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TMP crowd - 3 guys with rectangular badges

Joe_Atari said:
For Galactica fans, that chestpiece is the underbelly of a Cylon fighter miniature!

I wonder where he got it. Maybe he was an original ILM / MCA-57 employee...
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Checking the timeline, Galactica VFX production (along with the MCA-57 built miniatures) had moved to Universal Hartland by the time the TMP rec deck scene was shot, so there could've been a connection there as well. Although very few hero Cylon fighters were fully built and detailed (4 maybe?), there were probably plenty of parts and molds laying around that were ultimately discarded. Incidentally, the Monogram kit was screen used in the final episode "The Hand of God" in the landing bay scene.
Maurice said:
The kits of the Vipers and Raiders were on the market before Galactica even hit the airwaves.
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True enough (I built both a Raider and a "Space Fighter Viper" as it was awkwardly named by Monogram on its original release), but that is definitely not a Monogram part on the guy's chest. There are plenty of pictures of the underside of the Monogram kit online; the detail is completely different (the kit was notoriously inaccurate) and is best identified by an unsightly round hole in the center for the supplied mounting stand.

Somewhere I have a very high res monochrome shot of an original hero Raider; when I first noticed the chestplate in TMP I compared them and they matched up.
David cgc said:
It's probably just from the model kit. The V'Ger interior chamber was literally tiled in basestars cut into triangular segments.
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I know the parts you refer to; I believe I read that this was not the case. Do you have photo documentation to the contrary? I don't think the Monogram basestar kit was released when the TMP VFX was done.
CorporalCaptain said:
I don't recall that the Revell model was that big. :shrug:
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Pretty sure it wasn't. I believe the Monogram Raider was 1/64 and the filming miniature was 1/32. The Viper kit was 1/32 so the Monogram kits of the fighters were wildly out of scale with each other (in universe the Raider was supposed to be much larger than the Viper although this was not well conveyed on-screen). The chestpiece seems to match the 1/32 scale.
 
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Joe_Atari said:
I know the parts you refer to; I believe I read that this was not the case. Do you have photo documentation to the contrary? I don't think the Monogram basestar kit was released when the TMP VFX was done.
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Of actual model kits being used? No, but its hard to believe the detailing could be coincidental. I do have a BTS photo of one of the triangular panels where you can see the detail clearly. Given the softness of the shapes, my assumption was a Basestar kit piece or two was cut up to make a tessellated panel, and then used to make a mold or maybe vacuum-formed to make the paneling used on the V'Ger miniature. Here's the image of the TOS Basestar I'm using for the call-outs.

12182958_925966614154617_7213826018027517671_o.jpg VGerBasestarAnnotated.jpg 12184279_925966617487950_4897502819246496616_o.jpg

I'm attaching the original image, an annotated version, and another one where you can see the model with some people for scale. I'm (obviously) not very familiar with the size of the BSG TOS model kits, but it looks like the large globe on the piece is a bit bigger than an adult's head, maybe 8-10 inches in diameter. I believe I got the BTS photos originally from the amazing TMP fan group on Facebook.
 
David cgc said:
Of actual model kits being used? No, but its hard to believe the detailing could be coincidental. I do have a BTS photo of one of the triangular panels where you can see the detail clearly.
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Thanks; I stand corrected. I had never seen that before, that's some seriously fine detail! As I recall the Monogram basestar was about 14-16" in diameter, so not inconsistent with the "slices" used for the V'Ger miniature. The kit may have been available during the mad rush to complete TMP's VFX, I clearly recall that the fighters were released before Galactica's premiere and the Galactica and basestar followed sometime later, possibly post-cancellation.
 
Sorry, it IS the Monogram kit bottom with some nurrnies added. How can you tell? Check out the two little holes indicated here (also note you can see the stand mount hole peeking out just north of the detail planted on above it):

28971406428_d5c8c9208f_o.png


A nicely built-up version of that kit with the indicated holes present. But what were those holes?
28971406608_1a31ce111a_o.jpg


These were where the buttons were for the "missile launchers" (note image 4 on the instructions) on the original kit (omitted later after the choking incidents with the BSG toys). The holes are in EXACTLY the same place.
28971406958_5674e3f93f_o.jpg


And having built several of these, the part is the kit size.
 
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This is more the scale that I remember for the model from my childhood.

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As I said upthread, it seems small for the chest piece in question.

I'm not going to claim that this certainly has the same scale as the model that I had in the 1970s, because I don't have it anymore and as I expect most of us to agree, memories of decades ago aren't always reliable.

But the guy is calling it a reissue with only minor improvements. Is it possible that there were two different models at different scales that were out there?
 
I've handled the Monogram kit. It's exactly the right size. The holes are in the same place on the piece (apparently filled it on later reissues), and they hit the market just months before the Rec Deck scene was shot. Occam's Razor isn't an absolute but c'mon. :)
 
Interesting thread. I never noticed this rectangular badges before. I went a little down a design rabbit hole a while back when working on a whole series of custom cargo labels for TMP-era cargo modules, as well as an expanded Federation "delta" insignia/division color schemes, and devising an integrated signage/color identification schema.

cargo-labels-1-3.png


I also started expanding some of the symbology as well, begging with the outstanding graphic designs that Lee Cole created for the film. This as part of working out aspects of cargo "labels" that would be more useful than 19070s "labels" would be, when it came to cargo handling in the 23rd century. Having them be “smart paper” label tat would, somewhat like an iPad, be interactive and help in cargo management as well as controlling the cargo pods itself.

Even made one that has a bit of an Easter Egg to a classic Star Trek episode.

quadrotriticale-4.png
 
My Name Was Taken Twice said:
Nope they just look bloody awful. Lack of color particularly on the bridge didn't help TMP
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I actually like the TMP uniforms, particular the muted colors, which to my eyes harkens to the winter khakis, summer whites, and the muted blues of dungarees in traditional US naval uniforms.

My only two criticisms of the TMP uniforms in general are the collars of the class A uniforms:

class-a-upper-01_1.jpg


And the way the crotch area looks on some of the jumpsuit variations (i.e. the infamous "decker unit" shot in the corridor):

moeshaunp4.jpg


I even like the attached boots in most of the variants, in that they remind me of the NASA/JPL clean room "bunny suits":

Cleanroom_bunny.jpg



They even harken to the look of the red "satin" style jumpsuits of "Project Mayflower" from a ST:TMP predecessor in the late 70s, Close Encounters of the Third Kind:

project-mayflower-jumpsuit-01.jpg


project-mayflower-jumpsuit-02.jpg.jpg


I realize I am in the minority regrind the look of the TMP uniforms and color pallet, but I actually prefer them over the maroon "wrap-around" jackets from ST:TWOK onward in the TOS-cast movies.
 
CorporalCaptain said:
I have to say that having both the Q and the 4 is redundant. Q is for "quadro-", after all.
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The Lee Cole style cargo label graphics all had a two letter an number "code" under the icon. I simply chose 4 as the number code to help the Easter Egg along.

But I suppose cargo containers with QT3 and QT5 in the hold might negate that criticism. ;)
 
Well, to be fair, QT4 is quadrotriticale and QT5 is quintotriticale, which appeared in the TAS "More Flat Cats More Troubles" as well as what Zachary grows in his garden. :D
 
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