Star Trek: Starships Model/Magazine Subscription

[DimesDan]

Thanks for the pics!

Not a problem, I have a new phone with a decent camera so took them last night.

I managed to pick up a TOS Enterprise a couple of weeks ago from my local WHSmith and here it is.

Nice shots. They remind me of that publicity photo of Shatner holding the Enterprise model.

And here it is with the rest of my collection. My DS9, NuPrise and Vengeance are on a different shelf.

Ah, look at em all there. Looking really nice. I hope you're not one of those people who only goes for the Starfleet ships, though, since there's some really nice alien ones out there. I really like my Romulan drone, the Jem'Hadar battle cruiser, the Andorian ship, the 22nd century Klingon Bop, and the Klingon Raptor.

At the moment, yes I am.

Are you one of those types of people who make judgement calls on someone with very little information?

I have the same two Minions you have on your top shelf.

They're not actually mine, I picked them up for my fiance, the other pop figures are mine though and I imagine they are all helping Heisenberg in some way in the New Mexico Meth business.

 

[martok2112]

I have the same two Minions you have on your top shelf.

I just got my niece 3 of the minions, the little ones thats a suprise until you open the packet (got to admit they are funny)

Heres my collection, got all of them except recent specials, running out of space. Got the DS9 & JJ Enterprise Special on a seperate shelf. (and at the top shelf is X-Wing Minatures)

My collection is nowhere near as impressive as everyone else's here. But, I have my favorites:

Enterprise refit, USS Reliant, USS Defiant, USS Excelsior, Klingon K't'inga, Akira class, Romulan Warbird, and the Enterprise D.

And I definitely love the Star Wars X-Wing miniatures. I have the Corellian Corvette (Tantive IV), the Lambda class Imperial Shuttle, and the Millennium Falcon. Now those guys really put some love into the detail and craftsmanship on those minis.

 

[publiusr]

That's a nice fleet. The TOS ENT should have been Vengeance sized, though.

 

[mswood]

That's a nice fleet. The TOS ENT should have been Vengeance sized, though.

I would love to see all the "Hero" ships to be specials. But I know so many people have so many of the primary ships that they might very well be sick to death of getting more.

And the one thing I love about the series (minus a few shoddy pieces), is that the bulk of the ships we are getting are ship I never dreamed would ever get released.

 

[mswood]

With some being just passed 50 and the US getting right near, what's the single biggest disappointment from this collection as well as the single thing you were most surprised about. And what do you want made that hasn't been listed?

Biggest Disappointment was the Negh'Var. For something they had a CGI reference to, there is no real excuse for the lack of details, the missing elements and the hull not closed off. No other ship has had more mistakes to the degree that this ship has.

Biggest surprise was the Equinox having it's life pods getting individual numbered and matching the numbers on the CGI file. And insane level of detail.

What I want that hasn't been mentioned = Is Space Stations. That and the collection going to over 150.

 

[Ethros]

^ I'll have a think on those..

The Subscribers have their USS Centaur and Klingon Augment ships now btw, and from looking at all the facebook pics I can't wait to pick up the Centaur when it's out this coming week, looks awesome.
(Klingon Augment ship I don't think I'll bother with tbh. Little bit too bland for my liking, it's like the back end of the Klingon Raptor with just an ugly front/head stuck on it)

 

[mswood]

^ I'll have a think on those..

The Subscribers have their USS Centaur and Klingon Augment ships now btw, and from looking at all the facebook pics I can't wait to pick up the Centaur when it's out this coming week, looks awesome.
(Klingon Augment ship I don't think I'll bother with tbh. Little bit too bland for my liking, it's like the back end of the Klingon Raptor with just an ugly front/head stuck on it)

Centaur Looks awesome from the images released. The Klingon Augment ship, looks a little disappointing. But I really don't remember a ton of detail on the CGI model from the episode.

Centaur appears to have solid details on all sides so thats a plus.

Ben has also released in the last few days previews shots with different angel of the Original Bird of Prey (not a lot of detail there, but there wasn't to begin with), the SS Botany Bay (which looks solid just needs a little more color work), the Future ship Relativity (seems a little bland to me at least from the photos).

Have to say I am very glad to see some of the original series ships getting released, I know they lack detail, but they are part of what started it all. And some of them are extremely iconic.

While I am less enthused with the TOS remastered ship that has been previewed, it still seems to fit the era and also ties nicely into the Animated Series (though design wise I really wasn't fond of that as a kid, I haven't watched them in years as an adult to see if my opinion has changed over time).

