# Prologic9 builds: AMT 18" Enterprise



## Prologic9 (Dec 4, 2009)

So we're approaching the release of R2's 350 E and I'm sure I'm not the only guy who feels the need to "get ready." I've got a shat-load of projects lined up between now and then, and what better place to start than with the dawn of all Trek modeling; The Crappy AMT TOS Enterprise kit. 



For reasons I can barely remember, I liked this kit as a kid. I guess its simplicity made it seem easy. I have a fond memory of building it in a hotel room after picking the kit up in the gift shop after a long day at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. I also remember getting some cement on the inside of the saucer and it ate through it like Alien blood. 

I had a few ideas at first about trying this or that, but realized early on the best way to develop my skills is to just focus on building the cleanest model possible. I'm not going for any aftermarket stuff, as I'm not going to really do anything with the model once it's finished.

The only real 'fix' I'm doing is removing the dents and rings on the lower saucer. I plan to just pencil in the replacement lines after painting, so the decals can be properly placed. 



The lower part of my secondary hull bends to the right, just like my... Um, I added some tabs to the top to help with alignment.



A small brass tube with some epoxy putty for support. It looks like it goes all the way through here, but the rod for the base fits inside a larger tube. 



The top half of my secondary hull dropped off just before it meets the bottom half, which results in a big 'shelf' between the two. So... lots of putty. You can see the printed design I'm going to put on the base.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Enterprise is like pizza. Even a so-so Enterprise is still Enterprise.


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## liskorea317 (Mar 27, 2009)

Don't say that to a New Yorker!


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## liskorea317 (Mar 27, 2009)

Prologic9 said:


> So we're approaching the release of R2's 350 E and I'm sure I'm not the only guy who feels the need to "get ready." I've got a shat-load of projects lined up between now and then, and what better place to start than with the dawn of all Trek modeling; The Crappy AMT TOS Enterprise kit.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Was this a kit issued in the 80's? I have a few kits including the recent repop and none of them has that bend in the hull like that. There are some nice aftermarket kits to make this kit better!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

This is the second thread I've read where the lower and upper secondary hulls don't line up correctly. I have a reissued kit myself in this blue color. I'll have to look and see if it has the same problem.


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## spock62 (Aug 13, 2003)

Trekkriffic said:


> This is the second thread I've read where the lower and upper secondary hulls don't line up correctly. I have a reissued kit myself in this blue color. I'll have to look and see if it has the same problem.


I've been working on 2 Enterprise kits, one a late 80's AMT kit and one of the newer, R2 releases (first reissue molded in white). Both kits have ill fitting secondary hulls, but the newer R2 release is slightly worse. Also, on both versions, the warp engine halfs don't line up correctly, especially the starboard engine. Again, the R2 version is slightly worse.


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## Prologic9 (Dec 4, 2009)

liskorea317 said:


> Was this a kit issued in the 80's? I have a few kits including the recent repop and none of them has that bend in the hull like that. There are some nice aftermarket kits to make this kit better!


Nope this is one of the recent reissues with smooth saucer and there are ample more problems with the plastic. For instance once I glued the nacelles together, they weren't circular they were oval. I haven't fixed it yet but I guess I'm going to have to squeeze them into shape when I glue on the Bussards/ End caps and hope that holds them there afterwords. 

And the worst bit was: After alignment trouble with the starboard nacelle I move on to the Port nacelle, it goes together easily and I think "finally a break." I go to dry fit it and I get major drooping on the port nacelle. I fiddle with them to make sure they're both in correctly but no matter what I can't get that nacelle straight. 

Then I realize that there must have been some kind of freak accident at the plastic factory because someone dropped some silly putty into my port nacelle. It seems fine sitting there but in reality you can easily bend the pylon a good 30-40 degrees. It simply wasn't hard enough to support its own weight. 

So I took some scrap plastic and epoxied it inside. Now the pylon is basically a solid piece, with the plastic going all the way inside the nacelle.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

The secondary hull issues are an artifact from the original molding, when the hull was supposed to come apart so you could change the batteries for the lights that have been gone since 1972.


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## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

Wow... sorry to hear that you are having all these issues with this model. My model (the white plastic Round 2 reissue) didn't seem to have any of these problems, so I'd guess that it is the plastic rather than the molds. Even going back and looking at pictures I took when I got the model (to use to compare and contrast it with the 1966 AMT version) I didn't see any of the warping you seem to be having (secondary hull here and here, and nacelle here). And even though I modified the attachment points on the nacelles, the original configuration was sturdy when I did an early test assembly.

It looks like you're over coming these hurdles with good results... it is just too bad that you had to deal with them to begin with.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

liskorea317 said:


> Don't say that to a New Yorker!


First forty years of my life I lived there. Pizza where I live now mostly sucks. But at least it's pizza.:wave:


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## charonjr (Mar 27, 2000)

In attaching my nacelles, I put some glue into the slots. Being tube glue, it wouldn't come out until I squeezed a little harder, then glue flooded into the slot. There wasn't any way I could think of to get the excess out, so in go the pylons. And wipe, wipe, wipe! Had to sand down the damaged plastic....


