posted
Hey guys, I lurk here all the time, but I finally finished a model you might like, so I'll post the links to the pics here. USS Princeton Again... And again... And again.
That is some *excellent* modeling work there! Damn, I wish I had the time & skill to do some kitbashing like that...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Damn, and to think that just came from years of speculation and blurred screen caps... wow.
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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posted
I need a better hobby than looking at other people's hobbies...
Very nice work.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
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
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.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
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?
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
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.
-------------------- It doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing as long as you look good doing it.
posted
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).
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
So....what's your "big last project" going to be?
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
A model that fixes the problems in the Trek continuity?
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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