opus999 Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 USS Enterprise | Constitution Class | 1:650 I built this as a Christmas present for my closest friend. We watched Star Trek together throughout college and I figured he'd like a nice presentation model of the original Enterprise. I was building it to give it to him last Christmas, but ran out of time. Then had a cat knock it off the table after the decals were finished and bust it up pretty good. I dug it out around Thanksgiving time to finish for this Christmas, which included a lot of repair work. WIP (with the whole sordid story) is here. The old AMT kit is not the best. It is not accurate, and so I made some changes, and fabricated some of my own parts, notably the bridge and the connector pieces on the bottom of the nacelles behind the Bussard collectors. I also bought some after market parts (navigation lights and planetary sensor). The AMT kit is also bad for fit, and there was a lot of sanding and filling to get it to look right. The decals that came with this particular kit (a 2 in 1 kit along with the Polar Lights 1:1000 Enterprise) were accurate, unlike the old boxings of AMT's Enterprise. They were, however, terrible: stiff, easily broken and tons of silvering despite a glossy finish. Paints: (applied from base coat to surface): Mr Surfacer 1500 black as a primer > Testors Enamel FS36440 (Flat Gull Gray) marble coat > Testors Enamel Black preshading > Testors Enamel FS36440 top coat > Testors Enamel Dark Ghost Gray (FS36320) / Testors Enamel Gunship Gray (FS36118) / Testors Enamel Chrome Silver for details > Alclad Aqua Gloss (3 coats) > Decals > Testors Spray Lacquer Semi-Gloss clear coat (decanted) Some paint colors were modified at the end after I read the Cult TV Man painting guide, which is an article well worth reading. The pictures are not the best; I'm set up for 1/72 scale WWII fighters, not large starships, so I don't have enough lights to take the pictures I want to of this model. It will have to do. Thanks for looking! Comments, questions or constructive criticism always welcome! 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Smeg Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 I think it is stunning! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted December 24, 2019 Author Share Posted December 24, 2019 1 minute ago, The Chief Smeg said: I think it is stunning! Thank you! I think I managed to pull it from the jaws of defeat... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted December 25, 2019 Share Posted December 25, 2019 My favorite Enterprise ... I just cant stand the “Abrams” monstrosity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 On 12/24/2019 at 8:12 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: My favorite Enterprise ... I just cant stand the “Abrams” monstrosity. Thank you sir! I have to agree with you about the "JJ-prise". Not my favorite. I was just a little jealous when I gave this to my friend... it looked so good sitting on my shelf! Over the last 5 or 6 years I've collected all the after market parts and decals to make my own accurate-as-possible 1:650 AMT Enterprise (the "Lexington", actually). When this was done, I wasn't sure if I wanted to jump right into it or swear I'd never do another AMT kit again... 🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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