Darren Ramsay’s USS Rio Grande

Here’s my completed build of the Runabout – U.S.S. Rio Grande, NCC-72452, built from the ERTL kit which is a 1/72 scale kit. Lots of cool stuff on this model:

1. Because of the large scale, I was able to have lots of fun with weathering, like it had gone into and out of atmosphere a number of times – or as my client said “it looks like its been through an Ion storm.” It was cool to paint a Trek model weathered like a Star Wars model.

2. For the stand I went and printed a large decal of the runabout “development patch” and used it for the stand with the runabout in a “taking off” position. It’s made out of crezone plywood painted gloss black & cut to shape around the decal. The two braces are made so the nacelles sit right on top at an angle, taking off over the decal.

3. This kit I picked up second hand, and it didn’t have the decals with it, so I had to make some decals with Adobe Illustrator and cut them out of vinyl at my local sign shop. Take a close look at those decals – the letters “U.S.S. RIO GRANDE” on the sides are only about 1/16″ or so. I didn’t think the plotter would be able to cut those letters at that scale but the new Roland plotterat Cochrane Sign & Design (the sign shop I am employed at) managed to cut them. I was very impressed, and there are NO DECAL LINES!

Darren J. Ramsay