Re-Imagined K'tinga/D7

[Psion]

The picture used in the original cover showing the D7 exchanging fire with the Enterprise gave the ship a blue-gray appearance (and the Enterprise looked white). The plastic kit parts within were molded in neutral-gray with a few transparent green pieces. The Johnny Lightning version I have also looks neutral-gray.

[Cary L. Brown]

Psion wrote:

---

It's possible that was an unusual pigment run. The one I had back around that period was gray, as was another I saw a kid playing with on the playground in third grade. The unbuilt one I currently have in the basement is also molded in gray. And this one being sold on E-Bay shows gray parts still on the sprue and in their bag.

By the way, I found an interesting article on the original model that confirms it was painted in purple and green. I guess you really can't argue with RGB values.

Those colors are not "green" and "purple" though.

They're "grey with a hint of green" or "grey with a hint of purple."

When I mixed my own version of those colors, it was primarily a standard grey color, but I added a small amount of forest green to one and a a small amount of blue and red (equal amounts) in the other. The base grey color was the same in both cases. I recall using light ghost grey. I then darkened the topside color slightly using battleship grey (which has quite a bit of green in it naturally). The end result was something I was, and still am, very happy with. Most folks who look at it don't immediately notice the different shades of color, and assume it's just a trick of the light (which, I'm convinced, is the whole point of why it was painted that way in the first place).

[Maurice]

Psion wrote:

---

It's possible that was an unusual pigment run. The one I had back around that period was gray, as was another I saw a kid playing with on the playground in third grade. The unbuilt one I currently have in the basement is also molded in gray. And this one being sold on E-Bay shows gray parts still on the sprue and in their bag.

The first Klingon AMT kit I got in the mid 70s was molded in BLACK with some chrome parts for the torpedo tube, the little pipes for the sides of the neck, etc.

Cary L. Brown wrote:

---

Those colors are not "green" and "purple" though.

They're "grey with a hint of green" or "grey with a hint of purple."

To be clear, the article cited says the original model built for the show, "was actually a striking purple-blue and light green." And then, "[Round 2's] approach was to paint the ship a more overall grey while maintaining a hint of original purple and green. That way, everyone should be able to relate to it. I also weathered it to make the model more appealing, even though the originals were not weathered."

[137th Gebirg]

DS9Sega wrote:

---

The first Klingon AMT kit I got in the mid 70s was molded in BLACK with some chrome parts for the torpedo tube, the little pipes for the sides of the neck, etc.

Yep! That's exactly the same one I got - and that was around the same time I got mine. Still have it too, but I did paint it, yes, neutral gray.

Interestingly, during the early 80's, a friend of mine got one and the base unpainted plastic was PINK! I remember him opening up the box after we got it at the local hobby store and we both said WTF?!? I suspect AMT had exhausted their black and white pigments and started to throw damn near any other color they could find just to finish that run. Another friend got a blue TMP K'T'inga, also during the 80's. AMT must have had real problems keeping normal colors in stock around that time.

Back then, it hadn't occurred to us (from a collector's standpoint), but we later thought (in the 90's) that he should have probably kept it in the box, with the parts still wrapped up and just gotten another one to build. Ol' pinky would probably be worth something now.

[Psion]

[chuckles]

So let me see if I have this straight:

• We can't trust the RGB values shown on screen
• We can't trust the AMT kit's molded colors
• We have written eye-witness reports of the ship being "striking purple-blue and light green" that don't do anything to establish the actual colors in any sort of reliable metric.

Folks, this isn't worth anyone getting irate about. We're all right, and we're all wrong. I submit that the colors of the original were likely approved knowing that they'd be muted by the compositing process. I'm sticking with shades of gray for any Klingon ships I build.

Excellent model, Rel! Don't let any of us here in the peanut gallery tell you how to paint your ship, 'cause we don't really know, either!

[Klaus]

How about a nice herringbone pattern?

