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Star Trek Model Kits: Enterprise B Improvements
Hi all. I know I’ve already announced the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701B is due out towards the end of the year. What I haven’t been able to announce until now was our plans for the kit.
Unlike many of our other reissues, this one will not include Aztec decals but we will be expanding the markings a little bit and will probably add Lakota markings. The more significant changes will be made to the kit parts themselves. We are reworking the surface detail of the secondary hull deck, add the recessed rectangles on each side of the front of the deflector trench and removing the recessed windows on the lower hull. The ones present weren’t accurate so we’ll add them back into the decal sheet. The rear of the neck will be bent appropriately. Lastly, we’ll be replacing the lower saucer with an all- new part. We’ve had Angelo Bastianelli of Gizmotron models work up the digital file for the part and it looks much better than the old one. It features a more accurate neck attachment and better lower sensor dome. The next step is having the factory do a mockup of the part for me to check out. I’ll keep you updated on these and other Star Trek model kit developments…
UPDATE: Since writing this blog post, I’ve gotten a nice surprise. (Actually this project has been a nice surprise overall in that it is moving at a nice pace with no serious problems… yet.) The mockup from the factory arrived just yesterday. It looked great. I took a couple quick shots and sent it back. So here are a couple shots of the mockup which was cut from the digital file.
One of our most exciting Star Trek model kit projects in development is also one of the most difficult ones to show off. I received test shots of the metal legs that will be included in our upcoming release of the Klingon Bird of Prey.
The legs are metal to help support the weight of the kit. Styrene would have probably bent or broken. We had “Crazy” Ed Holt (modelnutz on the forums) finish up his versions of the landing gear and with a few minor adjustments, had them tooled up. I’m still waiting to see the plastic parts but I couldn’t help but share this when it came in today.
(BTW, this is blog post #50. I think I just dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back.)
Star Trek Model Kits: Klingon Spy Attacks K-7 Space Station
Our offices have been infiltrated by a Klingon spy who has it out for the K-7 Space Station. He has attacked twice. I already had to do emergency repairs to our buildup, once to have something to display at Wonderfest. We recently had a meeting where we sat out our products in our conference room and the poor K-7 was returned to me in miserable condition once more.
Please be on the lookout! No Star Trek model kit will be safe until this devious saboteur has been apprehended.
Star Trek Model Kits: The Eagle (well maybe just a bird) Has Landed
We ordered a big batch of tooling to be moved from our Dyersville warehouse a couple months ago. We heard earlier this week that the factory had received the tooling and we were told to expect test shots from the tools soon. Well, the first one arrived today and low and behold, it was the Romulan Bird of Prey.
It had one little bit of flash on it but other than that, it was immaculate. She went together really well. A few parts could use some extra locator pins and the parts will be numbered. We’ll open the hole in the belly to accept the base. Once the plasma weapon and clear domes are added in place of the nacelle balls, she’ll be good to go. This is another case of it not being a super accurate Star Trek model kit but it is a nice representation of the subject.
Star Trek Model Kits: U.S.S. Enterp_ise?
Hey, guess who’s an idot? That’s rigt. It’s m!
Yeah, I know I can’t even get an apology right.
We’ve gotten a few kind comments letting us know that we’ve got a typo on our latest release of the 1:2500 scale U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-C. What can I say other than I’m sorry. Between the amount of work going into these things and the speed at which deadlines come and go, these things happen. I’d feel worse for myself but others, including the licensor, looked at them too and didn’t catch the error. In the end, I get the egg on my face though because the error happened on my watch. Oh well.
So what will we do to fix the problem? We’ll be sending out a replacement decal to anyone who will send us the postcard included in the Star Trek model kit. Fill out the information completely and mark the bottom with “ENTEPRISE C”. We’ll send out the replacements asap.
Round 2 Models: Random Thoughts
It’s been too long and I’ve got nothing real specific to go on about so let’s see what’s rattling around inside my head.
I’ve been trying to get to those posts about my China trip I promised… wow… two months ago. I’ve run into a snag in getting my video transferred so I can pull images from it and post a little bit of video I took. I haven’t forgotten.
