# 18" (TOS) AMT Enterprise



## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

*18" (TOS) AMT Enterprise Done*

My next project is the 18" TOS Starship Enterprise from AMT to go with my jj-prise and the refit i just finished. Doing the little things to give it some strength that i will explain as i go. 
So far i have started working on the secondary hull,added strips to the half's to give it strength and have putty up the seams.









Pieces added to strengthen up the seams:
















Puttied:


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Wow, dude, you don't stop!:thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Hey remember to hydrate. Take a rest stop every 500,000 miles or so.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

The 1st thing im going to say is that if your doing one glue tabs on everything,the butt joint system is not a good one it making life a lot easier with the tabs!
1st i reinforced the supports for the nacelles with solid stock to stiffen them up than i added glue tabs,believe me they are your friends here. Got the main body all sanded and the nacelles glued up and a coat of putty on them. And I also got the saucer section glued.


Added stock and tabs:


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

I'm likin' it!:thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

What do you call a bunch of dummies sitting around singing songs, eating fruit, and drinking diet cola? 

The moron TAB and apple choir ! 










Sorry, all this talk of tabs brought that old joke to mind...


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

I know that joke. It really needs the build up to work.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> What do you call a bunch of dummies sitting around singing songs, eating fruit, and drinking diet cola?
> 
> The moron TAB and apple choir !
> 
> ...


Its all good, I'm not a Mormon and i don't even like Romney!:tongue:


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Worked on the nacelles today got them together sanded and primed.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Still lovin' it!


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

I like your solution to the rectangular thingamajigs under the Bussards.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Captain April said:


> I like your solution to the rectangular thingamajigs under the Bussards.


Yeah. I never quite understood why they just couldn't have molded separate rectangular pieces rather than either molding them to the bussard collars or making that separate unified curvy bit.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

For every improvement they made to the molds, they also added another inaccuracy.

And they never did correct those three dimples on the underside of the saucer. :freak:


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Its all primed and painted up as far as the base color goes. Detail paint next.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Early post today ,heading to see Roger Waters doing the wall tour tonight.
Last day of Va-cay for a couple mouths.Got most of the nacelles paint work done this morning.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Did some detail on the front of the nacelles and added some missing detail to the main hull and got it painted a coat of gloss is next on them for the decals.


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## Carl_G (Jun 30, 2012)

This is shaping up very nicely (and freaking _fast _), it's getting me hyped up to start on my TOS-E kit!

How did you do the series of little grooves on the detail part (last photo)? I'm doing a USS Grissom kit and there's a section that's supposed to have texture like that, but the part is all blurry and I'm wondering how tough it is to fix up.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Very good paint job on the Bussards.

As for that ring on the secondary hull, contrary to popular belief, it's the same color as the rest of the hull. It's just that at certain angles, the weathering made it look more coppery than it actually was.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Carl_G said:


> This is shaping up very nicely (and freaking _fast _), it's getting me hyped up to start on my TOS-E kit!
> 
> How did you do the series of little grooves on the detail part (last photo)? I'm doing a USS Grissom kit and there's a section that's supposed to have texture like that, but the part is all blurry and I'm wondering how tough it is to fix up.


Bought a sheet some time back from my local hobby shop, comes that way.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Captain April said:


> Very good paint job on the Bussards.
> 
> As for that ring on the secondary hull, contrary to popular belief, it's the same color as the rest of the hull. It's just that at certain angles, the weathering made it look more coppery than it actually was.


I have seen it both ways but i used this picture for reference http://www.mjtsc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/new/images/image78.jpg and it like it better this way.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

cylon75 said:


> I have seen it both ways but i used this picture for reference http://www.mjtsc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/new/images/image78.jpg and it like it better this way.


That's the way Ed Miarecki painted it after the last restoration. He took a lot of artistic license. Still if you want the color to match the studio model you should go with copper to match the dish and then overspray it with some of the basecoat to tone it down. Just my opinion.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

For a simple model the nacelles are a pain in the a-- to glue in place they move way to much. We will see if there still straight when they set. I also got the saucer section ready. At any rate the whole thing has been shot with a coat of gloss clear so the decals are next.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Starting the decals ,1st i made a decal myself for under side the FWD section of the nacelles happy with how it came out. Than i totally messed up the side marking red stripe decal on the nacelle itself it broke in to to many pieces to fix so i had to order another decal sheet. But im moving fwd anyway, so far the others have been fine learned from the 1st one.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Other side of ship decaled and my grid line decals came in for the saucer, they are not easy to do ill let you know if i like it when what i did drys completely.


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## publiusr (Jul 27, 2006)

It looks like you shaved an angle at the bottom of the nacelle support pylons--or was that fixed in box?
Shaw--over at the federationreference forums (still up) lowered the B/C decks a bit and it looked great.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Finished the grid lines decal on the bottom not perfect but i do like it a lot better with it than with out it, now i have a better feel for applying the top half. Looks a lot nicer when it dry!


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Using the lessons learned doing the bottom part of the saucer, the top came out very nice and im really happy with it. No work being done for the next couple days ,ordered new decals for the rest of the ship. The decal sheet that your given in my opinion sucks so i ordered a aftermarket one to finish it.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

My decal sheet came in today. Starting to come together now.


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## Dubau (Jun 27, 2012)

The Enterprise, you can never go worng with that. 

Nice looking build.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Upper hull registry and name are a bit crooked.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Captain April said:


> Upper hull registry and name are a bit crooked.


