Yes it’s Friday and I’m ready for the weekend. I’m going to do something I haven’t done for a couple of months or more. Fly. I’m flying a very large RC airplane.
Yesterday and today I’m finishing all the light blocking, filling seams, filling cracks and poor fitting parts. Parts of the model are taped up to prevent airbrushing over windows and clear parts as I sand and touch up. Monday we start putting on the decals.
I did pour some more of Nimoy’s ears up for a friend and customer I’ll paint Monday. for those of you new to the blog I made Spock’s ears for the first Motion Picture back in 1978. A highlight in my career for me.
These get mounted in a special shadow box and signed by the creator.
Here I am with Adam Nimoy and a pair of his dads ears standing in my office.
I also finished mounting the body and fine tuning the Maserati last night. This car runs smooth as glass and handles well. Time to paint the body and add the details.
A package came from France yesterday. One of my dads heros was racing legend A.J.Foyt. And this car was my favorite and his. A.J. was my little boy hero and my dad was a friend of his. Back in the 60’s my dad built up a Stromberg Watson Roadster Sheraton Thompson for me. AJs winning car in 1964. I don’t know what ever happened to it but it was my wobbie and I took it everywhere I went for comfort. I was 12 years old.
Now back into slot cars I wanted that car back and found a guy on ebay that had resin bodies of the car. This will be a wonderful build full of memories of my late dad and all the fun we had racing.
More and more work on the enterprise E. What a journey. Of course I have been through this journey so many times I lose count. But no matter how seasoned a maker-modeler you are, every model (with the exception of repeats) or thing you make is the first time. Therefore your experience won’t always prepare you for the changes of course the said project takes you on.
In the case of this model the size is a bit daunting. Your nerves can be quite on edge with this much wiring and electronic possibilities of failure. It has happened. you get to a point where you carefully put all the main pieces together and the lights go out. This brings a big gulp and a sinking feeling that’s most uncomfortable.
Yesterday I closed this model up. The saucer section was finally attached to the engineering section and the switch went on. She lit up beautifully without a flicker and was solid.
At this point you sit down and take a moment. One where you take joy in all the careful planning you did.
Next? We filled the numerous gaps for the poor fitting parts. Many in this kit were warped plastic.
Today I’ll be sanding and touching up the paint as I go along. It’s my hope that I can start the many decals (in the hundreds) tomorrow. Certainly by Monday.
When I got home from my studio last night I worked some more in the slot car room on my Maserati. I got the motor installed in the actual position of the full sized car but as always with drive shafts I ran into problems. As a whole I don’t like them. They can be problematic.
So I changed motors and mounted one of these small short can motors with a pinion directly to the crown gear. Bingo! The car ran fast and smooth the first time.
The driver will sit right on top of the motor but the way I will do this it won’t be seen much only if you look straight down into the cockpit. Life is a series of trade offs anyway and this was a good one.
And more work on the Enterprise E. The nacelles on the port side gave a whole new meaning to, “Warp Nacelles” as the plastic itself was warped and took some time to get both nacelles level to one another.
Parts don’t fit well as a result of the warping but Tamiya putty is fixing it well.
Today it’s my hope to close up the Engineering section and attach the saucer section. The board is in the base and all the connections travel well through the brass tubing.
When I got home a bit of basket weaving in the slot car cave as I worked on the Maserati chassis. Axles have yet to be cut down and fitted but it’s coming along well.
The building of the model for my friend and customer continues. There’s just so much to do. I had a time out Thursday. Mary and I both caught some kind of stomach bug which laid us up at home.When you’re trying to make a deadline, every day counts. I have at this point got all the lighting into the model and working well. Starting tomorrow I’ll be putting together the model and all its sub assemblies into one piece. From there I can fill gaps, touch up the paint and add the decals.
I did map out how I will make the chassis for my new vintage Formula 1 slot car build, at home in the evenings.
Here you see it just sitting in its axles and new wire wheels for a look.
This car is a real history maker in auto racing and I plan to do more.
Our film, “A Conversation with my Father” is in the final cut phase and the sound editing and score are still not finished. It will be soon and we can release our new film many of you helped us make.
