Star Trek: Voyager:- Dinaal Hospital Ship - micro build log

   I already posted this on Zealot.com, but then I thought 'what the hell! I'm going to post it here too'...

   I'm not able to build models from scratch - yet! - so I have to cheat like h@*l. I suppose I'll start with my kit: scissors, large; scissors, small; pencil x2; tweezers x2; reading glasses, magnification x2 1/2; metal ruler; modelling knife; glass chopping board.

    If I don't have a pattern to work from Drex Files come in very handy. Starting with this:-

I copy and paste the whole thing at least twice (to get a base to work from), then copy and paste smaller sections (to build up layers) and stretch/elongate other sections (to allow for curved surfaces). The result is something like this:-

    This one is proving to be exactly as fiddly as I thought it would be! I wasn't sure what the underside looked like and decided that there would be gaps between frames:-

    Then came the really fiddly bit - cutting around the arms while maintaining sections that are only 1/2mm thick. After that I cut out the outline for the top view and glued them together. I found that double thickness wasn't enough for some parts:-

    

    This gave me a base suitable to start building outwards from. I cut round the plan view of the topmost section and glued it to a piece of balsa wood in order to keep a firm centre. From this I added the stretched curved sections:-

   The front section was almost perfectly judged and only required a bit of trimming at it's rear. I fitted 'bulkheads' to it before attaching the rear curve.

  The rear curve was a bit short, but I decided to live with that rather than printing another sheet - I'm a tree-hugger at heart.Adding panels to the domes brought it back to edge anyway:-

 

   I thought that layering the top section might work and allowed a double thickness for the base, triple thickness for the middle and double thickness for the top, with a single thickness for the semi-circle near it's front:-

   Layering the top section didn't work out as well as I expected and I had to do a 'wrap round' (sorry about the lack of focus):-

   That done I moved to the bottom section. Layering sections from the underside view worked this time and I'm pleased with the result. I used the end elevation from the Drex File for the parts that jut down - double thickness for the platform support and triple thickness for the two bits at the front:-

    I use 'Glen-Jupp-adapted-by-Rawen' bases, with a dod (Scottish technical term ;-) ) of Blu-Tac to add stability, and a cocktail stick trimmed to taste:-

   A finishing touch of three teeny, toty, wee antennae and I'm done. The triangular projections from the bottom of the ends of the arms were just too small for me, so I omitted them. Et viola!

    One 42mm or 1 5/8" Dinaal Hospital Ship ready for take off.

An Apology.

   I don't intend to demean anyone's work and I apologise profusely for not being able to recall the designers for many of the models - I've gathered so many I'm starting to lose track! If you recognise your design and it isn't credited please know that I still greatly appreciate what you've done. I salute the skill of all you designer dudes and dudettes.

Yet More Teeny Toty Starships.

   Just in case anybody is wondering, "toty" is a Scottish word which means really, really, very small.
   This post will more or less finish my micro ships, so here goes:-

 Left to right:- front - the Doomsday Machine/ Planet Killer (Milleniumfalsehood?), USS Xerxes (Rawen)

rear - USS Kearsarge (Milleniumfalsehood), Tholian webspinner 1 (Spaceagent9), Tholian webspinner 2 (Spaceagent9)

Left to right:- front - Romulan bird of prey (Glen Jupp), Klingon D7 (Wulf111)

rear - USS Loknar (Milleniumfalsehood)

Left to right:- USS Enterprise-D (Ninjatoes, I think), Borg cube (can't recall designer)

Left to right:- Monean cruiser (layered Drex File), Vulan Sh'Ran (Paragon, I think)

Left to right:- Bajoran assault ship (layered Drex File), Takret ship (layered Drex File), USS Defiant (Ninjatoes)
   And that's about that. There are still many more in the pipeline, as well as plenty of orthographics which can be converted into 'teeny wee totys'...

Starship Parade Continues...

   Decisions, decisions! One long post or lots of short posts? Well, I need to go to Ayr, so short posts it is...

Left to right:- front - USS Enterprise (Rawen), USS Federation (Rawen)
rear - USS Ptolemy (Rawen), USS Larson (Milleniumfalsehood)
   Really small nacelles (2mm diameter) are easier to make with light card or even paper (160 gsm or less). I always reinforce the saucers with card which is at least 1mm thick.

Last Of The Micro Shuttles... For Now.

   These three bring my shuttle collection up to date:-

Left to right:- top - Suliban shuttle again, Romulan fighter (MTK), Aquashuttle "Ariel" (MTK)

bottom - Delta Flyer (Ninjatoes)

   There are nine more waiting to be built then I'll have to try scratchbuilding or layering Drex Files.

The Final Frontier.

