My timing could not have been worse. At the same time the Light-Up Kit
became available, production of the original AMT Enterprise kit
ceased after a successful run of over 30 years. The classic 18 inch kit
was replaced by a 22 inch "Cutaway" version. Ertl would never
re-release
the original.
About a dozen kits were made and I managed to sell most of them over the course of 3 years. Some kits were sold by vendors who
worked
at local Star Trek conventions, others were by word of mouth. By
the
time I finally established any kind of presence on the Internet, the
AMT Enterprise
was long out of production and modelers were buying Polar Lights' more
accurate 11 inch Enterprise kit.
A few parts from unsold kits were used as spare parts for kit-bashing,
winding up as, for example, the two small communication dishes on my 2001
Discovery model, the High-gain antenna dishes on the Apollo
CSM and also as a diffuser for a red astronomy flashlight.
Over the years, I had heard of modelers building the AMT Enterprise
using the Light-Up Kit but to this day haven't seen a single example or
photo. If, back in the '90s, you happen to have built a model of the Enterprise
with my lighting kit, please, please email me a photo or two at
alanoodle1
"at" optonline.net. With your permission,
I'd even like to post your photos here!
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