Introduction

Growing up building all genres of AMT/ERTL/MPC kits, it was sad to watch the demise of the company to a shell of its former self. Being a particularly big Star Trek fan and with AMT being the only game in town all those years ago for Star Trek models (before the internet), it was a sad to see them go.

Then, a few years ago, along came Round2 – acquiring the AMT/MPC molds, fine-tuning several of them, and re-releasing most of the old kits we all remember. Many are being re-released with Retro-Style packaging, while others are being issued with all-new box art and packaging. In late 2012, Round2 re-released Star Trek Deep Space 9 (DS9) in a new, colorful package with a short history of the space station on the box bottom. Thanks to Round2 for reviving those old Star Trek kits, for updating a few of them like DS9 (to include the USS Defiant), and especially for bringing out the new ones!

“Space, the final frontier…” The thrill that my friends and I felt that evening in September of 1966 for the premier of Star Trek on NBC (we were all of 11 or 12 years old) is still resonant in my mind. How cool was that new spaceship named Enterprise with its saucer-shaped main hull and cylindrical appendages – like nothing that we had ever seen before. To this day, I am still blown away by all that Star Trek technology and the original series is still tops in my book. So you can imagine my anticipation and delight upon hearing of this new 1:350 kit from Polar Lights of the U.S.S. Enterprise from the original series. Sure, we had the refit in 1:350, and even the NX-01, but c’mon, what’s life without Captain Kirk’s original mount in that same big scale? But enough of all that memory lane stuff, let’s take a look at this kit and see how my anticipation and delight have fallen short and been fulfilled.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

This countdown started each episodes of the British Supermarionation show Thunderbirds. I remember watching this and other Gerry Anderson shows when I was a wee lad. I, of course, watched them for the very cool models.

Thunderbird 1 was always first on the scene to check out what rescue equipment Thunderbird 2 would need to haul in. It was piloted by Scott Tracy. The launch sequence for TB 1 was my favorite, blasting off from its underground hanger through the pool area.

Aoshima has rereleased their 1/144th scale kit and it is probably the best rendition of this machine on the market. It is not one of the many “toy” versions with the pull back wheels but an actual scale model consisting of 50 silver plastic parts and 6 plastic bars which the instructions have you glue 4 of in the bottom of the rocket, probably to help it sit when on its spindly landing gear.

SF3D, now called Maschinen Krieger, was conceptualized in Japan by Kow Yokoyama in 1984. Yokoyama created a graphically realistic setting in his writing, art and the scratch-built plastic model kits he made of the aftermath of World War IV. Yokoyama drew upon his love of WWII aircraft and armor and American sci-fi to create this celebrated cult favorite. Among his most interesting designs are his Powered Armor Suits, of which this limited edition kit features the most advance suit made for the Strahl Defense Force.

Hasegawa’s Voyager is the 2nd in a series of “Science World” kits. The 1st offering in this series is the 1/72 Manned Research Submersible Shinkai 6500, an intriguing kit in its own right. For those who enjoy “real space” subjects, the release of the Voyager is a stroke of luck.

NASA launched two spacecraft during the Voyager program, known as Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The actual Voyagers were almost identical, and that being the case this model can be said to represent either vehicle.

At the time of this writing, Voyager is 18,169,754,598 KM from the Earth. In the time it took to type these two sentences Voyager extended that distance to 18,169,757,539 KM. I find that stunning!