USS Equinox
This little ship was seen on the cliffhanger between seasons five and six on Star Trek: Voyager. The model was just one piece, so it was pretty easy to build. But the painting was the true challenge. It's made of resin, so paint doesn't like to stick to it very well. You are supposed to use a primer and paint over that, but I didn't know what type to use so I figured I could just paint it by hand. It actually turned out pretty well. It turns out that automotive primer works well. You should be able to get it at any auto store or even Walmart.
This little design actually came from the Defiant Pathfinder schematic in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual book. They changed a few details, made it more like an explorer, and put it in the show.
Painting and Decals
The paint scheme is pretty much like the Voyager I did. Like I said, I did it all by hand. And the decals went on without a hitch, but there was a little problem. One of the transporter emitter decals was backwards. I think that it was supposed to be flipped but nobody noticed that it was backwards until it was too late. I was able to fix it by first sliding the decal off using some tweezers, and then flipping the decal over and putting on the paper backing again to get some glue on the proper side. I slid the decal onto the model, and presto! It worked great and you can't even tell it's different from the other.
The Equinox was fun to paint, and maked an easy addition to my 1/1400 fleet. This would make a great model for someone who never did resin models before. You can see how to paint it and reduce your fears of working with something new.
Finally, if you frequent Starship Modeler, then you might have seen my Equinox review. I took some extra pictures for the review, and that is what appears on their site. I thought I'd include them here too.