Recently, I’ve been finishing up some of the most complicated decals and instructions we’ll probably ever do for the Enterprise D re-release. I’m not about to count them all but with all of the aztecs and lifeboats, there are well over 200 decals. Diagramming them and making sure I had every one accounted for was mind bending. Now it is onto getting quote requests for 2011 product and sales information for the end of 2010 out there.
The 1:25 Batmobile mockup is nearly finished. There is plenty of refining I would have liked to have done, but time has run out. We’re sticking to a Christmas release date for the snap version. If all goes well, we’ll be showing the first detailed look at the car in our Round 2 Models newsletter that comes out at the end of the month. If you haven’t already, sign-up for the Round 2 Models newsletter on our contact page, so you don’t miss out on this first look.
The new movie Enterprise has hit a delay, but we are trying desperately to get it finished by the end of the year as well. The delay comes from our desire to see the kit engineered from the original CG file from the production company. It turns out, after mountains and valleys, that you can’t get where we wanted to be from where we started (it’s complicated). So, we’re nearing completion on a digital model generated from the CG file that will let us “grow” a rapid prototype of the ship to send to our factory in China. They’ll need to scan it into their computer and add the attachment pins, etc. to create tooling. It had been originally hoped that they would be able to use a digital file from us to cut the tooling from. We still have the benefit of the kit looking as close to 100% accurate as injected plastic will allow us to be.
Hmmm… Did I ever tell you what’s up with the whole Enteprise B/ Excelsior tooling? If I did I probably wasn’t definitive because some people keep asking about it. Basically, the factory tells us the tool they have is solid as in no inserts for parts specific to one ship or the other, just the Enterprise B. Without photographic evidence (which they never seem to have the time to supply) I have to believe the tool was permanently altered to create the B from the Exclesior. So that is how we are proceeding. At some point in the future, we will have to retool parts to bring back the U.S.S. Excelsior kit. We should have the B out by the end of the year though.
UPDATE: (6/18/2010)
I’ve been reviewing my test shot of the Enterprise B. I had noticed it was missing the small frame of clear parts so I asked the factory for photos of the tooling (again). The buggers met me 2/3 of the way and supplied a photo of a full sprue shot of the majority of the kits which tells me nothing about how the tool may have been altered. It is interesting to note that according to our tooling list, the Excelsior only calls for two tools while the B requires three. The third tool is the base. This means the Excelsior base should have been included with all of the other parts on the big sprue. This would make sense that all opaque parts for the kit are all on one tool shot. But where would it have fit in the layout…? I’ll be taking another look again soon. Even though the photo of the full sprue isn’t as conclusive as a photo of the tool, it still offers some clues. I just need to find a minute more to compare…
I transferred my China video to DVD last night. I’ve tried it on three computers and it looks like there may be a formatting issue. Hopefully i can resolve it next week.
UPDATE: (6/22/2010)
And so the last piece of the puzzle has been placed. I received the photo of the parts tool this morning that clarifies things. Though the tool shows that it is no longer a solid piece of steel, the sections are also not removable inserts. So as feared, the original tool was indeed changed forever. I received a message the other day from Steve Iverson of culttvman.com…
“I finally got a hold of Bruce Byerly, who worked at AMT/Ertl the last few years they were around. He did a lot of design work there, including the Enterprise C and Galor kits. Asked him about the Excelsior and Enterprise B. This is what he said.
