Apparently, the answer is "Harder than you think," judging by the problems that the toy makers at Art Asylum are having with the production of their Star Trek: The Next Generation Enterprise-D model. Who knew that heavy nacelles could make your phaser strip sag, or that putting various names of Enterprise parts together in a sentence like that would sound so much like a double entendre?The sculptors at Art Asylum have decided to share their back-and-forth emails with their production factory, letting you see just how anal everyone involved in toy production can be, with notes like:
1- Windows and some details in general seem sloppy please make sure in final product windows and details are straight and uniform. 2- Scribe lines on prototype in general are too wide, thick and sometimes very sloppy make finer and thinner. I can even see where the drill bit for the CNC machine slipped. This is not acceptable.
Also included in the post are schematics for the new model (with measurements, so that you too can build your own galaxy-spanning starship), as well as an explanation as to why they're being so anal about everything:
These ships have GOT to be 100% accurate since Star Trek fans are amongst the most detail-oriented in existence... It's a labor of love, but we won't give up until this ship's perfect - which will definitely be soon!
Enterprise D Under Construction, Part 1 [Art Asylum]