International Scale Modeller

I did a little mini project this weekend. My daughter bought me this little desk toy a couple of years ago. Has some pre-recorded sounds and lights up when you press a button on the bottom.



It was a little monotone for my liking. The molding was excellent, though. I knew I could improve it with a bit of paint!

Here is a closer image of the original plastic.



I removed the bottom because it contained the electronics. Since they were glued in, I left the bottom alone because it isn't visible anyway. I primed it with Ultimate gloss black primer. I then painted the cube with Alcad Aluminum and the base in AK Bronze. Once dried, I covered it with a couple of coats of Aquagloss clear to protect the finishes. The AK metal paints are fantastic, but the enamel does wear off if you touch it too much. The Alclad is much more resilient, but since I was about to douse it with panel liner and rub it on, I figured some protection couldn't hurt. I wiped the excess panel liner off with a paper towel, and it was done!

EDIT: I forgot that after the panel liner was removed, I dry-brushed some Citadel Dry Necron Compound (silver) on top.



Here is a straight-on look at one of the panels.



The base by itself.



All in all I think this took less than 30 minutes. (I did speed up drying times with the heat gun).

Looks much better! I have the Enterprise from this same line of small light up models from Star Trek.

Maybe I should do the same to mine

OH very cool
That thing scared the heck out of me in the STNG episodes

Twokidsnosleep wrote: ↑Tue Oct 21, 2025 3:55 pm OH very cool
That thing scared the heck out of me in the STNG episodes

They did the same to me in the movie, First Contact, that bit where the Borg drones emerge out of the mist with their red laser range finders. Great film and proof the even numbered movies were the best.

Huge improvement.

Thanks for the comments. It doesn't always take a huge amount of work to make a huge difference.

My Phaser might be next. The only issue there is I can't take it apart without potentially damaging it.