–or TMP version would be acceptable too I guess, in a pinch. Hell, I might even go for both. Anyhoo I’m looking for a nice model kit that looks reasonably accurate; and I’m way out of my league searching around sci-fi model sites directly. So I thought someone on the SDMB might be willing to recommend an available kit? Possibly? This isn’t too specialized an area of interest, I hope? Come to think of it, have I even seen any scale model kit-related threads here? Or threads about model train sets for that matter… Do people even do this stuff anymore? Ah well, it surely won’t be the most pointless OP I’ve ever written, by a long shot. Swamp Hobbits!
www.starshipmodeler.com is the answer to your quest.
Now that Polar is back in business, your choices have expanded.
Good luck, and good modeling.
While both those kits are out of stock, it might be able to find one on further searching. Do either of them interest you?
Holy monkeys! Well, I absolutely find them “interesting,” but I think they would probably be a bit out of my price league. If they cost 75 and 100 bucks when first issued, I can only imagine how much they’d go for at this point. Not that I wouldn’t love to have a meter-long starship hovering over my desk at all times!
This is exactly the sort of confusion I experienced when searching on the sci-fi scale modeler sites, though. I’d find reviews and photos of some model that everyone agreed was one of the better kits out there-- accurate, cleanly molded, decals in proper font, etc.-- become enchanted by the photos of the completed model, and then find out that the kit has been out of production for 22 years, or was only ever available for sale in Thailand or something like that.
Apparently there are tightly knit, insular rings of scale model kit hoarders out there with warehouses full of vintage kits and international connections that put the illicit drug distribution network to shame. Looking for the elusive 1/2200 scale kit of Sky Diver from the Gerry Anderson-produced live action series “UFO?” As you know, there were only 14 such officially licensed kits ever distributed, for promotional purposes, before the manufacturer’s factory burned down during the Bangladesh war of independence. However, molds taken from an original kit, combined with notes unearthed during the 1997 auction of British FX guru Derek Meddings’ estate, resulted in a bootleg Taiwanese kit with superior fidelity issued in a run of 500 numbered units during the 2001 holiday season, most of which were absorbed immediately into Pacific Rim hobbyist circles. Several of these kits unaccountably emerged last year at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Maryland, and my brother knows a guy who knows a guy…
The Bandai, the smaller of the two, is $100.
http://www.culttvmanshop.com/shop/product.php?productid=16731&cat=363&page=1
How about a re-issue of the original AMT model? Significant mostly because they actually used it on the show a few times… I think the Constellation was one.
$20.
Well I guess you can’t get much more “screen-accurate” than that… and the price is right too! Thanks! Although I am also seduced by the Polar Lights 1/1000 scale model, which appears currently available as well… It’s nice to have choices!
If you’re not hung up on Star Trek, Fine Molds has some awesome Star Wars model kits. So far, I’ve built their 1/72 scale Y- and X-Wings, and am working on their Millenium Falcon.
The detailing on the Falcon is exquisitely perfect, and perfectly frustrating! I love it.
Thank You! I’ve been trying to find somewhere that sells these kits in the UK. (that site is American but they ship to the UK) So far I’ve manged to pick up 3 or 4 odd kits at a comic store I go to, but other than those and the £100+ DS9 model (bit out of my range) I haven’t been able to get any more. I think I might have to pre order the ENT-E model to go with my ENT-D.
Does anyone know of anywhere to get the paints for these. The places near here only sell one brand, i think it’s called humbrol, but the models I’ve had have codes for each colour, presumably for a US brand. I’ve managed to guess fairly well so far, but I’d prefer to get the correct ones. I don’t mind ordering them from the US, but if not does anyone know of a conversion chart or something similar?
You can get more screen-accurate… there are instructions on how to rig lights on the AMT to make it exactly what appeared on the screen.
Interesting! I take it that these are the “aftermarket parts” the ad mentions. Is the “Starfleet Assembly Manual” a good guide for this sort of thing?
I have no idea! But I bet if you drop the guy an e-mail, he probably does. My field is Gundam models, which is why I knew where to start looking.
sigh This is why I love the modeling community. It helps me connect spiritually with my anime children, who go through much the same gyrations.
Wife had the old (Aurora?) kit, but she sent Shatner a portrait, so we can understand what a geek she was. Funny, I tended to date Trekkies. Roddenberry came to speak at college and the girl I was dating (not Wife) and I passed another former girlfriend who specialized in tiny Enterprise ships in tiny bottles. But I never reached that level of fandom. And she gave me a dirty look. Made me feel more handsome and appealing that your usual Trekkie.