Jm419
Sr Member
Years ago, I saw Star Trek, The Wrath of Khan, which was my first introduction into Star Trek. Interestingly, my intro into Star Wars was the Dagobah cave scene in The Empire Strikes Back, so I got lucky on both counts. Anyway... I picked up the Hot Wheels Enterprise Refit probably eighteen months ago, before I was really into props, and it was good enough for me. Six inches long, nice looking nacelles, and that neck should have been easy to fix with the hot water method.
Not so much. I tore the saucer right off of the secondary hull in my constant attempts to straighten the neck. Great - but it was only $20.00 I was out. The Enterprise Refit was my favorite version, hands-down, but I couldn't seem to find a decently sized, fairly inexpensive, detailed and accurate version of it at all, outside of styrene kits. Ugh. Ah well...when I got some disposable income, I bought myself both the TOS Enterprise kit and, of course, the 1701 refit - which has been done to death, but I wanted one so badly.
Like any proper starship modeller, I decided to build the TOS version first. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they gave me like four extra nacelles, but Abram-Scotty's quote makes more sense now: "I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles, if you know what I mean." Obviously, they're for the pilot episodes and the ISS version, but I built the standard series version first.
Naturally, the decal for the big NCC-1701 crumpled immediately, and irreparably, leaving me to deal with the kiddie sticker decals. Ah well...they were easier to use than the water ones, even if they ended up shinier on the model. Once I finished the saucer, though, I discovered I needed a color paint that I didn't have for the nacelles (you never have the right colors, no matter what...), so I moved on to the relatively paint-less refit.
I was really looking forward to it, too, but what a decalling nightmare. The decals are poorly trimmed in the Refit kit, leaving some hanging over edges and some refusing to fit where they're supposed to go at all. Here's looking at you, hangar-bay door decal... I even started looking for more kiddie decals for this one, because they would've been sooo nice to have. Some decals are marked incorrectly, some are the wrong color, and I even managed to loose four decals which were still on their sheet. Nice. I think it's poor design for the entire thing to be covered in delicate (even after drying) decals, but that's the engineer in me, and the child in me is disappointed that I can't play with the model, for fear of the entire neck decal sloughing off for the 19,310th time. Ah well, a lesson in patience - and I suppose I should be happy I didn't have to paint the Aztecing - though whoever came up with that plan should be shot at sundown.
In any case, I finished the Enterprise Refit, and it turned out fairly well. I screwed up some decals badly, noticeably on the port side of the secondary hull and on the hangar deck, but whatever. It's a decent model for $25.00.
Compared to her later incarnation, though, the good old TOS Enterprise was a dream to build. Simple painting, even simpler decalling, and good casting led for a relaxing - instead of a tense, lower-back-spasm-inducing, eye-straining, *curse word,* *other curse word,* *yet another curse word* experience. Now I can see why the TOS Enterprise seems to be favored over the Refit, at least with modellers. The TOS Enterprise is a nice, sturdy ship, and I won't have to worry about decals disintegrating. *Curses darkly in the direction of the Enterprise Refit.* It's a well built little kit, but no one's reading this anyway. :lol
Here are the pics!
First, the Enterprise as seen in The Original Series.
Captain's Log, Stardate 2325.7. Orbiting above the planet Gamma Epsilon V, as ordered by Starfleet Command...
I can see my photobucket skills need some work.
:lol
And a few pictures of the Refit. It has to be on the stand, it won't sit up without it. As you can see, the stand is well articulated.
The detail on the kit is pretty good, even if it's a challenging build.
Here's a shot of the two together. The saucer on TOS Enterprise is a little smaller, but the scale is pretty close.
Thanks, everyone, and let me know what you think!
Not so much. I tore the saucer right off of the secondary hull in my constant attempts to straighten the neck. Great - but it was only $20.00 I was out. The Enterprise Refit was my favorite version, hands-down, but I couldn't seem to find a decently sized, fairly inexpensive, detailed and accurate version of it at all, outside of styrene kits. Ugh. Ah well...when I got some disposable income, I bought myself both the TOS Enterprise kit and, of course, the 1701 refit - which has been done to death, but I wanted one so badly.
Like any proper starship modeller, I decided to build the TOS version first. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they gave me like four extra nacelles, but Abram-Scotty's quote makes more sense now: "I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles, if you know what I mean." Obviously, they're for the pilot episodes and the ISS version, but I built the standard series version first.
Naturally, the decal for the big NCC-1701 crumpled immediately, and irreparably, leaving me to deal with the kiddie sticker decals. Ah well...they were easier to use than the water ones, even if they ended up shinier on the model. Once I finished the saucer, though, I discovered I needed a color paint that I didn't have for the nacelles (you never have the right colors, no matter what...), so I moved on to the relatively paint-less refit.
I was really looking forward to it, too, but what a decalling nightmare. The decals are poorly trimmed in the Refit kit, leaving some hanging over edges and some refusing to fit where they're supposed to go at all. Here's looking at you, hangar-bay door decal... I even started looking for more kiddie decals for this one, because they would've been sooo nice to have. Some decals are marked incorrectly, some are the wrong color, and I even managed to loose four decals which were still on their sheet. Nice. I think it's poor design for the entire thing to be covered in delicate (even after drying) decals, but that's the engineer in me, and the child in me is disappointed that I can't play with the model, for fear of the entire neck decal sloughing off for the 19,310th time. Ah well, a lesson in patience - and I suppose I should be happy I didn't have to paint the Aztecing - though whoever came up with that plan should be shot at sundown.
In any case, I finished the Enterprise Refit, and it turned out fairly well. I screwed up some decals badly, noticeably on the port side of the secondary hull and on the hangar deck, but whatever. It's a decent model for $25.00.
Compared to her later incarnation, though, the good old TOS Enterprise was a dream to build. Simple painting, even simpler decalling, and good casting led for a relaxing - instead of a tense, lower-back-spasm-inducing, eye-straining, *curse word,* *other curse word,* *yet another curse word* experience. Now I can see why the TOS Enterprise seems to be favored over the Refit, at least with modellers. The TOS Enterprise is a nice, sturdy ship, and I won't have to worry about decals disintegrating. *Curses darkly in the direction of the Enterprise Refit.* It's a well built little kit, but no one's reading this anyway. :lol
Here are the pics!
First, the Enterprise as seen in The Original Series.
Captain's Log, Stardate 2325.7. Orbiting above the planet Gamma Epsilon V, as ordered by Starfleet Command...
I can see my photobucket skills need some work.
:lolAnd a few pictures of the Refit. It has to be on the stand, it won't sit up without it. As you can see, the stand is well articulated.
The detail on the kit is pretty good, even if it's a challenging build.
Here's a shot of the two together. The saucer on TOS Enterprise is a little smaller, but the scale is pretty close.
Thanks, everyone, and let me know what you think!
