NEVER turn your back on a Breen (final pics p 6)

[trekriffic]

Awesome! I don't bash often, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis...

Wait, that's not what I wanted to say. Rather, it's that I don't bash much but sometimes I've wondered about using brass, especially for stuff that I know will have structural integrity issues. Is it hard to cut? What do you use to cut brass?

Brass is a great strengthener. Depending on how thick it is you can cut it with a hacksaw or even a hobby size miter saw. A dremel with cutting disc will do the trick to. To file the edges it helps to have diamond files which you can get at Harbor Freight for cheap. This is especially true for photo-etch brass.

Nice work on the breen ship Kratok. Never been a big fan of the design but that doesn't lessen my appreciation for the craftsmanship you are putting into this.

[el gato]

Awesome! I don't bash often, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis...

Wait, that's not what I wanted to say. Rather, it's that I don't bash much but sometimes I've wondered about using brass, especially for stuff that I know will have structural integrity issues. Is it hard to cut? What do you use to cut brass?

Brass is a great strengthener. Depending on how thick it is you can cut it with a hacksaw or even a hobby size miter saw. A dremel with cutting disc will do the trick to. To file the edges it helps to have diamond files which you can get at Harbor Freight for cheap. This is especially true for photo-etch brass.

Thanks! And gathering from Kratok's build it looks like brass will form a good bond with CA

[trekriffic]

Thanks! And gathering from Kratok's build it looks like brass will form a good bond with CA

Yes. CA really sticks to brass and works great bonding brass to plastic. It has great tensile but low shear strength however.

[Kratok]

Yep, agreed with all the above comments on brass and cyanoacrylate.

Been hellaciously busy, but managed to do a little more. Thought I would take some "me" time to post an update to the thread.

Switching gears.

Moving on to the Breen Plesh Brek Frigate from Star Trek Online.

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My goal with both the Gel Chak and the Plesh Brek was (again) not to achieve a 100% faithful reproduction. I wanted to use the parts from the Breen model that I had, and modify them to fit the general outline of both ships. I wanted a representation that would make it absolutely clear what the model was representing, but I did not "count every rivet" during the construction.

I think one of the things that set the Breen apart in the Trek universe was the "alien-ness" of their ships. The cruiser is extremely asymmetrical. The battleship is much more symmetrical, with the frigate falling somewhere in between. I wanted to mix things up on the Plesh Brek/Frigate build so that even where the general shape was symmetrical, the modular components were not.

For the Plesh Brek, I took another of the cruiser arches and cut it in the middle. These two halves would become the upper wings. I then cut one of the small outer pods off of the arch to become the lower hull. I stretched it and added a neck at the stern with sheet styrene, and fashioned a deflector pod from a scrap of prototype board. Another cruiser model piece was used to make the second upper arm different from the first, helping achieve that "asymetrical symmetry" that I wanted. FInally, the central habitat/main hull was carefully carved from some more prototype board.

Here are the parts early in construction:

And after some additional detail carving and assembly:

And again after the major sub-assemblies had all been joined:

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Some final puttywork, and I shot the model with primer:

Here are the Gel Chak battleship and Plesh Brek frigate together, in primer, and showing the custom Breen Emblem stand I carved for them:

Both models still need to have some additional 3D greeblie work added, paneling restored, and (of course) painted. But I would call this the mid point in the build, so I wanted to share my progress.

I hope I hit the mark of creating a representative build of both ships.

More to come.

[SingleMind]

Nice job on both. They look very cool and I can easily seem them attacking earth.



I really have wanted a reason to use one of those smilies. But in all seriousness nice work

[Kratok]

Thanks, SingleMind.
Alien builds are generally do not generate as much chatter online as do the Federation ships, so I really appreciate the comments.

Finished the detailing of the Plesh Brek, and started adding vinyl paneling. Hope to have some pics up soon.

I am going to be pressed to get EITHER of these done by the end of the contest, but will do my best not to disqualify myself. Wish me luck!

[Moongrim]

Good luck.

I have to agree- they are fine looking ships. I think you've taken the 'mindset' of the Breen ship design and flown with it well.

[Kratok]

Moongrim,
Thanks - that was the goal. I hope to do a destroyer as well at some point in the future.

Pictures from today's work turned out poorly - too much flash. But I will upload what I have.

Here is the Plesh Brek with the small secondary pods installed, and all vinyl paneling in place.

Construction on this one is now done. I will be trying to duplicate the color scheme back on page 2 of this thread - a basecoat of blueish-gray with some sections in a grayish lavender. I will then pick out various panels with a rusty brown/terracotta color, do some detail painting, and a wash to make some of the relief "pop".

[SingleMind]

Your welcome. The Plesh Brek is looking lovely. I'm partial to it a little more then the other. But I have a construction question. "Vinyl paneling" I have heard that term a lot around AST but have no idea what people mean by it?

[Kratok]

The random white areas on the model are small sections of self-adhesive vinyl. I cut them out one at a time, then laid them on the kit. This gives a very subtle effect - nice thin panels, just like they should be at this scale. Thinner than you could ever do with styrene.

The professionals design their paneling in a vector drawing program, then have a sign shop cut them in vinyl. This is also how some of the commercial painting masks are generated. You can get much more precise and fiddly with this process than you can cutting by hand, but I went the low-tech route for this model.

Actually, I have never had much luck finding a shop that will cut the vinyl. Some of these panels get pretty intricate, and the sign cutters are used to working with much bigger pieces. Never have pursued a professional cut as hard as I could. I probably should do so - I have a few projects that could benefit.