Welcome to the Assembly Site of Warp's large Klingon Bird of Prey GRP kit. Here you will see the modifications to allow for lighting, assembly, detailing, and painting of this large impressive kit.

Lamp sockets are epoxied into the lower half of the forward boom.

Holes are drilled into the model surface where windows will be placed. Small pieces of clear plastic are cut to shape and glued over the holes. Additional detailing is added here on the bridge area with small pieces of sheet plastic and brass wire.

The entire torpedo launcher was drilled out. An oval shaped piece of clear plastic is cut to fit into the opening where the original torp tube was. A rocket cone from a kit is drilled out in the base and an LED was inserted. This piece was glued to the clear plastic, then the assembly was glued into the boom.

The kit's wing tip guns are assembled. Modifications included adding a small length of aluminum tubing to the end of each gun barrel making it appear hollow..

A close up on one of the almost stock kit reactors. Additional detailing includes added brass wire.

The port side 'grill' was damaged and is shown here after many hours of rebuilding with strip styrene and putty.

A steel base flange is epoxied to the bottom side of the top half of the main hull. This flange will be the main support connect point for the completed model.

The window areas on the main hull are drilled out. An access point on the top is also drilled out to access the wiring when the model comes together.

Most of the kit parts are shown here. Note the 4"x6" pictures, hobby knife, and super glue bottle in the upper left for scale

The main hull side running lights are soldered to leads then inserted and glued into plastic sheet.

The side running lights are mounted to the main hull sides. Running light LEDs for the lower hull and cabin lamps are soldered to leads

The lower hull running lights are installed. A power cable is inserted thru the flange and up through the top access hole. Blue clay is then sculpted in to dam the flow of 'filler'.

The top and bottom main hull halves are filled with resin.

The blue clay is removed and excess resin 'splashes' are cleaned up.

The top half of the main hull is screwed onto a temporary base while the lower half is test fitted with the upper half.

The top and bottom main hull halves are joined together with epoxy.

A small section of square tubing is cut to support lamps which are epoxied into place.

The lamps are tested.

Clear plastic sheet is cut into panels to fit over the open holes in the main body. The body and bridge module's lamp lighting are wired together for testing.

One of the most inaccurate areas of this kit is the Engine compartment which is cut out for rebuilding a more accurate engine. (Note the fine fit between the top and bottom hull parts.)

A panel is cut from sheet styrene and 6 super bright red LEDs are soldered in parallel, inserted into the styrene sheet and glued.

The sheet styrene panel is glued over the massive hole in the hull.

Sheet styrene is applied to the bottom part of the main hull for detailing later. Two holes are cut in to allow for lighting. Tile scribed styrene is cut to length and glued over the massive gap between the hull halves.

Thin sheet styrene is cut to fit over the holes where the origial engine was. The tile scribed styrene is glued over the seam line holes in the engine compartment, and frosted clear plastic strips are laid over the LEDs to help diffuse lighting.

Thick clear plastic sheet is cut to fit to make the lower engine compartment. This clear plastic is then frosted and transparent red gelcoat is applied to the lower part of the clear plastic sheet. Detailing is then applied with various widths of strip styrene.

The topside of the lower engine compartment is detailed with strip styrene. This part of the engine lights up yellow.

A piece of sheet styrene is cut to fit to make the topside of the engine. This part of the compartment is line with aluminum foil to reflect light from the LEDs.

The assembled forward boom and bridge is epoxied to the main hull.

The port and starboard sides of the 'neck' are detailed with pieces of styrene to hide seams and cover up casting flaws.

Red transparent gel panels are cut to fit over the holes in the bottom of the main hull. Bits and pieces of styrene and model parts are applied around the red panels, and a strip of styrene is applied around the main hull to cover a seam.

Styrene panels are cut to fit over the central top area forward of the engine. This area was damaged and broken when the kit was received and required extra attention to correct the damage. A red gel tinted clear part is cut, bent and placed over the engine LEDs. The tiled styrene strips on the sides and in the engine are closed off on the aft ends and a couple model parts are thrown in for good measure.

Engine panel detailing is created from sheet styrene, completing the main engine.

Additional raised detail is added to the main hull with strip styrene. Then the windows are masked for painting.

The windows on the Bridge are also masked for painting.

The 'sockets' for the wings are scuffed up with a moto-tool. Epoxy is mixed and applied to the socket and the wing's wiring is feed into the main body through a hole. The wing is then positioned into the socket and held until dry.

Both wings are secured in place, completing major assembly.

The micro-lamps on the wing edge are tested.

The lighting in the main engine is tested.

A close up on the main hull detailing.

The bottom of the main body at the neck intersection point is plated with sheet styrene and a couple of model tank suspension parts are added for detail.

The top 'pods' that flank the baffle plating blocks are attached to the top of the main body. Additional detail of strip styrene is added. The wiring in the main body is all tied together and sealed. A cover plate for the hole was made from sheet styrene and detailed.

Sheet styrene panels are laminated to the bottoms of the overhanging pods. Misc detail is added with parts from a couple of tank kits, completeing assembly and detailing.

The entire completed and masked model is primered with a light grey primer.

The room lights are dimmed and the model lighting is turned on. Black acrylic paint is applied to the areas where light was leaking thru. These areas were then reprimed.

The entire model is then painted with a custom mix (Don't ask!) of Testor's green, silver, blue, and Rustoleum gloss white.

The fully dried model is masked off for painting of the very light grey-green panels. These panels are airbrushed on.

The panels to be painted dark green are masked off with transparent tape and airbrushed on with a mix of the base color mixed with added green, silver, and dark blue.

The green variation panels are sprayed on and all masking is removed.

The bottom feather panels are outlined with the green base color.

The 'cloak projector' is detailed with strip styrene and primered. Light and dark gray panels and strips are painted on the loose part.

The baffle blocks are masked off.

The baffle blocks are painted with a gunmetal color and the masking removed. Silver was then drybrushed over the ribs on the blocks.

After the silver drybrushing, the gunmetal was used to touch up. The detailing around the main engine was then painted with dark gray.

Stay tuned for more! This site last updated on Stardate 0309.12 All materials shown here are ©Thomas Models 2003 If you'd like to see images of the completed model, please visit this index.

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