[petrov26]

I have the PL TOS Enterprise underway - wondering on what the best way it would be to do the grid lines on the saucer or if I should do them at all. What have others done here? Should they be scribed lines? If you have an easy method I would love to hear it.

Thanks!

 

[Trek Ace]

Use a piece of thin brass strip, bent to the contour of the saucer, as a guide for the radial lines. A compass is best for the concentric lines. A fine-point mechanical pencil lead is best for creating the lines. Go lightly. They are meant to be very subtle.

 

[Warped9]

Actually they are so subtle that at 1/1000 scale they would effectively be invisible...and so why bother?

 

[Rogue1]

I used a .005 mchanical pencil to draw them on very lightly.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/12Rogues/On%20the%20bench/Finished%20Kits/olb34.jpg

 

[John P]

Use a sharp mechanical pencil, and a compass, and draw them on lightly. Looks great if done right.
http://www.inpayne.com/models/shaitan.html
http://www.inpayne.com/models/ptolemy.html

 

[mactrek]

I Agree with Warped9 ... They're barely visible on the "pre-restoration" 11 footer (Hence, the debates that have lasted so very long) and would be nonexistent at the 1:1000 scale. It's like adding a scale pimple on the cheek of a 1:350 scale figure. You would have to hand out a complimentary magnifying glass to everyone that comes over to see your model.

But on the other hand, Rogue1's Connie and John P's ships look great! ... along with all the other modelers that have chosen to add the grid lines.

I guess we've been conditioned over the years with all of the blueprints, diagrams and AMT/Ertl models to see those grid lines, and now, when we see a TOS era ship without them, something in our psyche says that there's something missing.

Trek Ace said it best ... Go lightly ... VERY lightly! They are meant to be very very subtle at the 11 footer's scale (whatever that is).

Good luck on your project, petrov26!

I'm gonna go run for cover ... now that I realize that I've opened at least two of the proverbial "pandora's boxes" of Star Trek Modeling.

 

[Warped9]

I don't need to run for cover. The only time I've seen those gridlines done right was on a cgi model done by Kirkunit on the TrekBBS. His lines were so subtle that they were only visible right up close, the same way they'd be on any modern aircraft or ship. Otherwise if visible at a distance it means that at that scale those "faint" lines would actually be gaping seems several feet wide if seen up close. Ridiculous. It's also interesting that I strongly suspect it wasn't Matt Jeffries who ordered or added those penciled lines to his design.

I still resist the gridlines in principle because it flies in the face of what a true futuristic science fiction vehicle could look like. Why in God's name should it evoke the feeling of 20th/21st century technology when it's supposed to look 23rd?