Might be alittle, to late to do,any thing about it now.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Tonight's progress. the only thing left is the underside of the saucer.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Decals done, and the saucer has been glued to the main body.Ill let it sit over night and see what i got.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

It's working.:thumbsup:


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

These are the 1st shots of it all together. Not done yet, still have to give it a coat of flat that i have to order because of the decals (good thing i did a test decal because it would have really been bad to find out the decals were not compatible with my clear on the ship) than weather and it should be done than.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Would now be a bad time to point out you have the intercoolers on backwards? The squared corner goes in front.

Otherwise, nice job.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Captain April said:


> Would now be a bad time to point out you have the intercoolers on backwards? The squared corner goes in front.
> 
> Otherwise, nice job.


According to all the reference pictures i have found and the directions they are one the same as mine.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

http://www.mjtsc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/new/images/image5.jpg

I'd check those references if I was you.


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

It didn't help that when AMT retooled the kit they eliminated the tab that supposed to go on the front.


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## nautilusnut (Jul 9, 2008)

> Would now be a bad time to point out you have the intercoolers on backwards? The squared corner goes in front


He's right, the square end goes to the front, and the model is now missing the small rod that is supposed to be there. You can clearly make out the flatter end of the intercooler with the rod in this photo of the 11 foot original model.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

This is the picture i was using. i know its someone else model but i like it and used it for reference, plus the directions did not give that info. At any rate it is what it is and that's how it will be.:tongue:


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Nice job, Cy!


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## Husker Adama (Sep 1, 2011)

Great Job Cylon!

Don't let rivet counters ruin your day!


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

The above shot in my last posting is NOT of my ship it is a reference shot that i have used. I just finished weathering mine and Im waiting for the clear to dry than i will post pictures tomorrow.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

The ship its self is now done. Still need to do the base. more pictures coming soon.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

cylon75 said:


> The above shot in my last posting is NOT of my ship it is a reference shot that i have used. I just finished weathering mine and Im waiting for the clear to dry than i will post pictures tomorrow.


So, for reference, you didn't use pics of the studio model, which are plentiful and all over the net, including on CultTVMan.com, but someone else's build of the AMT kit.

Ooooooooooooooookay....


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Captain April said:


> So, for reference, you didn't use pics of the studio model, which are plentiful and all over the net, including on CultTVMan.com, but someone else's build of the AMT kit.
> 
> Ooooooooooooooookay....


Star Trek although is a good show it is not my all time favorite show. Battlestar Galactica is top of my list. I picked a Enterprise that i liked and used that for my reference wasn't looking to make a screen accurate ship, just added some things that i liked about the ship and put them on mine. So at this point it is what it is and im happy with it.


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## nautilusnut (Jul 9, 2008)

As long as you're happy with it. (backwards parts and all) that's all that matters. Some criticism should be expected though when you put the item on the internet for all to see. Many of us on this board are very detail-conscious.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Hey, when you start citing your references, expect a little more scrutiny.


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## Husker Adama (Sep 1, 2011)

Cylon, don't worry, you're building great models.

don't get hung up by the annoyance of rivet counters, especially those who only want to point out "facts" on a fictional ship.


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## liskorea317 (Mar 27, 2009)

cylon75 said:


> Star Trek although is a good show it is not my all time favorite show. Battlestar Galactica is top of my list. I picked a Enterprise that i liked and used that for my reference wasn't looking to make a screen accurate ship, just added some things that i liked about the ship and put them on mine. So at this point it is what it is and im happy with it.


And thats how it should be.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

This is my 18" Enterprise that I just finished. Pretty much stock out of the box except for a few aftermarket decals. The last couple of photos are of my 3 recently made Enterprises together and in the display case.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Nice work!


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## Dave in RI (Jun 28, 2009)

I'm in the midst of building one of these beasties and I was dead set against having grid lines. Now...I'm not so sure. I really like the way this looks both on the upper and lower saucer. It has that subtle penciled-on look that the studio model had.

I'm just not sure if they're supposed to be seen at this scale.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

They weren't all that visible on the big model, so my vote would be no.


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Dave in RI said:


> I'm in the midst of building one of these beasties and I was dead set against having grid lines. Now...I'm not so sure. I really like the way this looks both on the upper and lower saucer. It has that subtle penciled-on look that the studio model had.
> 
> I'm just not sure if they're supposed to be seen at this scale.


They were visible but faintly. They add a whole bunch to the kit that is for sure!


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## Scorpitat (Oct 7, 2004)

Hey Cylon, 
great build! I like the subtle weather streaking on the ship, and light "rust" ring around the upper saucer. As far as the parts placement, if you're happy with it, that's what matters most.

I think ya did a great job, and it fits in nicely with your growing starship fleet. Keep up the great work, and thanks so much for sharing the pics. MUCH appreciated.

Sincerely,
Scorp. :wave:

"Fat Lady. You're OBSESSED with Fat Lady! Just fly us outta here!!" - ID4


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## cylon75 (Feb 22, 2011)

Scorpitat said:


> Hey Cylon,
> great build! I like the subtle weather streaking on the ship, and light "rust" ring around the upper saucer. As far as the parts placement, if you're happy with it, that's what matters most.
> 
> I think ya did a great job, and it fits in nicely with your growing starship fleet. Keep up the great work, and thanks so much for sharing the pics. MUCH appreciated.
> ...


Thank you


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