Metal Earth3D Model Kits - Star Trek Set of 4 - USS Enterprise NCC-1701D - Klingon Vor'Cha Class - Klingon Bird-of-Prey - USS Enterprise NCC-1701

I love all the details on this. Getting ready to do the others in the pack. Super easy instructions and I think it turned out pretty great!

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. Tweezer 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 just finished building the set and I'm extremely happy with the end result. They are classy little replicas that contain quite a bit of detail in the pressing and have a unique shiny look that makes them very attractive. Compared to other commercial models, the pricing is very reasonable for the time of building and the elegance of the final product. It took me about 2 hours each with no problems at all, just a steady hand, pair of tweezers and needle nose pliers. A couple of suggestions: The tweezers can easily scratch the shiny metal surface if you're using them for bending. I suggest wrapping the tips of your tools with some tape (I used black electrical tape) to protect the metal. Also, a small soft blunt tool such as the eraser head on a new pencil is very useful to push down the connection tabs in flat areas. Note that these models might not be for young children or the impatient and inexperienced. They are not difficult to built, but some edges are perforated and I can easily see how someone would overly bend an edge leading to a broken piece. That being said, some of the negative reviews made claims of un-repairable breakage, but I'm positive a little solder, metal glue, or maybe even super glue could repair any breakage.

These models are an absolutely brilliant idea - flat sheets of laser-cut metal you punch out, bend up and put together into complex models.Overall, I found these to be fairly straightforward. However, I also made sure I started with the easiest-looking one (TOS Enterprise) and worked my way up to the Klingon battle cruiser. It was definitely a good idea. Because these are not always as straightforward as I'd prefer.Cutting the little pieces out of the metal sheet are a bit difficult, especially the smaller bits which can be overly perforated and will break after a few stresses on the crease. Also, the instructions were laid out in a rather difficult-to-decipher manner. Definitely not a project to rush through - if the stress level goes up, it's definitely worthwhile to take a break from it.Key Tip 1 - The paper instructions number all the pieces. Work them out in order!Key Tip 2 - The paper illustrations are...annoyingly small and do not include any written instructions. Get an eye loupe if need be to see the arrowheads that point from one part to another.

These are delicate. All those who give Metal Earth models 1 star because they are small don't know what they are ordering. We love these models BECAUSE they are small. That is the challenge. We love them. That being said, if you want to make these a hobby, you need need need these things- needle nose pliers, tweezers, clippers. If you don't have 20/20 vision, I also suggest a hands free magnifying glass. These models take time and patience, if you don't have both, you will be disappointed- if you do, you just might become passionate about these! That being said, I have this kit 4 start because I felt the the original NC-1701 sheet with the body of the ship was too delicate to get it smooth. The other issue is that on the Bird of Prey, to get the pieces to fit, there were gaps that seemed too large to me.

The set is great but the instructions for the Enterprise-D may need a tweak. I had to do that model twice. The first time I accidentally snapped of the place where the dish connects to the body/engine portion of the model while attaching the engines. The second time I reversed the order putting the engines on first and then attaching the dish and boom it all came together. Note: I have fairly large hands and that may be a huge contributor to why I had this issue.