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One of our most exciting Star Trek model kit projects in development is also one of the most difficult ones to show off. I received test shots of the metal legs that will be included in our upcoming release of the Klingon Bird of Prey.
The legs are metal to help support the weight of the kit. Styrene would have probably bent or broken. We had “Crazy” Ed Holt (modelnutz on the forums) finish up his versions of the landing gear and with a few minor adjustments, had them tooled up. I’m still waiting to see the plastic parts but I couldn’t help but share this when it came in today.
(BTW, this is blog post #50. I think I just dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back.)
Star Trek Model Kits: Klingon Spy Attacks K-7 Space Station
Our offices have been infiltrated by a Klingon spy who has it out for the K-7 Space Station. He has attacked twice. I already had to do emergency repairs to our buildup, once to have something to display at Wonderfest. We recently had a meeting where we sat out our products in our conference room and the poor K-7 was returned to me in miserable condition once more.
Please be on the lookout! No Star Trek model kit will be safe until this devious saboteur has been apprehended.
Polar Lights Model Kits: I Might Have Lost My Head…
Not a meeting would go by without a certain someone mentioning bringing back the Polar Lights model kit of the Guillotine. We in the product development department had a difficult time wrapping our minds around how to “freshen up” the kit. What more could be said or done with a kit of a wooden death machine?
As we discussed other subjects like bringing back the Hunchback and Munsters Living Room kits, we decided to follow our formula used on the Witch kit last year. All of these kits had been brought back under Playing Mantis and packaged in the standard long box format so why not make the packaging part of the point of difference? Including additional glow-in-the-dark parts added an additional fun twist that stayed true to the Aurora tradition. In the end we threw the Guillotine into the mix for a “glow box” treatment.
Besides the packaging and glow parts, we figured we’d throw in another fun bit that took a baby step away from the vintage kit. Instead of using a peg to attach the head to the “victim’s” body, we eliminated in lieu of a couple magnets placed in the head and body. Now the kit really works reminiscent of the miniature toys the children of the time played with. (How I long for the days when decapitating pigeons was considered child’s play)
Anyway, back to the packaging. Most of you reading this are familiar with how un-named artists “re-worked” James Bama’s classic box illustrations which some would say were the strongest selling points of the original kits. A documentary shown at Wonderfest this year gave a great account of this happening. I felt outrage and heartbreak viewing that part of the film. Artwork was added to the sides of the illustrations to account for the space needed to make a square box out of a tall, narrow box. In addition, each illustration was painted over to key each one to a certain color scheme and indicate a yellow glow effect over certain elements.
Skip ahead a couple of months. We got a message from the factory that the packaging artwork would be due within the next week. We hadn’t forgotten the project but more or less put it off for other urgent projects. We hadn’t been in a hurry to do it because we knew we’d have some work to do to make the idea work and really had no great idea of how to accomplish it. So push came to shove and I sat down to figure it out.
We needed enough interest on the sides to fill out the scene but also be able to see the all-important guillotine (at least the important parts of it) and be able to put the title of the kit in the center of the box just like all others. I found that by enlarging some of the background elements, I could fill space with what was already there. The most difficult matter was finding something to fill space in the lower right quarter of the box. Painting in two halves of two soldiers had been no easy feet but I found enough empty room in a space where nothing but another soldier made sense. I knew I had a certain amount of skill with photoshop but how could I come up with a guy that wasn’t present in the illustration to begin with and have it look like he had been hiding off screen the whole time. I ended up picking up one of the guys I had and adjusting it from there; borrowing a cheek bone from one, changing his hairline including adding sideburns, altering the uniform slightly and changing his hand position. If you didn’t already know the difference, you’d probably never know. As with the other glow boxes, I knew I had to give it a color scheme shift. That was difficult for me to wrap my head around. I had spent almost a week straight being sure I got everything to match especially the color and had it nice and brilliant enough to look like a fresh piece of art. I copped out a little and used the original background to guide my color choice, going with a neutral blue.
