You were not kidding at all about the neck masks being the most difficult to apply! Unlike the lower hull masks (which wanted to stay in place at the slightest touch) the neck didn't want to come off the transfer sheet. I ended up having to manually place half of them... but it still worked! The next half of the neck I will adjust how I do it and see how well it works. Regardless, these masks are incredible, and worth the money!
The compound curves of the surface makes it impossible to get contact across the entire area at once, so you have to start at one point and slowly work across. If the transfer tape has enough tack it'll lift the masks back up as they don't have a lot of surface area contact to resist it. De-tacking the transfer tape as much as possible is the best way to tackle areas like this. When I did the demo, the transfer tape was very well used and had almost no tack left, barely enough to hold on to the masks. Placing them manually isn't the end of the world though, it's a relatively small area 👍
Thank you so much for posting these how-to vids! One comment/question, though… might it be easier to apply the mask on the neck sides BEFORE the neck is attached to the secondary hull? I mean, that way the secondary hull doesn’t impede your movement, and you have easier access to the neck?
Yeah absolutely, you can assemble and paint in whatever order suits you. It'd just be a simple case of filling and touching up the seam after assembly 👍
I am impressed with the precision and detail of this masking kit, but the transfer tape is a nightmare to use. If it's detacked enough to leave the mask on the model, then it's not tacky enough to lift it from the wax paper. It took me an hour of laying the first row on the saucer with the transfer tape. Placing each piece manually is going much faster with similar results in alignment.
Apologies, I've only just seen this comment or I would've replied sooner! The best method to use is to roll back the transfer tape with quite a tight curve once the masks have been placed on the model, pulling it back along the top of itself if that makes sense? That way, as it's being peeled back the tight contour of the rolling edge encourages the masks to release from the transfer tape rather than let go of the model surface. Same goes for when removing the backing paper from a section of masks once the transfer tape has been applied. No de-tacking should be necessary and one piece of tape should last a VERY long time, I completed application on this entire model with the same couple of pieces. Having said that, using the transfer tape isn't mandatory and the masks can be applied in the usual way if preferred.
Hi new here , question , what of the battle section & the saucer cut out are their masks for this as well ? , given the fact that this is a 2 part ship curious indeed .
There wasn't much reference for those areas when I developed these, and from what I can tell there isn't much in the way of aztecing, so I decided not to include them. The question hasn't been raised before so I'm assuming the vast majority of builds don't display the model in separated mode, but I'd be happy to include them if people think they're worth having?
@@MotionPictureMiniatures I've seen all 5 episodes that you have done thus far I liked your ideas on the re scribing panel lines , now most people still think that the "D" is a single ship even though they possibly have seen it seperate even the anchors & battle bridge look good properly detailed should be outstanding , it's up to you but business is business you need to be better than your competition .
On my AMT ERTL model kit from 1995, which I am building for the 2nd time right now, the secondary colour "Duck Egg Blue" FS 35622 appears to be lighter than the base colour which is the other way round with your model where those parts appear darker... interesting!
Interesting! I JUST dug my 1994-95 Enterprise D w. fiber optics kit #8772 out of storage and decided to finally build it and agonizing over the Aztec paint job. According to the instructions, the base color is supposed to be two parts Duck Egg blue to one part light ghost grey and one part light blue. So by my reading, the base is not entirely duck egg blue. Or am I missing something? Also, I'm still deciding on whether to go with the series two color Aztec scheme to Generations four color scheme. I'm leaning toward making it easier on myself by going with the two-color scheme. How about you?
