Making a practice 1/537 model for aztec painting in airbrush, getting ready for 1/350 build

[Tarekcryptor]

First two layers of the 3 layered rear dock are decaled and its fused in place with clear resin instead of super glue because its sandable but maintains transparency. This is roughly fit. I have a lot of cleaning up to do before I ad the final layer and paint the rest of this section.

 

[Tarekcryptor]

View attachment 1936163

First two layers of the 3 layered rear dock are decaled and its fused in place with clear resin instead of super glue because its sandable but maintains transparency. This is roughly fit. I have a lot of cleaning up to do before I ad the final layer and paint the rest of this section.

 

[Tarekcryptor]

Thats all the updates I have from the last few weeks. Sorry I didn't post sooner. Enjoy and Ill be posting more soon!!

 

[Tarekcryptor]

Ok, after a couple of weeks of designing more decals for the photoetch, I applied said decals after rigorously painting the shuttlebay walls and shuttles. I made specialty decals just for the shuttles requiring just a base coat of primer gray. I painted the photoetch for the railings and put them on as well. Still working on the beam photo-etch pieces which even with tweezers are hard as hell to place so Im limiting what I put on.

 

[Tarekcryptor]

Better ways to look at images

 

[Tarekcryptor]

While Im drying the parts for the shuttle bay, I turned my focus to the arboretum deck in which I used the moss and grains for grass and rock path. I painted the water a iridescent blue with UV resin clear overtop to give it that never-ending wet look.

 

[Tarekcryptor]

I hollowed out the turboshaft pillars for the shuttlebay and added a 12v 5mm Ultra-bright LED to light them up because of all the builds I have seen in research, no one lights them and they are supposed to be backlit, so I drilled them out and resin sealed an LED in each pillar. Once I get the painted photoetch on these, it will look amazing!

 

[Tarekcryptor]

I decaled the green strawberry photoetch for the shuttlebay, The decals are SPOT ON DEAD Accurate as far as measurements and placement! Being this was my first time using them after designing them I was amazed that they are damn near perfect and virtually no tweaks are needed! I used my wood deck decals for the bridges and the metal gradient dorr decals for the doors it comes with.

I cant believe I totally nailed these decals

 

[Tarekcryptor]

Here are the decaled walls of the arboretum deck. A perfect fit according to my design!

 

[Tarekcryptor]

Here is the arboretum deck just made with Green Strawberry moss and grain. It needs alot of cleaning up before I add more details. This is before I added water.. I didnt follow the predestined path laid out, I wanted it to be original to me so thats why its this way.

 

[Tarekcryptor]

I applied painted and applied photoetch and lit up the shuttlebay pillars. so far Im liking the result. Alot of people in their builds dont light the pillars but if I am going to pull off the proper effect for shuttlebay period specific, it needs to look in operation. Some cleaning up needed but I like it.

 

[Tarekcryptor]

Sorry its been awhile. Disaster after disaster kept happening, I accidentally melted my stock deflector dish so I had to purchase the 1/350 Enterprise refit part pack STL files so I could reprint missing components including the bridge and deflector dish. I printed 2 bridges just in case something went wrong with either one. Look at the detail on these pieces!! The details on the stock bridge dont come close to this level! They all also print and fit perfectly in their designated spots. I even printed the parts for the impulse crystal which came out better than stock and in 2 parts so no need to mask.

I painted the impulse crystals naval blue and eggshell blue green trying to break up using the same color all over the top saucer. I think I am going to go with the blue green crystal. More to come later!

 

[Tarekcryptor]

Ok so the bridge rim paint job has been an actual hellish nightmare!! I painted it blue-green eggshell dark, but the paint mixture's staying power when dried was terrible and left me having to peel it off and do it all over again. Here are those pics. UGH

Here is after I peeled off masking tape

Its actually worse than the picture shows on the other side. It is NOT cool at all, a lot of paint kept coming up with painting mask even after scoring the edges!! which led me to purchase high quality vinyl painting masks and it came in 6 rolls for $8.00 so it was a bargain, considering they go from 5 mm to 1mm in sizes. Heres a pic with the masking re-applied.

