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USS Enterprise A


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#21 Bryan

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Posted 21 July 2013 - 07:00 AM

I'm not really into the "battle damaged" look. That's probably why I passed on the WoK ship. But the A definitely looks like the one for me!

#22 benlurkin

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Posted 21 July 2013 - 03:43 PM

A couple new pictures via Toyark.com:

 

SDCC-2013-DST-Star-Trek-002.jpg

 

 

SDCC-2013-DST-Star-Trek-004.jpg

 

I'm liking the look of that paint job.



#23 Alteran195

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Posted 21 July 2013 - 06:45 PM

It looks good other than the saucer seams.

#24 BadBunnyMike

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Posted 21 July 2013 - 11:28 PM

I was just gonna say that side shot makes her look really good, and I like the paint on her too



#25 Guest_1701_*

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 03:43 AM

Isn't this though the prototype from the first Art Asylum release back in 2003? Or is this a new prototype made by DST this year?



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Posted 22 July 2013 - 03:49 AM

98.jpg

 

This was the paint master for Art Asylum's A back in 2003



#27 DSTZach

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 07:07 AM

I made that Facebook comment because I don't think people realize how much work goes into each ship, and how many we have to make to make it worth doing.

We JUST released two new ships. I know we've been sitting on them for a while, but the long production hiatus on the line was beyond our control. And the Excelsior is a new ship, technically, and it has new sculpted parts.

We're working on a completely new ship, but expect to see a couple more reissues and more variations on existing ships before we solicit it.

#28 Guest_1701_*

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 07:30 AM

Zach thanks for taking the time out of what must be a very busy weekend for DST.

 

The fan inside me doesn't really care how long it takes for you to make one (why should it?) but I don't think anyone is under the illusion that these things take 5 minutes to make. I think what people would have loved to have seen is an announcement of some kind on what the new ship is going to be... a cutout of a screen shot from trekcore.com of what the next ship is would have been cool and got me (and I'm sure many others) excited about owning it. 

 

But I've always thought of the Excelsior being a new ship anyway and I'm sure wasn't shown because it's going through production in China.

 

Few questions on the A though... 

 

Will she have new Sound FX taken from The Undiscovered Country/Final Frontier/The Voyage Home

 

Will she be made from the new plastic you've made the Enterprise B out of and NOT the crappy translucent stuff you've made the Wrath of Khan Enterprise out of

 

If no change in plastic can be made, will she at least not bleed light like some kind of night light and more to the point, can she not allow light from external sources pass through her making her look like a cheap pound land toy. 



#29 DSTZach

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 12:32 PM

There will be new FX, yes. Not sure if we ever established material or mold thickness as the culprit on the TWoK, but I'm leaning toward the latter. As far as I know, we are not using "cheap plastic," if translucency is in fact a function of price. And the fact that we couldn't change it makes me think it involved cutting steel.

As far as announcing new ships at the con, we did. The A is pretty much a new shIP. If you were looking for a completely new CLASS of ship, sorry. It's not the next one, and it's not the one after that, and it's not ready. So all it would so is distract from more imminent releases and disappoint people who haven't even seen how it looks.

#30 Redshirt#7

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 02:03 PM

There will be new FX, yes. Not sure if we ever established material or mold thickness as the culprit on the TWoK, but I'm leaning toward the latter. As far as I know, we are not using "cheap plastic," if translucency is in fact a function of price. And the fact that we couldn't change it makes me think it involved cutting steel.

As far as announcing new ships at the con, we did. The A is pretty much a new shIP. If you were looking for a completely new CLASS of ship, sorry. It's not the next one, and it's not the one after that, and it's not ready. So all it would so is distract from more imminent releases and disappoint people who haven't even seen how it looks.

 

 Let me guess, Excelsior, Landing gear BOP, and the Reliant or (I desperately hope) a Defiant?

Or are you going to do a Constitution Constellation with damage from the Doomsday Machine, or a translucent TOS Defiant from the Tholian Web?



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Posted 22 July 2013 - 02:12 PM

There will be new FX, yes. Not sure if we ever established material or mold thickness as the culprit on the TWoK, but I'm leaning toward the latter. As far as I know, we are not using "cheap plastic," if translucency is in fact a function of price. And the fact that we couldn't change it makes me think it involved cutting steel.

As far as announcing new ships at the con, we did. The A is pretty much a new shIP. If you were looking for a completely new CLASS of ship, sorry. It's not the next one, and it's not the one after that, and it's not ready. So all it would so is distract from more imminent releases and disappoint people who haven't even seen how it looks.

 

Brilliant to know there will be new FX and it would be awesome to know how you make these ships! I didn't realise it was the mold. Is that due to the age of the mold (I'm assuming it's the same one used to create the very first Enterprise A back in 2003) or just because when Art Asylum used it they created it differently to how you made the mold for the D, BoP and B?

 

Either way if there is something you can do to stop the plastic being translucent then that would be really great.



#32 benlurkin

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 02:53 PM

First of all let me add my thanks to Zach for taking the time to address our questions here.

