Reissue of original 18" AMT USS Enterprise model kit!

[phase pistol]

http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/12060


THe box alone is great, but I need to know: is this the ORIGINAL original form of the kit, with the accurate decals and the green saucer domes and the lights?

Or is just a reissue of the final form of this kit, the awful blue plastic thing with the funky deflector dish and the "make 12 starships!" decals with the wrong font. :lol

 

[darthgordon]

:confused Green dome lights? The sensor domes?

 

[neosporing]

:confused Green dome lights? The sensor domes?

this was the first model kit i think i ever saw.

I remember clearly thinking that the clear green phaser dome was the coolest.

I remember having trouble with the decals. If this kit is to be reissued as it was in it's original form, i'm there... reviving some old cherished childhood wonder.

 

[phase pistol]

Yup! The early release of the kit had transparent green plastic sensor domes, and transparent orange plastic warp nacelle caps, for the lights.

Read all about the evolution of the 18" AMT Enterprise kit over the years...

http://tinyurl.com/6dqyrn

 

[neosporing]

Yup! The early release of the kit had transparent green plastic sensor domes, and transparent orange plastic warp nacelle caps, for the lights.

Read all about the evolution of the 18" AMT Enterprise kit over the years...

http://tinyurl.com/6dqyrn

YES! Thats it! Thanks for the link, i'd never seen that page on Cult's site. (too busy looking at pics)

That explains why when i bought the kit as an older child, i do remember it not being the same as my brothers kit..(my older brother built up the first version -which i broke-)

My older brother was an avid builder and was a member of this monthly model club. (i'm still trying to acquire all of those kits again-but the model market isn't what it used to be...sadly)

i'm glad this kit is being reissued. Thanks for the info phase!

 

[R2B9]

The first kit I ever built was the long-box Enterprise with E-only decals, with those CURSED loop-and-plug warp engines. When you're 9 years old, nothing should be that aggravating! I remember getting the stupid things together, and then having the glue melt the plastic enough to introduce me to my first sagging rust bucket starship. It was introduced to rooftop air flight later that summer. No survivors.

In comparison, the Klingon ship was a piece of cake to build. Once that I realized scraping the chrome off the sensor/photon torpedo tube made life much happier.

I'm curious to see what this version of the kit offers--of course, with all the aftermarket parts out there, it won't be a factory original (unless it's a whole new tooling.) Hopefully they'll have replaced those crappy font decals. Hopefully!

Of course I'll buy one!

 

[Zombie_61]

http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/12060

THe box alone is great, but I need to know: is this the ORIGINAL original form of the kit, with the accurate decals and the green saucer domes and the lights?

Or is just a reissue of the final form of this kit, the awful blue plastic thing with the funky deflector dish and the "make 12 starships!" decals with the wrong font. :lol

The molds were purchased from RC2 by Tom Lowe (formerly of Polar Lights), so it's most likely the last version of this kit that was issued by AMT/Ertl--exact details such as styrene colors (clear and otherwise) has not been announced. Also, as far as I know, details regarding the decals have not been made public; if all else fails, accurate decals can be purchased from www.federationmodels.com.

Rumor has it Mr. Lowe may be using this kit (and others he has purchased from RC2) to gauge interest in the potential re-issue of other AMT/Ertl and Polar Lights kits (sci-fi and otherwise) and/or eventually produce new kits. Time will tell.

BTW, I would suggest pre-ordering this kit from www.culttvman.com instead of Monsters In Motion. MIM has a well-founded reputation for the worst customer service of any online distributor, while CultTVMan has an excellent reputation. Just my 2 cents, having dealt with both distributors; take it for what it's worth.

 

[Tremas]

Yup! The early release of the kit had transparent green plastic sensor domes, and transparent orange plastic warp nacelle caps, for the lights.

Read all about the evolution of the 18" AMT Enterprise kit over the years...

http://tinyurl.com/6dqyrn

The ON/OFF switch was actually the sensor array, too (which annoyed me to no end, as I could NEVER get it to work right!). One thing I didn't like was having to split the side pennant on the engineering hull because of the batteries. What a pain!