he starship Enterprise is a household name just about everywhere on the planet. Even if you don't own a TV and never have, you cannot possibly have escaped its mention. The name is so beloved that NASA named its very first space shuttle Enterprise. And many people have long believed that when the name Enterprise is used in the Star Trek universe that it refers to the Constitution-class starship NCC-1701, captained by James T. Kirk, or his predecessor, Christopher Pike.
However, before that famed Enterprise came a different Enterprise. The Enterprise NX-01, captained by Jonathan Archer, was the first starship to venture to the stars, as per the latest Star Trek franchise, Enterprise. Polar Lights has recently released an amazingly detailed model kit of this ship, whose fame is even more deserved than that later ship of the same name, thanks to its pioneering achievements in space travel.
A few years ago, Polar Lights came onto the modeling scene, reproducing model kits from the renowned manufacturer Aurora, long defunct but never forgotten. But soon Polar Lights was producing model kit fare of its own, licenses that include Star Trek, Forbidden Planet and Batman, to name but a few. And as with this Enterprise, as compared to the better-known one, Polar Lights has done work as good as or better than its predecessor.
Packaged in a brightly printed 16-inch-square box, Polar Lights' model of the Earth's first starship is an impressive kit and hard to miss on shelves. Boasting over 200 pieces, this kit is considered Skill Level 2, for ages 10 and up, and is 1:350 scale.
The kit is modeled in gray, with many clear parts. The main saucer section hull measures 15 inches across, and the completed model kit measures around 26 inches from engine tip to the front of the saucer.
Also included is a sheet of water-transfer decals that must contain at least a few hundred individual decals, some of which are many copies of small hull details that must be placed individually in many locations.
Daunting but worth it
The kit claims that it is Skill Level 2 and is intended for people ages 10 and up. But getting the full effect from this model requires a greater skill than an average 10-year-old can muster. Forget for the moment that the 200-part claim is seriously understated, as part numbers reach 256 at least.
A 10-year-old may be able to build this kit, but it takes a serious modeler to build the kit so that it resembles the model from the TV series. And the main reason is paint.
The hull of the Enterprise is not gray. It isn't silver. It is a complex pattern of various gray colors, including aluminum, gunmetal and steel. A section of the instructions vaguely mentions a painting technique known as Aztecing. It involves making small square pattern shapes from the various colors in order to simulate the deck plating that has become a common feature on starships and other machines in science-fiction media.
This is not an easy effect to achieve, and I doubt any 10-year-old could do it effectively without help from an expert modeler.
The instructions recommend painting the major hull pieces before construction—usually a good idea for model making—so that the multitude of clear window pieces (to fill in the numerous holes in the hull) won't be painted over accidentally if painting occurs post-construction.
The clear parts are in fact clear. Although these pieces can be painted from behind to approximate pieces molded in colored clear plastic, like red for the nacelle tips or blue for the sides, I believe that the kit would look better if the pieces had been so colored originally. Painting a long clear strip blue will not achieve the same effect as molding the piece in blue transparent plastic.
But for its sheer complexity and level of detail this ship wins on all counts. The beauty is in the sheer number and detail in the pieces. I wish each piece were labeled with its purpose in the instructions, but they aren't. If they were, you'd see hatches for escape pods or small nozzles that may be weapons apertures, but without a technical manual for this starship it is hard to tell.
As for decals, one particular tiny detail needs to be placed 102 times in various locations around the hull. Another has 80 to place. That's a lot of decal placement. There's no doubt the detail is appreciated by those who care about accuracy, but again, I question the skill level chosen for this kit.
To make the building of the kit easier, Polar Lights maintains several high-resolution images of the ship which are incredibly sharp and detailed.
I found the Enterprise NX-01 to be absolutely everything an experienced modeler could want, with faultlessly tight-fitting pieces and exacting detail. My one major complaint is that they have aimed the kit at a less experienced modeler, and those people may find this kit entirely daunting.