I really want to hear some word on if the line is going to get expanded or not. 90 ships just doesn't seem like enough. Which seriously 5 years ago, would have seem like a fantasy to even image that many ships getting made.

 

[mythme]

The biggest disappointment for me was the 22nd Century Warbird. There's practically no detailing on it at all. It also has big gaps at the joins. the worst model since the second ship Refit Enterprise - but at least there was an excuse for that one and they plan to make the Ent-A to make amends.

Choosing what I like best is difficult. There's a lot to be impressed by. I like models with a lot of "heft" - Insectoid ship, Dominion battleship, the Danube and the Delta Flyer come to mind. I also like just about all the obscure ships.

The ones that haven't been done or announced yet I would like to see are
* The rest of the Xindi ships (Aboreal, Primate and Reptilian, plus Degra's ship)
* Some Son'a ships
* A Suliban ship (just because)
* Kazon ship (again, just because)
* The Merchantman
* Daedelus
* Cheyanne
* Sydney
* Shuttle with Warp Sled (!!!)
* Medusan Ship (TOS-R)
* Borg queen diamond
* Denobulan medical ship
*Hierarchy ship

and like the others, some space stations and the Caretaker's array

I'd also like a special edition of the Prometheus broken into its three parts.

 

[t_smitts]

The biggest disappointment for me was the 22nd Century Warbird. There's practically no detailing on it at all. It also has big gaps at the joins. the worst model since the second ship Refit Enterprise - but at least there was an excuse for that one and they plan to make the Ent-A to make amends.

Choosing what I like best is difficult. There's a lot to be impressed by. I like models with a lot of "heft" - Insectoid ship, Dominion battleship, the Danube and the Delta Flyer come to mind. I also like just about all the obscure ships.

The ones that haven't been done or announced yet I would like to see are
* The rest of the Xindi ships (Aboreal, Primate and Reptilian, plus Degra's ship)
* Some Son'a ships
* A Suliban ship (just because)
* Kazon ship (again, just because)
* The Merchantman
* Daedelus
* Cheyanne
* Sydney
* Shuttle with Warp Sled (!!!)
* Medusan Ship (TOS-R)
* Borg queen diamond
* Denobulan medical ship
*Hierarchy ship

and like the others, some space stations and the Caretaker's array

I'd also like a special edition of the Prometheus broken into its three parts.

When you say "22nd century warbird", are you referring to the 22nd century Romulan bird of prey or the Romulan drone ship (which was referred to a "warbird")?

From what I've heard, all the ships in Insurrection (except, of course, for the big E) were designed by an outside company, which has since been bought out. Ben Robinson's been having a bit of trouble tracking down the CG renders for that one.

I agree with some of the ones you want to see. The Reptillian ship and Degra's ship were probably the two most frequently-seen Xindi ships, so I'm surprised there hasn't really been any talk of them.

I too would like the Merchantman and the Jenolen. I'd also like the Groumall (Dukat's freighter from "Return to Grace") and the Batris/Xhosa.

 

[Kpnuts]

Just received the Centaur, she's a beauty, really nice model

 

[FrankT]

Ah man, I've been waiting for the TOS Enterprise for quite a while, but the wait has been worth it!

Has anyone got the Future Enterprise-D yet? I don't think I have, I've been anticipating it though. I think they said they had to delay it once? But that might've been another subscription...

 

[Frontier]

Ah man, I've been waiting for the TOS Enterprise for quite a while, but the wait has been worth it!

Has anyone got the Future Enterprise-D yet? I don't think I have, I've been anticipating it though. I think they said they had to delay it once? But that might've been another subscription...

I got mine. You've got to e-mail them and say so and include your subscriber ID and... yeah, it'll just show up. They told me in e-mail it was out of stock and they'd let me know, and then less than two weeks later it just showed up.

Their customer service doesn't always communicate well? But when I've had problems and e-mailed about them they've been taken care of quickly and to my satisfaction. Sometimes as a surprise, but I'm not complaining. lol.

 

[Frontier]

The biggest disappointment for me was the 22nd Century Warbird. There's practically no detailing on it at all. It also has big gaps at the joins. the worst model since the second ship Refit Enterprise - but at least there was an excuse for that one and they plan to make the Ent-A to make amends.

Choosing what I like best is difficult. There's a lot to be impressed by. I like models with a lot of "heft" - Insectoid ship, Dominion battleship, the Danube and the Delta Flyer come to mind. I also like just about all the obscure ships.

