I still have, broken unfortunately, my first ENTERPRISE kit that I built as a child circa 1970. It had a battery compartment in the secondary hull and grain-of-wheat bulbs to light the top and bottom domes of the primary hull. You twisted the base of the deflector dish assembly to make or break contact to turn those dome lights on or off. Nostalgia is indeed powerful. Even though it is doubtful that it could ever be repaired, I will never throw out those pieces. It doesn't matter how many others that I have bought and may yet buy, it is staying with me.
Thanks for video. This is not a rant, but I guess I’m spoiled with building kits from Tamiya, Bandai, FineMolds, and the latest release from Round 2/ and forgot what’s the other 1/2 name of the company. If someone loves to sand, cut, putty, sand, putty, this is your kit. I’ve met some people that are happy doing lots of challenging kits. I remember “Bondo Phil”, he could make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Again, thanks for the video and yes, Happy Modeling!!!
Yes, I just started my build of this old kit. Gonna "accurize" a little but not too much. Split the nacelles engine plates into three's. Added a little putty to the B/C deck to make it a little more pointy tear drop shaped. Sawed off a piece of the hard cardboard tape roll and slid it into the deflector array to give it that stepped appearance. But the join between the three major parts of the secondary hull is hard to get right without lots of putty and sanding. Lol
I've built this model several times over the past 40 plus years and have one more sitting in my stash which I'm going kit bash and build as a Transport tug version. This kit is a pain to build due to the poorly fitting parts and gaps but you can get beautiful results if you take your time.
Of course the other reason to build this kit is to have a more accurate version of the Constellation. Although surprising they didn't include decals for that like with previous releases.
It is not a more accurate model that is needed, it is a model that is truly accurate. It's quite scandalous that they still can't come up with a model that is truly accurate when it is easy to have all the information available on the net to do a better job. Because in addition it is a rather simple model with few details.
Federation Models has several accurate resin replacement parts for this kit including an entire saucer! They also have decals for alternate ship names for this kit too.
The question to ask a Star Trek modeler is not whether or not they've built that old kit, it's how many of those old kits they've built. I've lost count, but I know it's well into double digits.
Great review. I've never liked how inaccurate it was, but I could never bring myself to not like it. I'm in my sixties, and I think I've built several dozen of those kits since I was about 10. I ordered a bunch of after market parts for the one I have now. Deflector dish, bridge upgrade, etc. Also, not happy there's more sanding to do on the windows. I remember all the hours sanding the grid lines off the saucer. Oh well, it is a good beginner kit for the young to warm up on. Besides, build it, stand back 5 feet and tilt your head a little to one side. You won't notice it's short falls.
I built that kit as a kid and the bridge dome and phaser dome were molded in light green. A friend's brother, who was slightly older than us, had the original '66 kit and it was totally different than mine. As I recall, it was bigger and a lot more accurate. Have they ever re-released that original tooling?
On fixing the inaccuracies, there is a book by Richard Datin and his daughter Nancy; Datin was the model maker in charge of building the original 3ft model and the 11 or 12 foot studio model, where he says the studio model's saucer was slightly out of round and the engines weren't perfectly parallel, did Round 2 include that accuracy? If they did not then the kit remains inaccurate.
Not sure if those accuracies are corrected in the 1-1000 but thanks to you I can now say that the way I built it IS the more accurate version and I’m sticking with that excuse forever.
Glad to see they finally got rid of those ugly engraved lines (the refit aztec paneling is a nightmare, in addition, in embossed form), but it's quite scandalous that they still can't come up with a model that is truly accurate when it is easy to have all the information available on the net to do a better job. Because in addition it is a rather simple model with few details and basic simple shapes. These models should be avoided, advertising them is a nuisance. On this point you contradict yourself, you claim that these models are searched by fans because they are accurate and finally you make the opposite statement. These old kits are sold second hand at a high price when they are not accurate. Don't be fooled.
I still have, broken unfortunately, my first ENTERPRISE kit that I built as a child circa 1970.
It had a battery compartment in the secondary hull and grain-of-wheat bulbs to light the top and bottom domes of the primary hull. You twisted the base of the deflector dish assembly to make or break contact to turn those dome lights on or off.
