Drop_Bear's Build: Reimagined Enterprise (WITHDRAWN)

[DefiantClient]

Came across fine to me. Sounds like you're itching to get started. Is this worldbuilding exercise for D&D or a similar game or is it just for funsies? I've had a few abandoned campaigns where I started to flesh out interesting worlds, but they never got far.

[Drop_Bear]

I plan and write stories for my own amusement. The worldbuilding is for settings and for fun. I like never-ending narratives that focus on everyday events in fantastic settings. Imagine if Harry Potter was about Harry going to Hogwarts, attending his classes, chatting with his friends, and having very normal adventures. It'd be a story made up of many dozens of short stories.

And yes, I'm itching to get started. That obvious is it?

[Drop_Bear]

I took the kit parts out and sorted them today. Boring as batplop, I know, but at least you know I'm still prepping for my build and not on a month-long bender in Bosnia and Herzegovia.

Kind of wish I could afford to be, though...




Proof of date.



I have sorted the parts I need and put them in a tin for safekeeping. Most of them come from the Space Seed kit. I knew that it has extra pieces so you can build the different versions of the Enterprise, but I was surprised by just how many extra parts there are. There are enough components to build two complete pairs of nacelles!



I have a nice pile of useful little bits to add to my parts stash. Over the moon about this.

[Kremin]

I have a nice pile of useful little bits to add to my parts stash. Over the moon about this.

Always a win

[Drop_Bear]

Oy. Don't you just hate it when the weather conspires against you? I had planned to take a short holiday this week, but heavy rain last week forced me to make new plans. So guess what the weather is like where I am? Overcast. Overcast with the occasional shower.

Oh, well. What can you do?

Anyway, here is the first bit of progress on my Enterprise. Like some of the newbuild steam locomotive projects happening in the United Kingdom, I have chosen to start on something big and obvious; I'm puttying the deflector grid on the saucer. For this I'm using Tamiya Putty. I think most people have special tools to apply it, but not me; I use paper as pallettes and scraps of styrene as disposable spatulas. It works. Not very well, I admit, but it works.




I did try and be methodical about it, but I found that layering the putty over the entire saucer works just as well and takes less time.



And after two days and three puttying and two sanding sessions this is where I am now. You will notice that I have made marks every fifteen degrees around the top of the saucer. Why, I can't say for sure. Mostly I figure I will need these reference points later.

[Drop_Bear]

I made the first real modifications to the Refit parts today. I started by removing the impulse deck from the top half of the saucer. This was dead easy. I used a hand saw to make a long cut either side of the impulse deck, back to the fifth ring of the deflector grid, and twisted it off. Next, I filled the hole by layering pieces of 0.35 mm sheet styrene; two layers on the underside of the hull and three layers inside the hole.







After that I modified the B/C deck to accept the TOS bridge modules. Unlike the Refit module, which is attached by means of two small tabs, these have a peg sticking out the bottom which slots into a hole. I began by marking the outside of the ridges that locate the stock bridge and then removing them with a chisel. After working out where the TOS bridge module should sit I drilled a small cluster of pilot holes with a pin vice and used a knife to make an initial hole. Using the knife and a chisel I made the hole larger and sort of rounder until I could fit a piece of sandpaper and a finger in it. After that it was a matter of sanding the hole to make it larger and more circular until the new bridge slotted into place. You will notice that the Pilot bridge module sits pretty much where the Refit one does. It is just held in with friction at the moment; I won't glue it until later on, in case I change my mind and decide to use the shorter Series version module.





While I was admiring my handiwork I fancied I might fabricate an itty bitty bridge to go under the dome. You know, like on the bigger 1:350 TOS kit. Maybe it's just the the cold I'm currently enjoying, but I think it would be a ridiculous amount of work for almost no reward. It would look totally boss, though, don't you think?

[trekriffic]

While I was admiring my handiwork I fancied I might fabricate an itty bitty bridge to go under the dome. You know, like on the bigger 1:350 TOS kit. Maybe it's just the the cold I'm currently enjoying, but I think it would be a ridiculous amount of work for almost no reward. It would look totally boss, though, don't you think?

A bridge that small would be pretty distorted when viewed thru the cuvature of the dome; even if building it didn't drive you insane . You know, you could always go the decal route. I just happen to have about 9 of these 1/1000 scale bridge decals in my possession:

Bridge Decal by trekriffic, on Flickr

They were included in a set of additional starship decals that JT Graphics put out some years ago.
If you want one, send me a PM with your name and address and I'll drop it in the mail.

Cheers!

[DefiantClient]

I love the bridge idea. There's ways to make the dome more translucent, but the decal route sounds like it could be the best bet with the least hassle.

[Moongrim]

Thanks, but I've got plenty of them.

What I did for mine that I used, instead of using it as a decal, I cut it out, and 'dropped' it into the clear bridge dome. Thus anyone who took the time to look into it from above would see the details. (Glued in).

[Drop_Bear]

That's a great idea, Moongrim. I have taken Trekriffic up on his kind offer, so I will investigate doing that.

Sorry about the lack of progress, guys. I ended up being sick in bed for a week and I have been distracted by other interests, and by Peanuts, which I am reading for the first time. Did you know you can read it online for free? Legally, too! https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1950/10/02,Here is the link (some of the strips are missing, though). So far, in the last three weeks I have managed to read from the beginning, October 02, 1950, to September 04, 1977. At the rate I'm going I will have read fifty years of daily comic strips by July!

Anyway, I will try and force myself to do something with my Enterprise in the next couple of days.