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AMT Enterprise 1701-D mystery to me


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Hi All,

  A fellow aircraft modeler who also does Sci-Fi got me interested in Star Trek modeling. I just received an AMT Enterprise D kit, #8793. It was listed as a 1:1400 kit from where I purchased it but the box is marked as 1:650 scale. It's even listed on ScaleMates with the 1:1400 kits and you can see a pic with the 1:650 on the box. The kit measures out to the dimensions listed listed in several places for the 1:1400 kit. Does any one know the history behind this apparent misprint on the box for this kit.

 

Thanks!

John

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2 hours ago, jm190 said:

Does any one know the history behind this apparent misprint on the box for this kit.

 

Had to dig for a web page from 14 years ago,

Quote

 ClubTepes said:
I had a meeting at Ertl in (92-93) with Thomas Walsh due to a series of letters I had written to AMT/Ertl. A lot of the letters and subsequent discussion covered producing kits in the same scale to each other as this would be more appealing to the customer to be able to compare the 'real' size of each subject to each other...........
Their solution, new box art with a common scale - regardless of the 'true' scale of each subject.

They also listed in their 'blueprinter' flyer when they anounced the Reliant, that it was going to be in 1/1400 scale.

On the good side, it did seem to result the 'C' and 'E' in 1/1400 scale. 

 

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Not exactly on topic, but the original series Enterprise was about 1000ft long with a crew of 495. The last set of movies had it at 2500 ft and a crew of 2500. On top of all that the shape of the thing is horrendous. The BOP depending on what boxing is 1/535 or 1/350.

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It's 1/1400. The ship is supposed to be 641 meters, so in that scale it would be around 45cm or 18 inches, which is what the kit is. A 1/650 scale Enterprise D would be enormous - about a meter long.

 

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On 1/18/2023 at 1:52 PM, King Vodka said:

Not exactly on topic, but the original series Enterprise was about 1000ft long with a crew of 495. The last set of movies had it at 2500 ft and a crew of 2500. On top of all that the shape of the thing is horrendous. The BOP depending on what boxing is 1/535 or 1/350.

The TOS ship is 947 feet long with a crew of 430.

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Originally, Trek kits didn't have scales. They were "Box scale". That includes the 1979 Motion Picture Enterprise. It was fans that figured out the scales and AMT/ERTL started including the scale on the box art.

The first kits designed with a targeted scale were the 1/1000 kits, followed by the 1/350 series. 

Anything released in "Box Scale" ended up with some weird scale. examples: 1/650 - 18" TOS Enterprise, 1/537 - STMP Enterprise Refit and Reliant.

The more targeted scaling in 1/1000 and 1/350 has become more popular with Trek modelers. You just don't see the 18" Enterprise, and 1/1400 scale stuff being built anymore.

 

To the OP, My guess is they stuck 1/650 on early releases because they didn't know what else to put on there. Fixed it later when some fanboy called them out on the mistake.

 

Tracy

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On 1/18/2023 at 2:52 PM, King Vodka said:

Not exactly on topic, but the original series Enterprise was about 1000ft long with a crew of 495. The last set of movies had it at 2500 ft and a crew of 2500. On top of all that the shape of the thing is horrendous. The BOP depending on what boxing is 1/535 or 1/350.

Yeah, the JJ-movies needlessly, massively, oversized the ship. The JJ-prise is almost equal in size to the Enterprise-D, and yet all the windows/decks/airlocks are still scaled to the original dimensions. The new SNW Enterprise is the same, the box says 1/1000 but it is comparable in size to the 1/650 TOS, which makes me see it as 1/650. Just too much foolery with the scales IMO.

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