Romulan Bird of Prey
This is my Starcraft's 1/1000 Romulan Bird of Prey model. At this point, I've glued together the major components, and done Milliput / red putty work to clean up the worst of the seam lines and bubbles in the casting.
Behind you can see the PNT conversion kits for the Franz Joseph destroyer and tug in various states of completion.
Here the putty has been applied to the joint lines between the wings and main body. Still needs to be sanded.
A rear view. The right rear corner of the main body had a huge void that I filled with Milliput. Now it's got a coating of red glazing putty to smooth it out and put final detail back on. The left nacelle also had lots of air bubbles in the rear shroud. I'm trying to figure out the best way to sand inside of the shroud. I went overboard with the putty in that location.
The right nacelle, showing puttied seam lines and a few air bubbles.
Bottom of the right nacelle. I smoothed out the transition from wing to nacelle, so that the bird of prey decal will fit better.
The left nacelle. This had the worst air bubbles, as you can see. The outside cleaned up nice - I still need to clean up the inside.
Bottom of the left nacelle, again with transition from wing to nacelle smoothed. Being my first resin model, I was really surprised to see all of the little air bubbles that could only be seen after putty work. Initially, the nacelles looked pretty smooth other than joint lines, but after putty work, all the little red dots reveal previously unseen roughness.
Next I have to finish sanding the remaining putty, then give it a base coat of sandable primer.
A little more sanding complete. I just need to clean up the end of the one engine shroud, and I'll be ready for the first coat of primer!
Okay, I primed. Then I filled the pinholes that revealed, sanded and re-primed. Repeat the process. Repeat the process again. Here's where it stands now:
Here's some close-ups of the nacelles. While the scribed rings are not as crisp as I'd like, I can live with it. All of the nastiness at the ends of the nacelles is gone. Compare to the previous images.
Next steps:
A stand: I'm not sure how to display this one. The standard way is to drill a hole in the belly, but what about the Bird of Prey decal? I don't want a stand it just sits on, I don't trust them.
Main body paint: The studio model was white / grey. I'm thinking of grey and adding a very light green tint to it, to go more along with the Romulans seen in Enterprise, TNG and the movies.
A size comparison between the Bird of Prey and the Enterprise, both in 1/1000 scale:
I finally got a base color I was happy with. After two coats of the base color, I hand painted all of the windows and the plasma torpedo tubes.
Next came a clear coat of future, she was ready for decals. I managed to get some of the smaller decals on the top of the ship, but I had real problems with them breaking and tearing. I've arranged for a replacement set, so when I get those, I'll finish up the bottom of the ship.
I still need to add the clear parts that make up the front of the warp nacelles. I plan to paint them with a clear green, and then I'll add them.
Ok. Wonderfest 2005 has come and gone. I got a replacement set of decals from JT Graphics (Thanks, Jeff!) Here's what they look like after applying the main bird decal.
All that's left now is a final clear coat and the nacelle domes.
