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Posted
4 hours ago, Kanedas Bike said:

 

 

 

Uh...embarrassed to admit that I didn't know that there were any differences beyond cosmetic.

That said, I'm going to have to go with @Loliconon tihis, I'd be happy to either version. If there were some compelling side-by-side comparisons then I reserve the right to change my mind. :p

-b.

Main changes:

Nacelle pylons have a more upward angle and the Nacelles sit more forward. 

Area around the main shuttlebay (saucer) is now built up more and blended with the saucer.

Various phaser and Torpedo launchers added.

Different coloring. 

22DB02DE-F0B9-4DE5-9951-20099A840547.jpeg.2c7c40aebe37d147bfe2a0f5e99ce83d.jpeg

Good article here showing and going more in depth here

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/sovereign.htm

Posted (edited)

So.. assuming that's the Bandai (because the Art Asylum/Diamond Select one is nowhere near that detailed underneath), that's a mashup of the First Contact, and Nemesis versions.  The neck area is from First Contact, as is the underside torpedo launcher/Captains Yacht area, which you can tell is from FC because it looks nothing like the yacht.  The entire quantum launcher underneath was remodeled in Insurrection to make the yacht look more like a ship.  But while the rest of the ship screams "First Contact," the topside torpedo launcher behind the bridge was a Nemesis addition.  I'd have to see more of the ship to see if more of the Nemesis mods are in place.

As far as the pylon replacement goes, there was a rather large reason for it, because the Nemesis upgrade included a new set of phaser strips both top and bottom along the aft edge of them, giving the ship roughly the same phaser coverage as the Galaxy class.  The Nemesis refit saw a substantial weapons upgrade across the entire ship, including one forward-facing launcher at the front of the bridge terracing, a dual launcher behind the bridge, one embedded in the spine just above the rear-most shuttlebay, and I think one directly under the bay deck.  The original design only had the quantum launcher, a dual launcher directly under the deflector, and I believe there was one dual rear-facing one on the very bottom of the hull, where the Galaxy class had the tractor beam emitter.  I need to check my references for whether that was always a launcher though, since I'm not 100% sure the under-bay tube was a Nemesis add-on.

Far as the saucer separation goes though, I think they gave up on that fairly early, despite the design work that showed how it would function.  Regardless of whether that separation joint exists, the lower engineering hull never had any impulse engines to move under its own power.  I would assume the saucer separation is still possible, but it would probably be restored to a pure emergency ejection procedure like in the original series.

Edit: After reading that design analysis, I noticed they pointed out the modifications in that one drawing, but then not all of the modifications pointed out were actually seen in the movie, specifically that forward launcher on the saucer.

The final notes about a "final" version of the ship, intended to be seen after the post-Nemesis rebuild, included an interesting note though, saying that the revised design at that point would have been changed to adopt a more traditional "aztec" pattern for the hull.  I never minded the look of the patterns used on the Ent-E, but as shown by that pic above, there is generally no rhyme or reason to the pattern that we can discern, and it winds up meaning that there's no real "canon" pattern for anyone to follow, and no real consistent scale for the paneling, meaning half of the attempts to replicate the pattern wind up looking like random patches of masking tape scattered all over the hull.

When I made my Bridge Commander model, I made a template, and then tiled it over the hull to keep from having to draw every single panel, but the panels were much smaller than most models I've seen.  I sized them to match the studio model from First Contact, which were pretty tiny.

new1.jpg

Edited by Chronocidal
Posted
1 hour ago, tekering said:

So, which 1701-E do you think this model was based on?

643148904_BandaiAmbassador.thumb.jpg.069cc69bba73bb78b939ce99d29e3637.jpg

I really need to replace the bulbs in my E with LEDs like I did in my Bandai refit Enterprise. Those incandescent bulbs get to me after awhile. One of these days I'll get around to it... :lol:

IMG_3328.jpg.62ef6df6ef342f958f141b7bf2d85883.jpg

So while it doesn't say anywhere which version Bandai's E is based on, I guessed it was Insurrection because of the extra torpedo launchers but the nacelles are in the slightly lower position like the First Contact model.

Posted

Ugh.. yeah, I need to do that upgrade as well to my Bandai Refit.  I did a cheap fix by adding some tape over the clear portions to filter the light some, and added clear blue cellophane to color the nacelles and deflector better, but the bulbs are just too powerful, and too yellow.

Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, tekering said:

So, which 1701-E do you think this model was based on?