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Prologic9 said:


> Now the pylon is basically a solid piece, with the plastic going all the way inside the nacelle.


That's a great way to strengthen it. :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

When I built my 18 incher years ago I laid two pieces of rectangular brass tubing side by side in each pylon on either side of the locator pin and glued them in with CA. Then I packed in between with epoxy putty. They were super strong when finished and provided nice channels for passing wires thru into the nacelles.


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## Prologic9 (Dec 4, 2009)

I don't mind the obstacles that much because that's the whole point, dealing with them. I'm just surprised there were so many here. 

Here's a look at a very simple base;




More work on the seams. I've got the shelves filled in about as good as I'm going to get them. It's a little lumpy but with paint and decals it should be okay.

The truth is spot putty (which is what I used) just isn't cut out for something like this, but I wasn't about to break out the 2-part bondo for something this small. I needed something inbetween and I've just spent too much money on my setup for the time being to run out and get more.



The saucers attached, I'll be able to start paint-painting soon. The nacelles are just dry fitted, I put a little piece of thin styrene down in the slots and it makes a tight fit;


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Oh man, it's already lookin' good.
Your sanding is very nicely done (I do a bit myself. Every single day.:freak
:lol:


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## liskorea317 (Mar 27, 2009)

Prologic9 said:


> I don't mind the obstacles that much because that's the whole point, dealing with them. I'm just surprised there were so many here.
> 
> Here's a look at a very simple base;
> 
> ...


It looks great! I'm working on one thats taking a long time to finish due to work commitments but I hope it looks as good as this one does!


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## Prologic9 (Dec 4, 2009)

So I got some new tools in the mail. Some stuff to work on small areas. An airbrush that I enjoy very much, but I now realize I'm going to have to invest a lot in paint.



The area where the neck connects with the saucer is giving me a lot of trouble. I've already had to remove it once because it didn't set perfectly level with the secondary hull. Actually I would have let this go but I've had so much trouble with this I wanted to rip it off anyways. 



I used epoxy the first time, this was a mistake because though I used a lot I still had a tiny bit of give in the saucer, and when handling it the finish around the seam would split and crack. 

I was never able to get this area clean and smooth. I filled with putty, glue, some putty that I liquified and brushed on, and sanded and sanded with paper and sponges and files, and lots of steel-wool. I hope someone can share some good tips for this area because its sending me into an endless depression.

I've since slowly reattached the saucer. This time I started with a little bit of CA, enough to keep it in place but I could easily remove it if needed. I'd give the seam a pass of glue, make sure it was still level and let it sit. Repeat.


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

Yeah, this is one area where alignment is tough. I made an alignment jig to set the saucer and engines to the secondary hull.

I still can't figure out why there's that gap in the top front of the dorsal. It's annoying to fill in. One guy I know sliced a bit of the dorsal tab off in order to slide the saucer back a bit and that gap does go away. Tried it on one build.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

That's one change in the molds that was a mixed blessing. Yeah, the secondary hull lines up correctly (provided the plastic hasn't warped), but that gap... :freak:


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## charonjr (Mar 27, 2000)

The saucer leveling issue, I solved by sanding the top of the pylon level. It seems to be off just a tad. The front of the pylon that falls short, I filled by gluing on a thin piece of strip. Once dried, I cut and sanded to shape using the pylon side contours as a guide, then cutting the top shallower using test fits to match the saucer contour. All in all, it didn't take long and worked well.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

I always just filled it in with putty and sanded down the excess, but to each his own...


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## Prologic9 (Dec 4, 2009)

I thought I'd show this after reading the color talk in the latest 350 update thread. 

The color on the nacelle is what I'm using. It's a lacquer I mixed up using what I had on hand. The base is Krylon Fusion Satin White (not good paint, wish I'd used something else for the base), darkened with a fairly dark ACE brand gray primer. 

I thought I had some color to mix with it but it turned out to be acrylic paint, so I was at a loss as to where to get my touch of green. I thought "what's green and mixes with lacquer... hmmm... Oh YEAH Squadron putty!" And that's where I got the green. 

It's not a perfect color, but it's close enough. That's all a gray really needs to look right. 

The bussard in the middle is Model Master Aircraft Gray. This is a lot closer to what it "should be" and if you don't want to mix your own colors I'd tell people to just pic up a bottle of that.


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## Prologic9 (Dec 4, 2009)

Progress!

Bussards; I started out trying to do too much and in the end they're just some simple red and yellow shading that fade to black at the base. I think they look really good though. 

I always scoff when I read this but "the camera does not show them properly." I guess my sensor just can't handle red. I was able to bring out the yellow in photoshop, but the black looks like its just a ring around the base and there's actually a subtle gradient that starts about a third of the way up the spheres. 



Grid Lines!

