On The Bench 296: John Klein’s Enterprise part 2

Painting

After joining all the sub assemblies together, I primed the model with Rustolium sandable grey primer and then applied several thin coats of Krylon ColorMaster gloss Pewter Grey from a spray can. This colour seemed a pretty close “on screen” match and the gloss finish was a excellent surface for decaling.

After everything had dried for a couple of days, I cut the windows out of my frisket templates, applied them to the model, and airbrushed Tamiya Dark Navy Blue to represent the windows.

There was no decal for the two prominent red stripes on the main hull’s spine, so those were masked and airbrushed. Several red and grey panels were also masked and airbrushed on various parts of the hull and saucer. The front engine nacelle caps were masked off and airbrushed with Tamiya Clear Red. The main deflector dish and the area behind it were airbrushed with Tamiya Copper.

Decals

I used the decals proved with the kit, and they are horrible. They are somewhat inaccurate, stunningly thick, and slightly yellowed. However, I decided to go with them anyway because I was going for a kind of homage to the version of this kit that I built as a kid. They went on without too much trouble, but there are better decals out there if you’re going for a more polished look.

Finishing

After the decals were dry, I sealed everything in with a layer of Future floor wax and several airbrushed coats of Liquited matte varnish. I mounted the model on a simple wooden base with magnets hidden in two pegs which will match up with the magnets in the ship’s hull, holding the model in place.

John Klein