Featured in Star Trek Nemesis, the Argo shuttle, designed by John Eaves, was assigned to the Enterprise E. Unlike most shuttles the Argo also came with an armored land craft.
First impressions of this rotary cast model are promising. The detail is excellent with very few if seams to sand. It’s scaled a 1:72 which means you can use other kits in the same scale to create a really nice diorama. The wings can be displayed in either flight or landing mode. The base is standard and comes with a copper rod for mounting. The decal sheet is also standard. this is looking to be a quicky build.
So far, I’m happy. This model has so much potential. I considered cutting the back door out and building a loading ramp and buggy. I’d have to build the interior from the blueprints or make up my own design. But that would defeat the idea of this being a quicky build. I’ve sand what few seams I could find, washed the body and applied the first coat of primer. We’ll get back to you one the first painted coat is on.
Second Day
The Argo is painted. For the most part this is a simple kit. For the main coat I chose Model Master Flint Grey. I used Insignia Red and Sky Blue for the nacelles and semi gloss black for the windshield.
The wings were still drying, but aside from their application, a bit more painting and the decals. This will be ready for display. Hence the term “Quicky Build.”
Final Paint and Decal
The painting went as well as can be expected. The only arguable problem with paint would be that one of the paints I used was a bit old and didn’t flow that well. It was on the bottom of the model with the landing gear, so i wasn’t too worried. The decal on the other hand were a nightmare. First let me stay that I don’t blame Alliance at all. The decals were printed well and looked great. They were easy to cut out and released from the paper normally. Unfortunately most of the decals broke apart. Let me be clear. This is normal for the printed decals of the resin kits and no specific to Alliance. I’ve had several other kit with the same decal problem. The only other thing i could probably do is get a production kit and use the decals from it. Since this isn’t going to be a show quality build and only another modeler builder or scifi junky can really tell. I decided to just leave it alone.
The only thing left to do is to decide how to display it. The basic base and post will work just fine. I did have the thought of using an in scale Humvee or armored assault vehicle with Star Fleet markings in a LZ diorama. From the beginning this seemed like it was going to be a simple build, and it was. Alliance and the sculptor have done a wonderful job at recreating this ship. The scale is perfect, the prep work is minimal and the painting is simple. I’m sure if I spent a little more time with the decals I could have done a better job. All in all this is a great kit. Great Job guys. A+++++
Recent Comments