1701 Club - The firsts newsletter is out.

[Cary L. Brown]

I just got mine, and had a chance to review it. Impressions so far:

1) The lower nav dome does have the little "turret" feature.

2) There are engraved gridlines all over the saucer (top, bottom and sides)... these were not on the original model, except as pencil lines. Guess I've got a ton of putty work to do... (grumble).

3) They're calling the underside primary hull triangles "landing gear covers." (I think of them as the transporter emitters, personally.)

4) They are replicating the landing bay doors with grooves, not "stepped." Another part I'll have to fabricate from scratch, it seems, but not surprising in this case.

5) They're replicating the defects (?) in the original bridge dome, including the fact that the lift tube isn't perfectly vertical. This leads me to conclude that they're going to go towards the "the tube isn't really the lift tube" approach, and the bridge will be in what I consider to be the "wrong" orientation (but time will tell, huh?).

6) The little shuttlecraft is pretty good, but the pylons are waaaay too thick, and the landing pads on the undersides of the nacelles are just "pokey-out" elements. Overall, nice, but not perfect. I expect some aftermarket shuttles with metal engine supports to come along.

7) They DO have all the right lights, in all the right locations and sizes.

8) This is pretty cool... they plan to make the windows so that they are installed from the outside... meaning you can build and paint, and then insert the windows later. That's going to make life a LOT easier, if they can do it!

9) They are going to provide the whole windows set in three different forms... glass-clear, "milky clear" (like the original model) and "black glass." We can pick and choose which windows will be lit and which won't be, and whether we show internals or have it look just like the filming model.

Overall... I'm very positively inclined towards this. My one real "bitch" is the presence of the damned etched gridlines... I was really hoping not to have to spend several days filling, sanding, priming, sanding, etc in order to remove stuff that was never on the @#$* model as a physical feature in the first place. (sigh)

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Harder than sanding raised lines off, huh?

"landing gear covers" is OK assuming the saucer could separate & land in emergencies (like was rumored), I never heard that term though.

Are you referring to a specific model mentioned in this newsletter?

 

[Ziz]

2) There are engraved gridlines all over the saucer (top, bottom and sides)... these were not on the original model, except as pencil lines. Guess I've got a ton of putty work to do... (grumble).

My one real "bitch" is the presence of the damned etched gridlines... I was really hoping not to have to spend several days filling, sanding, priming, sanding, etc in order to remove stuff that was never on the @#$* model as a physical feature in the first place. (sigh)

Don't freak out about the grid lines just yet. The question came up at R2's presentation at WonderFest when they made the official announcement about the kit and they said that if they can pull off the grid lines really fine, like Tamiya quality fine, then they'll do it, otherwise the ship will be smooth. So it depends more on the factory and how the molds are made. Either way, R2 knows that everyone will be examining this kit closer than anything they've ever done so they're not going to take any chances of getting anything wrong if there's any way they could have fixed it.

Here's the presentation in 4 parts. The grid line question comes up at about the 7 minute mark in part 2.

 

[Psion]

I'd really like to know why they decided to engrave the grid lines in the kit. That was a standing complaint about the original AMT model, and I never expected to see it replicated here. Same with the shuttlebay doors.

I'm also annoyed that they're removing the engraved rectangular details on either side of the "Impulse Distribution Housing" ... if they left it, it would make a great location for a little hyper-detailing by cutting out the area and replacing it with mesh-covered detail.

The rest of it looks promising. I'm harboring doubts about the plans for the windows ... something about the wording reminds me of times I'm trying to sell my boss on an idea but really don't plan to actually implement *all* those features right away.

Still, as-built, this will be a magnificent model. The shuttlecraft details are a bit thick, but remember how tiny this piece will be in comparison to the rest of the ship! You're right about the after-market, though.

 

[Warped9]

After reading my update I'm really encouraged about this. They're really sweating the details to get it right. Awesome!

I'm also not worried about the gridlines. I would never add them as a decal or as painted, but if they get what they're aiming for and they're really finely etched then I can live with it.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

2) There are engraved gridlines all over the saucer (top, bottom and sides)... these were not on the original model, except as pencil lines. Guess I've got a ton of putty work to do... (grumble).

My one real "bitch" is the presence of the damned etched gridlines... I was really hoping not to have to spend several days filling, sanding, priming, sanding, etc in order to remove stuff that was never on the @#$* model as a physical feature in the first place. (sigh)

Don't freak out about the grid lines just yet. The question came up at R2's presentation at WonderFest when they made the official announcement about the kit and they said that if they can pull off the grid lines really fine, like Tamiya quality fine, then they'll do it, otherwise the ship will be smooth. So it depends more on the factory and how the molds are made. Either way, R2 knows that everyone will be examining this kit closer than anything they've ever done so they're not going to take any chances of getting anything wrong if there's any way they could have fixed it.

