Polar Lights Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise Refit, (POL949) USS, 1:350 Scale

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Size alone makes the finished model impressive. But the attention to detail — I’ve noticed stuff I’d never seen before — makes it a winner. I spent about 35 hours on my Enterprise, although only about 10 on construction. I had a few problems installing the lighting set (some of my own making), but nothing I couldn’t overcome. Now all I need is Polar Lights’ 1/350 scale refit Enterprise to display next to it. The instruction sheet features large, clear assembly diagrams. Decaling and painting instructions are printed in color on the sides of the lower box, but they don’t refer to any brands or paint colors. The small decal sheet is well printed and includes the ship’s name and registry numbers, side banners, and a few small details. Most of the lights fit easily, but the LEDs around the shuttle bay were more difficult. The secondary hull’s stern is narrow, and there’s a lot to fit. I had to grind out part of the inner hull, the outside of the shuttle bay, and even some LED bulbs before the hull would close. Styrene and putty shims filled gaps. I got there in the end. It's not perfect, but I think it will not be noticeable unless you really look I glued the front cap on the hull and there is a long tab that you need to slide into a slot in the bottom of the hull to get it aligned. Unfortunately, that tab pulls the end cap down. I thought I had it jigged up to prevent that but I was wrong.

The Bussard collectors have individual plastic bulbs. These are clear in the base kit and need to be painted to match the orange glow of the real thing. The lighting set provides colored bulbs. The pictures don't do it justice. It's much more noticeable in real life. Enough to really get under my skin (I've been looking at my son's Enterprise for almost 10 years now and I notice it. Every. Single. Time.)I sprayed the deflector dish and the front part of the secondary hull gold. Somehow forgot to get a picture of the secondary hull before masking, but here's the dish: I liked that they provided inserts for the Bussard collectors to make them more like what you saw in the show. I painted the insides red with yellow "stripes", but now I wish I'd painted them orange. You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

Yesterday I spent some time reading the article I'd saved a few years ago about the original filming model. Someone was able to see it in person and match paint colors and published their results on the web. A pretty close approximation to their findings is: FS36440 for the whole ship, FS36270 for the "Medium Gray" parts, RLM75 for the "Dark gray" parts and FS36495 for the "Light Gray" parts. The saucer pylon's leading edge is supposed to be a turquoise color, but I don't see it in the screen captures from the show. I don't doubt the person who saw the model in person, but its the other color I can't reconcile with the actual videos of the show. So I may go with the "medium gray" color instead. Maybe. While taking the Enterprise pictures, it occurred to me that it's going to be hard to take good RFI pictures since I'm set up for 1/72 fighters, not 1/1000 starships! With all the detail, silver might look pretty neat. I think I will go with silver and if it doesn't look right, I'll switch to copper... Here's the one we worked on. It was a purely snap together build with no seam filling or anything like that because he was 7 and I wanted it to be fun for him. Although the instructions state this kit can be built with a snap-assembly or glue, I recommend gluing at least the internal parts even if you only snap the main parts together.

And finally there would be this issue. There is something physically preventing the gap from closing any more than this: The next day, I ran a new No. 11 blade along all of the panel lines, then gave the subassemblies a coat of semigloss clear. Final assembly was a snap.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen. The basic kit is beautifully engineered, and the sturdy locating pins simplify construction. The kit accepts the lighting set with mounting pins and locators for wiring and LEDs. Major components have a tongue-and-groove join to prevent light leaks.

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Clear parts are provided for running lights, domes on the primary hull, and the Bussard collectors on the warp-engine nacelles. Moving on... Had to mask for the "medium gray", which I used RAF medium sea gray for. When I do this again, I will paint sub assemblies before final assembly -- this was quite a pain! I painted subassemblies with the kit’s suggested body color: Tamiya Japanese Navy gray (XF-12) lightened slightly with flat white (XF-2). This greenish gray looks just right compared to pictures of the original at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.