Reader reviews of a kit featured on Starship Modeler.

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Your Two Cents: USS Enterprise (refit)

The following are reader's opinions of the USS Enterprise (refit) made by Bandai.

Reviewer   Michael R. Spressler
Date Reviewed   Mar 5, 2004
Overall Rating       Well worth getting.
Comments I consider myself a professional model builder, it's been my passion and hobby for 32 years. The Bandai Enterprise absolutely amazed me. For it's scale, I was blown away by it's engineering, detail, and super tight snap fit. I encountered NO problems at all with this kit, as so I read in some reviews. It went together perfectly from start to finish! Since I didn't want my ship looking like a flashlight when powered up, I applied Testors "Transparent Blue" to the inside area of the sensor array, and also a light coat to the clear plastic piece that goes behind it, and talk about realism, it gives off a beautiful blue glow fading to a slight clear near the radius. When completely assembled, I did find some light loss near joining areas, I filled these areas with "DAP" Brand Light Gray caulk for aluminum, this worked very well and contained the light to where it's supposed to be, the interior. I tossed the metal adhesive strips, and applied "Plastruct" strip .010"x.187", painted it a matching blue-gray color, and cemented it on with two-part 5 minute epoxy. The supports now look smooth, and the two lumps from the red and white wires are now hidden. Before I assembled the display base, I painted it flat black, and sprayed on a coat of semi-gloss lacquer coat, I did this due to sprue marks, and by painting the base it looks more smooth and level. I had no problem wiring everything together, I must admit though, I did trim all the wires, to avoid all that extra slack in this area. Just listen to Robs advice, and mine and follow the instructions to the letter, and your assembly will flow smoothly. And your end result will be a fine ship! By the way... I did see a plastic resin after-market replacement part (Sensor Array) on a few websites for $11.00 plus shipping, but thought the transparent blue would work better, which I feel it did. The paint... $2.50 a can. And my Enterprise doesn't look like a flashlight when lit. I highly recommend this kit to the experienced modeler! And I sincerely hope Bandai puts out the NX-2000 Excelsior Starship, so I can display it side by side to the Enterprise. I am an avid fan of Star Trek VI "The Undiscovered Country".

Michael R. Spressler


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