It wasn’t until I was half way through this that it dawned on me… What I was doing and what I had become. A lot of time and work had come and gone since seeing the Aurora documentary back at Wonderfest. I became regretful that I was one of those nameless artists who painted over a great piece of artwork done by one of Illustration’s masters. This wasn’t what I had ever been about. I love classic illustration. I can trace my art training pedigree back to Howard Pyle and here I was bastardizing another person’s artwork. It took me a while to realize I was stuck in the middle and had no choice than to forge ahead. The only way I found to somewhat justify myself was to say, “Well, at least you’ll do it better than those hacks did back then”. That rings pretty hollow just to right it. What can I say? I’m a hypocrite just like 90% of everyone else on the planet. No one (well, hopefully not many) tries to be but every now and again we find ourselves doing something we know we shouldn’t, something we’d tell other people not to do. I’ll live with it and move on and try not to do it again.
So, my apologies go out to James Bama. I’ve got nothing but respect for you and your body of work. I hope to never do it again.
I was about 90% done with reworking the artwork when it dawned on me. “You know what have really made this kit special? Getting James Bama to adjust his own artwork to make the illustration square.” Maybe next time…
Star Trek Model Kits: The Eagle (well maybe just a bird) Has Landed
We ordered a big batch of tooling to be moved from our Dyersville warehouse a couple months ago. We heard earlier this week that the factory had received the tooling and we were told to expect test shots from the tools soon. Well, the first one arrived today and low and behold, it was the Romulan Bird of Prey.
It had one little bit of flash on it but other than that, it was immaculate. She went together really well. A few parts could use some extra locator pins and the parts will be numbered. We’ll open the hole in the belly to accept the base. Once the plasma weapon and clear domes are added in place of the nacelle balls, she’ll be good to go. This is another case of it not being a super accurate Star Trek model kit but it is a nice representation of the subject.
Star Trek Model Kits: U.S.S. Enterp_ise?
Hey, guess who’s an idot? That’s rigt. It’s m!
Yeah, I know I can’t even get an apology right.
We’ve gotten a few kind comments letting us know that we’ve got a typo on our latest release of the 1:2500 scale U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-C. What can I say other than I’m sorry. Between the amount of work going into these things and the speed at which deadlines come and go, these things happen. I’d feel worse for myself but others, including the licensor, looked at them too and didn’t catch the error. In the end, I get the egg on my face though because the error happened on my watch. Oh well.
So what will we do to fix the problem? We’ll be sending out a replacement decal to anyone who will send us the postcard included in the Star Trek model kit. Fill out the information completely and mark the bottom with “ENTEPRISE C”. We’ll send out the replacements asap.
Round 2 Models: Random Thoughts
It’s been too long and I’ve got nothing real specific to go on about so let’s see what’s rattling around inside my head.
I’ve been trying to get to those posts about my China trip I promised… wow… two months ago. I’ve run into a snag in getting my video transferred so I can pull images from it and post a little bit of video I took. I haven’t forgotten.
Recently, I’ve been finishing up some of the most complicated decals and instructions we’ll probably ever do for the Enterprise D re-release. I’m not about to count them all but with all of the aztecs and lifeboats, there are well over 200 decals. Diagramming them and making sure I had every one accounted for was mind bending. Now it is onto getting quote requests for 2011 product and sales information for the end of 2010 out there.
The 1:25 Batmobile mockup is nearly finished. There is plenty of refining I would have liked to have done, but time has run out. We’re sticking to a Christmas release date for the snap version. If all goes well, we’ll be showing the first detailed look at the car in our Round 2 Models newsletter that comes out at the end of the month. If you haven’t already, sign-up for the Round 2 Models newsletter on our contact page, so you don’t miss out on this first look.