[Cary L. Brown]

To be clear, the article cited says the original model built for the show, "was actually a striking purple-blue and light green." And then, "[Round 2's] approach was to paint the ship a more overall grey while maintaining a hint of original purple and green. That way, everyone should be able to relate to it. I also weathered it to make the model more appealing, even though the originals were not weathered."

Well, again, "striking" means very little.

I think we can all agree that the model wasn't painted in flourescent colors, can't we? Yet to me, that would be "striking."

To someone who expected to see a model which was purely monochromatic, and if they saw that there was a clear hint of color there which they'd never expected to see, that would be "striking," wouldn't it be?

This is like people saying that Kirk's tunic in TOS was "green." Well, it had a hint of green in it. Other people say that it was "yellow" and there some element of yellow in it as well. The reality is that it's a unique color, neither green nor yellow, more along the lines of "tan" than anything else.

When you say "light green" this infers something like this:



And when you say "purple" this is what that means:



Well, I'll grant you... if the ship really had been painted in those colors, that WOULD be "striking," wouldn't it be?

But to Psion's point:

Tie-Dye! Tie-Dye! That's the real appearance!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tie-dye

[Maurice]

Psion, no one's "irate". We're just discussing and maybe disagreeing. As to the topic gray, by definition, is relatively achromatic. If it looks gray with a hint of something, it's a gray. If it appears to be a color, even a very light color it's chromatic, ergo not gray. There's no hard and fast line as to were that boundary is.

[Psion]

DS9Sega wrote:

---

Psion, no one's "irate". We're just discussing and maybe disagreeing. As to the topic gray, by definition, is relatively achromatic. If it looks gray with a hint of something, it's a gray. If it appears to be a color, even a very light color it's chromatic, ergo not gray. There's no hard and fast line as to were that boundary is.

No, no, I agree, we're getting along fine ... "irate" was a bit of hyperbole counseling against taking the whole issue too seriously. This is a wonderful discussion exploring the minutia of Star Trek that the subject a whole lot of fun to geeks like us. Even if Cary thinks I need a Wiki link explaining what tie-dying is.

Hmmm ... thinking back on my childhood and how cubes came to me for tips on how to be square, he might be right.

Y'know, the other side of this is that this show was one of the heralds of color television, with plenty of directives from NBC to make the sets and all more colorful. Maybe Roddenberry really did want the D7 to have 'striking' colors ... and maybe, given stories about the color corrections done to a certain green Orion slave girl, someone in film processing thought the D7 looked silly and made it more gray.

[Technobuilder]

OMG REL:

http://sovereignreplicas.com/wpsr/20...us-mkii-viper/

That's fantastic too!

What other models have you built?

[Cary L. Brown]

Psion wrote:

---

No, no, I agree, we're getting along fine ... "irate" was a bit of hyperbole counseling against taking the whole issue too seriously. This is a wonderful discussion exploring the minutia of Star Trek that the subject a whole lot of fun to geeks like us. Even if Cary thinks I need a Wiki link explaining what tie-dying is.

Hmmm ... thinking back on my childhood and how cubes came to me for tips on how to be square, he might be right.

Hey, I was just trying to keep the young'uns in this thread from feeling lost...

Oddly, I suddenly have an inexplicable urge to go listen to a 20-minute Iron Butterfly drum solo, though...

[Albertese]

What color was the D-7 in "Trials and Tribble-ations" [DS9] painted?

--Alex

[Gavn]

REL wrote:

---

Oh yeah I did a lighting test. I don't have the warp grill covers on yet, and the camera makes the lighting look brighter for some reason. Also, the fiber optics aren't trimmed yet.

I like this better than the original. The neck on the original I thought was far too skinny to serve any real function other than a big hallway. This is much more functional looking imo.

[publiusr]

Clearly a follow on after K'Teremny.

Best Fan made Klingon model design yet

[Maurice]

^^^I just looked that up. Ick.