Building AMT's USS Enterprise model set (all 7 of them!) 

Many years ago in 1991 I was laid off from a full time job and on that following day it had rained so I felt the need to preoccupy myself by doing something constructive. I pieced together an original Enterprise model kit I had had that was about 12 inches in length and completed it that same day sitting in my parents garage focusing with all my efforts into building it, painting it and decaling it. It felt good at the time to not only distract myself by thinking about what had happened but it was a feeling of accomplishment, a kind of a therapy that seemed to have helped me at the time. And I still have that model to this day as a memento.

1701 Refit is my favorite Enterprise design.

I may have said this before but thanks for giving the colour call outs and manufacturers details. So many kits and RU-vid build reviews just say "grey" or "white" etc and others use a complex mix of their own invention. My biggest problem in finishing Trek kits has been the painting as i want my ships to look part of the same fleet. Using bespoke mixes means when it comes to touch up work i can never get the colours to match and so having a standardised straight from the bottle colour recommendation really helps.

Your patience is admirable. I recall painting all the Aztec detail on my 1/1400 "D" in the early 90ies before TNG even aired here in Germany. Your video gives me hope that large(r) decals can be done. And yes, the fine black marker for the windows was a thing even back then. 🖖☺️ Edit: Fixed spelling.

DECALS SO MANY DECALS! nightmare fuel for me XD

Was skimming through BSG and Trek modelling videos, stumbled onto yours. Watched the whole hour. Your way of working and (calm, quiet and rare) commenting and close up sound recording is just perfect for a relaxing afternoon. And unlike a lot of modellers, you talked about where you saw some of your skills lacking still. Very honest.

This brings back great memories of when I was a young teen in the 1990s building my AMT and ERTL Star Trek models. I built 1701 through 1701-E, Romulan ship, Klingon Bird of Prey, the Reliant, Excelsior, as well as the Millenium Falcon. The 1990s were great times for this hobby.

Those HUGE decals are so difficult! But look so good!!

Thanks for showing your build of this kit, all those wallpaper decals are amazing. My father had a few different releases of this kit stored in his basement with dreams of building all the enterprises in one scale. He never got around to it, but I may build them. But right now, I am going to build, or finishing to build, a vintage 1/650 scale AMT long box kit my father started 50 years ago and never completed. My dad died of Covid-19 last month and after finding this kit in his basement I decided to finish it as a way to retroactively build the kit "with" my dad. I started a vlog here on youtube that will document the project and would welcome whatever insight or advice you might have about building it. Thank you.

Its a beautiful set, and I appreciate you using a camera that could capture all the detail. Well done.

I just bought the last one availeble from a model site in my country for 90 bucks. Got the money as a christmas present. So happy right now.

I really enjoyed that your a fine craftsman with surgeons hands . That was also very therapeutic to watch. Thank you.

Hi thank you for the video they look amazing i don't think i would be able to do these myself as it looks like you need a steady hand and the detail is amazing. i always had problems in the past when putting the decals on ships they would always break but you make it look so easy and as for painting never could get it right. thank you again for showing this LLAP

Great work on this video. I have wanted to get this new set for a while now and wasn't too sure about the decals. But seeing your work and the problems you overcame gives me a good idea of what I would be in for. They do look great all together. Very good video!

Built and painted this set for a friend a year ago, that enterprise C was a grade-a pain in the arse :D

Got this model kit yesterday and have built NX-01 and NCC-1701 B

Those phaser strips are a pain in the rear. I bought a silver sharpie marker and went over the 'banks of all of my TOS-era craft. SO much easier than trying to hand-paint them on.

Watching you apply the decals was actually very relaxing. When I get around to doing this set myself it will probably be stressful.

Got this one for Christmas! Very excited to start. This video is a must watch for that. Thanks for uploading!

I don‘t know how often i watched this video, but the models turned out very beautiful. I have learned a lot from you. I bought this set yesterday, so i will surely come back😅.

LOVE the Graphic on the back of the Box. Great Stuff.

Thank you for posting! I am building this kit now and it helps to see how others have done things. This is kind of a re release of a kit from the '80s when there were only 3 Enterprises. I have both kits, so some aftermarket decals were bought and made a Mirror universe ship (for TOS) and an Enterprise-A from the duplicate moldings.

Thanks for the video, very nice to see all the Enterprises together!

I had that kit with the TOS, refit and D...it was really fun to do!

I really liked working on my AMT 1: 1400 Enterprise E. Drilled every window added LED lights and cut out pieces for the blue and red warp pylons. Was a ton of work, but the result is great.

I'm saving for this kit looks amazing

loved the kits man, glad your back building kits.

