[bgt01]

So, a while ago I was cruising the Internet looking at Star Trek merchandising from The Motion Picture era when I discovered this book. It’s a paper model of the TMP Enterprise bridge that measures 15” when assembled. I immediately became obsessed with getting one. They became available 2-3 at a time on eBay, but they were often in the $30-90 range. Also, I wanted to build the model, so I looked for a copy that was pretty haggard at the spine so I wouldn’t feel bad about pulling it apart. In the end, I bought three books (two for back up), picked the worst cover and got to work.

This book was designed by Tor Lokvig and is nicely put together. However, it is the illustrations by Chuck Murphy that steal the show. He did an amazing job capturing the actual look and feel of the TMP era bridge. It is incredibly accurate to the set piece. Most parts are spot-on. Some match the original bridge blueprints that changed by the time the pieces were actually built. I’ve always liked the look of the TMP bridge the best. Except for the fact it needed a little more color, it’s clean look and smooth lines always worked for me.

I didn’t want to push the parts our and risk damaging them, so I took some extra care. First, I cut the spine of the book to separate all the pages. Then, I used my X-acto to cut the parts away from the sheet. Next, I used my precision scissors to trim away any excess paper from the edges. Finally, I edge colored all the parts as needed. I kept all the scrap in case I needed any small patch pieces.

Although my goal was to build this model as-is, I didn’t adhere to the original tab-and-slot method. I had these as a child and they always wound up with big folds, creases or tears from trying to get the pieces together. So, I used my “advanced” paper modeling skills with glue to create a better and stronger model. The instructions are very clear and I’ll only mention the parts I deviated from.