Star Trek kits.....looking for opinions.

A good place to "get your feet wet" would be at Starship Modeler. They have a dedicated store where you can see what they have ready to go in stock as well.

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/newshop/

You might want to reconsider a "gargantuan" ship (if you have a place to put it!)  I built the 1/350 scale Polar Lights model of the NX-01 from the last ST TV series, "Enterprise" and it is a very impressive model, over 2 feet long.  It was a high quality kit and went together easily.  I also bought a lighting kit for it, but when I saw what it was (a couple hundred loose LED's, resistors, etc) I decided it was beyond my patience level and sent it back for a refund.  The ship looks fine without the lights, anyway!

Another good site to see a lot of Star Trek models is http://www.culttvmanshop.com/

For Star Trek kits you want Round 2, the new owners of Polar Lights. They are releasing a lot of Trek kits now and next year. Some of these are from the TOS, from the movies and recent releases. Check out their catolog. Future releases include a 12 inch JJPrise, a 1/350 TOS E next year, and possibly a large Akira and larger JJPrise after that.

Here is a link-

http://www.round2models.com/models/star-trek

Thanks for the links and suggestions fellas.  I have been combing them over and so far I think I am leaning towards the AMT Enterprise E, though I may wait for the Polar Lights 1/1000 A to come out and give that a go.  The 1/350 Enterprise A is tempting, but space around here is not abundant, so I am not sure I want to go with something that big (plus it is a tad pricey).  But I must say there are a lot of interesting resin options available.  I only wish they were a tad bigger scale.....

Brian

The Polar Lights 1/1000 series kits are inexpensive and about the size you're looking for. Hobby Lobby carries them, and you can use their weekly 40% off coupon to get them for around $10 - $15, which ain't bad.

 They're not great kits though, and need a lot of putty work if you want to make them perfect. If you're just builing them for fun however, they're a nice size and the price can't be beat.

If you want to really enhance your Star Trek ships, you can buy vinyl paint masks to do the "Azteking" finish from Aztek Dummy, at CultTVMan here:

http://www.culttvmanshop.com/Painting-masks_c_23.html

I used a set for the 1/350 NX-01 model and they worked very well.

Again, thanks for all the replies and suggestions so far.  I am still undecided if I want to go for the Enterprise E or wait for the Polar Lights A to come out.  I like the idea of painting the aztec patterin (as oppsed to decals) so if I go that route it seems my only choice is the A since I can't find patterns for the E, and I am not sure if I want to go through the effort of making my own patterns.  But now I am also eyeballing the NX-01 for some reason.  I actually liked the show Enterprise, but the ship always seemd not quite the shape I favored all the years....yet now I keep doing double takes.

Brian

Cosmic J wrote:

The Polar Lights 1/1000 series kits are inexpensive and about the size you're looking for. Hobby Lobby carries them, and you can use their weekly 40% off coupon to get them for around $10 - $15, which ain't bad.

Got Enterprise NX-01 there with a coupon. Woo-hoo! It's up as next build, after I complete a P-51 Mustang. The size of the NX-01 kit is just right... not too big... not too small. It will me my first Sci-Fi kit since I was a kiddo.

Another good source for shopping online for Trek kits is Starfleet Models.com