Materials: AMT Star Trek Classic U.S.S. Enterprise 1:650 Scale Model Kit, sculpting epoxy, glue, electrical wires, Transformer toy parts, metal mesh, aluminum foil, automotive conduit cables, acrylic paint, glow paint.
While making some of my notebook projects, the thought occurred to me—wouldn’t it be interesting if the Enterprise was covered in scales, and transformed, to look like it was merged with a space animal?
I started by assembling the model according to the instructions. The next day after finishing it, I started to cut it up again. I used pieces of sprues to form the new deflector assembly and as accents on the back of the nacelles. For various detailing I used electrical wire, metal mesh, and metal strips across the ship, along automotive conduit cable, small plastic tubes, and parts from a Beast Wars Transformer toy.
For the scales and many of the raised bony-looking elements, I used Milliput and Green Stuff epoxy, either pure or mixed together in various proportions to modulate its texture.
There isn’t much space between the saucer section and the engines on the original model. To keep the model from looking too crowded as I added new parts, I cut the engines back by about an inch, and also cut the engineering hull in half, and lengthened it by an inch. This helped to keep the proportions somewhat intact.
For painting, I sprayed it with two coats of grey primer. I then went through a lot of different thoughts on how to paint this. Eventually, I decided on grey for the majority of it, red for the scales and some details, and purple for the tentacles. I also brushed on some copper to the red scales.
This doesn’t have lights in it, but I wanted it to glow, so I painted various sections with glow in the dark paints. These look all right in person, but they’re hard to capture in an attractive way on camera, so I’m not posting pictures right now.
I used a lot of new materials, tools, and techniques to make this. It’s the first model of its kind that I’ve ever made. I’m happy with how it turned out.