The new movie Enterprise has hit a delay, but we are trying desperately to get it finished by the end of the year as well. The delay comes from our desire to see the kit engineered from the original CG file from the production company. It turns out, after mountains and valleys, that you can’t get where we wanted to be from where we started (it’s complicated). So, we’re nearing completion on a digital model generated from the CG file that will let us “grow” a rapid prototype of the ship to send to our factory in China. They’ll need to scan it into their computer and add the attachment pins, etc. to create tooling. It had been originally hoped that they would be able to use a digital file from us to cut the tooling from. We still have the benefit of the kit looking as close to 100% accurate as injected plastic will allow us to be.
Hmmm… Did I ever tell you what’s up with the whole Enteprise B/ Excelsior tooling? If I did I probably wasn’t definitive because some people keep asking about it. Basically, the factory tells us the tool they have is solid as in no inserts for parts specific to one ship or the other, just the Enterprise B. Without photographic evidence (which they never seem to have the time to supply) I have to believe the tool was permanently altered to create the B from the Exclesior. So that is how we are proceeding. At some point in the future, we will have to retool parts to bring back the U.S.S. Excelsior kit. We should have the B out by the end of the year though.
UPDATE: (6/18/2010)
I’ve been reviewing my test shot of the Enterprise B. I had noticed it was missing the small frame of clear parts so I asked the factory for photos of the tooling (again). The buggers met me 2/3 of the way and supplied a photo of a full sprue shot of the majority of the kits which tells me nothing about how the tool may have been altered. It is interesting to note that according to our tooling list, the Excelsior only calls for two tools while the B requires three. The third tool is the base. This means the Excelsior base should have been included with all of the other parts on the big sprue. This would make sense that all opaque parts for the kit are all on one tool shot. But where would it have fit in the layout…? I’ll be taking another look again soon. Even though the photo of the full sprue isn’t as conclusive as a photo of the tool, it still offers some clues. I just need to find a minute more to compare…
I transferred my China video to DVD last night. I’ve tried it on three computers and it looks like there may be a formatting issue. Hopefully i can resolve it next week.
UPDATE: (6/22/2010)
And so the last piece of the puzzle has been placed. I received the photo of the parts tool this morning that clarifies things. Though the tool shows that it is no longer a solid piece of steel, the sections are also not removable inserts. So as feared, the original tool was indeed changed forever. I received a message the other day from Steve Iverson of culttvman.com…
“I finally got a hold of Bruce Byerly, who worked at AMT/Ertl the last few years they were around. He did a lot of design work there, including the Enterprise C and Galor kits. Asked him about the Excelsior and Enterprise B. This is what he said.
‘As far as the B, from what I can remember we did make permanent changes to the mold. Might have been Brylium inserts but I doubt it. They kinda decided the Excelsior had run its course.’ ”
So there we have it. No happy ending this time…
But, there can always be a sequel if the first release is a success…
Round 2 Models: Only 10 laps to go! Time For Another NASCAR Update!
I don’t want to get you too excited, but… we just received our first round of photos for the deco body samples last week – including the Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin bodies! For “first round” samples, they’re looking pretty good. Take a peek. We have a meeting scheduled this week to do an official review and make any adjustments/tweaks to get the bodies looking accurate and sweet as candy. All parts development is just about “there” as well. Only a few minor adjustments left to make, and we’ll have one SNAPPY kit to offer all our great customers. After all, you’re the ones keeping us in business – so making you happy is our number one priority!
We’ve also received final proofs of the packaging from the factory for both Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.. PLUS, we received a fully loaded sample of each racer’s box (with all parts and instruction sheets included) to analyze and make sure everything fits comfortably into the packaging (no damaged parts allowed here). Decals and stickers are close to being completed as well. With only a few minor tweaks left on the insert pieces of the box, I’m happy to say – we’re close to final approval for both the Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. packaging.
FYI: packaging for the Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin kits have already been designed, approved by the licensors AND shipped off to our factory for production. We should be receiving proofs to review in the weeks ahead.
That’s all for now. Thanks again for all your support!
Round 2 Models: Wonderfest Wrap-Up!
