Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - 1:350 *updated photos* 15/04

JBReplicas

JBReplicas

Sr Member
Ok so I am considering attempting to scratch build a decent sized USS Excelsior NCC - 2000, however I am finding it difficult to decide on a scale that I could work to. I had considered using my 1/1000 AMT kit as reference and simply scaling everything 100% up making it theoretically 1/500

Any thoughts or opinions that anyone can offer are most welcome as at the moment this is purely an idea that I'd like to have a good go at :thumbsup
 
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Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

Let me ask the other way around… How much space do you have at home? You can do it as studio scale or one that is larger than the AMT, but still fits nicely on the shelf. How much details would you like to add (not that it matters to the Excelsior…)?
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

I know I do not have space to make it 1:350, i.e in scale with my Polar Lights refit, I think that would work out around 52'' long. I'm aiming for something around the 30''- 35'' mark, I want to add as much detail as possible.
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

Well they had this one.


VOY_Flashback_Excelsior-juday.jpg


uss_fredrickson-enh.jpg
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

fantastic photos thank you, is there any idea what sort of scale this one is? Looks to be about the size I am aiming for
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

That smaller Excelsior model (NCC-42111) is the later one created for Voyager and DS9, and from some quick Googling the one source I found said the model is 41" long (so basically 40" as YenChih Lin stated).
The original full size Excelsior studio model used in the movies was 92" long.
 
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Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

Personally I'd go as big as you can manage without worrying about running out of space. That way you can get all the detail you want without worrying about it being so small it's fragile or so big it'll get bumped or something else to hurt it.
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

I think 1:350 is probably as big as I'd like to go, my next issue would be getting the correct dimensions and from there sketching them out to see what I'd be looking at, can anyone point me in the direction of accurate measurements?
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

yes I was looking at that earlier actually, thanks for the pointers, I'm now going to dig out some A1 paper and sharpen some pencils, hopefully I'll have a better idea of where to go shortly
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

I'm completely biased here as I'm trying to fill out my own collection - but 1:650 scale would be fabulous. I don't know if this'll be a one off or you'll be making a kit but if you do, I'm totally there!

Good Luck
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

I'm definitely leaning towards 1:350, I have some tentative dimesions roughed out, looks like the saucer will be around 20'' diameter and the nacelles a whopping 27.25'' overall length is around the 52'' mark
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

I have sketched out all the main parts and am going to transfer them to card stock to make a rough layout of the whole thing, its big, real big
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

Wow a 1/350 Excelsior is going to be big, but the bigger the better. That thing looked huge in the space dock when we first get a glimpse.

The later Jein built miniature for the Voyager episode has a much shallower hull at the bottom than the larger one originally made for the film. I always wondered why they built such a large intricate model for a ship that didnt see a lot of time moving on screen. But test audiences hated the idea of the crew not being on an Enterprise and they printed up some A decals for the refit. It's a great ship and you can really tell there was a lot of time and consideration put into this radical new design. Which is why it's exciting to see a new version.

Will it be an NCC or an NX?
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

it will be the NCC-2000 version, I was blown away by it in ST6, yes I thought the hull on the voyager version looked smaller, I wasn't keen on the glowing warp engines either but thats just my preference.

Whilst I await some materials I am just mocking up a half scale version in styrene to get to grips with some techniques
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

I am now thinking that for me personally, given the space I have to work with 1:350 is just going to be too big, its a shame but its not the end of the world, one day when I have a much bigger work space I may try it. For now I am going slightly smaller.
 
Re: Scratchbuilding USS Excelsior - what scale?

If you were already considering 1/500 why not do it in 1/537? This way it would still be in scale with the AMT refit and Reliant, with good aftermarket decal support.
 
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