Pretty amazing job there dude, really love them

Nice work. Love that Enterprise C

Great job! I learned quite a bit about placing decals.

Good job! From one hobbyist to another, I know just how much work that was!

Fascinating! They look great, cheers!

That NX01 is really amazing - great job!

Patience and finesse. Agreed that such skill are required when modelling. thanks for sharing.

Outstanding video and presentation.

The models are fairly substantial. I thought they would be tiny ,but they are pretty big. Thanks for the video.

I just tuned into your channel, amazing work, just awesome. I'm not a model kit fan, but I love Star Trek. Seeing your work and how the set looks great got me thinking about model kits, especially Star 🌟 Trek. Thank you for your great work.

Wow, you did really beautiful work on this kit!

The 1701 refit, and 1701-d are my favs in that order...I saw Star Trek the motion picture in the theatres when it came out, and I was in awe at how beautiful she(refit) looked

I used to go into my local hobby shop in CA where I used to live, (moved away now) I knew the clerk well after my first visit as I said the following and did so every time like Cheers, everyone knows your name. Lol! But I went in and when ask what I'm working on or what I need, I'd say, PAINT, MAN, LOTS OF PAINT, I'M WORKING ON A 1 TO 1 SCALE OF A USS ENTERPRISE E. lol cracked the guy up, or I'd say a 1 to 1 scale of a Nimitz aircraft carrier! Very nice post my friend!

I felt overwhelmed after buying this kit, then I found and your video and it really gave me focus and courage to start!

You must have the hands of a surgeon and the patience of a saint. I used to build models and I would get so frustrated especially with some of those AMT kits. Brush painting was always kind of my weakness too but I thought you did a really good job on those ships given what you had to work with.

Oh boy this is a treat! I know what I'm going to be doing for the next hour. RU-vid actually notified me for this vid.

You did amazing work! Never end by pointing out what you could have done. I see perfection. RWB ❤

Thanks for the info ! Doing this build soon .

That is cool how they are all the SAME SCALE so they are proportionally correct. My how D is huge compared to the original!😲

always good to see another left-hander at work!

Beautiful work. I hve done this kit myself and it was quite enjoyable, albeit without applying the base coats. Thank you for sharing!...

Great job, they all look very cool, I really like the Ambassador one

This is one of the most relaxed videos I've seen for a long time 😂

Totally appreciate your efforts! Thanks!!

Wow, that’s some pretty amazing work, great job at making them all look so good! I gave up with these sort of kits a while ago, as I’m utterly hopeless with the larger/wrap-around decals.

One solution for the Enterprise C is weathering, after all, the only canon reference we have for this ship, well, she was in pretty bad shape!!

This decal universe has to be mind warping (pun intended 😂)….your eye hand coordination is extraordinary! Although you describe each problem and result, in the video all the enterprises look fantastic. Great base colors and decal work IMHO. Thank you for a wonderful video and all the tips on this phenomenal kit ! Cheers mate

Great vid, love your content! I've always been a little intimidated by Star Trek ships. They are crazy detailed and super clean. I've been considering digging out some of my old Star Trek kits from the stash and making "alternate universe" versions or something.

Massive amounts of patience

Thanks for posting this video. I bought this kit 12 months ago and after watching your video I plucked up the courage to assemble the models and start applying the decals. Unfortunately the top saucer decal for the Enterprise refit shrivelled up after applying it. So it now says NCC-1701Z - oh well.

I love this scale for Star Trek

These all look amazing to me. Now I really want to give it a shot and try to do half as good as you did.

You did one hell of a job on all of them friend 😮

Just got the Enterprise D model to build, also got the original Enterprise and the 1701-A. These all look amazing mate 👌🏻

When it comes to model making, I'm hopeless at painting and applying decals, so if I ever manage to get this set, I'd do the gold model display from First Contact. I'd just make sure bald headed men with phaser rifles stay well away. :/

We’re gonna need a new set of these

your videos are so satisfying to watch.

Mate, you're awesome!!!! love your vids!! I also love how you know when to stop(if you know what i mean). i'm a bit of a perfectionist and i'm sure you are too. your videos showed me how to deal with things that don't always go the way i want them to. perfection is a good goal whilst building model kits or anything ! but sometimes you just have to let it go. the things you make( including the stuff ups) are unique to you. thanks for the great vids man. keep it up!!!!! :) sorry for any errors - wrote this very quickly :)

Beautiful work!🖖

OMG WANT!! .. Well, wait .. those decals are stuff of nightmares. Back in the 90s when I did the Enterprise D, everything was hand painted and that was nightmare enough...still, you've done a brilliant job as usual 🤘😎👍

You did a fine job on all the Enterprise models. Congrats.

