181 replies to this topic

[Alteran195]

Just from looks, I see more differences between the Excelsior and Enterprise B than I do between the D7 and K'Tinga. The K'Tinga just looks a lot more detailed. 

[luclin999]

The K'Tinga would probably make the most sense from a marketing standpoint as the ship's screen use spans from the first TOS movie all the way to the last episode of DS9.

[Razorgeist]

The K'Tinga would probably make the most sense from a marketing standpoint as the ship's screen use spans from the first TOS movie all the way to the last episode of DS9.

 

It was also used on Voyager too.  Though it was misidentified as a D7.  Then it was incorrectly used on Enterprise in its 1st season.

[Reign1701A]

There are very significant differences between the D7 and K'Tinga. You could have a "Trials and Tribblations" variant though, which is a D7 with some K'Tinga like patterning. Sort of analogous to an TOS E with Aztec paneling.

[Reign1701A]

Or a TMP K'Tinga with a Kronos 1 variant.

[mars396]

D7 Klingon Battlecruiser

Romulan Battlecruiser

Trials and Tribble-ations D7 Klingon Battlecruiser

Cloaked D7 Klingon Battlecruiser

 

Motion Picture K’Tinga

Kronos One

 

Please take my money, DST!     At $50 each, that’s $300.00 just from me for that one mold (with added bits for T&T and K’Tinga)  I am so in love with this ship, that I would consider getting THREE K’Tingas to display in V’Ger Attack formation.

 

 

 

(I am going to buy a grand total of ONE Romulan Bird or Prey, so, again, the whole Bird of Prey decision is mind-boggling)

[DSTZach]

Saying that one ship looks nicer than another ship is entirely subjective.

 

Saying that TNG is more "popular" than TOS is probably not measurable, not on a global scale. I think you'd probably have a third contender in there now with nuTrek.

 

I would personally love for us to do a Borg Cube, and I think I have an idea on how to minimize tooling on it, but everyone is giving 2 dimensions on the Romulan Warbird and not factoring in the third dimension. The double wings add tooling and materials costs, and I do NOT have a solution for that.

[Jay K]

Just found the perfect gif to represent DST's refusal to make a K't'inga/D7:

Spoiler

 

[djc242]

That's great!  Where did you excavate that Jay K?

[Jay K]

 

Found it here on Treknobabble: https://www.reddit.c..._gone_daft_man/

 

Made me laugh when I noticed what ship it was!

[Razorgeist]

Everyone is giving 2 dimensions on the Romulan Warbird and not factoring in the third dimension. The double wings add tooling and materials costs, and I do NOT have a solution for that.

 

Cant argue with you there.  Though I for one would love to see you guys do one.

[Alex]

I would personally love for us to do a Borg Cube, and I think I have an idea on how to minimize tooling on it, but everyone is giving 2 dimensions on the Romulan Warbird and not factoring in the third dimension. The double wings add tooling and materials costs, and I do NOT have a solution for that.

You've got my money if you do a Borg Cube. (It's one of the few Playmates ships I never managed to get my hands on in the '90s.) As for the Romulan Warbird, how much more expensive are the double wings than, for example, the Klingon BoP's individual but massive wings? If the scaling is going to be comparable to the Playmates release, (which I actually believe is comparable to most of DST's ships,) would the tooling be significantly more expensive than a larger ship (e.g. the Enterprise–D) using a similar amount of materials? I'm admittedly curious about which aspect of the tooling drives up materials costs, hence the question. (Is it that the double wings are just larger individually than most areas of ships that DST has previously tooled, or is the volume of plastic actually higher than it would be on other DST releases?)

 

The Romulan Warbird has what appear to be completely symmetrical engines with no discernable "left" or "right" nacelles, would it be possible to cut costs there by tooling one "universal" nacelle for each side of the ship that could be attached to the double wings? (Unlike for example, the Enterprise–E where the nacelles have been tooled to be attached to specific pylons.)  While I haven't looked at it in detail recently, I'm not aware of any differences on each side of the front of a Romulan Warbird either, so would it be possible to effectively tool that part with one side as a mirror image of the other to shave off some of the manufacturing costs as well? (If there are any differences that I'm missing, could someone here please mention what they are?) The Romulan Warbird has always seemed like it could be tooled as a "ship with two saucer sections and no stardrive" to me, so I'm just wondering why that would raise the cost above that of a more traditional ship. Is it just the detail of those sections that's problematic, or is there volume of plastic just much higher than it appears to be for that particular design? If TNG's D'deridex is too complicated, what about NEM's Valdore–class that doesn't have a double wing design, and is more in line with the Klingon BoP? It'd be something that could compliment DST's Enterprise–E, and would still satisfy at least part of the craving for a post–TOS Romulan ship.

