Agreed. Never was a big fan of the Flyer, but they did a good job with it. Forgot it had Borg enhancements in it. And the Kumari looks amazing!
Star Trek: Starships Model/Magazine Subscription
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Got mine yesterday. My Delta Flyer looks to have a tiny glob of paint on the very top with tiny flecks of it splattered down on the one side. :S It's a very minor error, but it does bug me! One in a million type thing I think though. Oh well, nothing worth lamenting.
My cat loves "tiny starship day" too. When the ships come, he gets himself a comfy new box! I took a picture of him with the Delta Flyer...
My cat loves "tiny starship day" too. When the ships come, he gets himself a comfy new box! I took a picture of him with the Delta Flyer...
Anyone got some good pics of them? Particularly the Andorian?
So I just looked and didn't see any mention, but they had a Q&A with the fellow in charge of the collection, Ben Robinson, via their official Twitter last week, and there was some news from it I've not seen anyone mention. So I'm going back through the tweets right now and I'll post up the stuff I spotted of note...
- The next large-scale ship and first non-Abrams one (Abramsprise, Vengence, Kelvin, ID BoP) is going to be the NX-Refit Doug Drexler and other such folk developed.
- Likely will see K-7, Spacedock, and Starbase 375 (Regula 1 type) as future specials like DS9,
- There is a good chance of eventual 1701-D, 1701-E in the larger size. It's a question of when/getting license issues sorted.
- When asked why the JJ-Trek ships are getting large releases, the response was "because of the way our license works" which didn't really answer the question. :S
- Reason why a lot of Voyager + Enterprise ships, lesser of TOS/TNG/DS9 (by numerics) is simply source material. Recent CGI files vs older physical models.
- The Batris (freighter from ST3, I think?) and a ship I can't quite place called the Merchantman are both talked about as ones he'd like to do someday. Batris sounds like a definite "do".
- The Daedalus is discussed; he wants to do it, the only issue is a lack of detail available. It was never made into a studio or CG model at any time, and it's only canon appearance is as a model in Sisko's office - which was not very detailed. So trying to figure out how to make it with so little reference.
- We're definitely getting all the First Contact fleet ships. We already have Akira, but we'll be seeing Steamrunner, Norway, and Saber - for sure.
- Wants to do the Scimitar; all the antennae and such complicating it. Likely will happen though.
- Enterprise-J and Romulan Shuttle from DS9 are in the works atm.
- Reason for a delay for the Borg Cube for US is US customs. Grrrr.
- ATM, they have authorization to go as far as 90 issues total. Beyond that depends on sales continuing to be good (as they have been thus far).
- Someone in the UK asked specifically about getting those German shuttles, and he says they will be getting them somehow. He didn't answer anyone from the US who asked about the shuttles though.
But he did end with "we get that people want them!" so I think he's aware of the demand. Hopefully we'll all eventually get them. - Idle speculation/day dreaming about TMP spacedock or some such as a special. Doesn't sound too serious, more desire than reality.
- Son'a ships from INS are being looked at; main problem is the CGI studio that did them didn't archive them/used their own software. But still possible.
So I just looked and didn't see any mention, but they had a Q&A with the fellow in charge of the collection, Ben Robinson, via their official Twitter last week, and there was some news from it I've not seen anyone mention. So I'm going back through the tweets right now and I'll post up the stuff I spotted of note...
If anyone else wants to go through all the tweets/replies and see if I missed anything, feel free: https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=#AskBenSTSS&src=hash
- The next large-scale ship and first non-Abrams one (Abramsprise, Vengence, Kelvin, ID BoP) is going to be the NX-Refit Doug Drexler and other such folk developed.
- Likely will see K-7, Spacedock, and Starbase 375 (Regula 1 type) as future specials like DS9,
- There is a good chance of eventual 1701-D, 1701-E in the larger size. It's a question of when/getting license issues sorted.
- When asked why the JJ-Trek ships are getting large releases, the response was "because of the way our license works" which didn't really answer the question. :S
- Reason why a lot of Voyager + Enterprise ships, lesser of TOS/TNG/DS9 (by numerics) is simply source material. Recent CGI files vs older physical models.
