Nick Whitlow’s Classic USS Enterprise

Building the 18” AMT USS Enterprise from STTOS

I have been building models since the early 60’s and have been a Star Trek fan for almost that long.  And in all that time, I never got around to building the Enterprise.  Now that I am retired, I am taking the time to do some of things I never found time to do.  But what started out as a quick build, morphed into a lengthy, detailed labor of love.

When preparing to finally build my Enterprise, I decide on using one of the latest AMT releases with the deluxe decal sheet because I always loved the unusual makings on the ship.  I was also excited to find out that the newer versions did not have the raised grid pattern on the saucer section anymore, saving me lots of work to remove it.

I don’t like the display stand in the current kits so I used one of the triangular bases from one of the long box kits that I had acquired.  To use it I had to cut a thin, rectangular hole in the bottom of the secondary hull.  I didn’t want to permanently glue the ship to the base so I also drilled a hole in the ship to insert a small screw to hold it in place.

First I started by assembling the saucer, nacelles, and the secondary hull.  I used strips of .010” thin styrene behind all the seams in the secondary hull for strength.  I also glued two long pieces of 1/8th inch square Plastruct tubing inside each nacelle strut for support. Being the perfectionist I am, I just had to fix all the seams on all those pieces.  I also sanded off all the raised window detail as the decals would be replacing them.

After studying photos of the original 11’ studio model, I decided to add the detailed ribbing on both sides of the deflector dish using two sizes of small Plastruct sprue.   Once I was satisfied with all the seams in primer, I painted the secondary hull Tamiya Royal Light Gray TS-81.  This is not a glossy paint, but it dries very smooth and will not “silver” the decals.

Next I experimented with some of the decals I was not planning to use, and was I glad I did.  The decal film is extremely thin and many of the shapes are very irregular so I kept tearing the decals.  So before applying the decals I planned to use, I gave the sheet a couple of light coats of Tamiya Clear TS-13.  This made the decals stronger and easier to work with.  However, you have to trim off all the areas where there is no original decal film.  I trimmed them all very close to the graphics and in some cases, cut the irregular shapes into two or three sections and applied them separately.  Once I got the whole secondary hull decaled, I sprayed the entire piece with Tamiya Flat Clear TS-80.

Despite my careful gluing, there were a lot of seams to fix on the saucer section, but soon it was ready for paint too.  I then noticed that the underside of the saucer did not have to two triangular shaped doors for the landing gear.  So, using my unbuilt 1/350th scale Polar Lights Enterprise for measurements, I marked and scribed the lines for the landing gear into the hull.  I then poked two metal model car axles into the holes where the top dome glues and wrapped them with masking tape.  This allowed me to hold the saucer upside down while I painted the underside of the ship.  When it was dry, I used the axles on the bottom dome holes and painted the top of the saucer.

After applying decals to both sided of the saucer section, I coated everything with Flat Clear.  The upper and lower domes were painted gloss white but I also painted them flat and glued them in place.

I was unhappy with the defector dish in the kit so I ordered a better one from Federation Models.  The dish and area behind it on the secondary hull were then painted Testors Gloss Copper.  I never did like the idea of painting the domes on the front of the nacelles, so I also ordered a set of Don’s Light & Magic Warp Domes & Mounts from CultTVman.  The clear domes were lightly sanded inside and out to give them a frosted effect.  I then took a trip to Hobby Lobby and found some 6mm colored gems which I glued inside the dome mounts onto a piece of plastic I cut to fit inside.  Don’s Light & Magic also makes an improved Deflector Mount that I would have purchased but I had already glued on the kit piece.

Next I painted the nacelles and after letting them dry thoroughly, I masked off the areas I wanted to paint a darker gray.  I used Tamiya IJN Gray TS-66 as my accent color for the ring near the front end caps, the two grilles at the end, and the flat grille area on the inside of each nacelle.  I also masked off the four rectangles on the nacelle struts.  The rear end caps were also painted this color.  When dry, I used a plastic template and drew a proper sized circle onto some easy-lift household masking tape I had applied to a piece of glass and then cut out the circle.  I used that to mask off the ball on the rear end caps and then painted them white.  After all the decals were applied to the nacelles, the end caps and the nacelles all got a coat of Flat Clear.

It was finally time to glue everything together so I attached the secondary hull to the saucer and when that was dry, I attached the display stand to the secondary hull.  Next came the nacelles and a few other small pieces.  I still need to make and add some small red and green running lights for the saucer section and the dome over the hanger deck, but they can be added later.

Despite the fact that this quick build turned into a very long project, I am very happy with the results.  I’m actually glad I waited this long to do it right!

Nicholas Whitlow