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Star Trek Enterprise Scale Question


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I'm planning on building a Star Trek Enterprise ship. However, I want to eventually build all of them but I want them all to be in the same scale. I'm having trouble finding all of the variations that are available in the same scale. What is the most common scale for Star Trek ships? I would also possibly like to build some of the other ships later and would also like for them to be in the same scale (bird of preys, voyager etc.).

The only scale that I have found all of the Enterprise ships in is the 2500 scale which is too small for me. Are they all available in 650, 1000, 1400? If so where can I find them?

Thanks guys

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Unfortunately, 1/2500 is the ONLY scale which has all of the starships Enterprise. (Bonus: The AMT DS9 kit is in 1/2500)

The 22" Movie and Cutaway Enterprises are roughly to scale with each other, plus the Reliant and K'Tinga (Klingon Battle Cruiser). These are in 1/537.

The Excelsior and Enterprise-B kits are in roughly 1/1000, IIRC. This would put them in scale with the recent movie Enterprise release from Polar Lights/Round 2 and the TV Enterprise release from PL.

The Enterprise-C, -D and -E are in 1/1400.

The BIG movie Enterprise is in 1/350. PL has announced a kit of the original TV Enterprise "soon" in 1/350, but according to some people in the know, they doubt it will ever see the light of day.

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MHaz,

Thanks for the quick reply. I was afraid of that. I was hoping they would all be available in 1/1000 or 1/1400 scales. The 1/2500 D and E models are a decent size for me but the A, B, & C are rather small. Maybe I'll just start off with the C and do the D and E in 1/1400 for now.

Thanks again -

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It's tough because of the variability in sizes of the ships. The Next Generation Enterprises are twice the size of the Original Series ones (and the Star Trek 9 movie one is even bigger than that). To make a E in 1/1000 scale would approach the box size and cost of the 1/350 Enterprise A, which would put it in a totally different category for many if not most purchasers. The market is just better served with box scale instead of a consistent one.

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The only scale to date, that does and shortly will represent all Enterprise's in a single scale is 1/2500 - except NX-01. The new Enterprise comming out from Round 2 sometime soon will be in 1/2500 scale.

BTW, The ERTL DS9 kit is not in 1/2500 scale... it's more in the range of 1/4500 to 1/5000 scale. You sould be able to park Galaxy/Necula class ships at the end of every pylon with room to spare... BIG STATION.

Tracy

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BTW, The ERTL DS9 kit is not in 1/2500 scale... it's more in the range of 1/4500 to 1/5000 scale. You sould be able to park Galaxy/Necula class ships at the end of every pylon with room to spare... BIG STATION.

Tracy

Huh... I did not know that. I'd always figured the station was in 1/2500, since that's what it says on the box... Considering that particular model is currently gathering dust at my folks' house (that and a LOT of other models I built as a kid), I hadn't thought about the size in a while...

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The DS9 kit is 1:2500. When you take into account the size of the Runabout pads, the Promenade, and other features on the model, at a little over 16" it's roughly 3,350 feet across. Unfortunately the station suffers from the same sort of issue that plagues other ships, like the Klingon Bird-of-Prey: its scale is changed on a few occasions to suit cool effects shots.

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I wouldn't mind building in 1/2500 but I am wanting something closer to the 1/1400 or 1/1000. Since the Enterprise -C, -D, & -E are available in 1/1400 I'm surprised nobody has done the -NX, -As and -B. Also, does anyone know what scales Voyager comes in?

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Voyager was done in about 1/550 ish from Monogram. The small one that was released as part of a three ship set they did (Voyager, Maquis, Kazon) was about 1/1400.

BTW, the current releases of the 1/2500 scale kits from Round 2 have some excellent decal sheets in them. It means you can get some decent looking models done for a minimum of work compared to what it used to require. The only one that hasn't come out yet is the Enterprise D in that scale. But every other one that was issued at one time by AMT is out now.

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Great shot of the Galaxy class, USS Venture at DS9 for size comparison...

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryal...docked,_ds9.jpg

1/2500 scale ships are too big for the ERTL DS9 kit

That doesn't change the fact that there are definite features on DS9 that confine it to a certain size. Otherwise, would you say that the Klingon Bird-of-Prey is the size of a Romulan Warbird based on some effects shots?