   In the beginning was the word. And the word was...   Asterix!
   I'm mad daft on Asterix the Gaul and I have dozens upon dozens of figurines - Plastoy, Kinder, feves, etc, etc. My first incursion in the world of paper modelling was a Viking longboat for a diorama representing "Asterix & The Vikings". While I was making this my dad decided that he wanted a model of the 'Black Pearl' and when I found a pattern on Uhu's site I noticed that he had a model of the Star Trek XI USS Enterprise. This piqued my interest in building Star Trek ships, especially because I was rewatching the entire original series at the time. My first Trek ship was the NCC 1701-A, closely followed by the USS Reliant. I later decided that I would like a wee "Tholian Web" diorama and, after finding and completing Rawen's tiny Enterprise, I found that I enjoyed the challenge of building 3/4" long Tholian webspinners. My attempt at the 'web' was a bit disappointingly droopy, but I'll fix that with a bit of wire at some point.

A blurry, green USS Defiant (build using MTK's "Build A Starship" kit and a colour overlaying program) can be seen in the distance. The web was made using a few strands of red and orange thread.

   I was toying with the idea of a diorama for "The Doomsday Machine", but scrapped that since the planet killer would fill the room at that scale. Instead I opted for a damaged USS Constellation using MTK's kit with layered pieces, and screenshots from the episode. Here is the result:-

I don't care if 'pride comes before a fall' - I'm proud of this wee guy!

   The only other diorama I'm planning on is another Asterix one and in the meantime it's back to the micro- minis.

 

Links Pt. 2.

   On with the show...

MTK's Card Craft - Preserver obelisk, USS Enterprise, Tholian Webspinner, Federation work bee, Akira class, Spacestation K7, USS Aurora, Starbase 47, Lazarus' timeship, Romulan fighter, Romulan bird of prey, Klingon shuttle, Aquashuttle "Ariel", Federation cargo bee, Sovereign class - just search the blog archive. An account with 4shared is needed.
Repap Studios - Intrepid class, USS Enterprise
Jay's Box of Sci-fi Card Toys - Enterprise NX-01 shuttlepod, USS Titan, USS Excelsior - only the first selection can be downloaded through the batch download link
Erick's Models - Vulcan Surak class
Starship Modeller - Borg cube
Sirius Replicas - Borg tactical cube
Paper Inside - Akyasi class, Romulan Caracel class
Mike Hungerford's Paper Model Page - USS Enterprise
Ulrich Prahn's Star Trek Cardboard Models - shuttlepod "El Baz", shuttlecraft "Magellan", Romulan scout, SS Botany Bay
Paper Starships - USS Enterprise-A, Prometheus class, Saladin II class, Miranda II class, Daedalus class, "Ournal" class starbase
Scanner Joe - USS Enterprise
My Free Papercraft Blog - SS Botany Bay, Romulan warbird, Federation travelpod, USS Enterprise-C, USS Grissom, Enterprise NX-01, Columbia NX-02
The Declaration Class Starship - Declaration class
Star Trek Paper Models - direct links to downloads by many designers. There are too many ships to list individually!
Falcon 01 - Klingon D18, Klingon K23
SF Paper Craft Gallery - USS Enterprise-A, USS Reliant, Vulcan shuttle, Borg cube, Star Trek XI USS Enterprise
Paper Modelers - forum requiring registration and participation. There are too many models to list individually!
Zealot - forum requiring registration and participation. There are too many models to list individually!

The lists are not exhaustive and I know that there are still a few sites hidden in the depths of interwebland. As I find them, I will post them.

Links To Paper & Card Models.

   As promised, here is the start of that link list:-

Lower Hudson Gift Shop - non-canon Klingon scout, USS Defiant, TOS USS Enterprise, Vulcan Shuttle, USS Enterprise-D, SS Botany bay, Romulan warbird, USS Enterprise-C, the Phoenix, USS Enterprise-E
Aliens - Starbase K7
Ninjatoes Papercraft Webpage - USS Voyager, USS Enterprise-D, DS9, Danube class runabout "Rubicon", USS Defiant, Delta Flyer, type 10 shuttle "Chaffee
Novice Cardmodel Designer - Sabre class, Olympic class, Akira class, Romulan warbird
StarTrek.com - USS Kelvin - follow link down the page
The Model Citizen - type 10 shuttle "McCool", partly Borg-assimilated type 10 shuttle, type 10 shuttle "Chaffee", USS Constellation, Build-Your-Own-Starfleet kit, Danube class runabout - just search through the blog archive
PR Models - Rawen Federation 4 pack, Rawen Federation micro 4 pack, Star Trek XI USS Enterprise, Romulan bird of prey
Sci-Fi Paper Models - USS Caracal, Romulan bird of prey, USS Almeida, SS Brisbane, Delta Flyer
Tektonken - Borg cube
Paragon Cardmodels - USS Enterprise NX-01, USS Kelvin, USS Hood, USS Farragut, USS Hartford, USS Actium, Star Trek XI USS Enterprise, USS Lethe, USS Monitor, Loknar class, USS Jenolen, USS Nelson, USS Centaur, USS Enterprise-D, USS Ahwahnee, USS Kyushu, USS Charleston, USS Appalachia, USS Voyager, Prometheus class, USS Dauntless, USS Durandal, executive shuttle, type 6 shuttle, type 6A shuttle, type 8 shuttle, type 9 shutle, type 10 shuttle, type 11 shuttle, type 18 shuttle, shuttle "Argo", Venture class scout, Danube class runabout, Colorado class runabout, T'Plana Hath, Vulcan DSRV, Vulcan Sh'Ran, Jem Hadar attack ship, Cardassian Hideki, Cardassian freighter "Groumall"
Clever Paper Models - USS Enterprise NX-01, USS Excelsior, USS Enterprise-B, USS Enterprise-C, USS Yamaguchi, USS Enterprise-D, USS Equinox, USS Rhode Island, Klingon bird of prey
Phoxim - shuttle Galileo II
Paper Aviation - USS Stargazer, USS Grissom, Voyager Aeroshuttle, USS Enterprise-A work bee
Domatine - Vulcan Surak class
Homespun Magixx - Federation travelpod, type 17 shuttle, Nomad
Planet Starfreak - USS Equinox, Andorian battle cruiser
Papercraft Universe - USS Enterprise-A