@@Ty-er5ok I was trying to post a link to a review but it keeps getting deleted. Google "modelingmadness AMT/Ertl 1/1400 NCC-1701-D USS Enterprise Donald Zhou"
In my instructions the base color was exactly specified as you described, with the mix of 3 colors. I airbrushed all my plastic parts with that mixture and it is more or less the same color as the plastic parts already were. However, according to this report by Donald Zhou, he recommends the following: 1st Aztec color (base color): Light Ghost Grey FS 36375 2nd Aztec color: Dark Ghost Grey FS 36320 Life boats: Radome Tan FS 33613 I just re-ordered those colors and will have to start from scratch. I have painted the transparent parts with just transparent blue and red. The deflector housing is sometimes incorrectly advised as red, but it should be more those blue lines. The saucer dish primary impulse enginge should be red and not blue. The windows... up to you to paint black/white, I chose the Revell night color which glows in the dark :D Everything else should be fine as per instructions.
I forgot about the copper on the transparent blue warp engine parts 🤣 I think if you are putting lights inside the model then lightly painting the extruded parts in copper is fine. If you are not putting lights in then I would probably leave it blue as otherwise it would look more like copper.
It depends on which version you're going for, the TV series look or how it appeared in Generations. The colours used on the 6' and 4' filming models also differed from each other. Generally speaking, the main base colour was the more grey colour, with the secondary pattern being either green or blue (depending on the version). Also, the colours used in these videos are not accurate in any way, I used starkly different tones for illustrative purposes and to show the 4 layers more clearly.
You really should sand them down if you want your "D" to look remotely accurate. Big flaw in the kits having those lines. AMT made the same mistake in their original TOS Enterprise as well. The raised lines were not on either ship in the series. Sand them down, but be careful!
Its annoying that you are not speaking and have to read all that you are doing. Why do you need video when you can just have a text blog with pictures?
It's a visual aid specifically for using the mask set, not intended as entertainment. Having the text on screen rather than spoken means the viewer can pause at will and re-read the information as required. It's also more useful to see the application being done in real time instead of just looking at photos. A picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand pictures
You were not kidding at all about the neck masks being the most difficult to apply! Unlike the lower hull masks (which wanted to stay in place at the slightest touch) the neck didn't want to come off the transfer sheet. I ended up having to manually place half of them... but it still worked! The next half of the neck I will adjust how I do it and see how well it works.
Regardless, these masks are incredible, and worth the money!
The compound curves of the surface makes it impossible to get contact across the entire area at once, so you have to start at one point and slowly work across. If the transfer tape has enough tack it'll lift the masks back up as they don't have a lot of surface area contact to resist it. De-tacking the transfer tape as much as possible is the best way to tackle areas like this. When I did the demo, the transfer tape was very well used and had almost no tack left, barely enough to hold on to the masks. Placing them manually isn't the end of the world though, it's a relatively small area 👍
Thank you so much for posting these how-to vids! One comment/question, though… might it be easier to apply the mask on the neck sides BEFORE the neck is attached to the secondary hull? I mean, that way the secondary hull doesn’t impede your movement, and you have easier access to the neck?
Yeah absolutely, you can assemble and paint in whatever order suits you. It'd just be a simple case of filling and touching up the seam after assembly 👍
Look fantastic! Can you give recommendations for the real colors of the Generations version? Perhaps Tamiya colors? I'm starting my build soon.
I don't have any specific recommendations, sorry. I get this question a lot, I should really look into this and come up with some solid answers!
I am impressed with the precision and detail of this masking kit, but the transfer tape is a nightmare to use. If it's detacked enough to leave the mask on the model, then it's not tacky enough to lift it from the wax paper. It took me an hour of laying the first row on the saucer with the transfer tape. Placing each piece manually is going much faster with similar results in alignment.
Apologies, I've only just seen this comment or I would've replied sooner!
The best method to use is to roll back the transfer tape with quite a tight curve once the masks have been placed on the model, pulling it back along the top of itself if that makes sense? That way, as it's being peeled back the tight contour of the rolling edge encourages the masks to release from the transfer tape rather than let go of the model surface. Same goes for when removing the backing paper from a section of masks once the transfer tape has been applied. No de-tacking should be necessary and one piece of tape should last a VERY long time, I completed application on this entire model with the same couple of pieces. Having said that, using the transfer tape isn't mandatory and the masks can be applied in the usual way if preferred.
