Although I was never a really big fan of Star Trek: Enterprise, I still enjoyed the two part episode, "In A Mirror Darkly" that aired in its fourth and final season. The highlight for me was the battle between an NX-01 class starship and one of the Consitution Class Starships from Kirk's day; the U.S.S. Defiant. When I bought a model kit of the Enterprise NX-01 ship from Polar Lights, I couldn't help but pose it in a diorama with the Enterprise model. Of course I changed the names of the ships to suit the storyline. Thanks to the great decals in the U.S.S. Enterprise, it was very easy for me to change it to the Defiant.

The Dark Mirror universe decals for the NX-01 ship came from JT Graphics, and they are superb. I was able to use the exact name of the ship the Defiant goes toe to toe with, the I.S.S. Avenger. And the yellow bands on the saucer are actually see-though! Jeff did a marvelous job on this set. For the phasers shooting out of the Defiant, I used a set of blue Fluorescent Rods from Plastruct. When these tubes capture the light in a certain way, they almost glow just like the phaser beams. For a good example of this, see Pic 03. I did not retouch these photos in any way, nor are the ships lit from within; that glow is from the rods themselves as they reflect the light.

The base was a sheet of sturdy board with two styrene rods secured in place with Apoxie putty. When I first glued the ships to their stands, they were a little wobbly. Once I glued in the phaser beams, they actually helped to make the ships more sturdy. So in addition to looking cool, the phasers also lend a little more support, as well.

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