My latest episode of “Slot Car Fun” is online this morning. I interviewed Frank Peter De Van Goor. He is a master modeler for slot car racing tracks. A very talented and inspired man who was a race driver himself and a race driving instructor. He has a deep passion for racing history too which I myself have learned so much from his amazing videos.
I plan to do a series of interviews with some of the greats of slot car racing in future shows.
Here is the weekly SNG Studio Update that shows the work I have been doing on the Enterprise model: https://youtu.be/rEJoxM_HUDQ
Saturday we had another great rocket launch.Thank you Mark Ware for purchasing this additional launch equipment and launch pad for our group, Ventura Rocketeers. Everyone appreciated it very much and we were able to set up 10 rockets on the pads. It made for a very smooth launch!
I was walking out to retrieve a rocket that I launched and, as I did, in my peripheral vision I noticed movement on the ground. I thought it was maybe some kind of bug but as I stopped and focused on the object I noticed it was a small baby toad. Not wanting to step on it I caught it in my hand. I clasped my hand over it so it could not escape as I had learned to do when I was a small child. I was quite the nature kid and I still am. The little guy did his best to escape and I could feel him pushing at the crack between my thumb and palm but he settled in and became quite calm. Because we are all connected to all living things in this life he knew my intentions. I was not going to harm him. Somehow he could just sense it. I could sense him. It was a wonderful moment to have this communion with this tiny life.
I brought him over to show Joaquin and his father, Arnulfo. I opened my hand and the little guy just sat in my hand and we observed how beautiful this little creature is. Arnulfo took this picture to capture the moment. After that I walked a safe distance away from our activities. The little guy just sat there looking around as I slowly bent over he looked at the grass and back at me before leaping off my hand to safety. Moments like this are important because they remind us all how important life is and how we benefit each other.
Our friend, Carlos Grasso, a fascinating artist, had a reception for his artwork at the H Gallery on Main Street in Ventura that we attended. He even had a 3D piece with accompanying glasses for viewing. Please visit his website to seeing his work: https://carlosgrasso.com
Mary, the first part of the week (before the bug on Thursday) did some more alcohol ink painting and burning. Her weekly views can be read on her blog, Art by Cacciapaglia
As always thank you for being our friend and supporter of our Art. Stay Creative, it gives life purpose.We love you very much,Steve and Mary
Yesterday all I did was work on the model. I managed to get most of the lighting into the saucer section, all but the impulse engines.
I closed up the nacelles successfully and attached the pylons complete with the power wire running through them.
It was my hope today to connect the entire model together in one piece but I have been fighting a very bad back pain due to sciatica. And Mary is a little under the weather. So we are resting at home and tomorrow I should be able to assemble the model.
There’s still a lot to do after I do. Filling all the gaps, sanding them smooth. Touching up the hull color and adding 100’s of decals.
By now many of you are probably getting bored with the constant updates on the Enterprise build. These models take lots of time to make and consume everything else around them like a black hole until they are done. In the meantime I thought I’d show you something else from my work to break things up a bit.
I’d like to share with you two films I did over the last few years. At the time they were more controversial than today in light of the evidence and information being released by our government and science with regards to other intelligences in the universe and possibly visiting here.
Both are based on personal experience and the third in the series (being finished as I write this) is also related in a way most wouldn’t suspect. Bottom line is for me all these phenomena are connected and related because of our deep connection with everything that exists around us, from this Earth to the furthest reaches of the cosmos.
They are listed on the Film page of this website but I doubt few ever notice them. So I’ll post them here on the front page. They are honest and in no way claim to have the goods on this subject. It’s just what happened and has happened to millions of people. None of us know what we don’t know. But I’ll tell you for sure, “But Something is There”.
Not much to tell today. I spent the day helping Mary build a table we needed for the shop and then a couple of hours on the Enterprise.
I glued shut the nacelles after I got the little blue LEDs placed that I was missing. I also gapped one of them with Tamiya putty. It really fills the gaps and blocks the light leaks well.
It’s my hope today I can attach the pylons and move on to the last of the light effects on the saucer section.
The Art of Steve Neill 