# TOS Style U.S.S. Kelvin in 1/650 Scale



## PiKapp1977 (Aug 9, 2007)

Here are some photos of a recently completed conversion of the old AMT 18" Enteprise (recently re-released by R2)

The 'U.S.S. Kelvin' was prominently featured in the opening minutes of the 2009 Star Trek reboot and was quite an interesting design. My goal was to 'retro-reimagine' the Kelvin to the way it might have appeared in the original TOS universe.

There was a small amount of scratch building here - specifically the upper neck with the secondary hgull rising above the saucer. Additionally, I used resin details from Federation Models for the lower sensor dome (pilot version) and the deflector dish (series version).

The registry, docking port, and subspace antennae decals were of my own making using Adobe Illustrator and a solid ink printer for production quality decals. I used the Microgramma font that was used in the olf Franz Joseph SFTM. The remaining decals were pulled from the sheet included with the kit.

My next project will be the same converison, but with the cut-away 22" Enterprise kit as I would prefer to have a correct B/C deck and bridge.


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## PiKapp1977 (Aug 9, 2007)

Since there is a 2 post minimum for being able to insert image links, I'll submit a reply with the actual photos...


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## PiKapp1977 (Aug 9, 2007)

The 3rd try is a charm...

Here are some photos of a recently completed conversion of the old AMT 18" Enteprise (recently re-released by R2)

The 'U.S.S. Kelvin' was prominently featured in the opening minutes of the 2009 Star Trek reboot and was quite an interesting design. My goal was to 'retro-reimagine' the Kelvin to the way it might have appeared in the original TOS universe.

There was a small amount of scratch building here - specifically the upper neck with the secondary hgull rising above the saucer. Additionally, I used resin details from Federation Models for the lower sensor dome (pilot version) and the deflector dish (series version).

The registry, docking port, and subspace antennae decals were of my own making using Adobe Illustrator and a solid ink printer for production quality decals. I used the Microgramma font that was used in the olf Franz Joseph SFTM. The remaining decals were pulled from the sheet included with the kit.

My next project will be the same converison, but with the cut-away 22" Enterprise kit as I would prefer to have a correct B/C deck and bridge.













http://i364
.photobucket.com/albums/oo84/snufy97/eBay/650KELVIN/DSC_4808.jpg


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## PiKapp1977 (Aug 9, 2007)

Here are some of the build progress photos as well...


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## PiKapp1977 (Aug 9, 2007)

More build progress as well as a few others of the final product...


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Very nice ! I love retro-themes like this. Only other thing I'd do if it were me would be to dull the finish down a little with some Dullcote. But that's not to take anything away from your splendid build ! You show a fine imagination sir !


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## modelsj (May 12, 2004)

Wow, beautiful!!


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## SamwiseVT (Apr 30, 2009)

I think that looks fantastic! Nicely done!


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## PiKapp1977 (Aug 9, 2007)

Trekkriffic said:


> Very nice ! I love retro-themes like this. Only other thing I'd do if it were me would be to dull the finish down a little with some Dullcote. But that's not to take anything away from your splendid build ! You show a fine imagination sir !


I agree I like the flat finish better as well - the gentleman I originally built this for wanted a gloss coat left on it (actually, it's a coat of Future floor wax) as opposed to a final lacquer dullcoat.

Thanks for the kind words - I think my next project after the 22" Cut-Away Kelvin conversion will be a TOS style Constellation Class. If I'm not mistaken, I believe I have seen somewhere where there was reference to a TOS style ship with 4 nacelles - either in the animated series or one of the comic books that took place prior to the first movie.


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## Fraley1701 (Sep 3, 2003)

That looks great! The way the re-boot should have been done IMHO! 

:thumbsup:


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## Lou Dalmaso (Jul 13, 2004)

THATS usin' yer head!


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## Larva (Jun 8, 2005)

What a great project. It's nice to see new starship variations not based on the old Franz Josephs collection.


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## SDF-3 (Mar 15, 2010)

Quite a nice build, looks flawless.


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

I like it better than the movie Kelvin...by a mile! Great job.


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## cozmo (Nov 29, 2004)

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

One question:

What printer are you using?



PiKapp1977 said:


> The registry, docking port, and subspace antennae decals were of my own making using Adobe Illustrator and a solid ink printer for production quality decals...


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## Warped9 (Sep 12, 2003)

Your solution for the single warp nacelle is very cool. Two reactors. :thumbsup:


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## PiKapp1977 (Aug 9, 2007)

cozmo said:


> Very nice, thanks for sharing.
> 
> One question:
> 
> What printer are you using?


I actually use two different types - when I do color decals (which none were used on this piece) I'm using an Alps.

For all other decals, I'm using a high quality Samsung laser - it gives me really black blacks with no fading and it responds very well with my decal bonder. 

All my decals are vectors based and designed in Adobe Illustrator.


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## Nova Designs (Oct 10, 2000)

That is AWESOME!


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## cozmo (Nov 29, 2004)

Thanks, I too use an Alps and have been babying it for years. I was hoping you were going to say you were using a different printer that is still available.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Awesome job!


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## PiKapp1977 (Aug 9, 2007)

cozmo said:


> Thanks, I too use an Alps and have been babying it for years. I was hoping you were going to say you were using a different printer that is still available.


Yeah, the ALPS is on its last legs.... I'll be honest with you though, some of these newer color laser printers look GREAT when used with laser compatible decal paper. Obviously, you dont get printed white, but if you're designing decals that dont have white in them, those color lasers are a great alternative.

Alternatively, Xerox's solid ink Phaser printers look great too, though the ink is significantly higher priced.

The one caveat, however, is that if you are gong to use color laser, you really need to be designing the decals in vector format rather than raster.


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## Spockr (Sep 14, 2009)

This is truly outstanding work. Great workmanship here along with and impressive grasp of canon. Thanks for giving us a look.

Regards,
MattL


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## SJF (Dec 3, 1999)

That's very well done! A really nice job on that. :thumbsup:

Sean


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## cozmo (Nov 29, 2004)

PiKapp1977 said:


> The one caveat, however, is that if you are gong to use color laser, you really need to be designing the decals in vector format rather than raster.


Heck, not just laser, any decal graphics.

Never got into the Adobe products, my graphics program of choice is Corel Draw.

Hopefully, one of these days there will be another printer as nice as the Alps Micro Dry system. I just want it to be before my Alps gives up the ghost.


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