kelvin_wood02.jpgUntil I can afford the nice ones that Gizmotron or Alliance have awaiting me, I figured I wanted one bad enough, so I went out to the shop and turned me one on my lathe. I had some scrap wood from the LHS (local high school, in this case). They have a bin they put their scraps in from the wood shop. This is what I found in that wood...
http://teachanddiscover.net/cmills/kelvin_wood01.jpg
http://teachanddiscover.net/cmills/kelvin_wood02.jpg
Saucer is made of pine, with the upper and lower saucer parts also made of pine. The nacelle and the shuttlebay/engineering are made of poplar dowel. The pylons are also pine, and the deflector is a spare from an old 1:1000 TOS E from Polar Lights.
Wife says I should leave it looking like this, with maybe a nice natural pine stain. I planned on priming, painting, and finishing to look as accurate as possible. I'm not as pleased with the saucer as I am the rest... Too heavy a grain in pine. I may run to the other LHS (local hardware store) and pick me up some maple next weekend, since the grain is tighter and flows better.
Thanks for looking!
Comments and such?
Posts
Just speaking from woodwork exp, never tried to model with it in entirety.
This one though I agree with your wife, give it a nice honey tinted lacquer job and maybe some metallic painted accents/details. Maybe add some windows and other details if your handy at carving. The let her age to a nice deep colour. I have a desk finished up with spar varnish and each year it gets more tiger eye depth to the grain as it darkens up.
Option for the pine though you could use filler, (automotive) to coat the surface and stabilize the finish some. There is some risk though of bubbling and lifting if there is any humidity in the wood or in the air at the time of sealing.
I will have to create two, I'm thinking. One will be primed, detailed, and finished to look like the ship from screen, the other will be finished with a natural stain and finished with a lacquer or varnish...
Thanks for the tips too, MKF!
I will keep updates posted here...
Its been a week, and unfortunately I only have the weekends to work on things other than work...
Here are a couple of updates... I know there are a few major gaps in between the pieces. As stated before, I plan to make A second copy. This pinewood one will stay wood-looking, but will be finished with a nice natural finish and a lacquer clear coat.
http://teachanddiscover.net/cmills/IMG_20120506_221113.jpg
http://teachanddiscover.net/cmills/IMG_20120506_221124.jpg
http://teachanddiscover.net/cmills/IMG_20120506_221223.jpg
http://teachanddiscover.net/cmills/IMG_20120506_221249.jpg
As usual, comments and such are welcome and appreciated...
CMills