Building a Better Narcissus by John Ovington part 3
Start with part 1
back to part 2
#9 Flap Backsides – part #s 3,4,5
- Add Missing Detail
The 3 rear flaps are only detailed on one side (the sides facing outward). It would be a good idea to repeat the same detail on the un-detailed faces in vinyl. I didn’t actually get to these. By the time I figured out my detailing process, it was too late for the flaps – they had already been installed, with no easy way to work the non-detailed sides.
#10 Cockpit Interior
- Add Interior Detail
This detail is almost completely superfluous, as the kit’s cockpit windows (part #28) are cast in almost black dark/smoked transparent plastic. There wouldn’t be much to see no matter what I did, but I wanted something in there. This was kind of a freeform event. I didn’t base my detail on research, reference, or any logical layout or use of the kit’s cockpit. I loaded up the cockpit with greeblie detail, which I’d hoped paint-work could reveal well enough through the dark windows.
Over time, when I’ve come upon interesting greeblie looking stuff, I’ve taken a mold of it in RTV putty for future use. Some are pretty rough looking, but I’ve never intended them for close scrutiny. For this kind of operation those rubber molds really come in handy. As with the hull’s Missing Greebles, the cockpit greebles are cast in Evercoat, quickly cut, and arranged to taste. I had to take care the cockpit glass didn’t foul on any of the new detail, so I test fit it regularly. In this instance, much of the detailing is molded from the Revel/ Monogram Star Trek Voyager’s upper sensor platform, cast, and heavily reworked for this use.
#11 Rear Hatch Hallway
Add Interior Detail
Again, I freely invented. With a small window in the Rear Hatch, I wanted something inside rather than just the kit’s dark window (part #29). To that end, I also discarded the kit’s rear window glass and instead used a piece of clear acetate. The kit provided a small depression molded into the rear main body, to accommodate the window attached to the backside of the Hatch Panel (part #23).
I made vertical cuts through at this depression’s outer edges, and scored at its base, to allow the cut piece to swing down and inward, to become the floor of the new hallway. Then I built two triangular walls covered with greeblie detail (like the cockpit), matching their angles to the new hallway. I also built a small ceiling piece (greebled as well) to cap it. The floor was finished off with corrugated Evergreen sheet.
It might have been a lot easier if the engines were not already in place and if I hadn’t sealed the two main halves of the kit months before. I did the whole hallway from the outside with tweezers, a steady hand, and a hot man-sized serving of peppery expletives.
PAINTING
A little Theology
I tend to like modeling subjects which paint well in closely monochromatic or analogous color schemes. This model naturally fits that description. For me, painting is all about values, defining shapes & line, “Push & Pull”, and “Light & Dark”, to show how elements relate to each other in space – ultimately describing the object so the observer knows what the heck they’re looking at in terms of everyday references of light and shadow.
Did everyone get all that?
If an item is further back in space or more forward than another, I like to describe it that way, even subtly – with paint, because you can’t always rely on having good lighting. Also, the observer is in reality a “scale distance” away from the subject being modeled and that needs to be taken into account when painting. So when it comes to steps like the weathering/aging, all painting really, the point is not so much replicating natural decay and dirt, but to help “tell a story” by revealing the 3-dimentional qualities of what is essentially a sculpture. Other motives for painting have the risk of covering up or taking away from the story telling. Said another way while still flogging the metaphor, tell a good story first. Don’t let over-embellishment or even the noble crusade for accuracy get in the way.
BTW, if you haven’t remembered to wash your model as you were going along, now would be a good time. Use a clear dish detergent and warm water. If you handle the model with your naked hands after priming, wash it again before applying your base color.
Priming
For general ease of access, the Engine Nozzles, Rear Hatch Panel, and Cockpit Windows were kept separate from the main body of the kit during early painting. The cockpit windows were masked with silver sign vinyl. The silver let me see sharply where the frame edge meets the window. As is my habit, the whole kit was primed with gray automotive lacquer primer.
