Star Trek Models

[Warped9]

It must be said that PL's 1/350 kit as a model of the starship Enterprise rather than an exact replica of the 11 footer. As such it doesn't have the 11 footer's imperfections.

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Which is why I don't get people now wanting to be slavish to the paint on the newly restored 11 footer. The light grey (almost white) intercoolers and reactor cooling loops especially. I remember when the "conventional wisdom" was the rear loops were two tone (hull color, with a lighter grey only at the fore and aft ends), and had no desire to have that reproduced on my model (mostly because it never came across onscreen). I'm not going to repaint mine white now either, for the same reason.

I'm also not sure I'm going back to using butter either, just because now they say it's good for you.

 

[Warped9]

The colours used on the 11 footer will look different in person than they do under studio lights and on television.

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Exactly. Which is why I think it is pointless to try to build a PL 1/350 model to look exactly like the filming miniature looks like in person.

To quote the conclusion of Margaret Weitekamp's article entitled Two Enterprises: Star Trek's Iconic Starship as Studio Model and Celebrity:

For some fans, however, the conservation results will never be sufficient. Debates about the model’s appearance will continue because rollicking arguments about plotlines, spaceships, and characters are part of the fun of passionate Star Trek fandom. But for others, the physical state of the studio model will always seems a little flatter, dimmer, and heavier than the starship they remember. For those fans, the authentic Enterprise is the canonical one that remains unblemished in their memories, zooming across a glowing cathode-ray tube on their childhood television, welcoming them to the universe of Star Trek.

 

[Warped9]

If you want to build a model to film under studio like conditions then painting it like the 11 footer could work. But if you want your model mostly for display then you go for what you think it should look like. The colours of the actual 11 footer can be a guide rather than the final word.

 

[Forbin]

^What he said.

I used the kit-recommended colors on the first 350th E I built, and it didn't look right to me. So the next one I built, I used Tamiya light ghost gray. It looked just right! *shrug*

 

[Warped9]

Presently I'm working on a model of the Seaview from Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. I'm not at the painting stage yet, but already I've come across the same discrepency between what the studio miniature was actually coloured and the way it appears onscreen.

What is even more challenging is that the Seaview was seen underwater and the colours are mudied yet again.

So like the Enterprise I will go what looks right for the Seaview rather than studio accurate colours. I'm building the 1/350 scale kit as a practice run for the larger 1/128 scale kit.

 

[JE Smith]

For the record, I meant the accuracy of the dimensions, not the paint scheme, or the fact that it's unfinished in a couple of places.

 

[Forbin]

I think the generally accepted Seaview colors are "medium gray" with a very light gray belly. I did the Lunar Models one in light ghost gray with a white belly, and I've been told it's too light.
YMMV, of course.

 

[Warped9]

For the record, I meant the accuracy of the dimensions, not the paint scheme, or the fact that it's unfinished in a couple of places.

The dimensions of the 11 footer can be wonky because the saucer isn't perfectly true and the nacelles are not identical in length. There are other imperfections and the fact that not all details are replicated on the unseen side. So the PL 1/350 kit is still the best and most accurate replication of what the ship is supposed to be.