Hi new here , question , what of the battle section & the saucer cut out are their masks for this as well ? , given the fact that this is a 2 part ship curious indeed .
There wasn't much reference for those areas when I developed these, and from what I can tell there isn't much in the way of aztecing, so I decided not to include them. The question hasn't been raised before so I'm assuming the vast majority of builds don't display the model in separated mode, but I'd be happy to include them if people think they're worth having?
@@MotionPictureMiniatures I've seen all 5 episodes that you have done thus far I liked your ideas on the re scribing panel lines , now most people still think that the "D" is a single ship even though they possibly have seen it seperate even the anchors & battle bridge look good properly detailed should be outstanding , it's up to you but business is business you need to be better than your competition .
On my AMT ERTL model kit from 1995, which I am building for the 2nd time right now, the secondary colour "Duck Egg Blue" FS 35622 appears to be lighter than the base colour which is the other way round with your model where those parts appear darker... interesting!
Interesting! I JUST dug my 1994-95 Enterprise D w. fiber optics kit #8772 out of storage and decided to finally build it and agonizing over the Aztec paint job. According to the instructions, the base color is supposed to be two parts Duck Egg blue to one part light ghost grey and one part light blue. So by my reading, the base is not entirely duck egg blue. Or am I missing something?
Also, I'm still deciding on whether to go with the series two color Aztec scheme to Generations four color scheme. I'm leaning toward making it easier on myself by going with the two-color scheme. How about you?
@@Ty-er5ok I was trying to post a link to a review but it keeps getting deleted. Google "modelingmadness AMT/Ertl 1/1400 NCC-1701-D USS Enterprise Donald Zhou"
In my instructions the base color was exactly specified as you described, with the mix of 3 colors. I airbrushed all my plastic parts with that mixture and it is more or less the same color as the plastic parts already were.
However, according to this report by Donald Zhou, he recommends the following:
1st Aztec color (base color): Light Ghost Grey FS 36375
2nd Aztec color: Dark Ghost Grey FS 36320
Life boats: Radome Tan FS 33613
I just re-ordered those colors and will have to start from scratch.
I have painted the transparent parts with just transparent blue and red.
The deflector housing is sometimes incorrectly advised as red, but it should be more those blue lines.
The saucer dish primary impulse enginge should be red and not blue.
The windows... up to you to paint black/white, I chose the Revell night color which glows in the dark :D
Everything else should be fine as per instructions.
I forgot about the copper on the transparent blue warp engine parts 🤣 I think if you are putting lights inside the model then lightly painting the extruded parts in copper is fine. If you are not putting lights in then I would probably leave it blue as otherwise it would look more like copper.
It depends on which version you're going for, the TV series look or how it appeared in Generations. The colours used on the 6' and 4' filming models also differed from each other. Generally speaking, the main base colour was the more grey colour, with the secondary pattern being either green or blue (depending on the version). Also, the colours used in these videos are not accurate in any way, I used starkly different tones for illustrative purposes and to show the 4 layers more clearly.
Where do I get the masks for this
Go to www.motionpictureminiatures.com 👍
Where did you get the The masks from
I make them, as stated in the video and description
Is it necessary to sand off the raised surface detail to use the masks?
Hi, thanks for the question. It isn't absolutely critical, but it does improve the finished look a great deal if the surface is smooth.
You really should sand them down if you want your "D" to look remotely accurate. Big flaw in the kits having those lines. AMT made the same mistake in their original TOS Enterprise as well. The raised lines were not on either ship in the series. Sand them down, but be careful!
Sorry I forgot I asked a question a year ago
Its annoying that you are not speaking and have to read all that you are doing. Why do you need video when you can just have a text blog with pictures?
It's a visual aid specifically for using the mask set, not intended as entertainment. Having the text on screen rather than spoken means the viewer can pause at will and re-read the information as required. It's also more useful to see the application being done in real time instead of just looking at photos. A picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand pictures