Polar Lights/Round 2 1/350 scale Enterprise. The final product of my build project videos. Although I don't consider myself a "Trekie" I am a fan and I have always just loved the look of the Star Trek starship. It had been over 10 years since I had built a scale model,but my business was slow at the time so I was pretty excited to do something so grand and since I had a lot of free time on my hands, I jumped right in. I thought I would have her finished in 2-3 months...I soon realized it would be at least 6. There was a model show for Kingsport's Fun Fest on July 17, and I made that date my goal. That self-imposed deadline would keep me motivated and drive me to finish it rather than loose interest and it be forgotten on a shelf in the closet. I got her finished with less than 2 weeks to spare.

I added a lot of details, such as photo-etched parts from 2 different manufacturers, 2 lighting kits, the main kit being from Trekmodeler.com, but I wanted something to lead the observer's eye into the shuttlebay so I spliced in another sequencing light kit for the runway. I also wanted a display base with some "presence" so after much searching, I finally found the answer right under my nose. A modified aquarium stand from Walmart... I think it fits her very nicely! I have to say Polar Lights just did an amazing job designing this kit. From the beautifully molded parts to the mini-kits like the shuttlebay and arboretum, it's just a fun (although intense) kit to build. When Round 2 re-released the kit they even bettered it! I would recommend buying the Round 2 re-release as it has a MUCH better mounting system for the base(One point instead of 3) and the Aztec decals. I highly recommend building her if you have the time. This build was started in Mid-late January and completed over the July 4th holiday. I estimate approximately 550 man hours went into it. I just wish I had a decent camera to film it with..and maybe a nice shooting rig so I could do some smooth pan shots. I used a Casio point and shoot Exilim, so not much screen quality....maybe if I get or borrow a nice camera I'll do a re-edit.

If you are really bored and have some time to kill, you can see the entire progress of the build in my other videos. I uploaded 10 videos over the course of this build with all kinds of tips and tricks I learned during the construction. Since this video was made, I removed the dish and painted the yellow dish light with transparent red, making for a more screen correct copper color, and it really sets her off in standby mode!

PS...Oh Yeah, It got best of show for the contest I had built it for :)