Friday, November 26, 2010

AMT Model Enterprise NCC 1701-A

Here she is the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-A. As you can see for yourselves, she took one heck of a battering from the Klingons. It was touch and go there for a while with the warp nacelle pylons nearly losing their structural integrity, believe me. I know what it means when Captain Kirk yells "Red Alert!!! All hands man your Battle stations."

This detailed model enterprise 1701-A came equipped with sound effects and 12 light emitting diodes which required a steady hand to be sure.

The secondary hull which you see here, houses the bulk of the fibre optic cabling but despite there being a whole ton of wiring over flowing the plumbing of the ship, you may recall what Montgomery Scott said in Star Treks TOS episode of Naked Time.

"I cannot change the laws of physics! I've got to have thirty minutes."

and sure enough Worf's words of anguish...

"I am not a Merry man."

sprung to mind..... Yes, that was definitely me, so therefore, I applied Spock's vulcan logic.....

"Quite simply, I examined the problem from all angles, and it was plainly hopeless. Logic informed me that under the circumstances, the only logical action would have to be one of desperation. Logical decision, logically arrived at."

I marked out each wire clearly identifying its final destination. It wasn't easy looking into the beating heart of Scotty's poor bairns and trying to figure out how to spark life into the USS Enterprise or call it quits. It has to be stated, you need stick-ability to complete a WIP like this. Open starship surgery is never easy but my Dad, may his soul rest in peace, suggested using fiber glass for reinforcing the structural integrity of the ship which saved the entire operation!

 I used Dad's fiber glass idea to bond the warp pylons to the secondary hull. The trouble is fiberglass dries very fast, so I knew this was going to be a very precise operation. Commander Riker knew it too, when he was ordered to reconnect the USS Enterprise -D's Saucer module to the Stardrive section.

"Give the word Admiral!"

By Borgus Frat it worked! Ten years later this USS AMT Model Enterprise is still standing tall with a working power source linked to LED's, phaser fire and photon torpedoes sound effects still operating within normal parameters. This model ship is a tribute to Captain Kirk's heroic crew of the USS Enterprise 1701-A and my ol' man.



Live Long and Prosper.


Saturday, August 07, 2010

City on the Edge of Forever

The USS Enterprise NCC 1701 detects time disturbances centred around a deserted planet. Mr Sulu is injured on the bridge and Dr McCoy saves his life with just a few drops of cordrazine. However, McCoy accidentally suffers an overdose when the Enterprise experiences another time displacement and injects a full vial of the powerful drug cordrazine into his bloodstream causing him to go beserk. Bones beams down to the planet below amidst the remains of a ruined city some 10,000 centuries old. In the grip of complete madness, he evades the enterprise crew yet again and leaps through a strange arch pulsating with power. The Guardian of Forever identifies itself to Kirk and Spock summarizing their predicament.

"Your vessel, your beginning. All that you knew is gone." Dr McCoy has gone back through time and changed their history! Their world no longer exhists! Uhura reports dead communicator contact with the ship. Fortunately, Mr Spock's tricorder was recording the Guardian's past timeline events, right at the point, McCoy dived through the portal giving them a chance to rectify the damage done. I love how Spock manufactures a computer from his tricorder that shows how history will unfold if the focal point in time, Edith Keeler, lives.

City on the Edge of Forever" had inclusions from Gene Coon and Steve Carbastos, major changes from Dorothy Fontana and a final rewrite from Gene Roddenberry, won the 1968 Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation in a shortlist that was entirely composed of star trek episodes. Harlan Ellison's story won a Writers Guild of America (WGA) award for Outstanding Dramatic Episode Teleplay in 1967-68.


Image owner/Creator: Paramount Pictures and/or CBS Studios.

My friend is obviously Chinese. I see you've noticed the ears, they're actually easy to er explain" Kirk looks to Spock with a lost look on his face.

"Perhaps the unfortunate accident I had as a child." prompts Mr Spock.

"The unfortunate accident he had as a child, he caught his head in a mechanical rice picker."

This is a great moment when Kirk and Spock face a 1930's policeman who isn't convinced with the captain's rice picker bluff. Now I wonder why?

Live long and prosper, trekkers.


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