   That's a start anyway; much more is still to come...

Teeny Toty Starships II

   Part two of the starship collection is as follows...

I don't recall where I found the patterns for the Enterprise A or Reliant. The Romulan warbird was by Zosho and the Cardassian Galor is a layered Drex File.
   I've spent a few weeks trawling interwebland and the results have been very impressive. Google keeps throwing up the same results over and over and over so a lot of word manipulation was needed to find more deeply buried patterns. I've found that there are approximately a gazillion Federation templates (canon and non-canon) and relatively few alien races (other than the Klingons and the Romulans). This is where the Drex Files on Ex Astris Scientica have proved invaluable. Links will follow as I (re)find them.

Teeny Toty Wee Trek Starships.

   The majority of my really small Star Trek ships are produced by shrinking full-size templates using a freeware program called XnView. I convert pdo files to pdf using a program called cutepdf, and I convert pdf to bitmap images using a Tipard converter. Again, I'm aiming for models up to 2" in length, but a few go over, eg the Doomsday Machine (~3"), the Vulcan Sh'Ran (~3") and the Defiant (~3 1/2").
   Anyway, here goes...

 Left to right - Federation Kremlin class (???), USS Voyager (layered Drex file), Xindi Insectoid (layered Drex File), Cardassian Hideki (layered Drex File), Vidiian cruiser (layered Drex File).

   These models are stuck on cocktail sticks, so this should give an idea of their size. I had to buy a pair of reading glasses with 2 1/2 x magnification so that I could see where I was cutting. Tweezers are another essential, particularly if tabs are used.

Toty Shuttles Pt. 3.

   Here's the last batch for shuttles for the moment...

Left to right - Federation type 17 (Perry, I think), Federation Aerowing (Paragon, I think), Federation Venture scout (can't recall designer).
   Next up will be the start of the starships. Taking photos inside is a nightmare for me so these might be few and far between.

 

More Toty Wee Trek Ships.

   Now for the second thrilling installment of Star Trek shuttles...

Left to right: top - Federation command shuttle again (Paragon), Federation "Argo" again (Paragon), Federation type 11 (Paragon)
bottom - Federation type 10 "Chaffee" (Ninjatoes), Federation "Galileo" (can't recall designer), Federation work bee (can't recall designer).
   At some point I'll try to put together a list of links and those 'can't recall' models should crop up.

Teeny Toty Trek Ships.

   Along with many others, Star Trek is a bit of a passion with me. My latest 'craze' is building paper models of the ships (mainly) seen on screen. I owe a debt of thanks to the many awesome designers out there (Paragon, D-Whale, Clever Santoro, Ninjatoes, DTK, to name but a few) as I can't get the hang of designing myself. More thanks go to Ex Astris Scientica, Doug Drexler and others, who produce orthographics and plans. The few models I have made without a design have been made by layering colour orthographics, in particular those of Doug Drexler. Again THANK-YOU all...
   The following are some of the shuttles I've made so far...

Left to right: top - Ferengi (by Perry), Klingon (non-canon by MTK), Vulcan (can't recall designer) and Suliban (D-Whale)
middle - Tederation type 8 "Tereshkova" (Paragon, I think), Federation cargo bee (MTK)
bottom - Federation travelpod (can't recall designer), Federation NX-01 shuttle (can't recall designer), Federation command shuttle (Paragon), Federation "Argo" (Paragon).
   The models are not in any particular scale - the shuttles which should be the smallest usually end up being the largest! I'm trying to get the size under 2", although the cargo bee comes in at a whopping 3 1/2".