- The Batris (freighter from ST3, I think?) and a ship I can't quite place called the Merchantman are both talked about as ones he'd like to do someday. Batris sounds like a definite "do".
- The Daedalus is discussed; he wants to do it, the only issue is a lack of detail available. It was never made into a studio or CG model at any time, and it's only canon appearance is as a model in Sisko's office - which was not very detailed. So trying to figure out how to make it with so little reference.
- We're definitely getting all the First Contact fleet ships. We already have Akira, but we'll be seeing Steamrunner, Norway, and Saber - for sure.
- Wants to do the Scimitar; all the antennae and such complicating it. Likely will happen though.
- Enterprise-J and Romulan Shuttle from DS9 are in the works atm.
- Reason for a delay for the Borg Cube for US is US customs. Grrrr.
- ATM, they have authorization to go as far as 90 issues total. Beyond that depends on sales continuing to be good (as they have been thus far).
- Someone in the UK asked specifically about getting those German shuttles, and he says they will be getting them somehow. He didn't answer anyone from the US who asked about the shuttles though.
- Idle speculation/day dreaming about TMP spacedock or some such as a special. Doesn't sound too serious, more desire than reality.
- Son'a ships from INS are being looked at; main problem is the CGI studio that did them didn't archive them/used their own software. But still possible.
The Merchantman was the courier ship that delivered the Genesis plans to Kruge in ST III (and was promptly blown to bits as payment). You might not know the name because it was never actually spoken.
The model was recycled several times on TNG, DS9, and Voyager.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Merchantman
The Merchantman was one from ST III. You might not know the name because it was never actually spoken.
The Batris was the stolen freighter from "Heart of Glory"
Both models were recycled several times on TNG, DS9, and Voyager. (The Batris later became Kasidy Yates' freighter, the Xhosa).
I was the one who asked about the Merchantman, because NOBODY'S ever done it. Not Ertl/AMT, not Micro Machines, not Johnny Lighting, not Furuta. Nobody.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Studio_models_%28films%29#Merchantman
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Studio_models_(TNG)#Batris
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Well, FASA did, but that one was tiny. 
Well, FASA did, but that one was tiny.
I don't know if I'd put those in the same league. They were a bit before my time and half of them weren't even canon ships (not that there were many canon ships to choose from at the time).
It kind of bothered me that Galoob made a miniature for that fat Spacedock shuttle but not the Merchantman (and if they WERE gonna do a shuttle from that era, it should've been the Galilo 5 from STV). By the time of that third set, at lot of them were ship-of-the-week types that clearly were a judgment call on someone's part (as opposed to earlier sets that would've consisted of "hero" ships or ones from the well-known aliens).
I've always wanted someone who worked on those set to do an AMA on reddit or something so I could ask them about that. (If anyone know how to get into touch with them, I'd love that).
But I digress...
Back to THIS set, having more ships from the CG era on makes sense, especially since anyone with access can get a good look at them, whereas most of the physical models were sold off.
It's a pity someone didn't have the foresight to take some 3-D scans of them beforehand, so they'd be a database, but I guess there was little incentive for anyone to spend that kind of $ at the time.
One question I thought of for that Twitter Q&A after the fact was this: We all know making a Nebula class model was inevitable, but why the Honshu, which we only saw on-screen for a few seconds? Why not the Bonchune? Why not the Farragut (which was seen just as briefly, but at least got a much more impressive flyby shot)? Why not the Leeds, which we saw each week in the DS9 opening? Why not the Sutherland? (I think we can all agree though, we're glad it's not the Phoenix).
It's not just that data files exist more readily for CGI ship. Its the fact that once Trek embraced CGI we got a ton of new original ships.
I mean look at Enterprise the 2nd shortest run Trek (and the only one fully CGI, well almost). I wouldn't be surprised if that show has the most original ships of any series. Though they also did reuse ships designs, to save money and time.
I mean look at Enterprise the 2nd shortest run Trek (and the only one fully CGI, well almost). I wouldn't be surprised if that show has the most original ships of any series. Though they also did reuse ships designs, to save money and time.
