USS Seldon
This is one of my favorites. The USS Seldon is named after character from Asimov's Foundation novel series. I couldn't think of a name until right before I started to put the decals on. I was reading the books at that time, and I liked the name.
I based this kit bashing project on a ship from the book Starfleet Prototype. It's the Dupliex class Perimeter Action Ship. I didn't follow the schematic exactly, but I only had one Enterprise to work with. My 'victim' was an old model that I built like around 1990. It was falling apart and I didn't want to re-build it, so I bashed it.
The phaser pods on the sides actually came from some sliced up airplane drop tanks. The phaser pod pylons are the base of the Enterprise-A's nacelle pylons. I made the pylon between the two nacelles from some sheet styrene. Also, the extension to the connecting neck is styrene with some putty to build it up and smooth it out.
The problem with the Enterprise model is the panelling that they molded on the model. It's a pain to remove. You can either putty it up and sand it smooth, or sand it all off. Either way, it is a total pain in the butt. I tried to putty it up, but I was using crappy Testor's putty, so it didn't work so well. I ended up sanding it off. It took forever! But it was worth it. It looks so much better.
I used Don Matthys' Enterprise-A decal set and some old decals that I bought a couple years ago. They really made the model turn out great. I also used the aztec painting templates from Walker Enterprises, which really cut down the painting time and made it a lot easier. I would recommend these to anyone who wanted to make a Enterprise-A or similar ship. You can get them a Federation Models under the "Products" on the left.
A Long Time in the Making
This model took me like 2 years to actually build. I had started to paint it, but I messed it up. I had to strip it off, redo the putty work I did since it was stripped off too, and finally repaint it. I had put it off while I worked on the other models, but it was worth the wait because I got the decals and templates.
The base coat is Light Gray, and the 'aztec' pattern is Light Gray with some silver mixed in it. The details were done with Dark Gull Gray, Dark Ghost Gray, Aluminum, Meduim Gray, and Black. The really dark gray on the phasors is Euor Gray I, just like on the Reliant. The name and number decals were from an old set of 'custom' decals that I bought at a model store before you could get them online.
I was extremely happy with the finished detail. There are many small flaws, and the bottom nacelle is actually crooked, but it was my first kit bashing project I started and was a lot of fun. If you get bored with normal modeling, try super-detailing or kit bashing. It's really challenging and lots of fun.
This is one of the models that I like to keep out. With all my moving around, I often have to box models up. Also, while I would like ot display all of them, I don't have the room for it. The Seldon is one of my models that I really like, so I keep it out to show off. Some day I'll have more of them out, but for now I'm happy with just showing the 'winners.'