A History of the AMT Enterprise Model by Jay Chladek part 4

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Small Box Version Two, Kit #S951

In 1978, AMT was purchased by Lesney, which at that time also owned the Matchbox diecast toy company and its plastic kit department. With the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture to theaters in Christmas of 1979, demand for Trek merchandise remained higher then ever.

The company was moved to Baltimore, MD and this change is reflected on the box art which otherwise remained more or less the same as the previous small box issues. The kit was now molded in medium blue plastic with the saucer domes remaining in clear green plastic. The color change was probably the result of the marketing department wanting the ship to represent a color closer to what was seen on color TV screens at the time and there may also have been some influence from Matchbox’s model kits, as those were typically issued in wild combinations of two and three different plastic colors to spice up that product line. Otherwise, the parts remained the same.

Small Box Version Three, Kit #6676

In the early 1980s, AMT was purchased by Ertl and the company moved to join Ertl’s operation at its location in Dyersville, Iowa. With the success of Star Trek in the movies and reruns on TV, demand for the classic Enterprise kit remained strong. The box art changed slightly, to reflect that the company was now AMT/Ertl and included a little different data on the side panels. Mold wise, the kit remained unchanged, but the plastic color changed to a light gray plastic and the clear parts were molded in a smoke clear white plastic. Decal artwork was the same, but the decals themselves changed slightly to using blue backing paper instead of tan paper and included separated carrier film for each image, while all previous sheets (long box versions included) were essentially one piece decals and required each image to be cut out completely before soaking to remove most of the carrier film.

Small Box Version Four, Kit # 6676

To help celebrate Star Trek’s 20th Anniversary, an anniversary sticker was added to the box art of the classic Enterprise, otherwise, the kit is exactly the same as the previous issue. After the 20th Anniversary, subsequent issues with the standard box art didn’t include the sticker and were essentially identical to the previous issues.

Small Box Version Five, Kit # 6676

In the late 1980s, AMT apparently decided that that the classic, 70s vintage, box art was too dated looking, while newer Trek models being issued at the time featured slicker looking box art. So, the box art was changed to a painting of a white Enterprise against a black star background. Side panels on the box art featured kit information in a format similar to that found on other AMT/Ertl Trek kits and pictures of the completed model. Dimension wise, the newer boxes are the same as previous small box issues. Plastic wise, the kit remained unchanged.

Small Box Version Six, Kit # 6676

During the early 90s, Ertl was making some financial changes to reduce the production costs of its products, and as a result the plastics production line was moved to Mexico, while the Ertl offices remained in Iowa. Therefore, the last issues of the 18″ Enterprise feature AMT/Ertl’s slightly redesigned logo and a slightly different sidepanel that says “Made in Mexico”. A change was also made to the plastic, as the smoke white clear saucer domes were replaced with opaque white plastic ones. Everything else in the kit remained unchanged.

Unfortunately, with the release of the larger 22″ cutaway classic Enterprise and dropping sales of the 18″ kit, AMT decided to discontinue the classic kit in 1996. By late 1998, most of the kits had disappeared from store shelves, although some can still be found in out of the way places. But, after being in production for the better part of three decades, the classic 18″ Enterprise probably has the longest continuous history of all science fiction kits and may even surpass the production lifetimes of most plastic model kits ever produced. There appear to be some times that the 18″ Enterprise was not in production during its sales life, but they don’t appear to have been long and the kits did still remain store shelves. Some published accounts indicate that AMT sold over one million kits of the classic Enterprise, not too shabby for a science fiction model kit.

The Aurora Enterprise kits

With AMT holding the exclusive license for Trek kits in the U.S., Aurora had to settle for the foreign market, so the Enterprise kit was issued to the U.K. and Canada with Aurora logos in place of the AMT ones. For the most part, the Aurora kits matched the AMT counterparts, with some exceptions. John Green has uncovered an early Canadian issue, featureing the AMT S921 box art of the ship orbiting a red planet, but no lighting system was included in the kit and all references to it were deleted from the instructions.

A later U.K. issue enocuntered by John features the later long box art, with the picture of the model. This model is rather interesting as it features instructions for a lighted ship, yet the parts are for an unlighted model, similar to a long box version 5 or 6 kit. The model was molded in light blue plastic and clear orange bussard collectors which were clearer in appearance then the ones found in long box version 2. The collector parts are unique as the orange ones had been deleted from AMT’s production line quite early, while Aurora apparently continued to offer them in their kits

Other variations on the Aurora kits undoubtedly exist, but I have no information about them and would welcome any additional information on them or any other AMT kit variations encountered, yet not covered in this article. After Aurora closed its doors, AMT went on to issue the kits internationally, as is evidenced by a small box kit for the Canadian market, featuring English and French text on the box. Whether this box art was originally done by AMT or came from the AMT/Ertl or Lesney AMT time period is unclear.

So which kit is the best?

The small box Enterprise kits are the ones that most of us are familiar with. The long box versions do have some more accurate features, but for the most part, they require about the same amount of work to correct the other inaccuracies, which are common in both kits. Fit wise, the small box kits are superior to the long box ones and assembly of a small box kit is less of a hassle. With access to resin add on parts and more accurate aftermarket decals, a small box kit can be built-up into an accurate replica without much trouble.

Accuracy wise, the second issue of the long box kit is what I consider the best, but the current collectors values listed for the early long box kits tend to put them out of reach of most modelers and give others second thoughts about building them. Still, as I have found researching this article, some long box kits in less then mint condition can be purchased for reasonable prices, if one is willing to look and lucky enough to come across them. If your options are few and other sources are exhausted, then I recommend checking out GREENMODELS.COM if you are looking for a reliable source of long box kits as John Green typically has several versions in stock in various price ranges, depending on condition and rarity of kit features.

Special Thanks to the following individuals for providing information, some images and helping to make this article possible:

• Roger Sorenson
• Shane Johnson
• Steve Iverson
• Art Anderson

A Very Special Thanks goes to John F. Green for providing access to his kit archives, images and providing more answers to the Enterprise puzzle then I ever thought possible. This article would not have been this large without his help. Thank you John!

This article is dedicated to the memory of Stephen Poe., a.k.a. Stephen Whitfield, author of The Making of Star Trek. During Star Trek’s network TV run, Stephen worked for an advertising firm that was partly responsible for the AMT relationship with Paramount, which resulted in the longest running science fiction kit license in history.