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My Klingon "flower" arrangement is a scale-be-damned parade formation of Ertl's Next Generation Battle Cruiser
(#6812),
Bird of Prey from the Adversary Set (#6858), and an original series D-7 Battle Cruiser from the Space Ship Set (#6677). The three ships are posed over a traditional Klingon "Tri-Point & Meatball" base.
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Each of these ships were assembled "box stock" except for the Plasti-Struct tubes in their bellies for mounting.
Built at different times I began with the old D-7 and ended with the Bird of Prey. The BOP was the magnet that pulled the ships together. While painting it, I thought, "Too bad I can't put them all together in one display". I laid them out on the bed, and that was that. Their relative scales were wrong, but visually they belonged together.
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The D-7 (Space Ship Set) was purchase while I was in college, when I only had money for a cheap kit. My paint work
was neither exciting nor particularly accurate. I did a little shadowing to pick out some of the detail, added the decals and sealed her up with matte acrylic. At some point I would
like to paint the head and engines their "correct" colors (in my spare time!!).
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Next came the Next Generation Battle Cruiser, purchased while working out of town for a few months. I had almost
nothing with me except some artist's acrylics and brushes. At a local hobby store, I bought the kit, an X-Acto, a bottle of Zap-A-Gap, and a spray can of Floquil metal figure primer (very
light gray). The model went together very well thankfully, with no real gaps to fill.
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Once primed, I worked multiple washes of blue and green translucent acrylic over the ship. All the color and detail
was applied this way. I had no references with me, only the box art and the kit's painting instruction, so I invented. Every panel or shape was separated with thin shadow work.
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After, I gently rubbed selected edges with ultra-fine steel wool (stolen from work) to get quick and dirty
highlights. I based
the bright accents (yellow, red) first with white acrylic gesso. Then applied their colors translucently. The engine "glow" is painted similarly but in various fluorescent acrylics.
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The windows are gesso too washed with a very thin blue. Decals were applied and sealed with acrylic matte medium, then
tied in with a dirty wash. When I got the model home, I added the base tube, and touched up around the surgical scars. Finally, I gave the model a very gentle dusting with Krylon
Ulra-Flat Black. Except for the primer and the Krylon, this model was painted exclusively with a brush.
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The Bird of Prey is painted with similar techniques as the NG-BC.
The layout for the based was enlarged from
the Star Trek Encyclopedia. Built from 2 layers of MDO 3/4" plywood, it's a weighty pig (cat proof). The "meatball" is painted with orange and dark red casein paint, with gold leaf applied randomly, sealed in gloss poly. The "Tri-Point" is heavily stippled with a shellac and graphite mixture. When dry the stipple tops were knocked down with 220 sandpaper to achieve the rough cast-iron appearance (BOP Top View). The brass rods supporting the ships were aged with a propane torch.
The whole display is a certainly theatrical, maybe even operatic ((Klingon that is). I like to think of this display occupying a place of honor in some Klingon General's life
(His office? Do they have those?), like Picard's little ships.
John Ovington
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