‘As far as the B, from what I can remember we did make permanent changes to the mold. Might have been Brylium inserts but I doubt it. They kinda decided the Excelsior had run its course.’ ”
So there we have it. No happy ending this time…
But, there can always be a sequel if the first release is a success…
Star Trek Model Kits: Wonderfest Count Down. 2…
Today, I’m placing the focus back on Star Trek model kits. Some times we get to a point in our development plan when we have to figure out “is this kit worth doing?”. Or in the case of today’s kits “what could we do to this kit to make it worth doing?”. We have to weigh the expense of course. In the case of today’s first kit, our appetite was originally bigger than our mouth…
U.S.S. Enterprise 1701D 1:1400 scale. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this one before. Essentially the story goes like this. We wanted to eliminate the inaccurate raised detail from the ship, fix up some other details here and there, add a new base and add a set of Aztec decals. What we found out was that the raised details were probably added by the same means that the raised panels were added to the original AMT Enterprise Refit. We were told that the tools could not be modified this intensely and that new tools would be needed. The cost of which could have bought us two or three other entirely new kits. In addition to that, the mechanics of one of the tools was also substantially damaged. In the end, we canceled that iteration of the ship. So we took a step back and said “is there anything we could do with this kit at all?” After all, it is one of the most well known versions of the ship. After some serious thought, we thought about the requests we get for clear versions of various Star Trek ships. We figured, we’d fix the mechanical part, inject it in clear, fix up a couple fit issues here and there and add in our signature decals. So that’s what we’ve done. We’ll have our buildup with prototype decals on it as well as a clear test shot built on display at the show.
We’ll also have a prototype buildup of our new release of the U.S.S. Reliant. Again, we’ve invested in some key revisions in this kit. We have thickened the saucer, eliminated the inaccurate lines around the edge of the saucer as well as the “window” pock marks on the forward bulkhead and lastly, added ridge detail around the bridge dome that had been missing for unknown reasons. On top of all that, we are adding a new base which is essentially a bigger version of the one included in our 1:1000 scale Refit. To keep the price of the kit reasonable, we have decided to leave out the Aztec decals from this release and offer them as a separate item. The kit still includes all of the expected markings, etc. We’ve done our best to make this kit, if not 100% accurate, at least more appealing.
I’ve said before that The Reliant is probably my favorite Star Trek ship but of the enemy vessels, one has always really appealed to me. That is the Klingon Bird of Prey. I like it for the polar opposite reasons why I like its Romulan ancestor. The Klingon ship show conveys the aggression that is synonymous with its people. We’ve added some new and significant parts to this little birdie. First, we have adjusted the baffle angles to match the stance in Star trek III: The Search For Spock. In cruising mode, the wings raise above horizontal and as much as I like the aggressive attack stance, the original kit took it a touch to far. On top of that, we’ve decided to include a brand new “pose” for the kit- a “landed” pose. For the first time, the kit will include all of the parts to show the ship in its landed stance as seen in ST3 complete with ramp and a third set of wing baffles. We’ll add a little bit of real estate onto the decal sheet to finish it off. We will have a buildup of the adjusted wing angles and mockup parts of the landing gear to show off.
Tomorrow… Batmobile.
Star Trek Model Kits: Wonderfest Count Down. 5…
Ok. I’m crammed for time but I promised so I want to deliver. We’ll be setting up our booth once again at Wonderfest and we will be showing off some plans for upcoming Star Trek Model Kits. Today, I’m going to give a quick review of our plans for bringing back some classic AMT kits.
First, we’ll be showing off our buildup of the K-7 Space station. (Don’t mind the kitty cat induced battle damage- feel to ask me about it) Jim Small went through the added step of adding lights to this great little build. We’ll be posting a how-to article on the Round 2 models website to coincide with the kit’s release. The kit is basically a pressing of the old jalopy from AMT. It reminds us of the K-7 but don’t get too picky about the accuracy. The new release includes our standard dome style stand and a small sheet of decals that includes some alternate numerals so you can make it any space station you wish.
Next, we’ve got the Romulan Bird of Prey. Again, this is a re-release of the vintage AMT kit. We’ll be including the stand as well as optional parts to add the weapon on front and adding nacelle domes. This is personally one of my favorite TOS ships. Many have requested it and we’ve listened. You could have one of your very own by the end of the year.
Both the K-7 and Romulan Bird of Prey will be released in their standard retro-style packaging. The K-7 gets a new illustration while the Bird of Prey will get its classic box illustration. And both will also be released in collector’s tin editions to go along with the others we’ve already brought out. The K-7 will come with a bonus Tribble while the Bird of Prey will get a print of the box art.
Speaking of tins, we have special plans for a couple 2011 releases of the AMT Enterprise. Come see me at Wonderfest and we can talk about them…
Round 2 Models: Ever heard of this old show called Star Trek?
