Timothy S. Johnston Builds AMT 1400 Klingon BIRD-OF-PREY Scale Model |

Timothy S. Johnston Builds AMT 1400 Klingon Bird-of-Prey Scale Model

I have completed my latest scale model project.

I had a great time doing it, though it took longer than usual. I’m not the greatest at painting fine details, and the underbody design is quite challenging on this model. Here is the journey, in picture diary format. Enjoy!

If you recall, months ago, my fans, readers, and supporters voted on my next scale model project. Click here to see the post that revealed the results.

Here are the box contents and instruction pages. I have to say, the pieces fit together in this model better than any other model I’ve completed thus far. It was really fantastic. There was very little work to do filling gaps and sanding.

Here are the larger pieces drying overnight. Clamps and elastics are used to hold everything together tightly.

And here’s the finished Bird-of-Prey. Note the white gap filler at the bow. That still has to be sanded down and smoothed before priming.

I’ve primed it in grey here:

And this is the final hull colour. I used the same shade as with my Klingon D-7 “Alien Battle Cruiser,” for continuity.

Now comes the fine painting. I find this part so difficult, and there were a lot of areas that needed paint. I also ignored some requirements. Instead of flat red for the bird pattern, I chose a metallic red to match my other models. This wasn’t the greatest choice, as this paint has a “swirly” pattern and it is harder to paint up to sharp lines. Still, I kept at it until this:

Before adding the decals, the process of building scale models involves spraying with a clearcoat to fill minor depressions and smooth the hull out as much as possible. This makes the decal application easier. Here is the model, in a carboard spraying station:

Here is the decal sheet. It’s tiny! There are so many details created through the paint that the decals are really a secondary item on this vessel. I appreciated that. The number of decals for Enterprise and Reliant were enormous.

Here are some decals, applied. The close overhead lights show the edges, but the final layer of clearcoat will largely eliminate those.

I wanted to show this interesting feature, pictured below. It’s the red tubing at the bow. I painted this separately and glued it before the first clearcoat.

And here is the final product, after another clearcoat to cover the decals. I used semi-gloss to give it a shiny appearance. Some modelers prefer a “flat” clearcoat and then they even “weather” the exterior. I prefer the “shiny and new” appearance.

Thank you for looking at my newest model. Next up: AMT’s USS Enterprise-C!

See my previous scale model kits HERE.

Here it is, on the Star Trek II, III, IV shelf in my family room:

———

Each day, I post one carefully curated news item from the Science Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Horror, and Suspense genres. Follow or subscribe to my blog and start your days dialed in to the exciting worlds of Timothy S. Johnston!

———

Follow TSJ on Facebook.
Follow TSJ on X.
Follow TSJ on Instagram.
Follow TSJ’s Blog Life After Gateway, featuring one carefully curated news item from the world of Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, and Suspense each day. Enter your email in the “Subscribe to Blog via Email” widget on the right.

———

A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 7 November 2025

———

Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel

“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop

“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite

“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories

“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest

“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels

———

A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!

WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

———

A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.

If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.

But the assassin could be anyone …

Watch your back, Mac.

A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007