USS Enterprise-C, 1:1400 Scale Round 2 Models

[Smiffy]

USS Enterprise-C

1:1400 scale Round 2 Models

From the third series of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Yesterday’s Enterprise” has proved to be one of the most popular episodes among fans of the series and critics alike. The episode centres around the USS Enterprise-C, which had been destroyed with all hands presumed lost, whilst defending a Klingon outpost from a Romulan attack, some 20 years previous to events in the TV series. This act of sacrifice by the crew of the Enterprise-C had been convincing enough for the Klingons to seek peace with the Federation.

That history is changed however ,when Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D witness the heavily battle-damaged Enterprise-C emerge from the past, through a temporal distortion. This immediately creates a new alternate history. By escaping destruction at the hands of the Romulans, the survival of the Enterprise-C means the Federation has been engaged in a brutal war with the Klingon Empire, for the past 20 years. Once the two crews establish what has happened, they must decide whether to let the Enterprise-C join in the fight against the Klingons, in a war which the Federation is loosing, or send her back through the time portal in order for the ship and her crew to meet their fate and restore the original course of history.

The ship itself (an Ambassador class) was designed by Andrew Probert and Rick Sternbach to be a bridge between the older Excelsior and newer Galaxy class ships. Due to time constraints, this design was simplified somewhat, in order to allow Greg Jein enough time to have the studio model finished for shooting duties. It wasn’t as detailed as previous Enterprise miniatures, but since it was only to be used in wide shots, this was of less importance. The battle damage was painted on the ship and additional scorches were made by holding lit fireworks against the surface. Like previous starship miniatures, after it’s appearance as the Enterprise-C the model was altered and redressed, to be used to represent several other starships, including the USS Yamaguchi in Deep Space Nine’s pilot episode.

The kit

Lifting the lid of the box, we are greeted with 32 parts moulded in a light blue colour. We also have 11 parts in clear plastic, one of Round 2’s larger dome bases and a large sheet of decals, which includes marking options for the Enterprise and the Yamaguchi. In common with other releases in the range, the instructions are printed on a large fold-out, double sided sheet. Construction looks to be fairly simple for this one, with just 6 assembly steps.

The saucer is broken down into upper and lower halves. The surfaces on these parts are quite extensively detailed, with nicely engraved grid lines, windows and raised lifeboat hatches. The phaser strips feature some extremely fine raised rib detail, which looks very authentic when compared to close-up screen shots of Federation hardware. Usually, these phasers are just represented by little more than raised lumps on other starship kits, so their inclusion here is most welcome.

Early on, a decision needs to be made about which ship you are going to be building. We have optional parts that need to be fitted if building the Yamaguchi. We have 2 different styles of planetary sensor, which locates in the centre of the lower saucer, while up top, the Yamaguchi has extra lifeboat hatches running around the rear part of the saucer. These are supplied as individual pieces on the sprue, so some careful alignment will be necessary, in order to get them lined up straight.

As is usual on this kind of Trek kit, the secondary hull is moulded in two halves (left and right), with the neck integrally moulded on each side. The outer surface is again detailed with engraved panel lines, windows and docking ports, with more raised lifeboats on the underside. Once again, we are supplied with optional parts. In this case, two styles of deflector are included on the clear sprue. There are also some modifications that need to be carried out, if building the Yamaguchi. On the underside, the forward eight lifeboats need to be removed with a file and then four additional hatches are added further back. The rear end of the underside is also a different shape for the Yamaguchi and this has been achieved by including a separate tail piece. The existing piece will need to be removed and a diagram is included in the instructions showing where the cut needs to be made, before the new part is added. The secondary hull is completed with the addition of the lower phaser strip and the impulse engine, which locates at the rear of the neck.

The warp pylons are pretty straight forward, being moulded in upper and lower halves. Two separate phaser strips are added to the outside edge of each pylon. Again, if you choose to build the Yamaguchi, then there is some raised detail that needs to be removed from the underside, so as not to interfere with the new tailpiece. With that done, the warp pylon can be slid into the slot on the secondary hull. Some test fitting shows this should be quite a nice positive join, with notches at the forward end helping to ensure a good location.

The warp engines are simple five piece units. An upper and lower half trapping the clear warp grilles and forward bussard domes, in between. It would be easier to tint these clear parts with clear blue and red paints, respectively, before assembly. The warp drives are a nice chunky size and there’s plenty of room inside, should you wish to add some LED’s to liven things up a bit.

The paint job on this ship is quite complex, so it may be wise to tackle that while it’s in sub-assemblies. There is quite a lot of masking required, especially around the lower saucer, with lots of different shaded rings and this looks tricky to achieve with the saucer glued in place.

As mentioned previously, the decal sheet provides the markings for the Enterprise and the Yamaguchi. Aside from the ships markings, Round 2 have also supplied a comprehensive set of battle damage markings for the Enterprise. These actually look quite nice. Although a little 2 dimensional, they have deck and lighting details printed on. When you consider the scale of the kit, they should look quite effective once applied. I think you could improve them further by darkening the edges of the damaged areas with either thinned Tamiya Smoke or ground chalk pastels, to simulate scorch marks around the affected areas.

Conclusion

Another welcome re-release from Round 2. Although not one of the prettiest versions of the Enterprise to ever appear on screen, it is a very nice looking kit. It features a good amount of detailing and with quite a low parts count, it should fall together pretty quickly, enabling the modeller to concentrate on that paintjob. The addition of those battle damage decals is a lovely touch and I believe it’s the first time anything like these have been included in a Trek kit. Once again, a big thumbs up for Round 2

Review sample courtesy of

UK distributors for

[khimbar]

Thanks for this. I'm tempted now.

Great ship from a great ep.

[Chablar]

Same here. Looks nice