Building AMT's Klingon D7 Battle Cruiser

7421 Views 24 Replies 12 Participants Last post by Trekkriffic, Mar 7, 2013

Prologic9

Discussion Starter · May 26, 2012

6

So my next project on the Road to the 350-E® is AMT's original Klingon Battlecruiser.

I'm very familiar with the original studio model and was pretty excited to get this kit as I consider it a real piece of Trek history. Many modelers know the filming miniature was built by AMT and that this kit is a mechanical copy of that master. Which makes it the only accurate kit AMT ever produced. (bazinga!)

However... I was not prepared for just how accurate it is. The molds capture far more subtlety than I expected. The finesse and character of hand crafted form is reproduced here excelently , nearly 5 decades after they were created. Which isn't to say it's perfect. The kit was poorly engineered and lots of stuff suffers for it. But we'll get to that.

Before anything else I documented everything with photos and 2D scans of the kit parts. This is just for reference purposes to use for 3D modeling. Looks kinds cool though.

The kit comes with a few icky chrome pieces, including the old engine detailing that's no longer needed. This was accurate to the 'Roddenberry Model,' but Round 2 has altered the molds to reflect the filming version.
If you look closely you can see the reflection of me committing murder!

I read bleach would remove the chrome, but it didn't touch it. I gave it a couple of coats of Easy-Off and it was gone in minutes.

The newly supplied stand is much too short for my taste. It includes a ball-socket so you can move the model but it seems too loose. You can also mount the model directly to the pole, which makes it all the shorter.

Parts.

A particularly ugly piece of engineering. Right now I plan to throw these bits out, fill the areas where they're suppose to go, and then use some styrene strips to recreate the detail.

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Prologic9

Discussion Starter · #2 · May 26, 2012

2

Here's some eye candy. My last 3D model of the D7 (I've built it 3-4 times now, and hopefully with the model as a reference can build a truly accurate one).

I plan to light the windows and scratch build the impulse engines seen here;

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Edge

· #3 · May 26, 2012

I really like the 3d model!

You can always replace the stand rod with appropriate sized brass tubing.

Captain April

· #4 · May 26, 2012

I prefer to hang 'em from the ceiling, when possible.

irishtrek

· #5 · May 26, 2012

Just in case you don't already know those impulse engines were not on the original filming model of the D-7 and are there for inaccurate depending on who you ask.

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Trekkriffic

· #6 · May 26, 2012

irishtrek said:
Just in case you don't already know those impulse engines were not on the original filming model of the D-7 and are there for inaccurate depending on who you ask.

True. But maybe he's building a remastered version.

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Chrisisall

· #7 · May 26, 2012

Trekkriffic said:
True. But maybe he's building a remastered version.

I would.

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Prologic9

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 27, 2012

Well, it's not a 'remastered version,' it's just my version up there in the picture. I built the 3D version with this kit in mind and at first considered a 'found item' approach, but then I realized I'd have to find something... Then I thought about using the engines from a TMP Battlecruiser model, but found out they had no detail on them at all.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing for them now, I could order some resin engines that JT-graphics sells for the TMP model, but they list a 4-6 week wait and I'll be done by then.

Anyways, today's problems. So it turns out R2 were missing the molds for the jagged detail pieces that fit in the sides of the bridge platform. Their solution was to alter the molds to just have the detail as part of the platform itself. This did not turn out well...

Simply put, the whole area is too low. The upper wall is too large, and there's no wall at all on the bottom, the opening extends all the way down to the beveled edge of the platform. The stair-steps are also too short, and when the two halves are together there's a bad gap where they fall short up top.

My first thought (after considering the trouble to rework the areas) was to try and find an old '91 kit on ebay. You can get these for > $10 if you're careful, but there was nothing available at the moment for less than $30.

So I had to go to work. I scratch built a sample replacement for the stair-step piece from wood-- it was just what I had on hand. It doesn't look too bad, but I'll build the final ones from styrene when I get some supplies.

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irishtrek

· #9 · May 27, 2012

For the impulse detail you could aways try and find an audio cassette holder molded in clear with ridges and cut pieces from it.

Hunch

· #10 · May 27, 2012

irishtrek said:
For the impulse detail you could aways try and find an audio cassette holder molded in clear with ridges and cut pieces from it.

Funny, I've used that for things myself!

Prologic9

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 28, 2012

Fixing the neck. Still can't believe they made this a separate piece. I sanded off the raised detailing which was innacurate anyways, and I'll have to reapply it with some styrene stripes.

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starmanmm

· #12 · May 28, 2012

Nice project.

scotpens

· #13 · May 29, 2012

Prologic9 said:
My first thought (after considering the trouble to rework the areas) was to try and find an old '91 kit on ebay. You can get these for > $10 if you're careful, but there was nothing available at the moment for less than $30.

The original 1968 issue had clear green parts for the stairstep pieces, but at some point those were replaced with flat, textured rectangular "windows." Both versions were inaccurate, as the filming miniature had the zigzag inserts painted to match the rest of the hull.

Captain April

· #14 · May 29, 2012

Well, the '68 version had a light in the forward section, hence the clear parts.

charonjr

· #15 · May 29, 2012

I was under the impression that the stairstep was covered with mylar.

Prologic9

Discussion Starter · #16 · May 29, 2012

scotpens said:
The original 1968 issue had clear green parts for the stairstep pieces, but at some point those were replaced with flat, textured rectangular "windows." Both versions were inaccurate, as the filming miniature had the zigzag inserts painted to match the rest of the hull.

Well, I don't think what color they were molded in makes them inaccurate. I've never seen the 'window' version though.

It's easy to look at builds of the old versions and see they were physically accurate to the model. I caught this too late but Round2's changes also got the number of 'stair steps' wrong. (It's possible they were wrong originally too, I'm not certain)

My fixes didn't turn out so great. It's not awful but it will definitely be a sore spot on the model. Actually I think I'm just going to have to try and rework them again. Only I've made it harder by gluing everything together...

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Prologic9

Discussion Starter · #17 · May 29, 2012

charonjr said:
I was under the impression that the stairstep was covered with mylar.

Only the stripes at the base of the neck had mylar on them. It seems likely the area was painted silver though (matching the other 'grills' on the model).

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Prologic9

Discussion Starter · #18 · May 30, 2012

4

I find it amusing that one half of the nacelles have guide pegs in them, while the other half don't got no holes.

This piece reminds me of the Transformers, and how the original toys transformed in ways that made sense. And then when Michael Bay made that movie he decided they would separate into thousands of pieces with no rhyme or reason to any of it.

Finished the base of the neck. It's not as clean as I'd like but it's pretty accurate. I can live with that.

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charonjr

· #19 · May 30, 2012 (Edited)

having no holes actually helps with lining up the pods. you have to actually trim the pins a bit to allow a tight fit.

One thing about the stairstep, the 1/1000 has 6 panes, not 5. IIRC, that's accurate. I'll have to verify with the pics I have.

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ClubTepes

· #20 · May 30, 2012

Love your CG model.

I'd like to do one myself.

Didn't think of scanning parts like that.
Great idea.
Hope you don't mind me borrowing the idea in the future.

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