USS Sprite - NCC-1828

[Tiberious]

Okey-dokey, so I bought a couple 1/2500 scale Star Trek ships from R2/PL. They are not my scale but I thought I'd show some interest in their stuff and hopefully get me a 1/1400 Enterprise! But, as all know the new Disco Enterprise will be in super ginormous 1/1000 scale, so lost hope there...

But that still left me with the Shenzhou and the Enterprise in a scale smaller than I prefer. So, rather than let them just collect dust in the Stash I decided to do something with them and bash them together!

Not a huge bash, by any means. I'll be keeping the Shenzhou's main hull and using part of the struts, and adding the Enterprise's nacelles, sensor dish and hangar deck.

With that, the most obvious step to start with was cutting up a used pen...



But that's for a good reason, as I am replacing the more modern look of the Shen's dish and I need a hull section to fit the base of the TOS sensor, which was cut out with a pin vice.




The pen body turned out to be a good fit for the cut-down sensor base and looked good in place.






I'll need to fill in a few holes around the sensor housing.

With that figured, I put the clear parts in and glued the main hull together, and then curved a thin piece of styrene into the gaping hole in the bow, whihc was then trimmed to fit.




Once that was dry, a hole as carefully cut into it for the sensor housing...




...which then just slips right into place.



With that mostly done, I moved onto the shuttle deck, slicing the Enterprise hull and then seeing how it would fit. Or not...




No fears however! A little more cutting and some styrene widened the shuttle deck to fit the Shen's width. A new door was cut from car siding Evergreen plastic.



And then the whole stern of the Shenzhou was cut off and 'floor' extended. Looks a mite ugly there.



It looks good set in place though.





With that figured, it was time to fit the nacelles. I used their intended struts to fill the big holes in them.




Those will be pinned for strength and then closed up. I forgot to paint the radiators, but doing so will be easy to do after main paint is finished.



Rather than painting the bussard domes a solid red, they'll be painted with clear, but that means I need to cover the hole that would be visible under them. To that end, I cut some thin styrene discs to go over the holes and bought a few colored 'gemstones' to go underneath them.





I had intended to move the struts ouward to broaden the 'stance' of the nacelles, but I've since decided against that. With the nacelles and struts glued together it was time to see how she looks in the alltogether!



I'm glad I left the struts mounted where they are, as that spread looks good right there.




And that where she sits at the moment. I'm now cleaning the joins between the nacelles and struts, and I still need to put some paneling on the sides of the shuttle deck to cover some roughness. Moving right along now though!

Model on!

Thom

[Madhatter]

Nice work on the mods Thom - they look great!
You could consider lighting it

[AdmiralBuck]

Just lovely! I especially like the use of the extended bay on the primary. Overall, a harmonious hull form that makes sense.

[Tiberious]

Thank you guys!

Because the nacelles were sitting a little high at the back, I added some spacers to the pegs.



It's not much but it makes a big difference. I also added some 'paneling' to the join between the hull and the Enterprise shuttle deck, covering up a bad join.



And I made the torpedo openings, placing them in the leading edges of the struts. A nice flat spot with plenty of height.



Along with the four bow mounted phasers, it should give her a good forward punch. With that, and except for a little more detail here and there, I think she is very close to paint!

Model on!

Thom

[Tiberious]

Well, construction is done and the first spritz of primer has been put on.






Model on!

Thom

[AdmiralBuck]

Clean work. Can't wait to see paint on her. Are you thinking metallics?

[srspicer]

Looking good. I have always been partial to the engines down look, more aggressive.

[Tiberious]

Originally Posted by AdmiralBuck

Clean work. Can't wait to see paint on her. Are you thinking metallics?

No, she'll be in grays. I've never been into an all metallic look for Star Trek ships.

Originally Posted by srspicer

Looking good. I have always been partial to the engines down look, more aggressive.

There is something a little more sleek and hot-rod about it.

Haven't started painting yet. But will get to it soon.

[srspicer]

The pylons work really well with the hull shapes and angles.

[SCI-FI]

Really slick project!

Can't wait to see the paint job--

-SCI-FI

[srspicer]

Nice!

[Tiberious]

Back to work on the Sprite. No pics as of yet though. Currently masking and starting paint. Soon.

[Bridger]

That looks really good!