After sketching out my ideas I moved to small cardboard models. These are what really helped me find the form I was envisioning. Once I had decided on the form that I liked the best, I moved into Fusion 360 to start 3D modeling the ship.

 Creating the 3D model helped me figure out which sections could be made by hand and what needed to be 3D printed. In these models above I decided that the parts with the white plastic texture would be made from .05” polystyrene sheets. The grey metallic parts were separated into individual pieces then 3D printed. Once all the parts were printed I glued them together and began adding more details.

 After I finished assembling the large pieces, I hit the whole ship with a coat of white primer to flatten the contours and give myself a blank canvas to add more details and greeblies.

At this point, I had no idea what colors I was going to paint the ship. I took it into photoshop and painted several different color combos and designs. I went with a naval grey, a burnt yellow, and a silver metallic. Once I had my colors picked, I could start my favorite part, paint and finish. I laid down a base coat of metallic, then I added masking and sprayed on the naval grey. More masking and then the yellow accents. I then removed all the masking and began to weather the ship. Using layers of blacks, browns, and oranges I gave the ship life by making it look extremely dirty. I also used rust-colored weathering powders to set the ship into its environment.

 Final Painted Model