The show is three days gone and I’m still feeling worn out. It was a great show for us. How can we judge that (since we weren’t actually selling anything)? I’m judging it based on the response we got from you, the modeler. I knew (hoped) some of the stuff we had brewing would be exciting to you guys and the people who stopped by seemed to hop right on board with what we could show so far. I actually didn’t hear any severe criticism (please don’t start now 🙂 ). At our first year at the show the response was “I thought you guys went out of business” with a look on people’s faces of “and who are you?”. Last year was positive but we were still getting tons of “suggestions” and a few had some legitimate complaints and a few bad reactions to our announcement of the planned new movie Enterprise. That’s not to say that we get everything right. We do honestly try though.
The show went by quickly even though we spent the whole time on our feet. I made a few trips around the dealer room but limited myself so I wouldn’t overspend (I did anyway) and made it over to the guest room for a very quick lap missing a chance to talk to John Eaves again. I was able to look around the contest room for about a minute and a half before they started kicking people out for the awards ceremony. I feel a little incomplete for not having a better chance to look around. I’ve had to look around online but it just isn’t the same and being able to really get up close to a nicely detailed model.
We did a little “social media” experiment on Saturday. I’d been dropping hints around to follow us on Twitter while at the show. We tried to take a cue from comic book artist, Jim Lee. At a recent comic convention in Chicago, he left sketches here and there and “tweeted” their locations. So we took along a few special prizes to try the same thing but we genuinely had no idea how effective it would be. Were modelers on Twitter? If they were, would they pay attention during the show? The answer was “yes”… a little bit. We planted the prize around noon time and started dropping hints here and there. As the afternoon went along, we started to worry that we’d just need to go pick it up the next day unless someone accidentally stumbled across it. Late Saturday afternoon, a gentleman stopped by and a said a little birdy told him to stop by. So, congratulations to… You know I just realized we didn’t get his name. But our heads were about us enough to take a quick photo of him. So, congratulations mystery winner on receiving a 1st edition Enterprise Tin (one of six uncovered in our warehouse. Hopefully Bob and I can take home one of the other five). We had a few more prizes to give away but figured we’d try again next year to see if we had more interaction.
I checked out the Aurora documentary Saturday night. I never took the chance to build them when I was a kid. Even then I didn’t like the sculpts. But after seeing how they were sculpted, I have a much better respect for those old kits. The selling power of James Bama’s illustrations put me in awe. After the show, I helped judge Iron Modeler. I wasn’t sure what to expect, now I’m not sure what to think. The final builds ranged from whacky to meticulous. My hat is off to the participants for taking up the challenge and putting their hard work in.
As in past years, we had a questionnaire to fill out. After some trouble interpreting the “data” last year and having two sheets worth of questions the year before, I’ve learned to simplify and I hope it helped not to take too much out of everyone’s busy show. Some people responded out loud that some of the questions we asked were difficult because they could only choose one option. My response was that we have to answer hard questions like that all the time. As a “reward” we handed out 1:72 scale Robby the Robots complete with a mini box on the back of the header card. We only had a limited amount and ran out around 1:00 on Saturday. We also handed out previews of the mini catalog that we’ve started including in our latest kits and everyone was entered into a drawing for some free kits.
Congratulations to this year’s winners. Your prizes are on their way.
Bob Bleber of Elkhart, IN (my home town oddly enough) won a regular edition Batmobile.
Chris Alima of Cincinnati, OH won a 1:1000 Star Trek Kit 4-Pack (POL803, POL806, POL807, POL820)
And Kevin Bessey of Omaha, NE won a Batmobile Collector’s Edition Tin
Many have asked if they could fill a questionnaire online and we’ve tried to find a way to allow that without requiring too much time or expense. We finally decided to make it available as a .pdf for you to print off and mail back in to us. Other bigger, less busy companies can incorporate it into their system and keep it completely online. I’m sorry we can’t do that at this time. If you weren’t able to hit the show but want your voice to be heard, this is your chance. Feel free to take a look at some of the pics of our booth and fill out our questionnaire. We’ll add your input to our data from the show. It won’t be an open-ended thing so fill it out and send it back in the next few weeks. Sorry no prizes for this, just a chance to join the crowd.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE GALLERY AND QUESTIONAIRE!
