The bottom saucer had pencil lines as well. These have now been covered over with an inaccurate hull color and half-inch wide airbrushed heavy black grid lines.
If you are copying the Smithsonian "refurbished" look, use the finest and faintest mechanical pencil/compass that you can find for the top saucer grids. Use a thick, black sharpie for the bottom saucer, secondary hull and warp grid lines. That should reproduce the look well enough - maybe even do it freehand, without benefit of a straightedge or compass if you truly want it to be a close match.
Also, remember to paint the saucer top a greener gray than the rest of the ship, as the "new" paint is much paler than the original color. The bridge and B/C decks are the paler gray as well.
If you are copying the Smithsonian "refurbished" look, use the finest and faintest mechanical pencil/compass that you can find for the top saucer grids. Use a thick, black sharpie for the bottom saucer, secondary hull and warp grid lines. That should reproduce the look well enough - maybe even do it freehand, without benefit of a straightedge or compass if you truly want it to be a close match.
Also, remember to paint the saucer top a greener gray than the rest of the ship, as the "new" paint is much paler than the original color. The bridge and B/C decks are the paler gray as well.
