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Playmates Engineering playset problem


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#1 madmartigan37

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Posted 14 September 2010 - 04:04 AM

I picked up a Playmates engineering playset from the Generations line but cannot get the sound effects to work. I did replace the batteries and there is no corrosion in the battery compartment. Can anyone help with this? I looked for a on/off switch but could not find one, hopefully it is just something simple, but either way it is a killer display piece.

Thanks for any help

#2 VulcanFanatic

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Posted 14 September 2010 - 05:53 AM

QUOTE (madmartigan37 @ Sep 14 2010, 06:04 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I picked up a Playmates engineering playset from the Generations line but cannot get the sound effects to work. I did replace the batteries and there is no corrosion in the battery compartment. Can anyone help with this? I looked for a on/off switch but could not find one, hopefully it is just something simple, but either way it is a killer display piece.

Thanks for any help

Mine is packed away right now, but i am pretty sure there is a "off/on" switch on the set. Check around the area where the sound effect button is, if it is not there, check on the warp core reactor housing. I cant remember right off which area the switch is , but there should be one there at one of them.

#3 madmartigan37

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Posted 14 September 2010 - 07:13 AM

Great got it thanks for the help , for anyone else this switch is located underneath the control panel that has the buttons on it.

#4 Alex

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Posted 11 October 2010 - 01:57 PM

QUOTE (madmartigan37 @ Sep 14 2010, 07:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Great got it thanks for the help , for anyone else this switch is located underneath the control panel that has the buttons on it.


Also, there should be an "engineering tool" that allows you to "prevent" the warp core breach by pushing it into the top of the console near the buttons; this effectively turns the aforementioned switch "off." If you don't have the "tool," from the Playset, I believe that it also came with Geordi at one point from the standard TNG line. Mine is probably in my bag full of old 4.5" Trek stuff. The engineering playset was a great toy, and it's really a shame that nobody is making playsets like that anymore. If memory serves me correctly, there was talk of a ready-room playset at one point, as well as a turbolift that would connect to the bridge much the way engineering did.

#5 Juan Martinez

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Posted 14 October 2010 - 07:04 PM

QUOTE (Alex @ Oct 11 2010, 03:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Also, there should be an "engineering tool" that allows you to "prevent" the warp core breach by pushing it into the top of the console near the buttons; this effectively turns the aforementioned switch "off." If you don't have the "tool," from the Playset, I believe that it also came with Geordi at one point from the standard TNG line. Mine is probably in my bag full of old 4.5" Trek stuff. The engineering playset was a great toy, and it's really a shame that nobody is making playsets like that anymore. If memory serves me correctly, there was talk of a ready-room playset at one point, as well as a turbolift that would connect to the bridge much the way engineering did.


Wow, I never new they had planned any addon's for the bridge playset, other than the piece to put the enginnering playset on. I knew it was possible due to way it was made to have adaptors. Even the ready room could have snapped into place. Did they ever make any prototypes or plans drawn up?

#6 Alex

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Posted 30 October 2010 - 02:09 PM

QUOTE (Juan Martinez @ Oct 14 2010, 08:04 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Wow, I never new they had planned any addon's for the bridge playset, other than the piece to put the enginnering playset on. I knew it was possible due to way it was made to have adaptors. Even the ready room could have snapped into place. Did they ever make any prototypes or plans drawn up?

I want to say that the ready-room made it to the prototype stage, because I seem to remember a picture of it along with an additional "sliding" door that would snap onto the front-left of the bridge. If memory serves me correctly, it might have been missing a wall or two, but I could have sworn that there was a picture of it somewhere, I just can't remember where; I don't believe that we ever saw a picture of the turbolift though.

