Looking for Info on AMT Enterprise seen in Tribble

[Anakin Starkiller]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone here has any info on the Small enterprise model seen in the window in the Trek episode Trouble with Tribbles. I have been told that this was, or may have been an AMT build up. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Does anyone have any good referance shots? Any info on the on screen AMT starship models used in classic Trek would be apreciated. Thanks

Dan Stokes
DDStokes@aol.com

 

[phase pistol]

I just saw the "Tribbles" Enterprise model (or what was touted as such in the Profiles auction) in Paul Allen's Science Fiction Museum in Seattle.

It was a stock AMT long-box kit of the era... painted gray, probably the same color as the 11-footer actually.

The nacelle caps had been replaced by opaque cream-colored solid resin domes (maybe darkened with age possibly).

A large ball had been inserted into the aft endcap of each engine (this was a feature of the 11-footer which wasn't replicated on the AMT kit). These engine balls were painted the same gray as the rest of the ship.

Square windows had been CUT OUT of the hull, on the secondary hull, neck dorsal, engine pylons and around the rim of the saucer... these were supposed to have been backlit with bulbs inside the model.

I couldn't see the top of the model from where it was mounted, but the bottom of the saucer had the NCC-1701 decals turned the same way on both sides (tops of the letters toward the front of the ship).

The lower sensor dome on the saucer had been painted opaque white. The deflector antenna dish was painted copper.

The other famous AMT kit used in the show was the "USS Constellation" from "The Doomsday Machine"; that one had been burned and cut up to appear battle-damaged from fighting the planet-killer.

It's sometimes mentioned that an AMT kit was also used in "Ultimate Computer". to represent the "dead" Constitution-class USS Excalibur, killed by the Enterprise under the command of the M5 computer unit.

- k

Originally posted by Anakin Starkiller@Jun 30 2005, 09:51 PM
Hey guys,  I was wondering if anyone here has any info on the Small enterprise model seen in the window in the Trek episode Trouble with Tribbles.  I have been told that this was, or may have been an AMT build up.  Can anyone confirm or deny this?  Does anyone have any good referance shots?  Any info on the on screen AMT starship models used in classic Trek would be apreciated.  Thanks

Dan Stokes
DDStokes@aol.com

[snapback]1024573[/snapback]​

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

Thanks for that great info. If anyone has pics of the prop from Paul Allen's Science Fiction Museum I would reall apreciate it if you could post them. Thanks alot.

Dan Stokes
DDStokes@aol.com

 

[phase pistol]

I didn't take these shots but I had them in my files. If the owner of these pix wants them taken down, give me a holler.

 

[phase pistol]

This isn't the AMT kit, but it's a strange enterprise.... this model is seen briefly in the long shot on the Constellation's viewscreen when the planet-killer is trying to draw in the Enterprise.

Note the bizarre proportions, especially the LONG neck dorsal. I theorize that this may be the small 4" wooden model of the ship which had been made as a prototype when the ship was designed (initially hung upside down, if you know the story).

Or possibly some other small model we don't know about.

- K

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

Wow those pics are great. Thanks for being so very helpful. Much apreciated.

Dan

 

[phase pistol]

Since I had never really studied the AMT Enterprise in "Trouble with Tribbles", I went back and took some caps....

This AMT kit appears out Commmissioner Lurie's window in every shot that features the desk area....

Near the end of the episode a security guard is clearing tribbles out of Lurie's office... you can just make out the black pylon the AMT is sitting on.

The AMT is also seen in shots where the Enterprise is passing behind the K7 space station.

NOTE you can make out the white-painted bridge dome (the rest of the AMT kit is gray).

Also I believe the color plates are printed out of order in this effects shot... the red stripes on the Enterprise's warp engines and secondary hull look BLUE. (this also has implications for the colored markings on the K7 space station, the stripes near the tops of the main hull and the outrigger modules).

When the enterprise passes in FRONT of K7, they seem to be using the 11-foot primary miniature.

- Karl

 

[phase pistol]

An interesting aside: also on display in the Seattle Science Fiction Museum is the 5 and a half foot USS Enterprise built by Greg Jein for the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribbleations". (some say this is not THE filming miniature but a similar one built by Jein for sale thru the Star Trek Experience).

Again these are not my pix, if you want them taken down, let me know.

Since these photos were taken the miniature has been defaced by the addition of actor autographs on the side of the secondary hull <_<

- k

 

[Bryancd]

Karl, you are unbelievable. You are the single greatest wealth of Star Trek screen caps ever.

 

[Treadwell]

Great posts, folks.

And Dan, just in case you weren't aware, the "long box" version of the AMT kit is specified because the model was retooled countless times over the years (the longest run and best-selling model ever, I believe). There are several differences between the late 60's "long box" Enterprise and one dating from the 70s, or one from the 80s, etc.

Most people would consider the differences minor, though. Of course, we aren't like most people. :lol

 

[phase pistol]

Originally posted by Treadwell@Jul 1 2005, 08:34 PM
Of course, we aren't like most people. :lol

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You betcha.

WE need to be intimately familiar with the complete history of changes over the 30-year run of the AMT/ERTL 18" USS Enterprise Space Ship model kit... :lol

http://www.culttvman.com/jay_chladek_s_enterprise_kit_h.html

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

Thanks alot guys. This has been very helpful. Now it's off to e-bay to find the long box enterprise.

Dan