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Romulan Bird of Prey model: Was it lost or was it broken?

It was taken by Romulan spies who didn't like us having specs on one of their ships so long before the first one was even designed and built.
 
A beaker full of death said:
Anthony said:
It WASN'T a "Bird of Prey." That only referred to the stylized insignia on the ship's underbelly. It was a WARBIRD.

It was lost, to answer your question.

Did they call it a "warbird"?

I think it was call a Romulan ship.
 
Re: Romulan Bird of Prey model: Was it lost or was it broken

Hambone said:
137th Gebirg said:
Never heard of the Wah Chang incident - all I heard that the model, due to its rushed production - was quickly built out of plaster of Paris, and was dropped by accident after filming and improper storage, which is why they redressed the D7's for use as Romulan ships beyond that point.

Actually, I believe they used the Klingon ship as a Romulan ship because the model department had invested quite a bit in the Klingon model, and they wanted to get their money's worth out of it.

That's what I've heard, but it doesn't mean its the real reason.
 
Re: Romulan Bird of Prey model: Was it lost or was it broken

Alidar Jarok said:
That's what I've heard, but it doesn't mean its the real reason.

They'd invested some money into finally getting a Klingon vessel made that wasn't a mere blob of light on a viewscreen, but suddenly a script required a Romulan vessel and the old Romulan ship could not be located, so they added a line about Romulans using Klingon vessels and gave the new model an earlier debut.
 
Re: Romulan Bird of Prey model: Was it lost or was it broken

A beaker full of death said:
Anthony said:
It WASN'T a "Bird of Prey." That only referred to the stylized insignia on the ship's underbelly. It was a WARBIRD.

It was lost, to answer your question.

Did they call it a "warbird"?

It was NEVER called a Warbird. The word "Warbird" never entered Trek vocabulary until Next Gen when the D'Deridex made its first appearance. The term "Bird of Prey", as someone else mentioned, was used by Lt. Styles to describe the paint scheme on the ship's hull. How this "Warbird" nonsense got projected back into TOS I'll never know, but it irritates me every time I see it.
 
Re: Romulan Bird of Prey model: Was it lost or was it broken

Ebay has an auction for a 1975 "Romulan Bird of Prey" model (ebay item #120135789101). "Warbird" probably came from Star Fleet Battles...
 
Re: Romulan Bird of Prey model: Was it lost or was it broken

^^^ Makes sense. I haven't played SFB in years - maybe some gaming guru can verify that. It is very possible. It may have even come from a FASA design, too. Anyone know for sure?
 
Re: Romulan Bird of Prey model: Was it lost or was it broken

137th Gebirg said:
A beaker full of death said:
Anthony said:
It WASN'T a "Bird of Prey." That only referred to the stylized insignia on the ship's underbelly. It was a WARBIRD.

It was lost, to answer your question.

Did they call it a "warbird"?

It was NEVER called a Warbird. The word "Warbird" never entered Trek vocabulary until Next Gen when the D'Deridex made its first appearance. The term "Bird of Prey", as someone else mentioned, was used by Lt. Styles to describe the paint scheme on the ship's hull. How this "Warbird" nonsense got projected back into TOS I'll never know, but it irritates me every time I see it.

"Warbird" was used SOMEWHERE prior to TNG and prior to 1980, because I used it in a very bad piece of fiction written DURING 1980. Just to make sure I wasn't imagining it, I dug out a file with about 75 handwritten (handwritten? yeah, I wrote it while at work so I didn't have access to a typewriter) pages, and sure enough there is specific and repeated reference to a Romulan ship as a 'warbird.' That's roughly 90 months before TNG even aired.

This suggests to me that either a Bantam novel or a very early Pocket novel used 'warbird' as a reference, or perhaps some fanfiction. I was never into roleplaying games so I don't know about FASA or that stuff.

I am reasonably sure I did not make 'warbird' up for my project, especially since I most definitely knew the 'bird of prey' reference back then (which explains why I was so pissed off in SFS about the klingons suddenly having something called by that name.)
 
Re: Romulan Bird of Prey model: Was it lost or was it broken

trevanian said:
137th Gebirg said:
A beaker full of death said:
Anthony said:
It WASN'T a "Bird of Prey." That only referred to the stylized insignia on the ship's underbelly. It was a WARBIRD.

It was lost, to answer your question.

Did they call it a "warbird"?

It was NEVER called a Warbird. The word "Warbird" never entered Trek vocabulary until Next Gen when the D'Deridex made its first appearance. The term "Bird of Prey", as someone else mentioned, was used by Lt. Styles to describe the paint scheme on the ship's hull. How this "Warbird" nonsense got projected back into TOS I'll never know, but it irritates me every time I see it.

"Warbird" was used SOMEWHERE prior to TNG and prior to 1980, because I used it in a very bad piece of fiction written DURING 1980. Just to make sure I wasn't imagining it, I dug out a file with about 75 handwritten (handwritten? yeah, I wrote it while at work so I didn't have access to a typewriter) pages, and sure enough there is specific and repeated reference to a Romulan ship as a 'warbird.' That's roughly 90 months before TNG even aired.

This suggests to me that either a Bantam novel or a very early Pocket novel used 'warbird' as a reference, or perhaps some fanfiction. I was never into roleplaying games so I don't know about FASA or that stuff.

I am reasonably sure I did not make 'warbird' up for my project, especially since I most definitely knew the 'bird of prey' reference back then (which explains why I was so pissed off in SFS about the klingons suddenly having something called by that name.)

As stated above in the FASA board game Star Fleet Battles (Of which I still have one of the original versions before it balloned into 'Fleet Carrier Wars' :)), the Warbird was used to describe the Romulan BOP with only Impulse engines; and War Eagle described the same BOP with Warp engines tacked on.

That's probably where the phrase/description started.
 
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