Info gathering: Enterprise A & D kits

[Too Much Garlic]

Been looking for Enterprise A & D in-scale to each other, as seen in the 3-piece AMT/ERTL model kit

However, would love to get only those two, finished and in scale... but if nothing else exists, I'd just have to get the kit and butch up assembly and painting... :lol

I don't know how large or detailed or accurate the AMT/ERTL 3-piece kits are... but do anyone have any leads to something remotely accurate looking? I'm not looking for anything TOO large, though, but also not too small.

This isn't exactly a WTB thread, as it'd be some time before I can afford anything... so it's just looking for options, which is why I posted it here and not in the JY.

 

[Krachenvogel]

The three-piece sets are 1/2500 scale, and the ships are pretty small - the A is maybe 4" long, the D about twice that. The AMT/Ertl Enterprise D kit is 1/1400 scale, and Starcraft Models makes a series of resin kits in that scale, including the Enterprise A. They are available at Federation Models:

http://www.federationmodels.com/

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Thanks for that info. I must admit that the AMT/ERTL 3-pack kits is a bit smallish, would be difficult to paint it up right considering I'm a impatient clutch.

I'll look into those other kits. :thumbsup

 

[phase pistol]

Hm... the D is about twice the length of the old Refit or the Constitution class.

The exact ratio of Refit to 1701-D is 1:2.11. So for example, if you had the old 27" brass model of the Enterprise D, you'd need a model of the Refit that was 12.8 inches long. The closest scale I am aware of is the Bandai snap-fit model, which clocks in at 14.5". A little too big but not a bad pair.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Yes, the Bandai kit is a beauty. But then the D would then be way too big for what I have display capabilities of. :cry

Okay... you may roll your eyes now... but they got two versions... the Enterprise and the Enterprise A - is A the refit? and what are the differences between the two?

 

[ZOMBIEREPELLENT]

the differences between the refit and the a is the a was painted without pearelscent paints, the details on it are in shades of blue and whatnot. the refit was painted with pearlescent paints, and the details on it are in tones of green. there's other small differences too like panel lines being on the bottom of the secondary hull on the a and not on the refit.

 

[GeorgeC]

Yeah,

I've heard the stories about the slightly different paint jobs.

Apparently, when ILM inherited the FX jobs after TMP, they had a different way of doing things than Trumbull's unit did. They made one less camera pass per model for FX reasons and used different lighting I guess.

There's also the not-so-inconsequential fact of the "battle damage" painted onto the huge Enterprise model in Treks II and III.

The original and mostly thought-of-as-superior paint job of that model was destroyed after Trek III. ILM and the companies that worked with that model after Trek III never bothered replicating the original paint job. That was a one-off deal.

I frankly never really saw much difference in most photos but if you go back and look at TMP and then see the same model in beauty shots AFTER Trek III, there's no comparison. It just glows in ways it didn't after TMP (and besides reuses of TMP footage).

They also used that weird TMP lighting effect that made the Enterprise look "bronzish" in some photos. I can remember the main deflector dish also had an "idle" color setting (tannish/sunset color)) and "active"/mobile coloring (the blue we're used to) that was dropped after TMP.

 

[phase pistol]

You can see my archive of photos I shot of the big miniature in its final post-Trek6 condition here

http://homepage.mac.com/ktate/extra/karltate.2006christies.1701refit.zip

I prefer the original TMP look, yes. She looks fresh and new and irridescent, like the inside of a seashell.

Then she was dulled down and covered with battle damage, for WOK.

Then in SFS they blew her up.

For much of Trek 5 she's just an animation-stand cutout. The ship seems to have been repainted at that time, for a more "gray" look.

Then we get the ship's swan song in Star Trek 6, where she looks decent, but again dulled down and kind of too gray.

 

[JPolacchi]

In Star TreK V, they didn't do much to the miniature.I don't even think they gave here a "full re-paint"?I think it was touched up some...maybe one side?I haven't read the article in Cinefex in a long time.In Star Trek VI ILM gave it the Enterprise a brand new paint job hence the "more dulled",battleship grey look.ILM had been doing that since they took over the remaining FX shots from Star Trek II and on(excluding Star Trek V).I believe Greg Jein's FX shop took the job because ILM was strapped down with numerous other filming commitments at the time.Their filming methods wouldn't allow them to film the Enterprise miniature with its original paint job from STTMP,it was "too bright" and too glossy.Filming it the traditional blue screen method created holes in the mattes,so they dulled the paint job way down.Basically they completely changed it for their fillming needs.

P.S: were you needing the 1/2500 Enterprise model kit sets?

 

[Too Much Garlic]

P.S: were you needing the 1/2500 Enterprise model kit sets?

I was thinking about getting it, as it had the A & D in-scale with each other... but assembling and painting them... well... might be too much for me. Due to unfortunate circumstances I'm more of a nearly out of the box display ready kinda guy.

I buckled and got the Bandai regular Enterprise kit. Just wondering... is the A version more sought after since it is nearly twice the price?

 

[ZOMBIEREPELLENT]

there are decals available for all the small scale enterprises, go to federation models and look for absolute models or something like that in the decal section

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Ah, thanks for that... gonna go check that out! :thumbsup