Hello. Nice. I myself had some decal issues during and after applying decals to my AMT SnapIt Enterprise-D model. doesn’t have to be too darn perfect, though. The top part is nearly complete.

this set looks awesome. they should make klingon and romulan collections too.

These look fantastic!

A dream come true ❤

This is a great video! I just got this kit, and was looking for a detailed walk-through, and this answered a lot of my random questions. I'm a bit of a novice.

The Enterprise-D looks amazing! The "too-blue" aztecing was the first thing that stuck out to me as well. The pattern on the nacelles is a bit strange as well. Despite all that, the shape and general look are fantastic. Gives a real sense of scale of this behemoth. Really like the additional details you put on like the windows. Though someone left the warp core ejection door open! 😱 You've done a great job on all the models. They start with an excellent amount of detail and you've really accented it perfectly and filled in the gaps. While I get that some of the paint jobs and detailing (e.g. phaser strip and E deflector) are frustrating, they look really good at a normal distance and hold up reasonably well to scrutiny. Really love the work you did here!

Thank you so much for this.

They look great. I want they guys

I remember when I was a Teenager I made the Star Trek Ship set that included the U.S.S. Enterprise, the Romulan Warbird and the Klingon Battle Cruiser. The second scale model I ever made was as a younger boy in the 60's. It was the AMT/ERTL U.S.S. Enterprise. It even had a rather simple light kit for the Primary Hull sensor domes and the Warp Engine Nacelles. My First scale model was the Lost In Space Cyclops holding the big boulder over the Robinson family. ( No Chariot ).

Nice work!

I think you put yourself down to easy. I think they look way better than anything i could do at my level

Sweet !! 💚👽

Dude great job l. One of my favorite videos.

Great job!

Great work! I have this model. I've never done decals on that scale.

Beautiful work on these. I was curious how a blue basecoat would look on the D and I may give it a try on mine, knowing it will look a bit bold in person. Thanks also for the heads up on the issues with the C decals.

Wow I wish I had that kind of ability! I'd love to have that set and have it look this good.

Saw this on Amazon for about 70$ and I think that's worth it, I can't wait to pick up my own

I am very surprised at how good those ships came out. Round 2 really went all the way on those decals, they really make the ships pop.

Those are awesome.

This must be the most beautiful video on the internet!

They all look beautiful. I built each of the models along with scratch built XCV 330, Cv6, CVN65, and the enterprise space shuttle to go with the enterprise collection.

Man, enterprise-e is really a beautiful ship

It's 2022 and I just got this kid for Christmas. Thankfully I'm decent at hand painting models because the decals were a nightmare. What I ended up doing was holding the decal nearby while I hand-painted the section in question. Might not be 100% screen accurate, and I still used the registry and livery decals, but the decals won't bubble off and look like cheap stickers in six months. You did a fantastic job, though. I don't know many people who have your patience for large decals.

I have all of them apart from the NX and E. I decided I was going to light them all. I realised I'd made a mistake when the smallest LED and resistor I could find won't fit in the nacelle! So naturally I went out and bought two(!) big scale clear D's and a Revell Voyager to light those up (one kitbashed as a Nebula) to get good at lighting before giving it another go. You did a really good job on all of these!

I wanted a set of Enterprise models that were to scale but I knew from past experience I couldn't deal with those decals. My solution? Inspired by the display models in the Enterprise D and E conference rooms and the Eaglemoss Gold Series, I painted them gold with red for the warp and impulse engines and silver highlights for things like the nacelle grilles, bridge and sensor domes where appropriate, and the deflector dish. Came out beautifully!

I had the glue together models of some of these ships the ones I had was the T.O.S. Enterprise,the Refit Enterprise A,the Ambassador Class Enterprise,the Galaxy Class Enterprise and the Sovereign Class Enterprise the only ones I never had were the Excelsior Refit Class Enterprise and the NX-01 but I hope that'll change if I can find those models.

I just ordered this kit I can't wait to see what this kit offers I hope this review can give me some help on building theme.

Nice work

Nice! Some real talent there. Those transfers I'd mess up straight away and chuck the whole lot in the bin lol... you have so much paitence!

Model chili I got to tell you I hate the tiny little models kits right now I'm about to build the 1350 Enterprise but I got to tell you in all honesty after watching you lay down all those decals the almost entirely cover these models the patience you took the self-critiquing you did I'm in total Awe of you ... they look fantastic I'm a model builder myself and I am never satisfied of how they look I'm terrible with decals I'm terrible with hand painting but when it comes to lighting up models with LEDs or fiber optics and using different shades of one color on the go-to guy LOL putting out all seven models I'm just blown away you did a fantastic job I applaud you!

those ships look amazing, new sub great stuff!