586149464_behindthesaucer.thumb.jpg.b72e6d286e9d6a26f36efeb88160ef2f.jpg

643148904_BandaiAmbassador.thumb.jpg.069cc69bba73bb78b939ce99d29e3637.jpg

Looks like mostly the FC version with a Nemesis paint job and torpedo launcher.

Edited by Dobber
Posted

To be honest a hybrid of the two would be best.  The build-up on the neck of the Nemesis version makes certain angles look goofy but the higher set Nacelles gives the Enterprise a more classic look (Nacelles higher than saucer) but it's still compact enough to maintain that sleek look the E has.

Posted
51 minutes ago, Mommar said:

This is a model kit you built?

And considerably upgraded, too!  :wub:

The stock kit lighting is...

986967219_Bandaisrefit.thumb.jpg.1eae7988cbbd2dad9d40f7ca5fec0a20.jpg

...distinctly amber.  <_<

Posted
1 hour ago, Mommar said:

This is a model kit you built?

It's the Bandai 1/850 kit from waaaay back. It's snap-together like their Gundam kits, but all the paneling is painted and markings are printed on all the parts. It also comes with an internal lighting system using incandescent bulbs, which are not pure white and looked more yellowish, especially as the batteries got low, which tended to make the nacelles look greenish along with the main deflector, if you painted it blue (it's transparent out of the box).

I replaced the bulbs on mine. There are blue LEDs for the main deflector and warp nacelles, and white LEDs for the windows. I also obtained an aftermarket blue deflector dish to replace the stock dish.

 

48 minutes ago, tekering said:

And considerably upgraded, too!  :wub:

The stock kit lighting is...

986967219_Bandaisrefit.thumb.jpg.1eae7988cbbd2dad9d40f7ca5fec0a20.jpg

...distinctly amber.  <_<

Yowza! Was it always that amber or are the batteries low? :shok:

It is a decent representation of the gold deflector when she's in spacedock. :)

Posted

I went to a lot of trouble muting the lights and diffusing them on that kit.. I think I used several layers of wax paper and some blue cellophane behind the deflector to get it down to a soft blue glow, but it really needs a light frosting or etching of some sort to turn it not transparent.

Posted
3 hours ago, Mommar said:

Hey, some news.  For a brief period if you order direct from Chronicle Collectibles it's only $1701.

https://chroniclecollectibles.com/collections/featured/products/enterprise-d

For how brief a period?  Where are you getting this news?  Is there a newsletter they are sending out or something?  Just looking at that link I see no way to tell.  This could be the price for all pre-orders made before they start shipping in Q4 2020 for as far as I know.  So I assume there must be an additional source of information that I am missing and I'm very curious what that is.

Thanks, Carl

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, wwwmwww said:

For how brief a period?  Where are you getting this news?  Is there a newsletter they are sending out or something?  Just looking at that link I see no way to tell.  This could be the price for all pre-orders made before they start shipping in Q4 2020 for as far as I know.  So I assume there must be an additional source of information that I am missing and I'm very curious what that is.

Thanks, Carl

The special price ends August 16th.

https://news.toyark.com/2019/07/17/special-price-for-the-star-trek-uss-enterprise-ncc-1701-d-scaled-replica-by-chronicle-collectibles-352253

Edited by Mommar
Posted

You know....(looks over at Master Replicas Lightsabers).....IF I sold my one and only Signature Hamill Ver.2 ROTJ 1:1 saber...I could get that Enterprise D AND something else..... NO!! Stop thinking like that! Star Wars IS or WAS better than Star Trek......But but but Jean Luc is saying.."Make it so"....:help::help:

Posted
3 hours ago, derex3592 said:

You know....(looks over at Master Replicas Lightsabers).....IF I sold my one and only Signature Hamill Ver.2 ROTJ 1:1 saber...I could get that Enterprise D AND something else..... NO!! Stop thinking like that! Star Wars IS or WAS better than Star Trek......But but but Jean Luc is saying.."Make it so"....:help::help:

I have a hard time arguing for one over the other at this point.. they seem to be circling opposite sides of the same drain. :p 

I'll say this much.. Star Wars kits are much easier to do a nice job on than Star Trek ones.  You can get by with simple details, but Trek kits are just insanely labor intensive to detail properly.

I think we've derailed this into entirely different hobbies at this point though. :lol:  Are there any upcoming releases in the Eaglemoss line?

Posted

The Thunderchild was supposed to be released in April and now I’m seeing July.  So who knows?  I’m still wondering why my goofy four nacelle Excelsior hasn’t shipped yet. 

Posted
On ‎7‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 11:52 AM, Chronocidal said:

As far as the pylon replacement goes, there was a rather large reason for it, because the Nemesis upgrade included a new set of phaser strips both top and bottom along the aft edge of them, giving the ship roughly the same phaser coverage as the Galaxy class. 