The ones that haven't been done or announced yet I would like to see are
* The rest of the Xindi ships (Aboreal, Primate and Reptilian, plus Degra's ship)
* Some Son'a ships
* A Suliban ship (just because)
* Kazon ship (again, just because)
* The Merchantman
* Daedelus
* Cheyanne
* Sydney
* Shuttle with Warp Sled (!!!)
* Medusan Ship (TOS-R)
* Borg queen diamond
* Denobulan medical ship
*Hierarchy ship

and like the others, some space stations and the Caretaker's array

I'd also like a special edition of the Prometheus broken into its three parts.

I really want the Queen's ship so badly. And the Daedalus. If we get those two, I'll be pretty happy. If we don't I'll be pissed!

 

[Ethros]

I had to trail round a few places, but I managed to pick up this weeks release, the USS Centaur this afternoon.
Love it, can't believe I have a model of it!

What's funny is that although in the episode (DS9 6.01, A Time To Stand*) it only appears in like three shots, the magazine doesn't even feature a single screengrab from the episode. Every picture is either of the CGI rendering or a behind the scenes pic of the model. It just seems kinda odd, anyone collecting these who hasn't seen the episode might wonder if it was ever even seen on screen at all!


It's also strange how sometimes in this collection in the "next issue" part it lists what's gonna be in the magazine, but that isn't always accurate. Last issue in the Hirogen Magazine it said this issue would feature an article on how the CGI rendering of the Centaur model came about, yet there's nothing on that in the magazine at all.
I guess deadlines can change things but it's a shame. As the CGI shots they use in the magazine are those the Star Trek Fact Files used all the way back in 2002, so I was curious to read who created those.



* I know it's also seen in the background of 6.04 Behind The Lines too

 

[137th Gebirg]

I would surmise that there are no in-ep screenshots of the Centaur because the original version of the kitbash was not only named "USS Buckner" (after the model's builder Adam Buckner), but also because the scale of the model made it smaller than the Miranda class based on the choice of the 1:537 scale Miranda bridge dome. There were also a considerably larger number of greebles, windows and surface detailing on the original, with quite a bilious paint job.

The new CG version that was created years after this ship made its appearance for the Star Trek Magazine, replaced the large Miranda-style bridge with a smaller 1:1000 scale Excelsior-style bridge, to keep it in scale with the saucer and other parts, effectively near-doubling the size of the ship it's supposed to represent. The surface details were also minimalized, windows removed (or made very small) and paint scheme was cleaned up considerably from the original. Only the over-scaled Miranda rollbar and weapons pod remain from the 1:537 scale original. The rest is all 1:1000. Ex Astris has a good article on it about a third of the way down.

Trying to explain this drastic change in scale was probably out-of-scope for the efforts of putting the magazine together and involved too much retcon BS for it to be worth while. Much like the old TOS Klingons without bumpy heads (before Enterprise tried to retcon that one), and taking into account that I don't recall there ever being a top-view shown on-screen in the episode to indicate the ship's size canonically, I think they're taking a page out of Roddenberry's playbook, tacitly saying, "this was how it was always meant to look in the first place".

You can tell I've given this a lot of thought. Centaur is one of my favorite DS9 Frankenfleet™ designs.

 

[Ethros]

Well you can't exactly see the name in shots like this, this or this

It'd just be nice for folk to see what it looked like in the episode if they haven't seen it.

 

[Karzak]

Well you can't exactly see the name in shots like this, this or this

It'd just be nice for folk to see what it looked like in the episode if they haven't seen it.

By god, that was an ugly kitbash.

 

[t_smitts]

Well you can't exactly see the name in shots like this, this or this

It'd just be nice for folk to see what it looked like in the episode if they haven't seen it.

By god, that was an ugly kitbash.

Worse than that Yeager monstrosity that was half Voyager, half Maquis ship? That thing would make Dr. Moreau cringe!

 

[137th Gebirg]

Was thinking the same thing. The Centaur is downright elegant compared to most of the DS9 kitbashes.

 

[Karzak]

Well you can't exactly see the name in shots like this, this or this

It'd just be nice for folk to see what it looked like in the episode if they haven't seen it.

By god, that was an ugly kitbash.

Worse than that Yeager monstrosity that was half Voyager, half Maquis ship? That thing would make Dr. Moreau cringe!

Was thinking the same thing. The Centaur is downright elegant compared to most of the DS9 kitbashes.

Both were pretty hideous to me.