The final result was FANTASTICALLY Better than before. Very little cleaning is needed except for paint mask residue on the saucer which I desperately have to figure out how to get off. I tried rubbing alcohol but that didnt work at all. Heres a pic of the result

Now, I designed, rendered and printed decals for the Green-Strawberry photoetch Arboretum Set as well as the shuttle bay, which came out spot on for the walls shown below.

I also went back and printed my workbees because the stock ones were not accurate and detailed unlike mine, which I printed on clear so I can light them if I wanted and decal them as well. You can see they are heavily physically detailed and just a touch bigger than stock to make them more accurate.

Here are the other decals that I made for arboretum deck, such as wood paneling for the bridges and metallic detail for the doors. I made wooden paneling for the park benches but didn't use them.

 

[Tarekcryptor]

Finished painting and lighting the top of the shuttle bay to deliver optimum bright lighting in the shuttle bay. I lit the turboshaft pillars to make them look in use as well.

Here are the lit pillars.

I also finished the arboretum deck with Before I added bridges and wall photoetch. Also, I painted a stream and glossed it with UV resin.

 

[Tarekcryptor]

These are the details I made for the top of the Surak shuttle crafts, which came out great on the actual model.

 

[Tarekcryptor]

Ok I repainted that damn bridge ring SOO MANY TIMES now, I finally got it cleaned up to the point where I am happy with it along with the impulse drive hard to paint areas. I kept it a rich deep blue for the bridge rim and impulse drive point because when you add the pearl essence layers it lightens up a bit to the appropriate color seen in THE MOTION PICTURE.

Ok thats done, now the prep of all the pieces with base coating and base duck egg green/blue is prepped in all major areas including underside of the saucer where the "Neck pylon" connects, I made sure that area got painted. Seen here:

And here are all the parts prepped:

Now, as per cleaning up and trying to finish, we go back to the work on the shuttle-bay where I did test lighting on the key areas mainly to start the Turboshafts because I strategically did the lighting where it matches The Motion Picture. Check out the progression shots with the roof temporarily fitted to the top to test lighting. Check it out:

I also cleaned up and did some more detailing on my new workbees so theres that. My Vulcan shuttlecraft I am REALLY not liking, so I may just reprint those too because the ones that came with are just NO GOOD. Let me know your opinions on the work done so far I want to hear from you and If there are recommendations, Ill take them all I am determined to NOT screw This up.

Lastly, my highlight of the day, after 2 Months of waiting, my full aztec mask kit from MaskDesigns finally came!! I was getting skeptical for a bit there but they are here to make my day awesome after so much cleaning up and small-tiny brush area painting. It was worth it for these to close the day!!

Let me know your thoughts seriously I want to hear them all.

 

[Millenniumf]

I think if you're struggling getting clean lines with the masking tape you're using, it's probably because it's the regular painter's blue tape and not modeling tape. I use Tamiya tape for masking because it's a LOT better at getting a sharp line. The blue painter's tape is just not good at staying stuck on the model on the edges like Tamiya's tape can, though it's great for masking off large areas. Tamiya tape is also slightly flexible, meaning it can conform to curves a lot more easily than painter's tape, and it's not quite as tacky so it won't pull up paint as readily as painter's tape.

But yeah, you're doing a good job so far!

 

[JNordgren42]

I think you're doing a good job so far, the arboretum in particular is looking great. If I've got one constructive point of criticism, it's to practice on your paint application, it looks like it's been laid on a little thick in a lot of places. Don't be afraid to thin down your paint more and turn your air pressure down. I would get some Evergreen plastic sheet or some really cheap models and practice getting smooth, even, and thin coats. Play with your pressure settings and thinning ratios and see what works best for individual paints.

I also highly recommend lacquer based paints if that's an option for you. The down side is fumes and needing solvents for cleanup and thinning, but the good brands are superior to pretty much any acrylic or enamel I've ever tried in every other performance aspect. I'm a fan of both Gunze Mr. Color and MRP. They both have very similar qualities, but the MRP comes pre-thinned which is nice (you can still thin it a little more for lighter coats if you want). And Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 primer is magical, especially when you thin it with Mr. Leveling Thinner. If you do go with lacquers, make sure you have proper PPE and I highly recommend a spray booth, the fumes and particulates are no joke.