U.S.S. Reliant - NCC-1864

[elliott]

Clever idea. With paper modeling there can be many different ways of approaching a particular problem. You didn't give up in exasperation and your final solution looks good and your satisfaction level is probably higher because you solved the problem.

[bgt01]

Warp Engines

Makino's warp engines have always been a challenge for me. They have all come out a little warped and I really wanted to avoid that here. And, I wanted to alleviate the boxy look.

I recessed the warp grills on both sides of the engines and the black areas of the bussard collectors at the front. To keep things straight and simple, I taped engine spares (1 each port and starboard) to chipboard, lined up the cutout parts and taped those so I could lift them up. I sprayed adhesive glue to the cutout parts, laid them on top of the spares and rubbed them flat. That made each engine double thick.

I cut all the sides apart. They wouldn't have folded at double thickness and I figured the previous twisting was from folding the engines. The double thick parts gave me a decent edge which to glue. I did this SLOWLY using Super Glue Gel (for strength) and a sharpened toothpick. I used my metal pick to round the forward edge. Once each side was on I put more Super Glue at the back of the join edge. I assembled one side, top and bottom. The last side was glued on a dab at a time using a new sharpened toothpick and using my fingers and metal pick to manipulate the side into place. This took a long time, but the end result was a MUCH nice warp drive than previous. The recessed areas don't show up well in the pics, but the ad a nice touch to the model.

It's a waste of time trying to fold and glue the engine fins that go at the rear. I tape them to white 67lb. card stock, poke the three points of the "triangle" with my metal pick, remove the paper and cut out the part using the three points for reference. The 67lb. paper makes a nice part similar in thickness to the actual model. Since they are so small and fragile, I brush some Super Glue around the edges to strengthen them before Super Gluing them to the engines.

The final touch was to glue blue 12mm Glamour Glitz rhinestones (plasma deflection crystal) at the top front of the engines. All this added a lot of prep and assembly time, but I think it is well worth it and Reliant has some nice engines.

[bgt01]

Pylons

I didn't want the pylons to be weak or flexible, so I made some changes. I cut out the parts and glued each side to 67lb. white card stock. I cut them out, removing all the tabs and mounting folds. I glued the fronts and backs together and let dry. The white edge of the card was colored with a silver Sharpie. I dry fit each part, then glued in place using regular Elmer's gel glue. That let me adjust positioning as needed. Once in the final position I applied little bits of Super Glue Gel at the join areas for strength.

[bgt01]

Commissioning Ceremony

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present the U.S.S. Reliant. I am very pleased with how she turned out. It took a lot more time than a standard build, but I believe all the detailing adds much needed character to this model. Reliant looks great docked with the rest of the fleet. Anyone building this model with be happy with the results. Thanks to Makino for all the hard work in putting it together for us to have fun with.

[CrimsonLine]

Good job, bgt01!

[eagleclaw4935]

Another Miranda class in the fleet.

[vipers7]

What a build: clean Lines, attention to details like the engines, my compliments

[Ares55]

Hi everyone, I was hesitant to build this model or not. That was due to the weakness and lack of details, but after this excellent and detailed thread, I dare to put it together. I congratulate you, very diligent and illustrative. Thank you.

[THE DC]

Great model, excellent build, and very well presented build thread.

Much appreciated.

[Revell-Fan]

An awesome model of an awesome miniature. Very well done!