ABOVE: Masking for 'Rust Ring' and painting

ABOVE: First coat of 'rust', finished coat

ABOVE: Subtle panels, overall (bad lighting)

ABOVE: Aligning decals, applying decals

ABOVE: Finally! It's looking like the ship. Cutting out the BIG ones

ABOVE: Test fitting saucer

ABOVE: Taped upper saucer, testing alignment.

ABOVE: Added acrylic cutouts to screw top down to

ABOVE: This is how I applied the clear coat on the wall!

PLEASE CLICK ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Below 7/9/2005 UPDATES

ABOVE: (L) Base paint coat (R) testing fit of bridge

ABOVE: (L) A couple of additional angles.

ABOVE: (L) Saucer top sanded (R) and first coat of primer.

ABOVE: Looking straight down on the bridge section.

ABOVE: The basic light boxes, primed and ready for LEDs.

ABOVE: Testing the LEDs. (I used some new 360' white LEDs, gave a very even, strong glow)

ABOVE: Views of the lighted bridge.

ABOVE: And more.....

The Bridge finish paint, windows ready.

The Bridge section is "primed".

UPDATE: 07/26/2005 - Finished the upper saucer, and test fit it on lower saucer. It was great putting down these HUGE decals on the saucer. I subdued the 'rust ring', and also put some of the weathered panel lines below the bridge decks on the saucer, but they are very subtle. I also had about 16 acrylic pieces cut and glued into the lower saucer to scre the upper saucer into to keep it from warping up. Also cut out the saucer top, and fitted the bridge on with some 'pins'. A new page will be added tomorrow to show everything coming together finally!

UPDATE: 07/09/2005 - Final 'base coat' applied to upper saucer. One more sanding round to go, then a finish paint with the airbrush. Cut out the 'light boxes' and the nav lights, test fit the acrylic 'windows'. Test fit the bridge section on top of the saucer. Next steps after finish paint will be adding the gridlines, then the lettering and additional lines/boxes at the rear. I'll then 'screw' down the saucer top to the lower saucer after mounting the lower saucer to the secondary hull.

UPDATE: 06/30/2005 - Started on upper saucer. Sanded it down and primed it. Next steps are more sanding and priming. I'll then throw on a base coat and start the grid lines. After that, cutting out the opening for the bridge section and the small rectangular windows and nav lights.

UPDATE: 06/07/2005 - The Bridge section is completed and lighted. The following activities were completed this past week:

1. Final paint job, added the red box, and the red/yellow box on the back deck. Just need to paint the 'turbolift'.
2. Finished the light boxes
3. Built and ran all LED lighting connections for the bridge
4. Connected all LEDs into the light boxes. (4 White for the windows, 2 for the dome, 2 Red for the sides)
4. Covered all light boxes (this really makes the windows glow!)

So the bridge section is now complete. Last major work will be sanding/priming, then painting the upper saucer, cutting out the light holes on the top, then assembling to the lower saucer.