Steve Jurgens’ AMT Enterprise
This is the infamous 18″ AMT/ERTL kit to which I made several accurizing modifications. I spent over a year working on this but it was well worth it considering I’d had the kit for over 20 years until my modelling skills reached a point where I could do justice to this science fiction icon. Anyway, here are the details…
For the engines, I couldn’t find a ready-made electric motor with gear reduction as I’d seen others use on the 22″ cutaway version of this ship as the nacelles in this kit were only about the same width as a quarter. So I made my own gearbox using some gears taken from six tootsie-roll pop toys (the ones with the little workman who hammers up and down while the tootsie-roll pop revolves slowly on top) and two HO scale model railroad engines to make the warp nacelles rotate. The engine domes were solid transparent resin peices I purchased from Federation Models. I hollowed them out with my dremel and lit them with six solid and six flashing yellow LED’s in each nacelle to give them a pulsating effect even when the engines are turned off ! The motors operate by turning a rheostat switch attached to a shaft on the back of the deflector dish counterclockwise; I wanted to be able to activate the lights without the motors running since they draw a lot of current and would quickly exhaust the batteries. They also make quite a racket having been designed for use as model locomotive engines ! The motors drive the gears which in turn drive a clear acrylic shaft attached to the back of an “umbrella” to which thin strips of adhesive backed foil have been afixed leaving gaps in between to look like turbofan blades. The final effect is quite close to the spinning turbine effect as seen on TOS television episodes.
Now for the rest… Turning the deflector dish clockwise lights up a grain-of-wheat bulb in the rear of the ship illuminating a detailed scratch-built shuttle bay interior complete with viewing galleries and a miniature Galileo shuttle also built from scrathc. The fan tail was extended about 1/4″ and modified extensively; the center section of clamshell doors is removable to view the shuttlebay. The beacon above the hangar doors is a white LED painted with gloss white enamel to make it less blindingly bright.
The “ion pods” on either side of the stern section of the secondary hull also flash red; fiber optic strands run from a flashing red LED concealed inside the ship to produce the flashing effect. This LED also lights up strands of fiber running to spots just over the 3 doors on either side of shuttlebay interior as well as a single door on the back wall of the shuttlebay to simulate the flashing warning signs seen in episodes where the Galileo is shown exiting the hangar.
The interior of the saucer and secondary hulls were painted with black enamel and then a white coat of paint was sprayed over that for even light distribution. Three 5mm white LED’s provide plenty of light to the windows which I cut out with a twst-drill and jeweller’s files. The window openings were filled with clear resin and sanded flush with the exterior. Window decals were applied so the ship looks lit even when the power is off. Red and green running lights flash top and bottom on the rim of the saucer.
The ship is painted to match “concrete” (ACE Hardware Shady Cove) and panel lines were scribed to match the ’91 renovation of the 11 foot filming miniature. Weathering was done with black, gold, green, and brown (rust) gel pens. The gridlines ont he saucer top were sanded smooth and drawn in with a mechanical pencil and protractor. The model was sealed with Future floorwax and ST Modeler decals were applied. More coats of Future were applied and a final coat of dullcote flat lacquer was sprayed overall. The display base is cherry wood and quite heavy. A coaxial plug on the neck plugs into a jack on the bottom of the ship. Power is provided by a battery box with 4 “C” batteris providing 6 volts of current.
Steve Jurgens