I used a compass for the circles, and then I printed out a grid I had on my comp to mark the radial lines. I actually messed one up by aligning to a spec of paint, but it really doesn't matter. 

I had been worried about getting good lines on the 350 E because of the thick ones that are on the Master Replicas version. It turns out that's just MR's fault and getting thin lines will be easy. 

I really wanted to paint the 'rust ring' (I wish we wouldn't call it that) but it turns out cutting a circle is hard. I tried a compass with an exacto and it was like a drunk driver at the wheel. For the Big-E my plan is to cut out some rings of styrene to simply lay on the model and trace (and they can double as masks for airbrushing), so I've got to find a way to cut nice clean circles. 



Decals! Uh-oh. I hate decals, and don't understand why it isn't standard practice for model kits to include extras. We all know why. 

I laid my decals on the saucer and they went on well, but when I clear coated them they bubbled up bad. I tried popping the big ones and dabbing them down, it looks better but it's still a bummer. You can see where I removed the impulse engine decals, I'll just use the alternate one. 

Since then I tried using Future under/over the decals and it seems to be working well. 

But more decal trouble! I couldn't see where to cut them from the sheet, there's so many little squares! So I tried tracing the outline of the secondary-hull windows with a sharpie. A few bits of decal film got sharpie on them. I put the decal in the water. DECAL EXPLOSION emits from the tiny % of area that had sharpie on it and ruins the whole thing. Who knew?

Again at least I had an alternate window decal to use. But now that whole side of the ship will have the lights turned off...


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## Maritain (Jan 16, 2008)

Wow great work so far, a very sharp looking build, can't wait to see it finished!


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## Dave in RI (Jun 28, 2009)

This is a fantastic build and I really like that shade of gray you are using.
I too am in the (slow) process of assembling one of these ships since building one my childhood. Using aftermarket parts, I am trying to make it as close to the studio miniature as I can, save for the under-detailed left side of course.

I am at the point of attaching the saucer to the secondary hull and am also concerned with how well it will stay attached. I am thinking about using three solid brass rods to strengthen the joining point. I'll drill three holes into the dorsal neck and glue the three rods in, after cutting them to the correct length. I will then drill three coresponding holes into the saucer. Hopefully, this will add enough support so that the saucer can never tear away.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

Something that needs to be kept in mind when dealing with the current issue of this model: The decal sheet is just an upsized version of the 1/1000 decal sheet, and with regard to the windows, especially that B/C superstructure, the decals aren't going to match up right, because the 1/1000's is the proper teardrop shape, while the 18"...isn't, so the arc doesn't match. I suspect there are similar issues with the other window decals, but this one is the most pronounced.


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## Prologic9 (Dec 4, 2009)

Captain April said:


> Something that needs to be kept in mind when dealing with the current issue of this model: The decal sheet is just an upsized version of the 1/1000 decal sheet, and with regard to the windows, especially that B/C superstructure, the decals aren't going to match up right, because the 1/1000's is the proper teardrop shape, while the 18"...isn't, so the arc doesn't match. I suspect there are similar issues with the other window decals, but this one is the most pronounced.


Yup, you'd also have a hard time aligning all the windows on the bottom of the saucer because they conform to the 3 circular trenches. (the models raised lines that indicate the trenches are too small in diameter)


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

This is one of the reasons I stopped building those kits as Constitution class ships and plan on building the ones I have as pre-Constitution class ships, like the Constellation, Republic, Yamato, Valiant, and a few others I need to dig up names for. :devil:

Just build 'em as is, no need for any modifications whatsoever. :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Sounds like you'd be better off buying the window decals from someone like JT Graphics from what I'm reading here.


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## Prologic9 (Dec 4, 2009)

There's nothing wrong with the decals they included, It's just up to the user to make them work. They actually include a ton of stuff the JT ones don't, they only thing that would have been nice is if they'd made some triangle thingies for the under-saucer.

I should have used it as an opportunity to try out some decal solvent but oh well. I am concerned about decals for the 350 E since I don't plan to ruin my paint job with a clear coat. (RUIN I SAY!) So I'm hoping some good laser cut masks will be available for the majority of the markings. Even then some of the smaller pin-striping will have to be decals.

---

Okay, she's pretty much done. There are a couple of things I didn't include; I didn't paint the front of the neck blue because it was just a pain. And I didn't paint the "bonnets" ,as I call them, on the bottom-front of the nacelles because I realized i should have painted the darker color, masked on top, and then painted the hull color around it. It was too late to do that. 

I'm practicing my 'dagger strokes' so I might put a few weathering streaks on down the line.


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

That's a pretty clean, sweet build there. Gotta love the classic model, and more so when put together this nicely!:thumbsup:


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## Maritain (Jan 16, 2008)

Very nicely done, I especially like the paint job on the Bussard caps, looks almost transparent!


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

*BELE: What a stroke of luck Captain. Lokai woudl have escaped if he hadn't stopped to admire Prologic9's excellent Enterprise model.
LOKAI: Bele is a racist pig but on this we both agree... it is an excellent model!*


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