Welcome to the Polar Lights Refit Enterprise Re-deco Log Part 2! Click here for Part 1.
Over this past weekend I started painting on the details on the warp nacelles. When I first painted these details, back in 2006, I didn’t have an airbrush so it was all done by brush; all things considered I think I did an OK job back then! But I was really looking forward to seeing what I could do with the airbrush.
First, of course, came the masking. Between this and the Death Star, I can’t believe how much masking tape I’ve gone through in the past three months.
With the tape in place, I airbrushed IJN Sasebo Arsenal Grey on the magnatomic flux constrictors (the front part) and the outboard flux chiller grilles. (Yes, that’s what those things are called!)
By the way, I’m using Trek Modeller’s excellent Refit 1701 Paint Guide for reference. $35USD might seem a bit steep to shell out for a PDF but it is extremely useful. Definitely recommended if you’re painting this kit.
So once the grey was set, it was time to paint on the metallic silver and copper detail on the “raised” areas of the grills.
The copper turned out very well, the silver, not so much. I think the grills are too fine (and my initial hand paining back in 2006 too thick) for this detail to work out; the silver just looks splotchy and uneven. I’m going to have to re-do these, I think perhaps by airbrushing a mixture of gray and gun metal — that will give it a little metallic shine but I won’t have to brush paint the raised edges.
The magnatomic flux constrictors have much wider grooves, which makes them easier to paint. I did leave a little too much tape on one area, as seen below, but, that I can easily fix up by hand.
More to come.