Here's the presentation in 4 parts. The grid line question comes up at about the 7 minute mark in part 2.

I've seen that presentation. But the newsletter came out TODAY, while the video was weeks ago. And if you've reviewed the markups in the newsletter, you'll have noticed that most of the "corrections" listed have to do with the "proper" placement of grid lines. Clearly, if they weren't PLANNING on having them, they wouldn't be spending so much time correcting their placement, don't you think?

I know some of you guys aren't getting the newsletter. My first response was to just copy/paste the whole thing here, but I'm not sure of the "appropriateness" of that. Maybe PTrope can give a ruling on that?

And my issue with the gridlines is simple... they were not engraved or raise markings on the original model. Thus, they should not be engraved/raised markings on the kit.

Also, if you've reviewed the images in the newsletter, you'd see that they've got them going across all sorts of details (the "triangles" for instance, or the panels near the impulse deck) which is going to be BITCH to sand/fill around without removing details which are supposed to be there.

I can hope that they'll remove it. But if they have it, it's going to add a lot of work to my build-up, because the Enterprise DID NOT HAVE ENGRAVED OR RAISED PANEL LINES ON IT. (And... THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!!)

 

[Cmdr_Blop]

I'm not at all happy that they're going with the stupid engraved panel lines, but as has been said... I guess that's what my tube of putty is for. I plan to putty over those useless lines, since the real filming model never had them.

I'm not worried about the look of the shuttle, since I won't be building it with the bay open, nor will I light it, so both those aren't factors for me.

I'm glad they're working to get the Bridge dimensions to look right.

 

[QuinnTV]

"landing gear covers" is OK assuming the saucer could separate & land in emergencies (like was rumored), I never heard that term though.

The only place I recall seeing that function referred to was in Geoffrey Mandel's USS Enterprise Officer's Manual.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

"landing gear covers" is OK assuming the saucer could separate & land in emergencies (like was rumored), I never heard that term though.

The only place I recall seeing that function referred to was in Geoffrey Mandel's USS Enterprise Officer's Manual.

Yep, and only the original (spiral-bound) version, not the later square-bound version (I have both).

His idea was that the triangles would fold down, the dorsal would stay attached (and form the third leg, as well as serve as a vertical stabilizer during atmospheric flight), and the central "pillar" would actually telescope downwards. Basically, he was turning the Enterprise saucer into the C-57D (from "Forbidden Planet").

He also had the upper three decks with their own engines... so that this section would then detach and return to orbit.

Honestly, it just felt WAAAAY too "transformer-ish" for my taste and I think he did the right thing by dumping that for the "wide-distribution" version of the book!

If you want to land the saucer, and not have it tip around... you'd just dump the lower three "rings" on the underside of the primary hull, and then set the ship down on the rim.

But most of the time... why would you want to land it anyway? I mean, seriously... short of scuttling the ship, what would be the purpose? Why not leave it in orbit and beam the crew down?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ I seem to remember the saucer detaching as an emergency function only and not being capable of re-attaching like The E-D.

And only landing a little more under control than the E-D.

Just can't remember where I read or heard that.

 

[Ziz]

I've seen that presentation. But the newsletter came out TODAY, while the video was weeks ago. And if you've reviewed the markups in the newsletter, you'll have noticed that most of the "corrections" listed have to do with the "proper" placement of grid lines. Clearly, if they weren't PLANNING on having them, they wouldn't be spending so much time correcting their placement, don't you think?

Yes, they're PLANNING on doing the grid lines but the bottom line is the EXECUTION of them. They won't do them if they don't look good, like Jamie said in the video. So wait until there's some actual test shots before you start a crusade to get what you want...you may end up getting it anyway.

 

[Cmdr_Blop]

I'd rather lead the crusade and make SURE we get what we want, lol.

 

[Warped9]

These guys at R2 have done pretty decently by us up to now and I'm inclined to cut them some slack and wait to see what unfolds before I start worrying and getting upset.

 

[Psion]

These guys at R2 have done pretty decently by us up to now and I'm inclined to cut them some slack and wait to see what unfolds before I start worrying and getting upset.

Stop talking sense! You're going to ruin my pitchfork and torches business!

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Hey, don't go raining on my parade here... I was really looking forward to using my pitchfork and torch, and heading up to R2. Isn't that in that castle run by Gene Wilder?

"Blucher!"

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Ah, man... Psion and I had the same idea! (AAAAAGGGHHH!!)

 

[Solarbaby]

What's the 1701 club?

 

[Psion]

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