That's awesome! It's just getting better and better. I'm guessing the printed parts are resin..hence; their fragility? Taking manufacturing cost out of the equation for a second; most of us are drawn to resin-'cause of the superior detail vs plastic. But, depending on the part, if there's bugger-all difference in detail between plastic and resin-as with simple parts like these; wouldn't it make more sense to print them in plastic..'cause of the ease of working, strength, flexibility: AND ability to get a strong welded joint easily-none of which are qualities possessed by resin?
Regarding scale; I would consider anything over 50cm/18-20 inches: to be too big. If I just planned on building ONE model, and giving it it's own scented room, then sure: a 7 foot Nostromo OR an Executor would be fab. However, as I; a) don't currently own a 50 room mansion replete with robot servants, and b) enjoy the craft of modelling and esp super-detailing and weathering, thus: am unlikely to stop at building just ONE..50cms or just under, is about ideal. Heck, I even think a '350 Enterprise is too big..where the hell would I put it?? It's too wide for most cabinets, and just two of them..and you might as well have a 7 foot Star Destroyer in the kids room [they can sleep under the tree, and learn valuable survival skills].
Also, go too big; and you lose that 'gem' like effect-which is akin to losing it's charm. That's why a 1/35th tank with 400 odd pe details [I have a Panther with 1100 pieces-a few scratchbuilt, including an Ewok impaled on the side..don't ask], looks so much better than a 1/16th one, IMO. Of course, everything's a compromise. In aircraft, the 'gem' effect is best in 1/72nd [perfect for, say: a Luftwaffe bomber], but 1/48th is a nice compromise between being 'gem' like and extremely detailed [my ideal]; whereas in 1/32nd: you lose that gem effect entirely [with the probable exception of WW1 single-seaters, as they're just too-small in '48th]. With ships, the '48th equivalent would be; 1/350, 'cause if you have the patience: you can festoon these things with one-bar horizontal footrails-which REALLY gives the ship scale like no other detail-making it look much bigger in photos, and which is something you miss out on in 1/700th.
A starship Enterprise however, even museum quality; doesn't have ANY of these fine details that a surface-ship has, hence; 1/350 is unnecessary in my opinion. In fact, the Revell 1/520 odd scale; seems to be about ideal for such a subject, to my eyes.
But hey; I enjoy looking at well-detailed models regardless of the scale-it's all fascinating to me
We're just talking about ideals here: which is bound to be fairly subjective.
