Hi there, I've been lurking on these forums for a while now and decided to start sharing and hopefully conversing with like-minded enthusiasts.
Since the nineties I have owned and built Sci-Fi model kits and shared in some frustrations about inaccuracies, bad fitting, and models not in proper scales to one another...I have restocked on models in recent years but also faced procrastination: buying all sorts of supplies but not actually doing much on the kits, except here or there...
So my latest obsession was to figure out the inaccuracies of the AMT TOS/Movies kits and maybe come up with ways to make them closer to the filming miniatures...
I will slowly build up this thread with my research and maybe share progress in adapting these to the model kits:
Disclaimer: BIG Thanks to @yotsuna over at Trekbbs.com and your thread on the research of
Enterprise Evolution from TOS to TMP
I printed out his works in progress to scale 1/528 based on measurements of the AMT Refit Model kit's Saucer and went from there to see where which part of this kit and the other KIts
- Klingon K'T'Inga
- Reliant
- Cut-away Enterprise
were out of proportion.
I also am in the process of scaling up the AMT D7 to be a 228 m model kit in 1/528 scale.
Stay tuned for my progress on these projects in the next months and years ahead
One of my working hypotheses is that the Scale issues of the Refit AMT Kit are due to it being developed from the Phase 2 proportions and not the actual later Richard Taylor Refit proportions...
Another hypothesis is, that in Canon there are actually at least 4 different Refit-Type Nacelles in use across the different starship classes we know:
1. Constitution Class (based on Filming Miniature)
2. Miranda class (based on ILM Filming miniature, which was slightly different to the Constitution Class Nacelle, slight deviations in details but overall proportions of elements are similar)
3. Constellation Class Nacelle (Filming miniature was presumably made to resemble AMT-Refit Nacelle of the yellow desk top Model in Picard's Ready Room - the Black areas, the power-state magnatomic flux chillers on the AMT Refit are significantly shorter than on the Filming miniature, and both AMT Model Nacelles are overall wider and lack the outward curve from behind the flux chillers (which the models from POLAR LIGHTS replicated properly)
4. The Curry type features AMT-Miranda Nacelles which are distinct from ILM Miranda, Refit Miniature and AMT Refit Nacelles, thus comprising a whole new type and can be understood - in universe - as a precursor to the Titan-A nacelles and the larger scale retro-Design in Starfleet - I thus have no problem with Excelsior-scaled Curry types.
For the Sydney Class I'll have to further research...
The saucer of the TOS Cut Away 22 inch Enterprise is actually closer to 1/516 scale ... however, like on the Revell kit, the lower saucer "lip" for a lack of a better word, is too wide, resembling the first miniature and not the series 11 footer miniature... from my ballparking the proportions it appears, the saucer is 4 (or 6, i have to measure once more) mm too wide - yet if you take these away from the top half, and from there angle the rim correctly you should be able to correct the lower saucer rim to be exactly like on the 11 footer and the polar lights model kits...the center cone of the lower saucer seems to correspond to 1/528 scale, as does the nacelle of the Cut-Away Enterprise...
Since the nineties I have owned and built Sci-Fi model kits and shared in some frustrations about inaccuracies, bad fitting, and models not in proper scales to one another...I have restocked on models in recent years but also faced procrastination: buying all sorts of supplies but not actually doing much on the kits, except here or there...
So my latest obsession was to figure out the inaccuracies of the AMT TOS/Movies kits and maybe come up with ways to make them closer to the filming miniatures...
I will slowly build up this thread with my research and maybe share progress in adapting these to the model kits:
Disclaimer: BIG Thanks to @yotsuna over at Trekbbs.com and your thread on the research of
Enterprise Evolution from TOS to TMP
I printed out his works in progress to scale 1/528 based on measurements of the AMT Refit Model kit's Saucer and went from there to see where which part of this kit and the other KIts
- Klingon K'T'Inga
- Reliant
- Cut-away Enterprise
were out of proportion.
I also am in the process of scaling up the AMT D7 to be a 228 m model kit in 1/528 scale.
Stay tuned for my progress on these projects in the next months and years ahead
One of my working hypotheses is that the Scale issues of the Refit AMT Kit are due to it being developed from the Phase 2 proportions and not the actual later Richard Taylor Refit proportions...
Another hypothesis is, that in Canon there are actually at least 4 different Refit-Type Nacelles in use across the different starship classes we know:
1. Constitution Class (based on Filming Miniature)
2. Miranda class (based on ILM Filming miniature, which was slightly different to the Constitution Class Nacelle, slight deviations in details but overall proportions of elements are similar)
3. Constellation Class Nacelle (Filming miniature was presumably made to resemble AMT-Refit Nacelle of the yellow desk top Model in Picard's Ready Room - the Black areas, the power-state magnatomic flux chillers on the AMT Refit are significantly shorter than on the Filming miniature, and both AMT Model Nacelles are overall wider and lack the outward curve from behind the flux chillers (which the models from POLAR LIGHTS replicated properly)
4. The Curry type features AMT-Miranda Nacelles which are distinct from ILM Miranda, Refit Miniature and AMT Refit Nacelles, thus comprising a whole new type and can be understood - in universe - as a precursor to the Titan-A nacelles and the larger scale retro-Design in Starfleet - I thus have no problem with Excelsior-scaled Curry types.
For the Sydney Class I'll have to further research...
The saucer of the TOS Cut Away 22 inch Enterprise is actually closer to 1/516 scale ... however, like on the Revell kit, the lower saucer "lip" for a lack of a better word, is too wide, resembling the first miniature and not the series 11 footer miniature... from my ballparking the proportions it appears, the saucer is 4 (or 6, i have to measure once more) mm too wide - yet if you take these away from the top half, and from there angle the rim correctly you should be able to correct the lower saucer rim to be exactly like on the 11 footer and the polar lights model kits...the center cone of the lower saucer seems to correspond to 1/528 scale, as does the nacelle of the Cut-Away Enterprise...
