The week was spent on model building for hire and website work. We still haven’t recovered from the PayPal debacle as it cascaded through our little business from our bank account to our stores and websites. We have spent countless mornings and afternoons sorting out this mess so we can have a convenient way for our customers to purchase masks, props, art, and rocket kits.

SNG Studio now has a Shop on Buy Me a Coffee where you can quickly see what the Studio has.. One can merely click Buy Now see everything we have so far in our Shop.(we are still populating it, so if you don’t see something you want, you can just ask us. Everything should be there soon.)

When you are at the Buy Me a Coffee site, you will see the Shop listed at the top. So “Buy me a Coffee” is more than a place to support the Studio but also a store now. 

As for PayPal? They are still waiting to hear back from Chewy, (the cloned site went poof) until sometime in June and they are holding a lot of money of ours until they do hear back from the non-existent site. They won’t. so maybe we’ll get our money back. Either way I would never ever use PayPal again.

So, back to what we are doing at SNG Studio. I finished the beautiful TOS (the original series) Battlestar Galactica. 

I’m now starting on the Star Trek Enterprise E designed by John Eaves that has more windows than Carter has pills!

The model is small and the windows tiny. How do you get them to light up? Well, thanks to Lou Delmaso, he reminded me with a model this small, you can’t drill out, file, and fill canopy glue in every window. One puts a lot of paint on the outside of the hull so when lighted from the inside it blocks the light. Then it’s a simple matter of scribing out every freaking window removing the paint so the windows glow. Sounds  easy enough but it’s not. It takes days.

This has taken all this week. I took  it home to work on over the weekend. Glen Kramer is coming on the 14th of June to pick it up. Once I finish all the windows, it will go a lot faster. I still have the engineering section to do as well.

This is what she will look like finished. This is a shot from the film “First Contact”. An excellent Star Trek movie that  I highly recommend.
Somewhere in there,  I finished the Mclaren M8B 1/24 scale slot car. It will be first raced at Buena Park Raceway this month. I will be building more in the future now that I have all the tools and means to build them. That was a hurdle to overcome just getting started. There’s a huge difference between buying a premade slot car and building your own and the adventure and challenge is well worth the effort.

Next up, in a couple of weeks I’ll be getting a small package from New Zealand (from my friend who makes a line of resin cast slot car bodies) a Maserati 250 short nose 1957 formula one car. It’s a body kit in 1/32 scale. I’ll be building the chassis from scratch in brass. Another great build of an historic race car from the golden age.

I’m very excited about this build.

Here’s the weekly video update if you dare. It documents the work Mary and I do at the studio every week. Yes you even get to see Mary doing her beautiful art both wood burning and alcohol ink this week.

Mary’s efforts this week:

Oh and one last thing. Charlotte the Fiat 124 Spider successfully passed smog and is registered. Mary and I are thrilled to be driving this classic sports car.

It was quite a week!

Thank you for all your support and love. Come and visit the Studio some Friday. We would love to see you. and, as always, 

Stay Creative!

Steve and Mary

The Art of Steve Neill

SNG Studio on Patreon

Fine Art America – Steve Neill 

Collectors’ Mask Store

SNG Aero – Rockets by Steve Neill

Mary’s Store

Mary’s Blog (please follow)

It took me all day to do this much of the window scribing on the Enterprise E. At this size it’s very difficult to be exact and many of the windows are irregular because you are at the mercy of scribing a thick layer of paint used to block the light from the outside of the hull. 

Normally we would block the inside because the windows would be already open. This makes for a thinner layer of paint on the hull.

This model is too small to even drill out and file the windows so I was left with no choice but to block the outside only and scribe away the paint at the windows.

The strip LEDs on the inside of the hull make the plastic glow, making the effect of the windows lighted.

I will go back over these with a bit of paint and my magnifying glasses to clean them up a bit. Once the hull decals are on I’ll do a bit more and it will all look pretty good. To say this model is a challenge would be an understatement. I am used to light models twice this size as a minimum.  

Leaving my office this image caught my eye after the lights were turned off and the sun leaked through my office window.

Moon watcher and the Star Child from 2001: a space oddyssey

This is listed by a link to our mask store and soon to the other stores.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SNGStudio/extras

All our mask are listed in the store so you can just click and buy.

I finished Battlestar Galactica yesterday. She’s a nice ship. Now how to pack this so the shippers don’t harm it. A box inside of a box inside of a box with lots of bubble wrap and foam should do it. 2 Day air is best.

Moving on to the Enterprise E. I light blocked and painted the hull a light grey. Then I used the scribe tool and started a few windows for a test and it all looks very promising.

I’m hoping to scribe all the windows today on the saucer section and get the actual LED strip lights inside for a real test or look.

Yesterday was met with difficulties from what appears to be old decal sheets that came with the Battlestar model. In the future I must ask how old the model is and if it’s over 5 years old or more depending on the company it’s best to order new aftermarket decals. 

The decals that came with this kit were breaking up and in some cases slowly disintegrating in water. I know some people will use testors decal sealer on old decals to prevent this but since the demise Testors (Thanks Rustoleum! You @!*!!!) due to Rustoleum it’s no longer available. Infact testors and model masters are gone.

So I struggled putting little pieces of broken decals on the model that took some time and a lot of patience. Some were so bad I ended up hand painting them. Not easy and not always the best but acceptable. There was no way to mask the surface due to the raised detail on this model. I tried. So it’s a brush and your steady hand.

Today the model gets a clear coat and it’s ready to ship.

The Enterprise E is getting its light blocking and today it’s hull color. Soon I can start scribing windows for lighting.

I also finished my 1/24 slot car last night. Compared to a 1/32 Mclaren slot seen next to the 1/24th there is a noticeable size difference.

Currently I’m planning to replace the mounting screws with wire clips. I’m also on the fence about adding the mirrors or not. They won’t last long on the car in racing conditions.

It’s all about model building for the next few weeks. I have three commissions and the Battlestar will finish today. Much of this will be covered in our weekly studio video update I post every weekend.

I’m starting in on the Enterprise E from the very good film, “Star Trek First Contact.” One of the best next generation cast films ever made. This is true Star Trek at its finest. 

I’m light blocking for internal lighting the hull using black and white primers. These paints are very opaque and block the lights that will only glow through the windows I scribe.

And my personal build of the M8B Mclaren is nearly finished. I added some engine details and rearend structure and tail lights. Next seat belts and shoulder harnesses for the driver and that raps it up.

More tomorrow.

Custom Model Building Services

Contact us for more imformation if you have a model you want built. Thank you.

Our weekly update and the latest rocket launch. Enjoy.

Happiness is driving your Fiat to Ojai on a warm sunny day. Winding roads and the countryside all the way there and back. What an escape.

Still a project car with lots to do but running like a top thanks to Sean Marshall and his daughter’s hard work.

All orders are done and sent. Now it’s time to finish three model builds, start experimenting with the laser cutter, cleaning, and arranging our studio space.

Oh and working on my 1/24 scale Mclaren slot car for the upcoming race in May.

Thanks to all of you for the support, orders, and love. Because love is all you need.