I´m no Trekkie or Trekker whatever the fans of Star Trek call themselves. I was just a kid that was allowed to watch the adventures of James T. Kirk and his crew at saturdays before bedtime in the late sixties, and jumped at that kit for purely sentimental reasons when it appeared on ebay.

 It was therefore that I preferred the kit of the original TV Enterprise, technically speaking a starship of the Constitution class in the „early“ condition before major refits were made.

 The kit comes molded in a rather soft grey plastic, with some flash and minor sinkmarks, but nothing that has as yet appeared serious to me (we anticipate ;-) !). Two parts are labeled as clear parts, but in fact they´re rather milky white and opaque – they´ll go as covers of the bridge and whatever lies at the center of the underside of the „saucer“. Pardon my ignorance in starship construction, but I´ll let you know when I´ve found a technical glossary. The level of detail is, well, consistent throughout the kit and is pretty basic, but given the age of the kit and the group of consumers for whom it was meant, it´s simply adequate and OK. Most detail is raised, especially the many windows.

 You get equally adequate instructions and painting guide plus a sheet of thick and glossy decals with lots of numbers and a list of the other ships of the class. I´m not sure whether they´ll be usable at all.

 I did some surfing and have seen pics of completed models. You´re warned of poor fit and counseled to use aftermarket decals, namely the ST Modeler's conversion decals from Federation Models, since the kit decals are incomplete and of inferior quality. Moreover, the listing of the serials of the sister ships in the instructions has been found incorrect by some inquiring fans as opposed to what´s seen on TV. It seems that Starfleet Command chose to use a rather erratic sytem of numbering the ships, at least for USS Constellation and USS Republic as shown on TV (RIP Gene Roddenbery) ...

 All in all, it should be a quick fun project.

 I mean, if you just build it OOB.

 Just pay some extra attention to a good paint job with some slightly different shades in the panels. And only look for some other decals instead of those crappy kit stuff. And perhaps bring out some detail after some limited research. Those warp engines, for instance, might do with some extra work, and the hangar bay might be shown open, nothing much indeed. And possibly one might think about those many windows that´d benefit from being drilled or punched out, with perhaps some lighting installed internally. And a decent stand, maybe from stainless steel tubing.

 Nothing much really.

 It´s again that &/&§% rubicon thing ...

 I found these pages helpful for a beginner in starship modeling:

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/

http://employees.csbsju.edu/rsorensen/modelcitizen/trekships/constitution/index.html#c1

 At least they showed me how serious folks have taken this issue and what amazing results they´ve produced. I don´t know when I will build my Enterprise and what´ll be my commitment by then ...

 PS: How do you like my „mockup“ built from  memory?

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