Greetings All. I said in my intro that I like building model kits. Why is there no TrekBBS forum or column dedicated SPECIFICALLY to model kit building? It is as much a part of the hobby as anything else! Long before there was CGI and computers, they had use "models" for filming. And the original Enterprise itself was just a big model! Among the many different modeling projects I currently have going (or have at least "started") is a 50th Anniversary Edition of the classic AMT Enterprise kit. This latest release by Round2 models has crisp new decals for all of the Federation ships named in the show plus markings for the "Mirror, Mirror" I.S.S Enterprise which is what I am going to be building it as. One of the reasons I want to do the MM version is because I've never seen anybody else ever do it!, and I LOVE the oddball, out-of-the-ordinary, off-the-beaten-path, lesser done versions of things. Even though markings are included for that "version" of the Enterprise, I've never seen anybody actually DO it, so I'm going to! Something I wish I could do would be to find a vertical mirror attached to a wooden horizontal base and have the front of the Enterprise just touching the edge of the mirror as though going into it. Or better yet, have two mirrors back-to-back with the U.S.S Enterprise on one side and the I.S.S Enterprise on the other! How cool would that be?!! Despite the age of the molds, the kit I got has held up fairly well: all of the parts are cleanly and sharply molded, with no warpage or flash or excess plastic on them (although there is a TON of excess plastic flash BETWEEN the sprue trees). I've put the saucer and main body sections together, using good old fashioned Testor's liquid cement mixed with a bit of gap-filling Super Glue to hold them together and (so far) everything has matched up beautifully! I have test-fitted the engines together and don't foresee any major problems there as far as fit goes. Unfortunately. the left engine pylon has developed a nice gentle "curve" to it from being on the bottom of the box with the weight of the kit on top of it, so I'm going to be bending it back and forth ever so gently and hoping I can get it straightened out! BUILDING THE U.S.S. ENTERPRISE (REFIT) FROM THE POLAR LIGHTS KIT. I have this kit in the box and have decided to build it right alongside the AMT kit. I wish someone (Polar Lights?!) would release a Defiant in the same scale (1/1000th) so I could display both of them duking it out together from Wrath of Khan! I'm probably going to build her straight box stock ("fresh from the yard"?!), though I love the idea of a battle-damaged version. BUILDING A D7 AS A ROMULAN "AMBASSADORIAL BIRD" FROM THE POLAR LIGHTS KIT. This is (typical) me, going off and doing "my own thing", using the Polar Lights D7 as it might appear in use by the Romulan Diplomatic Corps. The color will be red overall (red being the official diplomatic color) with the underside of the "neck' and "lower bridge" being white. The torpedo launchers have been removed to make way for more internal living space for the ambassador and his family, but additional (Mark 2) disruptors have been externally mounted on the body under the hull for "defensive" purposes, so the ship can take care of itself if attacked ("Just in case some Federation or Klingon SCUM would dare try to interfere with the Honorable Ambassador of the Romulan Republic who only seeks to bring peace to the galaxy"!!!).
Hmm. It seems to me that an ideal kit would include all the parts necessary to make both Cage/WNM and post-WNM versions (my personal head-canon has the Enterprise towed in for a minor refit, including nacelle and deflector upgrades and new bridge consoles, after the mess made by the Galactic Barrier).
When, exactly, in TWOK, did the Enterprise do battle with the Connie that the Tholians sent to the Mirror universe? Now, the Reliant, that the Big E went one on one with, more than once. The Defiant? You've got me there.