Cool ideas, James! I've seen a few builds that have lasers built in. It's a neat effect. I'd be afraid of accidentally blinding myself, though!

I'm also a fan of a smooth hull--the retroactive paneling that many like to put on TOS models doesn't thrill me.

And it's been said that Roddenberry was hoping for a lighting effect in the inboard nacelle grilles, an idea that wasn't employed until TMP. I haven't seen many builds that have tried that effect. Sounds neat!

Nice to meet another who doesn't like the hull lines.  I've always felt that the hull lines/paneling was a step in the wrong direction technology wise.  Given the technology on display on Star Trek (transporters, computers, warp engines), very large portions of the Enterprise could be "beamed" into existence whole, without any need for welding them together and thus no seems or hull lines.
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Agreed!

I'm all for the saucer grid, though, since I'm a rivet-counter--but it needs to be subtle, subtle, subtle. But any sort of retconned, "aztec"-style paneling feels wrong to me.

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I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, it makes perfect sense that the Enterprise and her sister ships would be built of the smallest number of parts, given the technology -- but, on the other hand, there's plenty of evidence that the technology is perhaps not quite so advanced as we'd like to think.

Most instances of "primitive" technology spring from the dramatic needs of the show, of course. Scotty using a hand phaser to cut thru a bulkhead wall in "The Naked Time" for instance. "Future tech" thinking tells me he should, at the very least, have a tool for that -- and that common sense would keep several of those tools scattered around the ship, not all locked up in engineering.

STAR TREK often stumbled over its own technology. "The Enemy Within" is a classic example -- Sulu and the landing party freezing to death down on the planet because the transporter is on the fritz, but no explanation given (internally) of why a shuttlecraft isn't sent down.*

The idea that the ship could be assembled out of huge "slices" that were beamed into place presents another instance of the technology either not being fully exploited, or being somewhat short of what we might think. And there's another element to this. If the ship was assembled out of sections teleported into place, there is the question of how repairs would be done, out in space, away from docking facilities. How much can the onboard transporters handle? Could a section of hull be beamed away so repairs could be done? Could repairs be done WITH the transporter?

This latter, of course, raises the question of why anybody ever had to DIE, since they could be reassembled from the pattern from the last time they transported anywhere.

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* I've often wondered why, outside of those pesky dramatic reasons, the landing party wasn't just beamed up. They'd be split into "good" and "evil" iterations of themselves, true, but since they were dead men anyway, if left on the planet, why not just bring them aboard and confine them until a solution could be found to the transporter problem?

Well, I just spent the past few hours soldering and assembling the lighting board for Reliant's navigation and strobe lights. WHEW!

Pretty neat to see them all blinking correctly!

I see that a resin 1/2500 JJ-prise has recently been released as a garage kit.

How thrilled I am to live in a world where the TOS ship is the one getting the deluxe licensed kit treatment!

Here's my Reliant flasher board:

Well, we're not exactly there, yet...

So much work left to do!

Here's the first 1/350 second pilot build, done by the same gent who built the Wonderfest 1/350 test shot:

http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=42476

Perhaps the  X-Box room... But that has tiny, unsupervised hands. Hmmm.

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Just put invisible fencing around the models!

Just put invisible fencing around the models!

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Transparent aluminium?

SOLD!

http://www.scififantasymodeller.co.uk/English/welcome.php

Greg - Thanks for bringing that mag to my attention.  I will order a copy from my LCS, as well as the 1/350 TOS Enterprise when it comes up for order. 

My current Star Trek modelling projects are:

- 1/12 Federation Models Work Bee.  At the priming stage.

- Destroyed USS Majestic.  I have cut large holes in an AMT Reliant and am scratchbuilding exposed decks, sliced open hanger deck, weapons pod, and one nacelle.

- AMT Ktinga.  Superdetailing the head, but leaving the rest out of the box.

- AMT Vulcan Shuttle.  Straight out of the box.

As for me...

* 1/1000 Excelsior, which I've taken a long break from, just because of the daunting accurization process of the horrible Ertl kit.

* 1/537 Reliant--same deal. A minor break, but still working on it. Need to work out the electronics setup before I can proceed.

And I've got a 1/1000 Refit and 2 1/1000 TOS Enterprises still in their boxes.

Just today, I was at my local Michael's for some supplies, when I saw that they were clearancing off their 1/1000 TOS kits for $11.99 each. I could not resist, and bought another one. That's the reason I have two in the box, as noted above.

This also leads me to my qurrent quandry:

Initially, my plan was to stick with the more managable and space-effective 1/1000 scale models. My accidental "History of the Enterprise" series is nearly complete (first pilot, second pilot, destroyed Refit, 1701-A), but now...

Now that I've committed to doing the 1/350 Refit and the TOS 1/350, I wonder why I should even bother with the 1/1000 versions, except maybe as practice.

The whole point of the pilot models (aside from their aesthetic value) was practice for my ultimate 1/1000 production-era model. That's the whole premise of my build-blog:

http://enterproject.wordpress.com

But now...why should I even bother with two more 1/1000 Enterprises (TOS-production, and ST-TMP), when the 1/350 kits are waiting in the wings? I've already acquired a number of aftermarket parts and decals for my previously-planned 1/1000 Refit, though.

There are certainly alternatives, though. Here are a few:

* An ENTERPRISE-style TOS Defiant. As perverse as it is, the aztec plating and subtle differences would be a nice challenge.

* A CREW-style NX-0002, as a tribute to our host's great TREK comics.

* A kitbash of the TOS and Refit kits, so as to make a conjectural PHASE II Enterprise based on Jefferies' original design for the aborted show.

Anyhoo, to completely change the topic:

Lately, I've been hooked on Steve Neill's YouTube channel. His build videos are fascinating and highly entertaining. It's amazing to see him at work (and his occasional stories about working on ST-TMP and other films are very neat bonuses).

His builds are just jaw-dropping. Certainly, his 66" TOS Enterprise is the crown jewel. But, his AMT K'Tinga, Enterprise-B, and restoration of Greg Jein's Daedalus model (among others) are also fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/user/darkuboot

I must say that It would be way cool to get one of Steve's Daedalus kits (which are 1/350 scale, I think) as a companion piece to the 1/350 TOS Enterprise.

I really do like the Daedalus design, and it works great as a logical precursor to the Enterprise (which it really WAS!). I understand that Doug Drexler and Mike Okuda wanted the NX-01 to have that design, but were vetoed by Paramount.

I'm also hooked on TrekWorks' channel, which has lots of great build videos and tips:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TrekWorks