1000 scale USS Defiant

[Trekmanscott, M,Ed.]

Polar Lights 1/1000 scale USS Defiant is an awesome kit. It is lightyears ahead of the AMT kit in both fit and detailing!

When I picked this kit up I knew I would be lighting it. To aid in that endeavor I bought a photoetch and resin add-on kit from Green Strawberry.

As always the parts were washed before I began. The inside of the model was painted black and then white. Then I began the process of modifying the kit parts to accept lighting and the aftermarket parts. I opened the shuttlebay and the detailed rectangles at the back of the model. I removed the insides of the clear warp field grilles. I drilled a small hole in the area behind the Bussard collectors for an LED.

I used 4 pieces of LED Strip(two shining up, two shining down) to light the inside of the model. I attached all of the photoetch to the outside of the model and drilled out the windows.

The Green Strawberry kit comes with a transparency that lays out how to attach the photoetch inside the rectangles at the rear of the ship. (I am not sure what this area is called in universe. But this area had a purple glow it it on the studio model.) I sprayed the transparency with a light coat of Plum Violet paint. I liked the results so I trimmed it down and secured it to the model.

The main shuttlebay was painted and glued into the model. A 3mm LED was placed inside the tractor beam emitter. As nice as the Shuttlebay is it did not come with a shuttle. I get it at 1000 scale the shuttle would be tiny. But I really wanted a Type 10 shuttle for this build. I was lucky for my birthday this year my wife got me a resin 3D printer. I scoured the internet for an stl file of the type 10 shuttle. I was lucky and I found one. After running the shuttle dimensions through a scale calculator I scaled the stl to scale and printed out a shuttle.

The Resin ad photoetch parts for the warp nacelles match the studio model and add nice detail even to a model this small.

The model was painted with Model Master Light Gray. After a gloss coat the model was ready for decals. The kit comes with a full sheet of decals However a friend sent me a sheet of panel decals that have softer colors than the kit sheet. The decals went on like a dream and after another gloss coat I highlighted the panel lines with Vallejo Light Gray wash. I flat coated the model and that wrapped up the build. I used a piece of fiber optic to suspend the shuttle below the shuttlebay.

This was a pretty quick build that took 6 weeks to complete

[SCI-FI]

Very cool -- that kit is on my "must get" list, but I never see it at my LHS.

That shuttle is... in scale? I thought the shuttle was a lot larger relative to the Defiant...

Either way, awesome work!

-SF

[Trekriffic]

Nice work. Like the base too. Where did you get the USS Defiant plaque?

[Trekmanscott, M,Ed.]

Originally Posted by Trekriffic

Nice work. Like the base too. Where did you get the USS Defiant plaque?

I downloaded the image off of the internet then scaled it to fit, I printed in and then laminated it.

[Trekmanscott, M,Ed.]

Originally Posted by SCI-FI

Very cool -- that kit is on my "must get" list, but I never see it at my LHS.

That shuttle is... in scale? I thought the shuttle was a lot larger relative to the Defiant...

Either way, awesome work!

-SF

The shuttle might be slightly undersized. Scaling ships in Trek can be difficult.