It's official. Polar Lights is doing Star Trek kits!
The first kit will be a 1/1000 scale snap model of the classic TV Enterprise. This will be about 11 inches long and will come with parts to build the Enterprise in one of three versions, as it shown durring the series or the two pilots.
The second kit will be a larger glue kit of the NX-01 in the 1/350th scale and measuring 24 inches.
Dave Metzner posted the following on the Polar Lights board:
"Ok, so the cat's out of the bag, a wee bit early! We are doing Star Trek kits. Our hope is to reach both the novice modeler and the experienced builder with two lines of Starships. We are, indeed, doing a 1:350th NX-01, we HOPE that this will be the first in a series of several Starships in that scale. These kits will be Skill level 2 or 3 and will be designed for the more experienced modeller. We are also planning a line of 1:1000 scale ships as well.
We gave cosideration to several scales for our smaller sized ships. Because many of these ships will be sold in the Mass market as well as to Hobby shops we needed to assure that the finished package would fit on the Mass Market store shelves. We found that 1:700 is too large we believe that 1:1400 is too small (we felt that detail would suffer too much in injection molded parts for kits that small) 1:1000 seemed to us to be an excellent compromise. These kits are targeted for the beginning modeler and the casual modeler, thus the Snap Kit architecture.
For you hard core Enterprise fans, we didn't entirely forget you. This little kit is planned as a "Three-In-One" kit, with parts and markings that allow it to be built as both of the pilot versions as well as the Series production ship (Yes there are three different versions of NCC-1701). We even hope to include markings for one or two other Constitution class ships as part of the package. The kit as planned,will also offer both stickers for the beginner and waterslide decals for the more experienced builder. If you just cannot build models without glue, this kit will be styrene plastic and you will be able to glue it together if you can't resist the overpowering urge.
Those of you who are inclined to look down on snap kits ought to look at Bandai Gundam kits, or even better yet, check-out our new Back to the Future Kit. Snap kits can be engineered to produce models of quality equal to most glue kits.
One other note for those of you who may feel we are doing some sort of disservice to the Star Trek legend with these little kits. We did take time to find a respected designer with experience dealing in Star Trek Ships. Thomas Sasser is doing all the design work for us on both of these kits. Box art for both kits is being done by Chris White.
*plans on completely redoing my collection of ships...*
Posted by Captain-class, Mike-variant (Member # 709) on :
I am very excited, but not enough to slap elderly people with my erection.
I want big models.
Posted by Eric Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Erh... doesn't take a great deal of "effort" to turn you on, does it?
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
For the record, the AMT Excelsior-class models ar 1/100, while the Constitution refit & Miranda ones are 1/537. A littel quick math will help with ideas.
Posted by Captain-class, Mike-variant (Member # 709) on :
i once knew a girl that suggesting doing something very wrong with a nacelle when i showed her the model. hows that for an idea?
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
I should hope you mean 1/1000, Shik. A 4.4 m Excelsior model might take up a bit too much room on one's desk, not to mention cause Mike's female friend some discomfort.
Posted by Magnus de Pym (Member # 239) on :
"something very wrong with a nacelle"
Positioning it in such a way that it doesn't have at least 50% direct line-of-sight to the other?
Posted by Captain-class, Mike-variant (Member # 709) on :
Bingo.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
WHile not related to Polar Lights, I must tell you of many new kits for my beloved 2500th scale (that's the same scale as the two 3 piece sets)from Ravenstar studios. A Chandley and Andor class figates from the old FASA game a Romulan "Bright One" (also a FASA design.) and a couple of his original designs too! these modes should be available in September some time.... Alliance has some kewel stuff coming up too and Nova has just released a Norway class in 1400th. ....all in all, it's a good time to be a Trek modeler. Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
quote:Originally posted by Captain-class, Mike-variant: i once knew a girl that suggesting doing something very wrong with a nacelle when i showed her the model. hows that for an idea?
What type and scale of nacelle? Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
This does seem very wrong... I like it, in a strange sort of way, but still... The imagery.... The 1/100 may be a bit much though...
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I raise my eyebrows to you, sir.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
MODELS!!!
*Does 'Tarzan' yell* *coughs up a lung*
At LAST!
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Oh, it's about damn time!
I experimented with a couple of resin models back in the spring. (No, not the kind of experimentation that Mike was talking about.) Although the quality in appearance was generally pretty good, I still prefer the styrene kits.
And despite the fact that the NX-01 doesn't quite fit the timeframe, you can bet that I'm going to get one of those. I'm glad to hear that someone's finally producing official kits again!
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Good thing you noted that... I was thinking that resin was a bit on the warm side...
Hot resin at a 1/100 scale nacelle... I knew a girl that wouldn't have been phased by that... From Au Gres, pretty enough, but her passion for 40 ounce beers bottles... Well, imagine it....
Posted by Cadet Sorak (Member # 874) on :
Hey, Mike, can you get me the email address of that girl you knew? She sounds fun! lol
Posted by EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
i definitely prefer styrene kits to most resin ones. it's a shame that there is so little quality consistancy, even from good companies like Starcrafts Posted by Starship Millennium (Member # 822) on :
Great news, courtesy Starship Modeler... an accurate Enterprise-A is in the works from Bandai!
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