 

Now back to the wild speculations we all love so much....  :D

 

It's interesting to think that perhaps the mold itself could only be wide enough to handle a certain plastic thickness.  That would seriously limit what could be done reusing the same ones.  I guess at a certain point adding a millimeter or two to the plastic thickness would make the existing molds nearly useless, so in order to use the, let's call it the '2013 quality plastic', it might require doing new molds and thereby making the end resulting ship slightly larger (by those pesky mere millimeters of plastic).  That's actually a really interesting problem to say nothing of the risk/reward issue (I'd imagine that 'starting over' production-wise can't be cheap). 



#33 Qcjoe

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 06:34 PM

I made that Facebook comment because I don't think people realize how much work goes into each ship, and how many we have to make to make it worth doing.

We JUST released two new ships. I know we've been sitting on them for a while, but the long production hiatus on the line was beyond our control. And the Excelsior is a new ship, technically, and it has new sculpted parts.

We're working on a completely new ship, but expect to see a couple more reissues and more variations on existing ships before we solicit it.

I think we all understand that reissues need to be sold to make a profit.  I just dont understand how showing little teases isnt possible?  When some of us say new ships we mean new molds.

When we see some thing new we know that its going to be a year out so it keeps the fire going for something we love.  Also with no new media coming out for a while I dont know how it hurts.



#34 DSTZach

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 09:11 PM

Showing little teases IS possible, it's just not beneficial to anybody. If our word that we're making new ships isn't enough, I'm sorry. We've announced our next two releases, any more and we start potentially affecting sales of more imminent product.

 

And when I said we just released two new ships, i meant the B and the BoP. They came out right on top of each other, and that wasnt very long ago, in the grand scheme of things. Chuck has said he'd like to put out two a year, and that labor-intensive re-issues were included.

 

As far as the TWoK/A goes, assuming that is in fact the issue, I don't believe there is anyway to thicken plastic if the molding is too thin. Each mold has two halves, and I would think that modifying them in any way to allow more plastic between them would be at best costly, and at worst impossible, as it might throw off connection points and limit the space inside the ship for electronics.



#35 Guest_1701_*

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Posted 23 July 2013 - 01:50 AM

Zach I dunno if this is possible but do you reckon you could get a photo of one of your Star Trek ship molds? I'd love to see how it looks!!



#36 Commodore Kor'Tar

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Posted 23 July 2013 - 01:53 AM

Can you please see if there is a way to coat the inside of the hull with some white light blocking paint in the factory? I'd like to see the Enterprise-A with an opaque hull without trying to take it apart and risk damaging it.



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Posted 23 July 2013 - 02:36 AM

I'm still holding out that because of the matte finish on the Enterprise A DST will paint it anyway which will block out at least the translucence of the plastic..

 

We'll see I guess. Hopefully Will Decker and Prometheus will do another one of their reviews :)

 

Come to think of it the first Art Asylum Enterprise A never had the issue of external light passing though it or translucent plastic issues. There was slight light bleed from the interior lighting which is to be expected so did DST change the plastic for the WoK Enterprise which wasn't as good or due to the pearlescent effect on the plastic made it translucent?



#38 Destructor!!!

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 07:43 PM

Hey Zach, I hope you had a blast at SDCC!

 

I'd just like to point out that the *original* release of the TWOK Enterprise, the 2007 edition, which I got for Christmas in 2007, was markedly less translucent than the latest releases of the mold. It was still a problem, but it was minor by comparison. If that helps in selecting materials for the A, then all the better. I'd like to chime in and say that the paint job, particularly the talcum-powder white, is spot-on - and don't let anyone near those grid lines with a sharpie!

 

Your reasoning behind not teasing the next ship makes sense to me. That said, the only ship that has not been denied by yourself or Chuck, directly, sweepingly, or indirectly, to be in production is the Defiant from DS9, so I'm fairly sure that's the next unannounced original sculpt. So, I now bestow upon you the opportunity to deny the Defiant without later recriminations by me when it's revealed :P

 

I approve of the Defiant, it's badass.

 

Do you have any preliminary sales data back for the BOP? I've heard numerous sources say that it was selling like hot-cakes... I hope that is true! I'd dearly love to see a K'tinga/D7 down the line.



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Posted 24 July 2013 - 08:22 PM

Hey Zach, I hope you had a blast at SDCC!

 

I'd just like to point out that the *original* release of the TWOK Enterprise, the 2007 edition, which I got for Christmas in 2007, was markedly less translucent than the latest releases of the mold. It was still a problem, but it was minor by comparison.

 

The Enterprise A from Art Asylum back in 2003 wasn't translucent at all. DST's original release and subsequent releases of the TWOK Enterprise have used the same mold too so I would say that it's either the age of the mold or the type of plastic used because why would AA's Enterprise A not be translucent unless they painted the insides?

 

Anyone ever take apart the original AA 2003 Enterprise A?



#40 RizzoPSU

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 01:02 AM

It wasn't translucent, but it also never had led lights.... they were the old rice bulbs.




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