Nostalgia is indeed powerful. Even though it is doubtful that it could ever be repaired, I will never throw out those pieces. It doesn't matter how many others that I have bought and may yet buy, it is staying with me.
Thanks for video. This is not a rant, but I guess I’m spoiled with building kits from Tamiya, Bandai, FineMolds, and the latest release from Round 2/ and forgot what’s the other 1/2 name of the company. If someone loves to sand, cut, putty, sand, putty, this is your kit. I’ve met some people that are happy doing lots of challenging kits. I remember “Bondo Phil”, he could make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Again, thanks for the video and yes, Happy Modeling!!!
loved, loved, loved this kit as a kid...what a cooler than a model of that iconic ship from TOS?...
Yes, I just started my build of this old kit. Gonna "accurize" a little but not too much. Split the nacelles engine plates into three's. Added a little putty to the B/C deck to make it a little more pointy tear drop shaped. Sawed off a piece of the hard cardboard tape roll and slid it into the deflector array to give it that stepped appearance.
But the join between the three major parts of the secondary hull is hard to get right without lots of putty and sanding. Lol
I've built this model several times over the past 40 plus years and have one more sitting in my stash which I'm going kit bash and build as a Transport tug version. This kit is a pain to build due to the poorly fitting parts and gaps but you can get beautiful results if you take your time.
Of course the other reason to build this kit is to have a more accurate version of the Constellation. Although surprising they didn't include decals for that like with previous releases.
It is not a more accurate model that is needed, it is a model that is truly accurate. It's quite scandalous that they still can't come up with a model that is truly accurate when it is easy to have all the information available on the net to do a better job. Because in addition it is a rather simple model with few details.
Glad to finally see you on the video. Thanks for sharing. Happy days and model on! 😎
Federation Models has several accurate resin replacement parts for this kit including an entire saucer! They also have decals for alternate ship names for this kit too.
It is not normal that customers have to buy replacement parts. It is better not to buy these kits, or buy them cheap.
The early kits was s pain to glue the nacelles to the secondary hull. The testor tube glue would melt the plactic
The question to ask a Star Trek modeler is not whether or not they've built that old kit, it's how many of those old kits they've built. I've lost count, but I know it's well into double digits.
Great review. I've never liked how inaccurate it was, but I could never bring myself to not like it. I'm in my sixties, and I think I've built several dozen of those kits since I was about 10. I ordered a bunch of after market parts for the one I have now. Deflector dish, bridge upgrade, etc. Also, not happy there's more sanding to do on the windows. I remember all the hours sanding the grid lines off the saucer. Oh well, it is a good beginner kit for the young to warm up on. Besides, build it, stand back 5 feet and tilt your head a little to one side. You won't notice it's short falls.
I must get this kit !
Awesome video
I built that kit as a kid and the bridge dome and phaser dome were molded in light green. A friend's brother, who was slightly older than us, had the original '66 kit and it was totally different than mine. As I recall, it was bigger and a lot more accurate. Have they ever re-released that original tooling?
I think that was the one made from aluminum tooling, and that tooling wore out.
On fixing the inaccuracies, there is a book by Richard Datin and his daughter Nancy; Datin was the model maker in charge of building the original 3ft model and the 11 or 12 foot studio model, where he says the studio model's saucer was slightly out of round and the engines weren't perfectly parallel, did Round 2 include that accuracy? If they did not then the kit remains inaccurate.
Not sure if those accuracies are corrected in the 1-1000 but thanks to you I can now say that the way I built it IS the more accurate version and I’m sticking with that excuse forever.
They weren't able to get the bridge in the right tear shape, so this kit is definitely not accurate.
Glad to see they finally got rid of those ugly engraved lines (the refit aztec paneling is a nightmare, in addition, in embossed form), but it's quite scandalous that they still can't come up with a model that is truly accurate when it is easy to have all the information available on the net to do a better job. Because in addition it is a rather simple model with few details and basic simple shapes. These models should be avoided, advertising them is a nuisance.
On this point you contradict yourself, you claim that these models are searched by fans because they are accurate and finally you make the opposite statement. These old kits are sold second hand at a high price when they are not accurate. Don't be fooled.