If they hadn't reused old effects...

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Interesting factoid about the use of the Warbird to chase the scout in the Defector.

That episode boasts some new, smaller and more detailed models than had been used before, and this was the first episode to feature them. The warbird, the scout, and even the D were all new models, and, in the case of the Enterprise and the Warbird, they were smaller and far more detailed then before, so using the Warbird was a conscious decision, and it made a great opening for this show. There is even a shot which all three vessels are seen at once.

Are you sure about that re the Warbird? The Warbird model was never very big, and it seems unlikely they'd have gone to the trouble of building a new one for as seldom as it was used

From Memory Alpha on this episode:

This episode featured three new studio models to the series, including the new four-foot miniature of the Enterprise-D, the Romulan scout ship and the second D'deridex-class model. All three can be seen together during the stand-off scene during the first act.

There is also a screenshot next to this paragraph.

The thing is, Romulans are major adversaries in Trek, and the first Warbird was built in the first season, and was not too detailed. It looked particularly dated already in "Where Silence has Lease" so the producers - who, if nothing else, want the show to look good, decided that building a model of it that at least lived up to the quality of the Enterprise was appropriate. Let's not forget the climax of the show, in which multiple Warbirds were necessary (they used the same one, obviously, but in order for it to look good, they had to build a new one.)

Sure it's expensive to build a model. It's also expensive to hire a guest star, contract a director, or build one-off sets. They do all of these things when they make a show.

 

[Maurice]

I went to Bruce MacRae's website to see the 2nd model. But I find it puzzling that they'd build a second model considering how infrequently they used the original. One wonders if it had something to do with how the first was armatured. It seems likely the second model was a recast from the original molds.

 

[sojourner]

^You're looking back in hindsight, which is always 20/20. At the time they probably did think it would be used more frequently during the rest of the series.

 

[Kirby]

I think that if they'd built something closer to the original design, we'd have seen more of the Ambassador Class - certainly in the fleet battles on DS9.

Andy Probert's original design is awesome, my only criticism (and it's pretty minor) is that it looks like it's smiling with that phaser array, or whatever it is, around them saucer. I'd love to see more of them throughout Trek.

 

[plynch]

Yah, "The Enterprise Incident" was the only TOS ep to feature the D-7 as a Romulan ship (three of 'em) So in TOS-R, two were retained as D-7's with a Bird of Prey adorning the underside of the hull, along with one Romulan Bird of Prey, as seen in "Balance of Terror".

What a nice idea.

I looked up some images, and they look uber-cartoonish, though. But kudos for the idea. (Hey - which is canon, though: 3 D-7s or 2 + a warbird?! )

 

[Maurice]

^You're looking back in hindsight, which is always 20/20. At the time they probably did think it would be used more frequently during the rest of the series.

Again, unless the other model was broken or lit or armatured such that it unable to be photgraphed a given way, why make another? The 4 footer E was built to make shooting the hero ship easier, so I get that. But another warbird at the same scale...there has to be a practical production reason behind that decision. That's what I'm curious about.

Too bad when they built the second model no one thought to wonder why the ship had no impulse engines (originally because Andy never drew the back of the ship to show where they were supposed to go).

 

[Arpy]

Is there an article or site that details the differences between the two warbird models like there are for the E-D models?

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Is there an article or site that details the differences between the two warbird models like there are for the E-D models?

There is a little info here at the bottom of this article.

The color is different.

 

[Arpy]

^ Thanks.

But I think I disagree with it. It says that the only differences were the color and a little nacelle detailing, but I'd swear that the "head" portion curves into more of a finer edge along the front and I wonder if there's other things as well. Same with the CG model - I think it's a little bit more blocky from certain angles. I hope Ex Astris Scientia does an article on it one day.