REVIEW: Ships of the Line Enterprise from Round 2 Models

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Available now in local hobby shops, Round 2’s Ships of the Line series offers novice modelers a variety of Star Trek ships that snap together quickly to create simple, small scale displays for fans to display anywhere. Today, we take the Enterprise for a few snaps… video and photos follow the jump.

The Ships of the Line series from Round 2 features many recognizable Star Trek ships in 1:2500 scale. These models are, essentially, pre-decorated versions of the Cadet series models that populate the shelves of many modelers. While 1:2500 is a nice scale for collecting many ships, some modelers have been turned away from these models because they are so small that proper decoration of the kits can prove troublesome.

Round 2 sent us one of the four kits in the line, the USS Enterprise from classic Trek. Three other kits are available, the USS Reliant from Star Trek II, the USS Defiant from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and the classic Klingon Battlecruiser.


The assortment of the Round 2 models

Included in each package is the model itself, a display stand, and a trading card featuring imagery from the Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendar series. The reverse side of the cards can be put together with others in the series to form a larger image as well.

The Enterprise comes mostly ready for assembly. A few small parts should be cut with a hobby knife, as they are on part trees (nacelle aft caps and the deflector dish and housing). Failing to do so will result in some unsightly looking nubs on the parts in question. I would strongly advise cutting the parts directly off the part tree. I did choose to initially just pull them off as a novice might choose to do, and it ultimately caused me problems.

While the kit does not require glue, I would strongly suggest at least a few tiny dabs (very tiny!) of super glue to secure parts together. Larger assemblies such as the upper/lower saucer and the nacelles stay together fairly well, but the aft caps and the deflector housing had trouble sticking. I also had to use my hobby knife to make the hole for the deflector dish a touch larger, in order to fit the mast at the joint point. I also chose to glue the two parts of the base, as well as the base itself to the model.

Unfortunately, this being the old AMT kit, dating back the better part of 3 decades, the nacelle pylons are still a problem. I managed to snap one of them of while trying to secure the nacelles, requiring super glue to repair – twice.

One will also note that the inaccurate and out-of-scale windows molds are still present on the kit, even though corrected window patterns are present. To be fair, the incorrect molded windows are not really all that noticeable from even mid-range. It almost takes picking the thing up under correct lighting to discover them.

Detail wise, this is a fairly nice kit. It would be impossible to really gap-fill the seam lines, given the chances of ruining the pre-decorated surfaces. The real places this is noticeable is the saucer seam and the front of the nacelles. In terms of decoration details, its a fair representation, though some things are missing, such as the triangles on the underside of the saucer and the four upper saucer lit boxes (windows?), as well as the saucer-edge windows (which, most likely, were difficult to do on account of the angle, curvature, and parting of the saucer).

All in all, this is a fairly nice little kit… though not without its flaws. It requires a gentle touch, and some expansion of connection points. But put it on a shelf, together with other 1:2500 scale ships, and I think you’d be pretty happy with the result of the few minutes worth of work this little model requires.

TrekMovie.com thanks Round 2 Models for providing a copy of this kit for review.

 


 

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Putting together AMT model kits of the Enterprise and the “Exploration Set” with its half-sized phaser, tricorder, and communicator, bring back some very fond chidhood memories. Good times.

You just cant beat the Constitution Class design.

What foresight. Just looking at that design makes you wonder.

Great work, guys! Even the little “E” looks great!

Maybe 15, 20 years ago I sent them a letter saying they should do a series of Trek spaceships in scale and call it ‘the ships of the line’.

I swear to God that’s true.

#1 Same here, what great model-building memories those were in the 70s! No fancy electronics inside like today’s toys, we used our imaginations instead.

Is anyone making model kits that you can download and then 3D print the kit. Can you go to the Round 2 webpage choose my kit download it. Then get my 3D printer to produce it for me and then glue it together as if the kit had been shipped to me in a box from the factory?.

Micro Machines rock! I still have nearly all of the Trek ones. While I commend model enthusiasts and their patience, any flashing or flaws take me out of the miniature. Scotty would never permit such sloppiness. I luvs my starships!

All I really want is a 1:500 Uss Vengeance model Kit.

Bob (#3); I did the same, but called it the “Engineer’s Reference Series”. I asked for a unified scale and to go the distance and include the Franz Joseph Tech Manual vessels, TAS ships, etc.

Given the wide variety of scale, I didn’t expect to see anything come of it, but it was a pipe dream from square one.

The display stand is a great addition. The decaling of these models when they first came out was ridiculous. So many “grain of sand” decals that were nearly impossible for a human to apply. I wonder if they will do a SOL cadet sized Enterprise D? I have the regular cadet series D and although the aztec decals are beautiful they are the single most bubbly non-adhering decals I have ever used. And I use micro sol and set. And judging by all the coments and reviews i am apparently the only person who has problems with them.

NO hobby shops near me.. anyone know where I can get these online? Can’t find them on Round 2’s website…

One of these days, people will understand that their phone video camera was designed for widescreen. Rotate the damn thing!

#11–Yep

Yep.

Will Part II of “Behind The Scenes at Round 2, Part I: How a Star Trek Scale Model Gets Made” ever being posted? It’s been over 3 months since the 1st part was posted!