Federation Class Dreadnought
The lathe turned dreadnought saucer. The central indentation is a socket for the Polar Lights kit clear bridge dome.
The lathe turned aft secondary hull's front and aft ends were cut off to fit. The forward part of the secondary hull is visable in the lower right.
The fore and aft secondary hull parts were glued together.
This assembly was reattached to the lathe and turned smooth with some finish sanding.
The saucer and secondary hull were primered for ease in locating defects and later putty work.
The hanger door area was marked and removed.
The flat sides were routered out for completion with sheet plastic later. The smaller diameter hanger door outer walls were cut down in diameter.
.08" sheet styrene was cut to shape to form the landing platform.
06" Sheet styrene was heat formed to the tube shape and rough cut down to size to form the hanger bay door canopy.
The heat formed styrene was cut to the final scalloped shape.
This cut shape was then glued to the secondary hull assembly.
Sheet styrene was laminated together to form the main pylons.
The styrene laminate ends were cut off and the sides sanded to shape. This blank will be used to make the final engine pylons.
A recessed hole is bored into the front end. This will house the Deflector Amp Rings later.
The socket for the engine pylons is cut into the top of the secondary hull.
The secondary hull is sanded smooth. The socket for the engine pylons is framed in with sheet styrene.
Aves Apoxie putty is sculpted around the front end for final shaping of the hanger door area. The entire part is then skimmed with auto spot putty to fill in minor surface imperfections.
After the putty dried, the entire part was sanded, wet sanded, then primered to check for imperfections.
Single parts that each kit is required to have multiple copies of, are molded.
Clay is rolled out and small dots are pressed into it.
Resin was poured in, cured, removed and the clay is scrubbed off. These little bumps will be shaved off and used for navigation lights and phaser banks on the dreadnought.
A package of wood beads were purchased and one of them was pressed into the clay, then filled with resin.
The resin shape was removed from the clay mold and scrubbed clean.
The parts were pulled from the single sided mold and the double sides mold was cleaned and prepped for pouring the other half of the mold.
The resin shape from the clay mold had lines etched into it for door panels and cut down to size, then primered.
4mm diameter holes were drilled in for the aux. deflectors. A smaller hole was drilled into the center to hold the spike. The hanger doors were aligned and glued into place. Lastly, the deflector amp rings were sanded down to shape and glued into place.
Resin casts were made from the molds. The bottom of the saucer was routered out. A casting of the saucer was trimmed down in diameter and sanded flat on the back. This part was aligned with the other saucer half and glued into place. Apoxie putty was applied to the seam around the bottom.
The putty work was sanded down and the entire part was primered.
The neck was cut to shape and glued into place. Putty was applied and the entire part was again wet sanded.
Locator pegs were added to the top of the neck. A locator peg for the homing beacon was added on top of the hanger bay doors canopy. Phaser bumps were added to the top and bottom of the part and raised rib detail was added onto the sides.
The part was then primered and checked for flaws.
Small imperfections were corrected completing the part.
The aft deflector amp rings are sanded to shape completing the part.
Alignment holes were drilled into the bottom for aligning the interconnecting dorsal to. Triangular shapes were etched into the bottom of the saucer part. Rounded strip styrene was cut to shape and added to the base of the triangles. The small resin bumps were shaved from the sheet, aligned, and glued to the saucer for formation lights and phaser banks.
Alignment holes were drilled into the top for aligning the center warp nacelle strut. Bumps were aligned and glued on for formation lights and phaser banks. An impulse deck was made, aligned and glued on. Textured tape was then applied to the outboard sides of the impulse deck completing the part.
The pylon blank was cut to two shapes and sanded to fit onto a small block of resin to make the main warp nacelle support pylons.
The completed conversion parts are held together to show the model's configuration.
Completed conversion parts, bottom view.

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