 

Cant argue with you there.  Though I for one would love to see you guys do one.

I'd love to see DST do one too. I'm trying to think of something that might let them reduce the plastic volume or the tooling costs, but I've only got what I've suggested above so far. If I come up with something better, I'll definitely share it though.

[ensignmelkor]

As I mentioned in the Romulan BoP thread, what about eliminating the lights and sound effects?

[DSTZach]

Yes, more plastic overall. But also, the tooling, the steel molds to make them, would be numerous. Even a flat piece needs two slabs of steel to cast it, and tooling is the biggest cost to overcome. No offense to the Warbird, but the D is a must-have for many Trek fans, and the AGT uses nearly all of that tooling, with minimal (but effective) add-ons. Not sure the D'deridex would be as sought-after, or have such a desirable variant.

Doubt we'd cut sounds or lights, but this is just me talking. Nothing is set in stone. Ask DST if you have specific questions.

Just saw a light-up Borg footstool announced, might be a cool alternative/placeholder to a DST cube.

[Alteran195]

How many toolings do most ship use Zach?

I'm also curious how the B and Excelsior toolings work since I don't see many assembly seams.

[DSTZach]

Not sure it's something you can quantify easily. I don't know that all tools are the same size, but the more surface area there is, the more steel needs to be worked. Pretty much every shape you see on a ship is made of two halves put together, and each half is injected between two pieces of metal. So two blocks for the saucer section, two for the nacelles, two for engineering... And the bigger they are, the more it costs. It's why re-using tooling is so necessary, and why you can't just make fewer of a ship that's less popular.

[Alteran195]

Just saw a light-up Borg footstool announced, might be a cool alternative/placeholder to a DST cube.

Good god you weren't joking... 

 

http://www.geekalert...trek-borg-cube/

[Whirlygig]

I think it's more down to the fact that the scale was determined by Playmates back in the 90's and seemed to be a very popular size to continue on with. The NX 01 is actually a pretty small ship and I guess making that ship smaller wouldn't have been feesable for electronics to be put inside her, the same issue may have been had if the original enterprise and its movie refit were done any smaller.

 

Hallmark has been making smaller ships and other sculpted Trek items (ornaments) for decades, often complete with lights and multiple voice bites, at a reasonable price point for collectors.  DST just has their way of doing things, and in the decision rooms their way is apparently the only way, hence where we are right now.  If they would innovate business/manufacturing models or take more risks they may have figured out by now a way to tap into the current Trek market that others (Eaglemoss, NECA/Wizkids, Hallmark, or even Funko) are continuing to cash in on.

 

Usually this is the part where someone suggests that their license only allows certain types or scales of items, but then I'm pretty sure Zach recently gave the impression that they can do whatever they want, so I don't know who to believe at this point.

[ensignmelkor]

I'm still kind of bewildered that DST can't afford to make one of the major alien ships from Trek in the Romulan Warbird. This isn't some obscure ship that was seen onscreen for a single episode, this is one of the most popular and continually featured ships on the most popular modern Trek series. This isn't an alien ship that most people have barely heard of and that would appeal only to a tiny section of fandom, it's the Romulan Warbird for God's sake, a major alien race ship--and if DST can't find a way to make it at a profit, then what exactly can they afford to make with this line? 

 

It's starting to feel like once we get Reliant, Defiant, Voyager and maybe a K'Tinga, everything else we see will just be variants, because nothing else will make sense by DST's math.   

[Jay K]

It's starting to feel like once we get Reliant, Defiant, Voyager and maybe a K'Tinga

 

In all likelihood, even this is being overly optimistic. :/

 

Also, I have to laugh at the suggestion that the Romulan Bird of Prey from TOS, was more sought after than the Warbird from TNG.