Cockpit and Hallway
I did a few minutes worth of pre-painting on the Cockpit interior and Rear Hatch Hallway with washes of Ivory Black artist acrylics. Then heavily drybrushed with White Gesso and Liquitex Iridescent Bright Silver to achieve something that if not viewed through the kit’s smoked glass would look ridiculously contrasty. But that was the point, it had to look like something though that darkness of the windshield. It sort of worked, but I found it impossible to photograph. Once the cockpit was dry, I glued in the windshield with Aleene’s Quick Dry “Tacky Glue”, a very thick fast setting white glue. Then with a fine brush, I laid in more of the tacky glue around the seam between the windshield and the hull, sort of caulking it in so that it didn’t appear to be simply “stuck on”.
Base Coat
I usually would not paint a model pure white, even if it is “supposed to be”, so I’d have some wiggle room for shadows and highlights especially. I this case, it really called for pretty close to pure white (Narcissus – like the white flower – get it?) So the whole kit is based in three thin coats of acrylic Poly Scale Boxcar White, using my trusty old H-model Paasche airbrush. Boxcar White is not a pure white, but only very slightly dirty, which allowed me to add some subtle highlights when the time came.
Once dry, the engines nozzles were also attached to the model with tacky glue. The rear hatch was set loosely into its spot sans the newly made acrylic hatch glass.
“Weathering”/Character Aging
In my opinion, I often see where modelers overshoot the weathering a bit with this subject. I can see where it would be easy to do on the stock kit. It’s common to see it painted as being fairly dirty, when in fact the references I found and the movie itself don’t support that representation. It is a white ship with subtle to medium aging. But I think without the added dimension the vinyl hull panels lend, that look would be a tough to achieve because the stock model is so very flat.
Martin Bower weathered down the actual shooting miniature using an old British technique where a sooty gray powder (graphite) was applied liberally over all surfaces. Then the bulk of it was almost completely wiped off leaving nice light to dark gradations, with recesses and corners having the darkest values. This is a great technique on a larger model, but not so much on a smaller scale. I achieved something of a similar look by using very controlled acrylic washes and subtle dry brushing, pushing the recessed areas back with darker values and pulling the raised areas forward.
The entire model was uniformly washed down with a mix of Golden Acrylics Graphite Gray and Liquitex Matte Medium, thinned way down to almost “dirty water”. For this task, I used 2 different sized red sable watercolor brushes. Once completely dry the whole model was again uniformly dry brushed with Liquitex White Gesso using a larger old beat-up (trashed really) sable. Both steps were repeated once more to get near my desired range of values. There wasn’t much more to it.
When dealing with any painted subject, there comes a time to look at it as a whole. This time came pretty quickly with Narcissus. With the masking over the windows still in place, I felt the paint-work at this point was kinda pale, perhaps not quite “there” yet. But I asked myself, “how would it look with those black windows parked in the middle of everything?” Off came the window masking and it made a huge difference by establishing what would be the darkest value on the piece.
Decals
Next the kit decals were applied. For some of them, I cut away as much of the carrier film as possible since some now had to fit in-between things which before were only flat detail. Also, I’ve noticed on my Halcyon Sulaco that the decals and their carrier film have begun to yellow over time. So less carrier is better. The big “E1” decals were cut completely out from their carrier film and applied individually. I’ve learned not to trust the adhesive on old decals, thus I like to put my decals down on the model into wet Liquitex Gloss Medium and then work them too the surface with a soft sable brush. This ensures permanent adhesion as the clear gloss medium is basically acrylic glue.
This is a good point to note that the kit’s decals have the same generic quality the kit had before all of its detailing. That’s not to say they’re bad, just maybe only 70% there. For instance, the decal which goes left and right just forward of the windshield should be something like a Betty Page pin-up nose art set in a dark circle. What you get is just the dark circle.
There are also many markings which are missing. For expediency’s sake, I applied the decals provided and moved on. My only concession was to add a little paint-work over the dark circle decal I noted, to give it an impressionistic sense of what should be there. I think if I can put together a custom decal sheet for the next try, I’ll be a little more satisfied.
Once the decals were dry, the whole model was brushed down with two very thin coats of Liquitex Matte Medium to conceal the gloss around decals and give an over all uniform surface. The decals were then tied in with very light washes of Graphite Gray, followed with an even lighter dry brush of Gesso to knock their contrast down just hair.
on to the completed model
