Scott Kohrherr’s USS Republic and USS Lexington
I’ve seen some really great builds on this site over the years, and I thought that I would throw my hat into the ring…
One of the things I’ve always wanted to do since I was a kid in the ’70s was to build an Enterprise that was fully lit. At the time, I had neither the knowledge or the finances to even attempt to do something like that, and so it remained as nothing but a unrealized dream.
About 10 years ago, with my age now approaching 40, my modeling skills and my financial situation improved somewhat (at least that’s what I would have hoped!). While surfing the web those many years ago, I happened upon a site that had mentioned something about Don’s Light and Magic upgrade parts; it was now possible to pursue the dream that I had alway thought about. After checking out his website, I finally decided that the time had come to go for broke and make the attempt. My first try led to a 22″ production version that I built up as the U.S.S. Lexington, and the results pleased me no end.
After that, I had a great deal of left over parts from that initial build, so I thought that I would follow up with another 22″ “E”, but this time make it the second pilot version as seem in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. I started to do some research, acquired the rest of the parts that I needed, and set about to work (this was about 6 years ago…).
Suddenly, life intervened. I got a side job playing in not one, but two different bands, then got married, put an extension on the house, became a parent for the first time, quit playing in one of the bands, finished the new basement…you get the idea. I had to put off working on this model for quite some time. I finally went back to it a number of weeks ago, and just recently completed the project, this time calling the ship U.S.S. Republic.
First of all, neither project would have been able to come to fruition had it not been for the parts created by Don Matthys. They are all very nicely crafted, and very easy to work with (this was my first time working with resin parts). The instructions provided were clear and concise. The lighting effects are especially satisfying, for not only do these have the standard window and running lights, but they include a full-motion warp nacelle effect that is very cool. I enhanced this effect by using Ken Huegel’s crystal method, which can be found on the CultTVMan site. I did take some “artistic license” by lighting the domes on the Republic; it seemed to me to be such a waste not to light them.
Another thing that really pleases me about these builds is the effect I was able to achieve with the paint scheme. Following Don’s instructions of using masks and painting leading edges, I was able to get a very subtle grid and panel line effect that almost looks three dimensional (you can see this on the close-ups of the Lexington, although this effect is present on both ships, with the Republic’s being oh-so-more subtle). I just think it adds a great deal of realism to both ships.
It may have taken me several years to fulfill my dream of a lighted Enterprise, but now I have two!
Scott Kohrherr
