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With the imminent re-release of this kit for a sensible price, it would seem daft to have a build thread for this ? I'm going to do it anyway because I like a challenge.....or I'm an idiot, either or both are eminently possible. To put things into context time-wise, I bought this over a year ago when there was no inkling of a re-release, & when listed on that dreaded auction site it was what appeared to be NOS with very little box wear from storage. The RiKo sticker on the box indicating that it was indeed an original & the contents were sealed & untouched. Jan 2024, our local postie (who's a lovely chap btw) rings the doorbell, gives me the bad news and hands me the dreaded plastic bag; It's obviously got torn up in the sorting machinery & is very flat with some kind of "tyre" marks on the jiffy bag. Conspicuously NOT marked as Fragile. Unpacking reveals the horrors within.... Body had split at the scuttle, A & B pillars were badly bent. Chassis cracked 3/4 across on the back end. Front seats snapped in two And the glazing was....well....see for yourself. I messaged the seller who's response was "You can take it up with RM, the tracking numbers on the label". Ebay insisted I return it at my own cost if I wanted a refund because it was "Delivered" & I wasn't in a good headspace to take on that fight so I kept it (like an idiot) & decided I could fix it. Some time with a small heat gun, tape, solvent, patience & VERY LOUD music got it to the stage in the photos below; Scuttle bonded after splinting the body with the bonnet, wing & front clip & repeatedly warming to ease it back into place. It will need filling & sanding to get it back to the right shape, but at least it's joined & not flapping in the breeze. Heat, tape, clamps & solvent to soften & move things back roughly where they should be corrected the rear chassis; The seats had thankfully just cracked & not bent so were an easy fix; More warming with the chassis clipped, taped & clamped in place has got the shell 90% straight, the LH B pillar still has a persistent kink that needs more thought; The decals seem to have survived with just a crease in the backing in the only area without a decal on 😮 The glazing however is very likely a lost cause, only the rear screen being recoverable. Side glazing is simple enough with 0.25mm PET sheet, as is the rear if I wanted to aim for a more scale thickness. The front screen replacement is my 3rd or 4th attempt to put a compound curve into it, all previous tries ended up as crumpled crisp packets. It will probably be a while before I revisit this, not least because I have 4 cars and an FW190 in progress in parallel, let alone the 1/10 RC bodies that need work.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701 Stardate 1601.28: After a year of extensive research, conservation work on the original studio model of the USS Enterprise is now underway in the Museum’s spacedock. Our goal is to stabilize the model and return it to its appearance from August of 1967, during the filming of the episode The Trouble with Tribbles, which marked the last known modification of the ship during the production of Star Trek. The model appeared in all 79 episodes of the original series, and was donated to the Smithsonian in 1974. It will go back on public display in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall this year, in time for the Museum’s 40th birthday in July and the 50th anniversary of Star Trek in September. Visitors to our third annual Open House at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Saturday, January 30 can catch a glimpse of the work in progress. .