What's up, Plastic Addicts? Welcome back to the Sci-Fi Model Podcast, presented by Jason's Model Shop.

There's a much more detailed description in the Jason's Model Shop Blog in the links below.

Reissuing the Enterprise B

The first mention of the Reissuing the kit came on the Collector Model blog in January of 2010. Not much in the way of info. Rather musings about what to reissue with the ultimate message being the tools needed to be pulled and inspected.

There were questions about what still existed and what would need modification. the belief was reissuing the B or Excelsior were both on the table, as both kits were in production at the same time for a number of years.

In June of 2010 Another update shed some more light on the subject, including pics of the existing tools.

It appears that AMT permanently altered the tooling for the Enterprise B, meaning the excelsior would need brand new parts if it were ever to be reissued.

Mid August 2010 provides an update on the improvements being made to the model. Secondary Hull surface details (strong back). Correcting the back of the neck, to give it a curve, the indents on either side of the deflector trench. The biggest change is an entirely new lower saucer

The last real update comes in October of 2010 in a post about Round 2’s visit to the iHobby trade show. The only things to note are a mock up of the B and the corrected parts on display.

The model hit shelves soon after that and once they were gone…they were gone.

Excelsior reissue, refitting the refit

Fast forward to November 2015 and a post with a whole lot of details about the improvements being made as new parts were being created to reissue the much loved Excelsior;

An entirely new lower secondary hull, a new strong back, corrected neck detail, both upper and lower saucer halves and supplemental parts to match the appearance of either the NX or NCC versions.

In regards to having both the Excelsior and Enterprise B on shelves at the same time in the 90’s it appears there were tooling inserts to make the Enterprise B BACK into the Excelsior.  But, those tools were lost.

February 2016 was a big update. Test shots of the model, and boy did it look good.

July 2016 was the last post about the Excelsior and it was all about showing off the finished model, in both NX and NCC configurations. They also detailed the supplemental aztec decal sheet, which includes slightly different colour variations for each version.

I would say the Excelsior reissue has been a success. Initially reissues in 2016 it got another repo in 2021. Hopefully this one will stay in relatively continuous production, much like the 350 TOS or Refit.

LINKS

Model Kit releases 

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek_model_kits

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/amt-amt-1257-uss-excelsior-nx-2000--1322012

Collector Model Blogs

https://www.collectormodel.com/round2-models/512-star-trek-model-kits-to-“b”-or-not-to-“b”/#sthash.sHm64anG.dpbs

https://www.collectormodel.com/round2-models/717-round-2-models-random-thoughts/#sthash.UA0c4n85.dpbs

https://www.collectormodel.com/round2-models/763-star-trek-model-kits-enterprise-b-improvements/#sthash.vvnWfwIk.dpbs

https://www.collectormodel.com/round2-models/868-polar-lights-model-kits-ihobby-recap/#sthash.u4BXAeLH.dpbs

https://www.collectormodel.com/round2-models/2427-star-trek-models-u-s-s-excelsior-new-part-preview/#sthash.tuOaORbs.dpbs

https://www.collectormodel.com/amt/2560-star-trek-model-kits-u-s-s-excelsior-update/#sthash.9xzqrxrR.dpbs

https://www.collectormodel.com/round2-models/3029-star-trek-model-kits-u-s-s-excelsior-buildup/#sthash.76ngx8hc.dpbs

3D Files

https://modelwerkshop.com/collections/upgrade-kits/products/1-1000-uss-enterprise-b-upgrade-kit-pre-order

Studio Models 

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/excelsior-model.htm

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Excelsior_class_model

https://fantastic-plastic.com/uss-excelsior-by-amtert.html