TSJ Builds AMT 1080 USS Enterprise Refit
I have been building Star Trek model kits for the past year, following a forty-year break from the hobby. I have focused on TOS sets released by AMT, now owned by Round2.
This model followed my build of USS Reliant, Khan’s ship from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The Enterprise refit is the hardest model I’ve created so far. I was also hit with the biggest problem I’ve yet encountered. In this post you’ll see what it is and how I ‘solved’ it. I was also faced with the same ongoing issue that every Enterprise model seems to have.
But before we begin with the photo journal of this build, check out my former Trek model gallery here:
Unboxing
Here are the box contents:
This set also came with a tiny shuttlecraft, though I want to point out that its scale is not correct when compared with Enterprise. It should be much smaller:
Clamping and Gluing
This is the fun part. Gluing all the major pieces together and then clamping for overnight drying. In some cases I had to use elastic bands due to the odd shapes of Enterprise.
A major problem developed with the secondary hull. Note the square opening at its bottom. In the former iterations of this set, this is where the stand would fit. However, in this newer release, the stand is now a metal rod. Because of this, there is a piece designed to fit in there with a round opening (for the rod). HOWEVER, this is not mentioned in the instructions! I only realized later, and it presented the largest problem I’ve yet encountered in my quest to build Star Trek models.
A Problem with the New(ish) Release
I’ve now fit in the new piece in the secondary hull for the stand. You can see it through the opening here:
And here is the bottom. The fit is terrible because it was not in the instruction manual, and I had to place it in after I’d already glued the two halves of the secondary hull together! Note the large spaces around the edges. It’s also on an angle, and it’s inset by a few millimetres. The only solution was to fill all the spaces with putty and then sand it down, and hope that it would look like part of the hull.
You’ll see the results soon:
Priming and Painting
I’ve now primed the pieces:
And here’s that round hole for the rod. It turned out all right, I guess, but I lost a lot of detail of the hull plate grooves/seams around it.
Now I’ve painted the fine details, and this is where the ship really starts to come together. Enterprise is the most beautiful ship in all of Science Fiction.
The rim of the primary hull — the saucer — has grey and white stripes. There are decals for these, but I decided to do them with paint and taping off the sections. It wasn’t a great idea. The tape doesn’t conform to all the depressions and ridges, and so there was some bleeding around the edges:
You can see some of the bleeding here. Argh. I tried to fix those bits as best as possible, but it’s a challenge with such fine detailed work. I felt like Spock in City on the Edge of Forever … not having the correct tools for the job.
Adding the Decals
The decal sheet was pretty expansive, but actually not as bad as the Reliant’s. I decided not to put all the red lines on this model, because they tended to break on my Reliant model. Note the yellow decals (around the phasers and on the rim of the saucer) … I decided to use copper for those areas, to match my other ships.
The Biggest Problem with Enterprise
The attachment point of the nacelles with the secondary hull is a problem with both Enterprise models I’ve built so far. There is a lot of weight on those connection points. This one kept drooping, with major cracks opening along the secondary hull. I had to fix it twice, and the end result is just not satisfactory. It’s something I just have to live with, I guess, but for future models, I think I’ll attach the “pylons” first, and then after painting/decals, glue the nacelles onto the top of the pylons.
The Final Product!
And here it is! Note the picture with the ship next to Reliant, facing off against Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Stay tuned for my next scale model project, as chosen by my followers and readers in my recent poll here at Life After Gateway. Watch this space!
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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel
“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop
“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite
“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories
“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest
“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels
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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!
WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.
Book Cover & Jacket Copy:
AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!
A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …
Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.
Taunting him.
Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.
If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.
But the assassin could be anyone …
Watch your back, Mac.
A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:
The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007
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TSJ’s Awards
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THE WAR BENEATH: FIRST PLACE 2018 GLOBAL THRILLER Action / Adventure Category Winner, 2019 Silver Falchion Award Finalist, 2018 CLUE Award Semi-Finalist, 2019 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist, & 2019 CYGNUS Award Shortlister
THE SAVAGE DEEPS: FIRST PLACE 2020 CYGNUS Award Winner, 2019 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards Finalist, 2022 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist; 2019 CLUE Award Shortlister
FATAL DEPTH: FIRST PLACE 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Winner, 2022 Silver Falchion Award Finalist (Best Action Adventure), 2021 CYGNUS Award Semi-Finalist
Praise for THE WAR BENEATH
“If you’re looking for a techno-thriller combining Ian Fleming, Tom Clancy and John Le Carré, The War Beneath will satisfy … a ripping good yarn, a genuine page-turner.” — Amazing Stories
“One very riveting, intelligent read!” — Readers’ Favorite
“If you like novels like The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising,
you will certainly enjoy The War Beneath.” — A Thrill A Week
“If you’re here for thrills, the book will deliver.” — The Cambridge Geek
“… an engaging world that is highly believable …” — The Future Fire
“This is a tense, gripping science fiction/thriller of which Tom Clancy might well be proud . . . When I say it is gripping, that is the simple truth.” — Ardath Mayhar
“… a thrill ride from beginning to end …” — SFcrowsnest
“… if you like Clancy and le Carré with a hint of Forsyth thrown in,
you’ll love The War Beneath.” — Colonel Jonathan P. Brazee (RET),
2017 Nebula Award & 2018 Dragon Award Finalist
“Fast-paced, good old-fashioned Cold War espionage … a great escape!” — The Minerva Reader
