The fantastic build of TWO studio scale 1701 Refit replicas from Star Trek The Motion Picture continue as artist Marc Elkins fits the parts together. In doing so, he encountered an issue of size difference that is common in this type of material. While bonding the two top halves of the saucer, and the two bottom halves together, all looked well until attempting to fit to the entire top onto the entire bottom. It was then found that cannot be done due to shrinkage that happens with the parts, which accounted for about 1/2 inch difference between the tops and bottoms of the saucer. Being that they cannot be perfect at this scale (as even 1% make a big difference), and also being that Marc did such a great job bonding the two halves together, the two lower sections could not be saved and needed to be reordered from TimeSlip. Thank goodness for them as they were able to lay up a few more for us post haste. (Thank you again for your professional and expedient service George in getting those replacements for us). Knowing this issue of size difference, Marc now has a new plan on fitting them together. Please note that size difference may or may not occur, but Marc found it best to carefully fit the pieces together before bonding at least the bottom halves together. This way one may work with the possible size difference. So to those building this amazing kit, the old carpenter rule applies of measure twice, cut once. In this case fit several times to know where you need to make up the difference. Fortunately, Marc is able to share these tidbits with us all. Stay tuned as Marc continues showing us all these beautiful build he is doing from the amazing TimeSlip Kit, which problems one may encounter, and how to correct them.

Kurt Kuhn