Jay K

Alteran, those pictures are amazing, and more than prove the point. Your sentiments regarding the jumbos being the 5" models blown up in size also nails it.

I'll tell you the main reason I don't like the jumbo-D: It's based off of the 'These Are The Voyages...' CG version, which is as bad in my opinion as the 'Valiant' version of the Defiant.

To further Razorgeist's comment, I'd love to see a jumbo-Grissom added to that list of non-hero ships!

One thing that Ben mentioned ages ago, was the possibility of a D with saucer separation. I don't know what became of that idea, but I'd certainly be down for a larger-sized Prometheus that could split into three (or be held together magnetically).

The latest DST NX wipes the floor with that jumbo Eaglemoss one, not even close.

First painted prototype of a future special issue:

Hi-res: https://pbs.twimg.co...AA6N0e.jpg:orig

Mouth-watering.

The jumbo ships are the biggest letdown in this collection so far. I was expecting updated sculpts where need be (Enterprise-D having correctly shuttlebays and main impulse engine for instance), and near-flawless detail.

I really wish Ben would back off from his stance of having indents AND tamps applied (just remove the indents - the flatter the surface the better when it comes to the Federation ships).

If anyone's interested, I watched this yesterday whilst playing Elite - a comparison of every major Enterprise-D model made (Corgi, Eaglemoss, Aoshima and DST):

Eaglemoss have nice colours (I'd prefer a hint more of duck-egg blue), but that's about it. Comparing it to the 2006 Corgi version, which was only £9.99, well...

Another tweet, another ship: USS Chekov!

Springfield class, from the debris of Wolf 359 - gorgeous!

Shocking that no one has made a nice gif of this yet:

Work Bee has a fully modelled interior (console and seat):

Hi-res: https://pbs.twimg.co...AAgk04.jpg:orig

Any of these ships would make me over the moon:

Klingons:
K't'inga, Vor'cha (D7's lovely, but I'd much rather have the K't'inga to be honest).

Romulans:
Anything. Warbird, Valdore, Enterprise-era Bird of Prey, Scout ship, Vreenak's shuttle, just make them all.

Cardassians:
Galor.

Any other ship/species I haven't listed, is because the likelihood of them being made is less than 0.001%, with one exception...

The Borg. They're probably TNG's most famous adversary, so I'd say the chances of DST making one of their ships is quite high (especially to go with the figures), but the truth is, I really don't want a black shape on my desk. I bought the Eaglemoss Sphere (back when I was being a completionist), and it's all right, but I still see it as just a ball. It's not even fun to play with! They're great on screen, where they look imposing, gigantic, alien and completely scary, but it doesn't translate well to models of 12 inches or less.

Riker's showing off his holodeck programs.

Yeah Hobs, I'd say Ben's definitely heard people want the space stations, so even though it isn't announced yet, I'd say Spacedock is a future definite.

Alien is the only other 'universe' I love as much as Star Trek. They're polar opposites, but equally gorgeous, and vast. My favourites are Alien and Alien 3's assembly cut (the cast makes Alien 3 for me, love them all too much - the actors that is!), followed by Aliens.

Resurrection I put into a different category, the same one as AvP and AvP Requiem - jokey/comic-book-come-real. I don't mind watching them, but I freely admit they're generally awful.

Then we come to Prometheus and Covenant. My opinions on both can be summed up quite easily:

I find the crews to be too unrealistic. Alien and Aliens had actors who perfectly fit the bill for their roles, and wrote them incredibly well, and dare I say it, for adults - not teenagers (same for Alien 3 but they were prisoners, and I'm comparing ship crews here). Prometheus had some decent characters, and some characters that felt more caricature-y than they should've been. However, if they were written to be believable, there'd be no problem for me. Covenant's crew just didn't do it for me though. In no way did they feel like what I'd expect the crew of humanity's first deep-space colonisation vessel to be like. If it were a tug like the Nostromo? Maybe. But they just didn't feel real in that way.

Idris Elba and his two guys were a great exception to this in Prometheus though, they were brilliant (him and the two pilots of the Prometheus I mean).

Both films excel in one area, and that's beauty. I could watch them again and again for this reason, and it's the only real connection to the earlier films. Although nothing will top Ron Cobb and Syd Mead's designs overall, these do an amazing job of bringing the feel of those designs up to modern day standards. That being said, I much prefer Alien: Isolation's art style to these two films.

The saviour of both films - Michael Fassbender. Ash and Bishop have definitely met someone who's an equal to how great they were, with David and now Walter.

I could very easily accept these films into the Alien canon no problem, but that depends on one thing from Covenant:

Their scores are both amazing as well, even if Covenant's is almost a re-use of Jerry Goldsmith's Alien work! The main theme from Prometheus by Harry Gregson-Williams is something I still hum to myself from time to time:

The Neomorphs are a great addition to the series, and would be a quite believable penultimate step, before the Xenomorphs were brought into existence.

Basically, these two are to Alien/Aliens/Alien 3, what JJ nu-trek is to the Star Trek I grew up on. However...they're my guilty pleasure in that way, and I still love them. The writing may be dumb in some places, but Michael Fassbender is in them they're not as radically different from the originals as the Kelvin-verse films are from old Trek.

As a random aside, if you both (or indeed anyone else) haven't played Alien: Isolation, I'd strongly suggest you do. Never before has a game captured the look, feel and quality of its source material so well.

Alteran: I completely understand what you mean. That, and the fact that it doesn't look truly scaled up, but rather like the regular version blown up to that size (the saucer's rim looks noticeably thicker than it should be).

DJC: I agree, fingers crossed. Still can't wait to get it. 

Also, I know it's the Executive shuttle with refit nacelles attached at the sides, but I really love the Jenolan. I place it in the same category as the Grissom and Defiant - oddities, but I love them.

Just regarding ships alone, that makes me happy.

I know a lot of people want them to keep making ships but If they have lost the license completely then I say good riddance. They have been treating the license and fans horrible the last few years. Hardly any real releases. No info on anything. Nothing but excuses and delays.

I really want the Reliant, and I'd love a Defiant (which to be honest, probably would've been their next ship), but I completely agree with you; especially regarding the way Zach (let's be honest, it was only him) treated the fans. Sarcastic was/is the minimal level of arse that guy can be, and yet he was treated as if he himself was the one making the models, with nothing but a few slabs of rock and a chisel.

Samuel Cockings (British guy from Trekyards) has said it's absolutely not the Discovery coming through the clouds (it's the wiremesh ship from the preview trailer - the Shenzhou).

I posted a picture of the Discovery earlier, which is taken from the newly unveiled key art:

If you look closely, comparing it with the original version, you can see the huge differences at the back (nacelles mainly). The same Trekyards guy (Sam) said it's about 70% the same ship we saw, which this image would confirm.