From what I remember, Playmates seemed to have a couple of different ideas for how they might handle the turbolift. One of the ideas that I remember hearing about was just a simple turbolift add-on; the figures could enter or exit the bridge from the turbolift, and supposedly it'd have a turbolift sound effect and lights that would simulate the lift "moving" the way that it did in TNG. Another variation of this was giving the lift a "cover" that would function as a ceiling. The ceiling/cover would have a piece in the center that could be popped off, simulating access to a turboshaft. (I don't believe there were any plans to include the actual shaft though.) The idea was likely based on the episode Disaster where Picard and some children escape from a non-functional lift using the aforementioned technique. The last mention of the turbolift toy that I remember actually sounded the most ambitious, but also the most fun. The lift would have its own door that would somehow either work in tandem with the "sliding" bridge door. Once inside of the lift, a dial/gear of some sort would be used to turn it, which would activate the sound effect. I believe that the light was to be replaced with a decal that would change as the lift turned, simulating the "moving" turbolift from TNG. The cool part about this design was that it would supposedly have either three or four additional doors on it. The idea was that you could "stop" the lift at each door, and potentially add on other yet-to-be-announced playsets. Supposedly if the turbolift sold well, Playmates was thinking of a "corridor" playset that would accompany other playsets, and could potentially be bookended by another lift. The idea was to essentially allow for the creation of "unlimited playsets," for lack of a better term. Whether or not Playmates would be able to create enough unique playsets to justify the additional corridor and lift sales is obviously debatable.

I have no idea why, pardon the pun, the turbolift never really got off of the ground though; it seemed like a cool toy. Maybe Playmates couldn't figure out what they wanted to do with it, or how to actually handle it, but for some reason it was never released. I seem to remember either "Communicator" or its predecessor, "The Official Fan-Club Magazine" mentioning that the lift would be compatible with both of the "sliding" doors on the ship, that the left "dummy door" would be replaced with a functional door as part of the ready-room playset, and that the Engineering Playset from "the upcoming movie" (Generations didn't have a name at the time,) would come with an additional "dummy door" replacement for the other side of the bridge, where it would ultimately connect. For reasons unknown to me, the ready room was canceled first, and I seem to remember one photo that replaced the proposed ready-room set with the proposed Engineering set, leading me to believe that we'd at least lose the left "dummy door," and I was actually somewhat surprised when the actual playset was revealed and the instructions showed it connected to the rear-left "sliding" door. (I should point out that I'm referring to the left and right of the bridge from the position of the Captain's Chair.) Remember, as a kid, I was expecting a turbolift to connect to that door. (Obviously the turbolift was never released.) I remember getting my Engineering playset and thinking "this is great, but where's the replacement door for the front of the bridge?" My hope had been that I could use the same replacement door on either side of the front of the bridge, and then convince/beg my parents to buy a second Engineering playset so I could have four functional doors; my brother and I had already figured out that the two sliding doors and the two "dummy doors" were interchangeable, and I was hoping that the new sliding door would have been as well. (It probably would have if it had been released.)

I want to say that at one point the ready-room turned into "the conference room," but don't quote me on that. The two additional sets that really stick out in my mind were the ready-room and the turbolift. I want to say that the conference room might have been a proposed replacement for the ready room, but by the time it was mentioned, Playmates was starting to have problems with the line, the 1701 mess was right around the corner, and "more important" projects like the U.S.S. Defiant had already been delayed for a significant amount of time. I don't think Playmates ever took the corridor concept that seriously; it was mentioned in passing as part of a reference to the Turbolift playset as a potential add-on that could connect to it. I'm sure parents weren't too happy with the idea of a playset that could potentially allow for "unlimited playsets," and that probably sank any remote chance of the corridor being released. The turbolift itself was already going to offer access to additional playsets, so the corridor concept was probably viewed as redundant. If I ever find a picture of the ready-room Playset, I'll be sure to scan it.

#7 Commodore Kor'Tar

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Posted 30 October 2010 - 03:46 PM

This post on Nostalgic G's blog has concept drawings of the Bridge w/ turbolift and the Transporter playsets.

http://nostalgic-g.b...acy-part-2.html

#8 Alex

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Posted 30 October 2010 - 09:55 PM

Wow, I remember that first ad, Commodore Kor'Tar; I think I saw it for the first time shortly after I received my first ship, (the Playmates 1701-D,) although I have no idea where I saw it. I don't believe I've seen this particular bridge sketch before, but it's a nice glimpse into the early concept for the Ent-D bridge.

