578 replies to this topic

[Zodou]

Posted on another forum by the guy that made the masters for DST.

[Jedigreedo]

Oh sweet, so looks like DST will probably be looking into releasing both versions of the Excelsior!

[Destructor!!!]

Suh-weeeet!

[QuePaso?]

It's BAAAAAAAAAAAACCCKK!

At a higher price point of course! But less than the KBoP

http://www.bigbadtoy...amp;mode=retail

[eti]

It's BAAAAAAAAAAAACCCKK!

At a higher price point of course! But less than the KBoP

http://www.bigbadtoy...amp;mode=retail

JUST ORDERED MINE AGAIN!!!! I am sooo excited!.
Now bring on the Excelsior for pre order

[Destructor!!!]

Here's the article 1701 mentioned, it's an album of poorly-shot photographs, but boy-howdy, is there some awesome stuff in there!






[EDITED TO FIX IMAGE LINKS]

Thanks for the heads-up, 1701, I'll be busy tonight with that gallery!

[Destructor!!!]

Another image found floating on the web.

[Prometheus]

Wow !!! They look amazing...... I can see the aztek on the top of the secondary hull's dorsal area ...but it's hard to tell if the entire ship is azteked. Any thoughts?

[Destructor!!!]

The saucer aztec of all versions of the studio model of the Excelsior class are more complex than even the Enterprise-E aztec:

THESE PICTURES DO NOT DEPICT THE TOYS!


So I wouldn't be surprised if they left the saucer blank-ish, with shading to imply aztecking.

On the other hand, most of those details would be too small to be picked out by the piss-poor photography on display in most of these shots.

So it's still up in the air, but I'm leaning towards "no aztec on the saucer".

[Kyp Durron]

I don't know, from those pictures of the two on display, it looks like there's something going on there...



-Kyp

[Alex]

The saucer aztec of all versions of the studio model of the Excelsior class are more complex than even the Enterprise-E aztec

Actually, the "NX–2000" model's Aztec pattern isn't as complex as that on the Enterprise–E; what makes it appear incredibly complex though is the weathering that was applied to the paint job. In contrast, the Enterprise–E usually looks like it's shiny and new, probably because it's effectively been rebuilt at the end of each film. The excessive Borg–ification in First Contact implied that major portions of the ship would likely need to be replaced, and that a visit to spacedock was most certainly in order. Insurrection ended with the ship losing not one, but two warp cores, and it looked like the engines (one of the few parts that didn't appear significantly Borg–ified a film earlier,) were in need of a replacement. We know that the ship did indeed receive a "space–lift" prior to Nemesis, and after the battle with Shinzon, we saw the ship beginning to undergo yet another refit/repair in spacedock. There simply wasn't any time for the big "E" to accumulate weathering between trips to Spacedock for new deflector dishes, warp cores and nacelles, and of course saucer sections among whatever other Spacely Sprockets* needed to be replaced. (*For those who don't get the in–joke, DS9's promenade had a "mall map" sign that listed a Spacely Sprockets store on the promenade in what would have normally been illegible text on a standard definition TV set.)

The Lakotaprise–B definitely has some ridiculously detailed Aztec paneling, but I doubt that DST could duplicate that in the 16" scale, or even in the 18" scale of the Enterprise–E. At most they might be able to etch something similar into the hull the way that they did for the Enterprise–D. As far as screen accurate weathering goes, it hasn't always worked out as intended on the toy; the "rust ring" on the HD 1701's saucer was originally criticized for making the ship appear inaccurate, even though it was always their on the filming model despite the fact that we never actually saw it in TOS because of the film quality. (A good portion of the detail on the Lakota was lost when the footage was transferred to SD videotape as well; if we ever see DS9–R, I wonder how much of that detail will be visible for the first time.)

So I wouldn't be surprised if they left the saucer blank-ish, with shading to imply aztecking.

I don't think that DST will leave the saucer completely blank, but I could certainly see shading or even light pattern etching being used to imply Aztec paneling. The Enterprise–D uses a significant amount of etching, and the effect works surprisingly well for that ship, although one drawback is that it does make painting accurate windows rather difficult. (The machines that handle the painting can't create straight lines that are as small as they need to be on a surface as rough as the Enterprise–D; the etching obscures this, but some really tiny detail—the kind we normally wouldn't see anyway—simply has to be omitted due to the size of the toy.)

EDIT: I completely forgot to mention that I'm looking forward to picking both Excelsior's up! (D'oh!) I'm waiting for them to go up for preorder on Newforce Comics though before I place my order. (I have items that aren't available through NFCC on preorder with BBTS, and I like to give both companies my business, so NFCC will be getting it for this particular set of ships.)

[Destructor!!!]

Doesn't look the B will have any aztec-ing?

picture from www.toynewsi.com

TNI pics don't hyperlink well. I found this one for you:


I see a few possibilities:
1. That photo looks horribly over-exposed, I've been shopping it to see if there is detail lost there, but the compression is so high that I'm not sure if I'm seeing Jpeg artefacts or aztec patterning.
2. That photo has been around since before SDCC - it was the one on the BBTS order page. The aztec detailing that is ghostly apparent on the SDCC shots may not have been added.
3. There isn't any aztec on that prototype, but the one at SDCC is different, or
4. They're the same, and they don't have aztec on the saucer.

I've enhanced the contrast on one of the SDCC images, and I think Kyp's right - there's definitely something there...

[Destructor!!!]

IIRC, 18 inches is the stated size, yes.

DST are giving away one of the prototypes to a charity gig. They posted up 3 photos of a completed "Enterprise B Unpainted T1 Prototype with stand":





Well, no modelled-in aztec, but that's not surprising, really. I don't think the saucer aztec is necessary when the overall sculpt looks so FRICKIN' BEAUTIFUL!

[Prometheus]

Wow !!! What a beautiful sight !!! YES !!! Can't wait

[slayerone76]

Newforce says this is ready for upload. I dunno what that means exactly, but sounds like it'll be up soon.