Hope you like it.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
*gape*
That is some *excellent* modeling work there! Damn, I wish I had the time & skill to do some kitbashing like that... Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
Damn, and to think that just came from years of speculation and blurred screen caps... wow.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I need a better hobby than looking at other people's hobbies...
Very nice work.
Posted by SoundEffect (Member # 926) on :
Very good Erick! Yours is almost exactly as mine is coming along. I'm only about halfway through the construction stage.
I like your upper pylons...I haven't figured out the angles I want yet, but the ST:MAG and Fact Files don't look right. I'm changing the bottom pylon to something much thicker than you have there, but it's all in how you interpret the pics available. (I've also got to find a place for an impulse engine.)
I'm also making the assumption based on various details that the Firebrand saucer and Princeton saucer are identical pieces made by Greg Jein, so I'll replicate the underside saucer pattern of windows, etc. of the Firebrand for my Niagara.
I like your color choices and I'm very impressed with how smooth your transitions are between model parts!
Posted by Fructose (Member # 309) on :
Well, thanks for the compliments. The smoothness is all putty and sanding, putty and sanding... And sometimes, a little more putty and sanding. Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Man, that rocks Eric! You're now the second of us to build that puppy! Ya even beat Stephen!
I've had your site bookmarked since you made that great Springfield class (a while back IIRC). You even made the nacelles over-hang the saucer like the studio model (something I had to change on mine: it was just sooo wrong to have them block the phasers). Looks like you reversed the Ambassador "C" deck like I did too (looks right to me). Nice bridge variant: it looks cool as a round shape instead of oval. Did you shorten the secondary hull any or did you go with a "stock: Ambassador hull? I had to give my ship an Impulse engine too...
Hellova job. Welcome back. Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Hi Fructose! I put out a call as to where you had gotten to a few months ago! Nice to see you are still busy! Now - let me click those links!!
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Lovely work! I still reckon your work is/was good enough to be used by the Trek people. Like in the Season Seven DS9 opener.
Andrew
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Lurvely. One of the things I adore about Niagara is the unconventional forward-mounted shuttlebay. Different shuttlebay placements is a cool thing.
Which ties me into something else. Erick, you mention the problems of using the 2 front saucer halves. I've done the same thing for both top & bottom of the saucer; I created a massive fly-through Galaxy-style shuttlebay on a few ships, with twin doors emptying out to port & starboard (but didn't both working with putty to kill the seams completely. Ah, youth!).
When I built those hull, I realized the simple joining along the seams wouldn't even begin to be enough to handle the structural tolerances I was going to have to put this thing through,& so I set about finding a way to strengthen it. What I came up with was a bridging system. Inside the saucer is a pair of cross-struts for both upper & lower halves. Each one is just a piece of bowed sheet styrene that's epoxied into place at bother ends; it doesn't have to look pretty, just be strong, & it is. The bowing is springy & it does hold the hulls together far better than I could have imagined, even after about 8 years & multiple moves & droppings.
Oh, yeah...one other thing. Looking at your pictures of the Skinner, I see the aztece pattern. Is that a pre-shading deal, where you painted the pattern black first & then did the FS 36675 basecoat over it & everything else?
Posted by Fructose (Member # 309) on :
Well, the problem I had with the saucer was that I glued it wrong and I didn't notice it until I got it all glued together. I didn't want to go back and change it since I spent so much time on it in the first place. But you have a good idea there. If I ever walk down this path again, I'll keep that in mind. And the black stuff you see on the skinner is actually masking tape. I take those pictures so people can see how I get the patterns. And boy do it take forever to do them!
But yeah, I'm still around. I only have one more major trek project before I move on to other things. All this kit bashing and scratch building is getting kind of old. I want to do some other stuff, like airplanes. I am a pilot after all.
Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
That's a damn good model (of a still ugly design). BTW, the page name says "USS Hopi" (that's what happens to me all the time).
Posted by Fructose (Member # 309) on :
oops I'll fix it.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
So....what's your "big last project" going to be?
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
A model that fixes the problems in the Trek continuity?
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
drool
*saves all pictures for future illustration reference*
Posted by Fructose (Member # 309) on :
It's a secret for now. I'll post some pics of it when I work on it.
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I'll post some pics of it when I work on it.