A common argument against playsets used by both DST and Playmates (and pretty much every other toy company including Hasbro*) for not making playsets anymore is that "playsets don't sell." Wrong, bad/poorly produced playsets don't sell; fun playsets are more then welcome, and admittedly in short supply these days. The new bridge "playset" wasn't a playset at all, it was an overpriced mat with a few parts of a bridge, that worked on a "Poke'figure" system (you had to purchase them all, including ones that were never released or use duplicates in their place) in order to be completed. The Ent-D set didn't suffer from the "Poke'figure" issue and was fun, and "complete" when you bought it or a relative gave it to you as gift. Hasbro uses the "Playsets don't sell" excuse too, but even they've turned out a few good ones recently that have sold; the 2009 Millennium Falcon update is proof that good playsets can be created and sold, even by companies that seem to insist that they can't.

*I realize that the Falcon may be a bit of an exception, but there are other SW sets that have sold well from Hasbro, so this excuse is wearing thin for them.

It'd be nice if NFCC could get permission to add some of the Nostalgic G stuff to the guide with the concepts in it; the bridge sketch would be perfect to add to the guide on NFCC if Rick could get permission to do so. smile.gif

#9 Fat Valentino

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Posted 02 November 2010 - 01:51 AM

I went to IKEA this week, and was amazed with some of their wonderfully engineered, very useful plastic items. These are substantial pieces that ship perfectly flat and snap together to form intricate domes and cylinders. Whoever has the license next should hire some swedish plastics engineers to make a four foot long, snap together (and snap apart again, for storage) NCC-1701 Enterprise ship, maybe cast in a light grey and with a variety of little holes to snap control panels, viewscreens, yellow ladders, and turbolift door into: Wherever a child might think they should go. I bought a 10 x 24 inch domed plastic bag holder for the whopping sum of two dollars, so I'm sure an Enterprise could make good business sense at retail for thirty or forty times that.


I love playsets, and really wish that Playmates had made even a cheap shuttlecraft shaped carrying case for their Star Trek line.


#10 Juan Martinez

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Posted 28 November 2010 - 02:40 PM

QUOTE (Fat Valentino @ Nov 2 2010, 02:51 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I went to IKEA this week, and was amazed with some of their wonderfully engineered, very useful plastic items. These are substantial pieces that ship perfectly flat and snap together to form intricate domes and cylinders. Whoever has the license next should hire some swedish plastics engineers to make a four foot long, snap together (and snap apart again, for storage) NCC-1701 Enterprise ship, maybe cast in a light grey and with a variety of little holes to snap control panels, viewscreens, yellow ladders, and turbolift door into: Wherever a child might think they should go. I bought a 10 x 24 inch domed plastic bag holder for the whopping sum of two dollars, so I'm sure an Enterprise could make good business sense at retail for thirty or forty times that.


I love playsets, and really wish that Playmates had made even a cheap shuttlecraft shaped carrying case for their Star Trek line.


Got any pics? I need to go to my local Ikea, about 2 1/2 hours away at some point.

#11 Fat Valentino

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Posted 29 November 2010 - 12:34 PM

QUOTE (Juan Martinez @ Nov 28 2010, 02:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Got any pics? I need to go to my local Ikea, about 2 1/2 hours away at some point.


Check out the kid's section for cool dome lamps, and the kitchen section for plastic bag holders...

#12 OneLittleSpaceman

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Posted 25 August 2015 - 10:08 PM

Potentially naive question, but how does the engineering playset attach to the Bridge playset? 



#13 Morgan

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Posted 26 August 2015 - 01:58 PM

Don't forget the DS9 Ops playset -- that was announced loud and clear in 1993 I think. That could have been a cool one of they did it properly, though the Runabout was a bit of a compromise.






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