Starfleet Academy Trainer

capt Locknar said:

Thats the one I am looking for. Have those pics already plus 2 pics of another model (the amaquest one maybe, and that one will be a chore to find if anyone still has any)

Guess Line drawings aren't too easy to find on this one. Ughhhhhhh

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That's because I've got them. I've also got a set of enhanced decals coming out for the Fantastic Plastic kit. From the Space Model Systems Inc. website:

•1/48 Starfleet Trainer (Science Fiction) #ST01 set, includes two styles of Starfleet emblem and pennant stripes, one the typical red and the other dark blue with gold metallic accents. The Nova Squadron logo (red cobra head) is supplemented with a Starfleet arrowhead, an eagle, and a gold comet. A fifth logo is for the Starfleet Academy Flight Training Directorate. Other markings include the UFP logo, various caution and warning labels, access hatches, emergency transporter emitters, and deuterium fill port. As an homage to contemporary fighter aircraft, a set of fifteen pilot names (including Nova Squadron characters) can be used to customize the cockpit sill area. The set also includes placement drawings derived directly from the model blueprints (which can also be used for further accurizing of the trainer), and signed sketch prints of the pilot helmet and the original doodle of the trainer. $8.00 Includes domestic United States and Canadian shipping.

As I discussed with someone on the TrekBBS who asked, I didn't supply Alfred Wong with drawings because no one asked me, but since the pix of the master were posted, I have been in email touch with Fantastic Plastic's Allen Ury about some of the details. Mr. Wong has gotten the model very close based on remarkably sparse information, missing a few unknowable details through no fault of his own. The trainer will be a good subject for customizing and accurizing. Me, I'm hoping to add gear wells and struts.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

Chuck_P.R. said:

Was it built as a CGI model or actual miniature for the TNG series???

If it was done as a CGI model a shout out to a particular 3D'er might be in order...

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Greg Jein built a physical miniature about 14" in length. There was no major CG version that I know of aside from five tiny diagramatic ships, and I suspect that anyone who attempted a CG mesh without a copy of the studio model, ortho-shot photos, or the ortho drawings, probably got something wrong. Most of the fan guesses at ortho drawings are close but no cigar. There are a few castings out in the world; on display or in collections, so determined enthusiasts could produce a wicked good mesh or finished model. I completed a raw casting given to me by Greg, creating a set of hull graphics in the process, which have been scaled down to fit the new kit coming out.

In cases like some of the later Voyager ships, like the Delta Flyer and Equinox and a few others, CG meshes have not surprisingly squirreled their way into rapid prototyping to produce models; happens every day with that sort of technology and we're likely to see a lot more in the hobby area in the next few years. It all starts with a design, though.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

Rick Sternbach said:

Greg Jein built a physical miniature about 14" in length. There was no major CG version that I know of aside from five tiny diagramatic ships, and I suspect that anyone who attempted a CG mesh without a copy of the studio model, ortho-shot photos, or the ortho drawings, probably got something wrong. Most of the fan guesses at ortho drawings are close but no cigar. There are a few castings out in the world; on display or in collections, so determined enthusiasts could produce a wicked good mesh or finished model. I completed a raw casting given to me by Greg, creating a set of hull graphics in the process, which have been scaled down to fit the new kit coming out.

In cases like some of the later Voyager ships, like the Delta Flyer and Equinox and a few others, CG meshes have not surprisingly squirreled their way into rapid prototyping to produce models; happens every day with that sort of technology and we're likely to see a lot more in the hobby area in the next few years. It all starts with a design, though.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

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Thanks for all the great info!

On the CGmesh/rapid prototyping issue, with so few companies around like the old AMT ERTL with pockets deep enough to pay $100 grand + a year licensing fees, there may soon come a day when 3D to rapid prototyping becomes the primary way people make new physical models whether for themselves or for garage kitting.

It's a crying shame that licensing fees have gotten greater and greater as the hobby of modeling has shrunk and shrunk.

Those two worlds have seemingly collided and devasted one another of late.

At least in the world outside of the Armor and car kit building crowd. And while I've built a jet airplane or two myself in the past, just how many tanks, cars, and F-16's can one build before getting sick to death of the mundane subject?

It seems that the fictional subjects like Star Trek and even some comic figure subjects are licensing models of their subjects out of existence with ridiculously high fees. How do they expect to make any fees if they are so high that companies either can't afford to buy the license in the first place or paint themselves into a corner and can't make enough profit to exist comfortably?

None of this is your fault, of course, Mr. Sternbach, you're a great artist doing a great job. I do hope, however, that perhaps eventually people such as yourself might get the message through to Paramount and others that their licensing fee levels are killing scifi and comic figure modeling.

They thought they had problems with fan produced products in the 1970's. Soon that is the only type product that will be left!


Oh well, stepping down from the soapbox for the moment...

Once again, thanks for the great info!

Chuck_P.R. said:

None of this is your fault, of course, Mr. Sternbach, you're a great artist doing a great job. I do hope, however, that perhaps eventually people such as yourself might get the message through to Paramount and others that their licensing fee levels are killing scifi and comic figure modeling.

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There's not a whole lot I can do as a single former employee of Paramount; Trek is off the air in first-run and the folks like Revell-Monogram and AMT/Ertl or whoever owns them these days aren't making Trek models. As for licensing the properties for models and figures, one only has to walk around the San Diego ComicCon to see that the industry is apparently healthier than ever. I've never seen so much product being pushed. A lot of it is being made possible by advances in laser scanning, 3-D apps, and rapid prototyping, and that's a good thing, along with traditional sculpting and painting.

If there's a shift to pre-builts and collectibles instead of assembly kits, that's a different issue. I get rather heartsick when I see giant 1/18 scale pre-built and pre-painted and pre-decaled aircraft models lining the shelves of my local hobby store. Pulling a model out of a box and jamming the wings on isn't my idea of a hobby. That's my rant.

It's nice to see folks on this forum and others who still like to do research and measuring and cutting and puttying and sanding, and generally making models. Had I been around on this forum in the last couple of years, I would have responded to a lot of the questions and comments about the Trek models and real spacecraft being mentioned. Thanks to the folks who have said nice words about my designs, and I'll try to address new questions as they come up.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com