I don't buy that adding some very small phaser strips right at their edge, required completely new pylons.  Maybe if they were changing the pylons anyways, they could have taken the opportunity to add phasers to the design.  But not vice-versa. 

Posted
23 hours ago, Lolicon said:

 

It is a decent representation of the gold deflector when she's in spacedock. :)

Yeah, a LOT of people miss that the Refit Constitution has kind of a 2-stage deflector "light-up-sequence"---it glows dim yellow for a second, then "brightens up into a blue".  

Posted
11 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

Yeah, a LOT of people miss that the Refit Constitution has kind of a 2-stage deflector "light-up-sequence"---it glows dim yellow for a second, then "brightens up into a blue".  

IIRC, it was originally going to be a warp/impulse thing in TMP (along with the pearlescent paint scheme) but they kinda forgot and just went with blue from then on (II mostly used re-used footage since Paramount was mind bogglingly cheap in those days) and much brighter camera angles (and bad mattes in III).

Posted

The Enterprise looked best in TMP. Too bad the movie was a snooze.

Later movies matted over the beautiful pearl finish, kept the deflector always blue, and didn't bother lighting the nacelles at all.

Posted

What always baffled me was that the Diamond Select TWOK issue 1701 painted the deflector black.  That particular one definitely kept the pearly sheen in the plastic and paint, but that thing had all sorts of weird lighting issues. 

Funny enough, the black deflector dish actually worked fairly well to give it a dim glow, not unlike the initial power-up sequence in TMP.  It was just that, because the plastic was so bright and transparent, the entire front half of the engineering hull glowed, as well as most of the saucer.  The black deflector was probably the dimmest part of the whole ship. :p 

Posted
12 hours ago, ErikElvis said:

I’m tempted by the payment plan for that D. 

Yeah me too. I'm considering ordering it and worrying about the payments later.

Posted
13 hours ago, ErikElvis said:

I’m tempted by the payment plan for that D. 

 

1 hour ago, Sandman said:

Yeah me too. I'm considering ordering it and worrying about the payments later.

giphy.gif

:D

Posted (edited)

Tangentially related note.. I'd been waiting til the ST:VI version of the Diamond Select refit reached a tolerable price point before grabbing one.. not sure I exactly regret buying it, but it's going to need work.  Probably a significant amount of repainting and touch-ups. 

These have only gotten more and more sloppy as time went on, and while I'm glad I got the ones I did, they really just don't have any kind of quality control.  At best you're getting a pre-assembled model that will need clean-up and disassembly to fix the mess they make of it. :sad: 

Sadly sounds a lot like the spotty results the Eaglemoss releases have, honestly.  Guess that's just the state of the market for Trek merchandise now.

Edited by Chronocidal
Posted (edited)

The Chronicle Collectibles replica of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D prompted me to do a little digging and see what other replicas were out there and I came across one I wasn't aware of before, the QMX U.S.S. Enterprise D Artisan Replica.  This was a 1:850 scale model and measured 29.5 inches long x 22 inches wide and sold for $9,995 back in 2012/2013.  Ouch... 

 

Here are some links where you can read more:

https://qmxonline.com/blogs/news/13844237-behind-the-scenes-our-model-shop

https://www.geekalerts.com/star-trek-the-next-generation-enterprise-d-artisan-replica/

https://qmxonline.com/products/creating-the-u-s-s-enterprise-d-artisan-replica

http://collider.com/qmx-star-trek-next-generation-enterprise-replica/

This was a limited production run of 50 models but honestly I can only find references to #0001 and #0002 here:

http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=48714

Here is one of the better pictures I've found.  And is it just me or does the aztecing seem off/odd?  I don't remember the copper and brown colors in the aztecing at all, only shades of blueish gray.  I'm curious what others think of this replica and I'm also curious if anyone has seen any indication that there are more then 2 of these out there.  

Its crazy price tag almost makes the $1701 for the Chronicle Collectibles replica look acceptable and from what I can tell I think they did a better job on the aztecing.  I hope that is the correct term for the aztec pattern used in the paint job.

 

Thanks,

Carl

QMX_USS_Enterprise-D.png

Edited by wwwmwww
Posted

I don't recall any other colors in the aztec pattern either, hmmmn.   Also---are the markings on the front half of the pylons engraved?  They're either WAY too deep or painted with contrasting accent lines or something.   There's no grooves on the pylons, the whole hull is pretty smooth on the D, any raised or depressed detail is subtle.  

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