On the issu of things like The Merchantman and the Batris the question is which version of them should get produced.
I mean it's fairly easy choice to pick the modified Nebula class instead of the original (all sort of), as one was used once, verses multiple uses of the later modification.
With the Merchantman, I think the best visuals we have is of the original for Search for Spock. But the Batris? I think personally I would rather have it be the Xhosa, as that did appear multiple times (and I do think they have a CGI copy of one of those). Or even the variant used in DS( Passenger as that had some wonderful shots to it.
I mean it's fairly easy choice to pick the modified Nebula class instead of the original (all sort of), as one was used once, verses multiple uses of the later modification.
With the Merchantman, I think the best visuals we have is of the original for Search for Spock. But the Batris? I think personally I would rather have it be the Xhosa, as that did appear multiple times (and I do think they have a CGI copy of one of those). Or even the variant used in DS( Passenger as that had some wonderful shots to it.
The only CG version of the Merchantman model that ever existed was the Vidiian ship seen in "Phage". For some of the shots inside the asteroid with mirrors as walls, a CG model needed to be created. I would love to get a look at that early CG model.
As to the Batris: originally, only the CG model of the Xhosa, created for DS9, existed. This was based on the final, most extensive modification of the original Batris. For the remastered version of "The outrageous Okona", a CG model of the first modification of the Batris, seen as the Sanction ("Symbiosis") and Okona's ship, the Erstwhile, was also created. So, one of the two versions could be done pretty easily. I'd love to get the original Batris as a model too, however, same for the original Merchantman.
Who am I kidding? I'd buy all of them anyway... ;-)
As to the Batris: originally, only the CG model of the Xhosa, created for DS9, existed. This was based on the final, most extensive modification of the original Batris. For the remastered version of "The outrageous Okona", a CG model of the first modification of the Batris, seen as the Sanction ("Symbiosis") and Okona's ship, the Erstwhile, was also created. So, one of the two versions could be done pretty easily. I'd love to get the original Batris as a model too, however, same for the original Merchantman.
Who am I kidding? I'd buy all of them anyway... ;-)
My Paypal was charged this morning for the price of the Vengeance special. In a few weeks, I shall have my Vengeance. *Cue ominous music*
EDIT: I was also charged for shipment of the Romulan Drone & Enterprise-B right after I posted.
EDIT: I was also charged for shipment of the Romulan Drone & Enterprise-B right after I posted.
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Yup - saw that on my CC this morning too. There doesn't appear to be the logistical nightmare with this one that there was with the AGT E-D, thankfully.
But the Borg Cube is having trouble in customs. Apparently US customs is more powerful than the Q, able to keep the Borg at bay with bureaucracy. I can actually imagine a guy with a clipboard not letting what he believes to be various, cube-shaped computer parts into the country.
Well, the fact that you couldn't use any existing designs, even for well-known races (no Klingon BoP's or Romulan Warbirds, for instance) factored into it.
Add to that the fact that most of the prominent races features on the show were either new (Suliban, Xindi), or didn't really have any notable ships (Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites).
Speaking of which, reusing the Xindi-Arboreal ship as a Tellarite ship was something that never sat right with me. I know you gotta recycle designs sometimes, but this was one that had been used only a year before in a prominently-featured race, now being used for another prominently featured race.
Yes, there was never a CG Merchantman, but I believe the same is true for the Pasteur and Centaur and both those ships got made.
Indeed! Plus the Bajoran solar sailer that was recreated as a CG model from scratch, The Maquis raider and the upcoming Romulan shuttle. I'm looking forward to more of the physical models being recreated as CG ships for the magazine.
Yeah of course some new designs or redresses of one off would have to be done. But we got what 6-7 completely new designs for Klingons, which is nearly the amount of Klingon ships we had from all previous shows combined. Vulcans had 6 or so ships, Suliban had over 5 different ships. We got several Xindi ships, about 8 or so. How many various Starlet/ Earth ships did we see? Certainly more then any other series created during their 7 years run.
I am actually curious if in Enterprises 98 or so episodes that it created more total ships then the first 100 episodes (or 79) of the other four series combined.
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