Two New Star Trek Model Kits from Round 2: Reviews and Unboxing

StarTrek_Kits_Cover

Round 2, under their AMT label, has two new kits for Star Trek modelers to consider. One will give Classic Trekkies double the Enterprise goodness, while the second will allow your Next Generation era fleets to shine with some DS9 goodness. More information and unboxing videos follow the jump.

Round 2 is giving us an awesome winter of modeling, if you are in the 2% of the nation that can make it out to your garage without freezing on the spot at the moment.

Classic Enterprise Double Kit
First, looking ahead, the company is releasing a double pack, containing the timeless 1:650 scale AMT Enterprise kit, together with the more recent Polar Lights 1:1000 scale ‘snap together’ classic Enterprise.

The 1:650 is a smoothie (no upper gridlines) but is otherwise the same build out as it has been for nearly 50 years. This means that the under-saucer dimples, inaccurate windows, and other oddities – including the flimsy display stand – are included. A nice decal sheet is included, though sadly, you can only build the Enterprise unless you get creative, or start searching for some aftermarket decals. Please, don’t rely on the box cover art to evaluate the decals. The box art markings in the 1:650 do not reflect what is inside the kit.

The 1:1000 is, likewise, unchanged from its most recent version (the Space Seed edition), at least insofar as construction goes. This means that the new universal dome base with swivel head is included for display (a major upgrade from the flimsy stand that came with the original release of the kit). However, it also means that, while the kit is technically a snap together, it’s not going to look remotely as good as the picture on the box if you don’t do a lot of sanding, gluing, puttying, and sanding. Also disappointing is the lack of waterslide decals for the 1:1000 kit. My 5 year old has helped me with waterslides for 2 years now. I was doing waterslide decals at age 8. I can’t fathom why they’d omit them as an option for a kit marked Ages 10 and up. I’m glad I never build the Enterprise, and that I save all the leftovers from previous decal sheets. I’ll be needing alternatives in short order when this kit hits my bench.

Criticisms aside, these kits are an outstanding offer. Retailing at just under $40 as they hit your local hobby shop or your favorite online source, you get two kits… its definitely worth the buy.

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The NCC-1701 model kit will be available as early as this month

Deep Space Nine Cadet Series Kit
Turning our attention to a release already on store shelves, the Deep Space Nine Cadet Series kit, includes three ships long sought after in 1:2500 scale. The Saratoga (the ship Sisko had shot out from under him at Wolf 359), the Defiant (the ship Sisko had shot out from under him at the Second Battle of Chin’toka), and the Cardassian Galor class cruiser.

Each of these kits is molded in an appropriate color plastic, so, in theory, a base coat of paint is unnecessary before using the extensive wallpaper decals to give the appearance of hull plating on these ships. The decals are well done, save for an error on the Saratoga’s sheet – the yellow boxes for the phasers are present, but there are no marks to represent the emitters that are supposed to be present in those boxes. Other than that, one will need to be aware that AMT is not providing stands with these smaller models. Some spare sprue, copper tubing, or dowel rods and a wooden, plastic, or other weighty will be needed to display these models. The kit, which retails for about $25, is going to be a nice addition to my small but growing 1:2500 scale fleet.

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Deep Space Nine Cadet Series Kit is available now

Our thanks to AMT/Round2 for providing these models for review.

 


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Some of my fondest memories of my father is him building AMT Star Trek Models when I was a kid.

Would love a little Defiant

In fairness to Cisko, The Saratoga would have put up a better fight at Wolf 359 if it had its roll bar/photon torpedo bay. Stupid Starfleet cutbacks.

So sad that there is no Star Trek movie news. Now we get to pass the time talking about models.

Since when is the Defiant 3.5 inches long at 1:2500? 720 feet?

Round 2: for future reference, if you’re looking to remain consistent with the memorable parts of the show, the length should be 400 feet or thereabouts, consistent with Doug Drexler’s cross-section display that keeps showing up in the engine room or on the bridge. The size is also reflected in a couple of prominent shots like the Defiant’s run over the Lakota in “Paradise Lost”.

The Visual Effects department did use a _baseline_ of 560 feet for the entire run of the show (because they had the bird-of-prey at 360 feet and the Defiant needed to be 1.5x longer), but that wasn’t reflected in Drexler’s MSD for some reason, although he did use this number in every comparison chart with other ships. Although the 560-foot figure still shows up in publications from time to time, it doesn’t have any basis in the official cross-section or deck plans.

I’m showing my age (60) here. Back in the fall of 1968, JC Penney was selling a two-kit package of the Enterprise and the just-released Klingon Ship from AMT. The two-pack (in separate and large boxes) sold for $5. I think the first episode to air that featured the Klingon ship, “The Enterprise Incldent” had just aired when the kits came out.

6 – actually, you wouldn’t have shown your age at all; it’s Trek 101 to know about the limited merchandise released in the sixties. The trick is in keeping up with the more recent developments.

Unfortunately, even though the Klingon battlecruiser model was the most accurate Star Trek model AMT released (they actually built the 2x sized model used for the show’s visual effects, and then based their model kits on the 2x model), it wasn’t a strong seller. The battlecruiser was supposed to debut in “Elaan of Troyius”, but partly out of desire to capitalize on the real-life USS Pueblo incident, “The Enterprise Incident” was broadcast first. That meant the first time Trekkies saw the battlecruiser, it was being flown by Romulans instead of Klingons. Bummer.

God Bless all types of Star Trek model kit…

The first video brings back some fond memories of my Dad helping me build those model kits in 1973 and ’74. He helped me build The Enterprise, Galileo Shuttlecraft, Klingon Cruiser, Romulan Vessel, and the three-piece exploration kit. I still have them all.

Round 2: Considering you have re-released and improved on AMT’s
1970s “U.S.S. Enterprise Command Bridge Set”, why not introduce
these other sets from the 1960s Enterprise:

Engineering Room Set
Transporter Room Set
Briefing Room Set
Sick Bay Set

All of the above were overlooked by AMT in the 1970s and were major
set pieces during the filming of the original 1960s television series.

…brings back memories of childhood desire (and frustration) ;-)

I’ll have to look for the DS9 kit… I’d like to build the Defiant and the Cardassian ship… I think I would have preferred a Jem’Haddar fighter to the Saratoga. (Of course, I still need to build the model kits I got for Christmas before I even think about adding to the pile.)

I built a AMT Model Enterprise NCC 1701-A from scratch. Its got fibre optics and sound effects. “Fibreglass” saved the day.

I might get the two Enterprises. The new 1/350 TOS E is a nice model and all, but it has gridlines molded into the plastic. I DON”T sand grind lines. The smoothie saucer would be a selling point, inaccuracies and all. My PL/R2 Enterprise was the pilot version. It suffered a fall because of the flimsy stand. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like they include the pointy nacelle caps and the oversided deflector and saucer dome. So I guess maybe not, then.

@THX-1138 The 1/350 TOS E has recessed gridlines, easy if not somewhat time consuming to fill with putty, if you don’t want them. It’s light years ahead of the 1/650 kit in terms of accuracy and part fit.