Metal Earth Star Trek USS Enterprise NCC-1701 3D Metal Model Kit Fascinations

Ignore all the bad reviews. This little enterprise requires patience and good tools. Do not expect a finished product because this comes in two sheets of sheet metal where small pliers are needed to un-clip the parts. I was impatient and used a nail clipper but my next one, the Enterprise D, will be done right. Reserve several evenings and reset your expectations and just enjoy spending time learning hand coordination skills along with tons of patience. Below are my results and I have not done any modeling before. I was frustrated along the way and not all pieces look that great but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Yes it is a bit flimsy but this is not intended as a toy. With some practice and patience, you can do it too. Maybe not perfect the first time around but better with each new little project. Do yourself a big favor and get good pliers and a magnifying glass :)

The media could not be loaded. SO COOL!!! I enjoy putting these together and have done about twenty of them, I am far from an expert and my first three ended up a wad of twisted metal, rage and profanity with a one star rating. There is a special way to assemble because these are not typical models.TIPS AND TRICKS:Don’t waste your time with the special tool sets or needle nose pliers (they didn’t work for me). I recommend getting tweezers with different tips. There are many times where you will be holding a piece with one set of tweezers and twisting/bending/inserting tabs with another and many times you have to reach tabs inside a small piece you have already made. Attempting to assemble this all by hand became impossible for me. Tweezers were needed.Buy some really small, fine point wire cutters. The package says just pop out the pieces for assembly but when they are very small they do not “pop out”. They bend and just make a mess, so snip the points where they are connected and now they will easily pop out.Get yourself some nails of various sizes to help transform flat metal pieces into cylinder shapes. I use different sized nails, cables, pens and markers of all different sizes to round some parts of these models. Whatever you use just make sure you can slide the model part off one end. Trying to round using tweezers is possible but doesn’t look as professional.Don’t get mad if you break some pieces, just keep a small bottle of quick drying, clear super glue. I’ve broken many tabs and pieces. It just happens sometimes, if you fold pieces to many times it will break, read the instructions wrong and have to undo folding and bending they can break. Use small amounts of super glue and apply with a needle and you can hardly notice you used it once it has dried.Some of the instructions are a bit unclear so look at the pictures closely and even the pictures of the next few steps. The directions are not very specific and won’t tell you exactly which way a part is meant to be bent, or engraved side in or out. Putting together a 3D model from 2D parts and directions can be confusing. Green triangle means twist tab and blue circle means to bend tab down.If you get lost using their included flow chart, just know that the parts go on in numerical order.You can see from my video that these are far from perfect but being able to complete them is a satisfying feeling. The rotating display is by Facinations and is solar powered. It works well indoors and works fine with just the lights in the room but do not work well in shady areas but it does take a battery if you want. Take your time, take breaks, have fun!

I've been putting a number of these Metal Earth kits and was hoping they would make an Enterprise from the Classic Star Trek series. Just not sure how well it would work (The Millenium Falcon was a really good design and I've put three of them together already.) So when I saw this listed I couldn't resist.All in all it looks pretty good but the lower hull is really a challenge. In fact, it broke in two areas as the scoring made it a little too fragile IMO. I really had to work it to get that tapered shape and it broke along two seems. So it looks good from one side (just like the original!)So be very careful putting the lower hull together and bend it very very little if you can help it. I plan on making another as the rest of the ship works fine but that lower hull was very tricky for me and once it broke, that was it. Maybe you won't have that problem and if not, the rest worked out well to build and it works well with their other SF ships I've built.Now, Metal Earth, how about a classic Shuttlecraft? That shape would work quite well.

Impossible to put together, you would need a microscope and I don’t understand how anyone could possibly get this thing together. It’s absolutely ridiculously tiny. Everything breaks when you bend it Also impossible to get out of the metal sheets you have to cut it and it’s not right it doesn’t look right. It’s just a terrible product. Do not buy this. Do not waste your time.

I was expecting a metal version of a plastic model kit, and it is, but it’s a whole different experience. No gluing…but lots of tabs to line up and rolling of metal to make it curved. Had I managed to do a good job, I think the piece would have looked superb, but despite my experience with models in general, this one didn’t work out for me.

The detail on this build was amazing. It was a fairly easy build. I great value for fans.

These models are great! This one specifically was a little more difficult than others we've put together before due to the round parts. This one also felt slightly less sturdy with the standard construction but was great after a little tweaking.I buy these every year as a stocking stuffer for my boyfriend and he loves them!They come in flat, precut sheets of metal. You just need some tools to help you clip out the pre-cut pieces and bend them to connect them. There are lots of videos online showing the construction if you run into any issues.

I'm not sure if this review will help anyone else, but here goes. I ordered this to have at my mom's memorial service. She was a huge Star Trek fan and for some weird reason, she didn't have any collectibles or trinkets to add to the tribute table at her services. My husband was very close with my mom and loves to build Metal Earth models. I wasn't sure when I ordered this if it would arrive in time for my husband to put it together, but it got here with light speed shipping, my husband put it together in an evening, and it was perfect amongst the framed photos and other mementos at the service. Thank you for shipping a quality product so quickly. It meant a lot to us.