Where No Man Has Gone Before

 

Still from 'Trouble with Tribbles'

Star Trek is possibly one of the most popular franchises for Sci Fi ever and quite rightly so, as it was decades ahead of its time when first introduced. I love the original series, having grown up with it, but aside from The Wrath of Khan movie, I can not take to any of the modern extensions of the franchise. Back in the day, I had the huge Klingon and Enterprise models by AMT (well huge to a 8 year old) and many years later, I got the later release of the K7 Space Station. The station always attracted me as it has the classic vintage symmetry often shown by early space station designs, presumably as artificial gravity was intended to be supplied by centrifugal or centripetal force, so a wheel or more centrally balanced design would be ideally suited. Also, the design of the station, like all the original ship designs, was unlike any other contemporary vehicles.

AMT K7 Model (see Fantastic Plastic)

I bought the K7 back in the 80's and promptly knocked it together - a very simple kit, lacking in detail - and as was my thing back then, painted it matt black. I put gold foil into the cones on the saucers and added a very basic hatch on the bay on the main saucer. It hung from my bedroom ceiling for a few years before the pin gave out and it crashed to the floor damaging the fixings for the arms. Its now in several pieces in the attic. 

As I came across it the other day, I thought I would love to have another pass at building it properly and looked online to find a recently re-issued AMT kit was available with decals and a few refinements. Prices varied from around £30 upwards and I saw that Eaglemoss had also made a special model for the partwork series, which - although technically superior - was smaller and much more expensive on the after market.  

Eaglemoss Partworks Model

So my initial enthusiasm waned for a day or two and then I had another pass on ebay and found a different kit for sale. It was a resin garage kit by Mini Model Madness, which the seller said had been bought in lieu of the AMT one, but had never been started. I won the auction, surprisingly with no opposition, at £25 and the model arrived the other day. My first impression when I lifted the parcel, was the sheer weight - the whole thing must be in excess of a kilogram.

Unpacking it all, I discovered it was roughly the same size as the AMT kit, but distinctly different in design, clearly following the original props, much closer than the plastic kit. The main saucer is two large halves of solid resin, quite cleanly molded and the satellite saucers are single pieces, connected to the body by aluminium tubes. The satellite cones are cast in transparent gold finish resin and the central cone is vacuum formed poly. There were no instructions, but a nice comprehensive set of decals.

Some of the larger pieces have a few air bubbles present, which I am filling and sanding down, but the biggest issue was a strange cylindrical part, which I could not figure out where to put it.

AMT's kit does not show it and stock footage shots from the original series do not appear to have the part, but apparently, the station appeared in a modern Trek episode 'Trials and Tribble-ulations', which called for the station to be used again. It was said that Rodenberry received some conceptual models of a Douglas Aircraft Space Station model, back in the sixties, from the inflatable 'mexican hat' design. This was an idea for a Saturn V launched station which would be made of flexible materials and be expanded in space. The model makers took the basic shape and added various bits and pieces to it, including lights and other parts, but when it was filmed, the angles chosen did not show the full shape of the station and omitted a peculiar cylinder on the rear of the main saucer, nicknamed 'The Hopper'. 

Blue Screen Production shot from original series

Douglas Inflatable Station Concept art

It was only when the new model was being built that designers, scrutinising old footage and production shots, saw this additional port on the rear of the main saucer and added it on to the newer version. The Mini Models version is closer to the more recent versions, but adds the Hopper directly onto the rim of the saucer, rather than via the connecting tube visible in the bluescreen shot above.

So, over the next few weeks I will be boldly going into unfamiliar modelling territory, as the kit presents some serious challenges, both from the point of view of construction, but also for display. I certainly wont be dangling a kilogram of delicate resin and metal over my bed this time!

I am opting for a version which will be somewhere between the final version and my own interpretation, as the cones on the saucers would be too difficult to replicate with the tiny windows. AMT did have details on the transparent cones which could be easily picked out, but the simple vac form central cone will be an extremely complex area to mask and paint and the tiny, 1" high sub cones are equally tricky, but are cast in a very attractive gold coloured resin. I am opting for some interior detailing on the central cone, bur will probably go for the gold finish inside, to match the satellites, with a pale metallic blue finish on the main body. Decals will have to be positioned via guesswork, as the Mini Model Madness website is now long gone and judging by the only reference I can find for the company's products online - a build of the Valley Forge from 'Silent Running' - on Starship Modeler site, the instructions were only a hand drawn single sheet anyway.

If I can manage to pull this off to a reasonable standard, I may try and resurrect the old AMT kit, but I will avoid the Matt Black this time round...