only ended up a touch lighter than my D7 which was a colour straight from the pot.

Next was some detailing. I treated myself to some new colours from Vallejo, some from the Model Colour range ad some from the Model Air range. I tried out some light green chromate which does stand out nicely with one coat. I will out another on soon to get more clarity on it. Then some red on the top of the bridge dome recess.

[el gato]

Nicely done with the subtle color change. Was it hard to work with the metal model?

[Griffworks]

Glad to see someone else building one of these!

[mophius]

Nicely done with the subtle color change. Was it hard to work with the metal model?

The paint still wants to flake off even after the etch primer. You can see this mainly on the underside where the stand hole is but the nacelles also have some signs of poor adhesion. I am not looking forward to matching the paint colour to patch it up.
The metal was ok to file and shave with the hobby knife. The worst part was gouging the impulse exhausts. I was using the hobby knife to cut around the edges then flicking it out from the inside, well, I broke the tip off the knife so had to make do with what I had at that point.

[Griffworks]

Did you thoroughly wash the model before priming and painting it? That might be a part of the problem?

[mophius]

Wash, yes. Thoroughly, maybe not.
The nacelles are understandable as that is where I hold when painting.

[Tesral]

As a long time metal painter a good primer is a must. I like what you are doing with my little ship.

I don't know if it was the last one out of the mold, but it was the last I had. I do not intend to make more.

[mophius]

Only time I touched metal before was 30 years ago with Warhammer miniatures. I can't even remember if I primed them back then or how they fared after.

[el gato]

There's a self-etching primer that I use with some resins and 3D printed models. I think it's by dupli-color. I get it at my local automotive store. The cool thing about the self-etching primer is that it is very thin and bonds really well on smooth surfaces. Might be worth looking into

[mophius]

It was an automotive based etch primer I used although the brand eludes me right now. It went on OK, bubbly at first but then settled flat. I am presuming this is normal for etch primer so that it eats into the metal slightly.

Wing details got another coat of light green chromate and they do look better now.
I just have to decide whether to do the front as a Torp-tube or a deflector and decide on colours accordingly.