Star Trek: Starships Model/Magazine Subscription

On StarTrek.com today. It sounds pretty interesting

http://www.startrek-starships.com/usa/index.asp

 

Yes, if it were not only for USA and GB.

 

What are the chances of this making it to eighteen months? It would be neat if you could get the Defiant, the Thunderchild etc

 

Any word on how big the models are? At $20 each, I'd expect at least the size of somewhere between the Johnny Lightning and Hot Wheels models.

EDIT:

I found the answer: 120-140 mm (approx. 4.75-5.5 inches). Slightly larger than JL, and on the smaller side of the HW.

 

Interesting - I actually called these guys last year when the publication was first announced and they said it was going to be available in the UK ONLY - nowhere else, including US. Has this changed?

 

Yes, it appears so. It's listed as available in the UK and USA.

 

Very cool! I guess they got enough phone calls and emails from people in the states for it to make it worth their while to send them overseas.

 

I hope their grammar and spelling aren't representative of the quality of their models.

 

They forgot to add the words "by a six year old in an unmarked building somewhere in the Hunan province" to the end of that statement.

 

What they also forgot to mention, is that they had to suspend the original run in the UK (last year) due to demand (though I was told it was due to insufficent demand). The fact that they re-lauched the website a few years later saying coming early 2013, which was then delayed to Aug 2013 says they couldn't meat demand. And it wasn't even lauched in my area in the UK.

With the power of social-media, places like TrekBBS etc.. it was very easy to order it from anywhere in the UK even if you weren't in the original launch area.

 

I just placed a Pre-Order Subscription today. I've been doing some research on this collection. Apparently, according to the company, the first 5 issues were a test run unbeknownst to them. The factory suspended production to restock....so they say. The relaunch date was supposed to be this past February, but the factory in China that was producing them was shut down by the government (how wonderful is that state run production model, huh?). So the company had to find a new factory. They found one, and while it ramps up production and stock, the planned start of relaunch will be August. I've never collected die-cast stuff like this before, so I'm hoping this will be a good line.

 

How can a company not know they are doing a test run? someone has to set up a website, allow distribution to the test area, allow people to place orders over the telephone etc...

 

Looks great, but with the way they seem to be stopping and starting, It's a bit off putting.

 

Well, despite their awkward start, I'm really excited about this line. From the looks of things, there are over 70 planned:

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Official_Starships_Collection

That's far more than Micro Machines, Johnny Lightning, Furuta, and Hot Wheels combined, with a great many ships no one's ever done before. Personally, I'm really excited for the Akira (pretty much all the starship designs we saw in First Contact), the Jem'Hadar battle cruiser and battleship, the Hideki class, the Kelvin, and the Breen ship.

I'm curious if the "Maquis fighter" will resemble the ones we saw Cal Hudson use (and which we saw later in so many battle scenes). I'm also curious what exactly is the difference between the Bird of Prey and the prototype Bird of Prey.

Looking them over, the ones on the list I don't see that I would've liked are the Andorian ship most of all, but also the Centaur, the 22nd Century Intrepid, the Selaya-type Vulcan ship, and the Merchantman (which never got any love from ANY of the above series).

 

I made mention on their FB page that there was a conspicuous absence of the Klingon Negh'Var class in the Ship List. Out of all ships NOT to do, wouldn't think that would be one of them. Wasn't the first appearance of those in "All Good Things"? The Future ENT-D will be one of the special issues, so I'm wondering if the Negh'Var will be a special issue as well.

Their FB page also has a photo showing the Reliant and Vor'cha models on a computer desk. Reliant was painted. Vor'cha was not.

 

I hear ya, but if what Eagle Moss said is to believed, they were truly caught off guard when they learned the initial 5 issues were a test run. And because some folks placed orders but never got their issues, does lead creedence to the claim that the factory didn't have the stock to fulfill orders.

I just hope Eagle Moss has it all sorted out this time, because I would love to get a complete set. Especially with all the First Contact/DS9 era ships.

 

It is taking all my self control to not preorder. When it comes out in fall I should have money though, so we'll see if this actually flies.

 

Last e-mail I had from them was it was due in the Summer (August).

 

Well it's not uncommon for a magazine to have a release in one region of the UK to test demand before going national.

As Eagle Moss let the magazine go out, they can't be caught off guard. Someone at Eagle Moss had to ok the distribution of the magazine.

The only thing that might have caught them off guard was the demand, they underestimated the demand.

 

I hope they get enough demand to see it all the way through as I have a wormhole forming in my wallet that leads straight to Eaglemoss.

I won't pre-order and do the whole thing though. Yes, I will purchase many of the ships, but not all. I can tell you now that I will get most of the Federation ships (all the Enterprises) and a few alien ships.

I guess I could say that out of the 65+ ships that will be released, I will buy at least 30 of the ones listed on the Memory-Alpha page.