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If you go to the Star Trek scale comparison list on Starship Modeler, you can see the kits you need for a nearly complete lineup of 1/1400 Enterprise kits: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/trek/trekscales.cfm

Federation Models sells most or all the resin stuff. I built a 1/1400 NX-01, though I can't remember the manufacturer. Starcraft makes the TOS, Refit, and Enterprise B in 1/1400. Then supposedly the AMT/ERTL C, D and E kits are 1/1400. That only leaves the new movie Enterprise, and there's lots of opinions over what its 'actual' dimensions are or should be based on proportions, port dimensions, internal sets, etc. I understand why R2 might decide that 1/2500 was more producable and marketable, but it's too bad there's no 1/400 version. I'd say it's only a matter of time, though.

Edited by Space Tiger Hobbes
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BTW, just an update. The Enterprise D in 1/2500 is now out. I picked one up and am BLOWN away by the decals in it. They give you not one, not two, but THREE sheets of panel decals for the WHOLE ship. The best part is unlike some of the panel decals in their other kits, the name and NCC number logos are printed seperately. So, you can customise the ship names however you want. If this is a taste of what is to come with the new issue of the 1/1400 Enterprise D, it will be more then worth it!

Also, one drawback to these new 1/2500 issues is they don't come with stands. So you'll have to come up with your own display method. Still, I think many of us can come up with display stands that look better then what we originally had to work with in the AMT/Ertl issues of the kits.

Concerning the scale issue, one of the problems with the ship evolution from TOS to TNG is they got bigger. So we ended up with something that was about the size of a Star Destroyer by the time Picard and company went out to explore. As such, it has always been a challenge to display ships in 1/1400 as at one end of the spectrum you have something that is relatively tiny in 1/1400 and the other side has something massive. The Starcrafts resin kits make nice alternatives for the TOS, the A and the B, even if they are a little on the pricey side. As such, if I ever do a display of all Enterprises in a size larger then 1/2500, I will likely go with two display bases of ships. The first will have the 1/1000 scale ships from NX-01 to NCC-1701-B using the PL and AMT kits. The second one will have the C, D and E in 1/1400 scale. Compare them together they will still look like a nice collection, even with the scale differences.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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Fine, an old republic Star Destroyer. You know what I mean.

Still not quite there. The closest you get, mass-wise, is an Acclamator class troop transport, which isn't quite the same thing as a Star Destroyer.

Edited by MiG31
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Great shot of the Galaxy class, USS Venture at DS9 for size comparison...

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryal...docked,_ds9.jpg

1/2500 scale ships are too big for the ERTL DS9 kit

Tracy

Look at the rows of windows on the Venture and the rows on the station. Clearly while the station is supposed to be smaller, the producers said "Make it bigger" in order to make the station appear massive in comparison. They didn't realize how truly massive the Enterprise-D was.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I decided to go with the 2500 amt ships - They are simply amazing! Very easy to assemble - parts fit great and the decals are simply breathtaking. I just completed the original Enterprise and I'm now working on the A & B. I've also ordered the C, D, & E. I can't wait to see them all lined up in the same scale. I highly recommend them to anyone wanting a complete collection of the ships in the same scale.

One draw back is that the original ship and the A are very small - but compared with the bigger ships it makes it all worth it. I wouldn't have room for all of these models if they weren't in this scale.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi.

You might find it interesting to scale up photocopies of your kit parts to the scale you want.

Perhaps it would be challanging to scratch build what you want that way.

A long term plan of mine is to scale up the PL 1/1000 kit of the Enterprise A (I think) to

1/700 so as to place it with my ship kit of the current navy Enterprise.

Also the D is supposed to be about 2000 feet long, I believe.

The most recent movie Enterprise is supposed to be bigger that the TOS ship, due to the time line interference and the fate of the Kelvin. I believe that came out in dialogue in the movie.

Good Luck.

Randy Nugent

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I have always used the exterior windows and deck levels on the saucer to set the scale. To be honest, the NEW Enterprise seems to be along the same size as TOS and the movies versions. I think JJ Abrahms threw out the twice as big, with no idea towards canon and just how huge it would have really made the ship. Each of those windows would have had to beenclose to three stories tall.

A bit much to me.

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I have always used the exterior windows and deck levels on the saucer to set the scale. To be honest, the NEW Enterprise seems to be along the same size as TOS and the movies versions. I think JJ Abrahms threw out the twice as big, with no idea towards canon and just how huge it would have really made the ship. Each of those windows would have had to beenclose to three stories tall.

I think when the ship was originally designed, it was supposed to be in the size range of the original Enterprise. But then Abrams said he wanted the ship bigger, ILM really did a half-assed job in scaling it so it still has the windows of an approximately 350m ship, not a 700+m ship. But there is no way a 350m ship could have that shuttlebay or the number of crew or the sets with stuff like the engineering machinery designed to mix the antimatter with the fine hops and barley. And the cannon sources say the ship is that big, so if a model ever comes out it's going to be at that larger scale.

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