You know, it had been a long, long time since I had watched an episode of the Original Series of Star Trek. I’m not sure if I had seen one since my elementary school days before we signed up the license. I remembered it fondly but I fell into the “Star Wars guy” division of sci-fi fandom. I couldn’t help it, it was all the timing of the thing. Sure I had seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture on the big screen but it didn’t have the quick pace of Star Wars. What can I say? I was just a kid.
Fast forward to the last year or so. Once we lined up the license, I went back and watched a few old episodes over the net. I had to do a google search to find out which episodes were supposed to be the best. It was a novelty for a while. I watched a few episodes of the remastered show before it too was cancelled.(around here at least) Then I asked for and received the first season on Blu-ray. I watched a few episodes and marveled at the beauty of the cinematography, the lighting, etc. It is a beauty to watch.
As I was working on the K7 Space Station illustration, I played old episodes over the net again. I concentrated on the second and third seasons since I has season 1 waiting for me downstairs. There is a lot more good stuff than I remembered. Then this last weekend, I watched a couple disks worth of season 1 while assembling test shots. I’m just past half way through season 1 now. I have to admit, I feel like a fan now. I genuinely like the show whereas I had just respected it and remembering liking it as a kid. I can take it seriously now I guess.
What I’ve found is that my personal preference is that I like the episodes where they stay on the Enterprise more than the ones where they have an away mission. Stand out episodes…
Balance of Terror - My favorite single episode. The Romulan Bird of Prey is becoming one of my favorite ships. I can’t stand Yeoman Rand though. I’m interested to see what order the episodes were filmed in. This one seems pretty early even though it aired in the middle of the season.
Carbomite Maneuver - It was good until we got to Ronny Howard’s ugly little brother as the big bad. Couldn’t take it seriously after that.
The Menagerie- I liked everything that happened in the “present” much better than the stuff from the pilot.
Trouble With Tribbles - I LOVE Scotty. He’s by far my favorite character and the fight scene sealed that.
Mirror Mirror - Made me want to shave my beard into a goatee so I could become evil.
Whom Gods Destroy - Green Yvonne Craig… Yum. It dawned on me while watching this one that Star Trek has to be the show with the highest babe guest stars per capita. Virtually every episode had an outstanding guest-babe that put today’s starlets to shame… except for Yeoman Rand. I still don’t like her…
Let That Be You Last Battlefield - I’m not one for having to “think” about my sci-fi but even as heavy handed as their social message was in that one, it was done very well.
Shore Leave - started VERY weak but ended pretty strong.
Squire of Golthos - I’ll never get that 45 minutes back again. It seems like I either love an episode or hate it. There are only a few I would say fall between. This is the worst I’ve seen so far.
Other favs in no particular order… Tholian Web, Doomsday Machine, Galileo 7, Naked Time, Immunity Syndrome, Amok Time, The Enterprise Incident, Deadly Years and The Ultimate Computer.
With all that said, I can’t wait to put my hands to work on more Star Trek TOS projects for Round 2 models.
Star Trek model kits: A New K-7 Box Illustration
I had the opportunity, so I had to make the time to do a new box illustration for the K-7 Space Station Star trek model kit. It was a fun change. I had to decide whether to do an image showing the “real” station as seen in “Trouble With Tribbles” or more likely “Trials and Tribblations”. I decided it would be best to just paint it as the kit since that’s what’s in the box. The kit is way off model (pun intended) from how the station looked in the shows.
I had hoped to achieve an old school look with this one. Since it is going on a retro style box I was hoping to emulate the look of the boxes of the other vintage Star Trek model kits. I overworked it so it got too tight for me to call it a success from that standpoint. (I need to loosen up) This is the raw scan so it will probably look quite a bit different once I tweak the colors and do a little retouching.
I’d estimate about 30 hours in it. b/g including ships was all done with acrylics. The station itself was rendered in 15 year old bullet point Design markers. (I chickened out of painting the whole thing or airbrushing it after the last illo.) I went back in with colored pencil here and there and a few touches of gouache.