For those who couldn’t make it this year, feel free to come see us next year. We’ve already booked the same spot. It’ll be a long year until then.
1966 Batmobile Model Kit: Wonderfest Count Down. 1…
Whew! Wasn’t this year’s Wonderfest a great show? I can’t wait to see you again next time.
Wait… what… I dreamed it all? Well at least it wasn’t a nightmare like Bobby Ewing coming back from the dead. (That was a great Family Guy episode) All right. I was going to tell you about the 1966 Batmobile model kit.
First, we’ll be showing our 1:32 scale 1966 Batmobile. It looks like some retailers at the show will have the basic kit available for sale there. Feel free to ask me about the delays in the kit. It turned into quite an epic story.
We’ll also be displaying our Classic Batmobile™ Collector’s Edition tin version of the kit. I’ve tried describing the kit but any explanation falls short. You truly have to see it to appreciate it. I know not all builders care about anything that says “collectible” on it and I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise. I just know that this product really turned out nicely.
Lastly, if the stars align (and UPS cooperates) We’ll be showing the full mockup of the 1:25 1966 Batmobile glue kit that will be out next spring. A simplified snap version that uses some of the same parts will be out before the end of this year. I’ve really done my due diligence on this model to make sure the details are done right. The mockup is dialed in at about 90% complete. I’ll be reviewing the mockup for the factory to see if there is any work left to be done before proceeding. Stop by and take a look to see what you think.
This week’s previews only touch on some of the high points of the show for us. Feel free to stop by and ask questions about these and other projects like the Star Trek Movie: New Enterprise, Enterprise 1701B and the 1:350 Enterprise (like I need to give you permission to ask…). We’ve got these kits and more in the pipeline.
Star Trek Model Kits: Wonderfest Count Down. 2…
Today, I’m placing the focus back on Star Trek model kits. Some times we get to a point in our development plan when we have to figure out “is this kit worth doing?”. Or in the case of today’s kits “what could we do to this kit to make it worth doing?”. We have to weigh the expense of course. In the case of today’s first kit, our appetite was originally bigger than our mouth…
U.S.S. Enterprise 1701D 1:1400 scale. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this one before. Essentially the story goes like this. We wanted to eliminate the inaccurate raised detail from the ship, fix up some other details here and there, add a new base and add a set of Aztec decals. What we found out was that the raised details were probably added by the same means that the raised panels were added to the original AMT Enterprise Refit. We were told that the tools could not be modified this intensely and that new tools would be needed. The cost of which could have bought us two or three other entirely new kits. In addition to that, the mechanics of one of the tools was also substantially damaged. In the end, we canceled that iteration of the ship. So we took a step back and said “is there anything we could do with this kit at all?” After all, it is one of the most well known versions of the ship. After some serious thought, we thought about the requests we get for clear versions of various Star Trek ships. We figured, we’d fix the mechanical part, inject it in clear, fix up a couple fit issues here and there and add in our signature decals. So that’s what we’ve done. We’ll have our buildup with prototype decals on it as well as a clear test shot built on display at the show.
We’ll also have a prototype buildup of our new release of the U.S.S. Reliant. Again, we’ve invested in some key revisions in this kit. We have thickened the saucer, eliminated the inaccurate lines around the edge of the saucer as well as the “window” pock marks on the forward bulkhead and lastly, added ridge detail around the bridge dome that had been missing for unknown reasons. On top of all that, we are adding a new base which is essentially a bigger version of the one included in our 1:1000 scale Refit. To keep the price of the kit reasonable, we have decided to leave out the Aztec decals from this release and offer them as a separate item. The kit still includes all of the expected markings, etc. We’ve done our best to make this kit, if not 100% accurate, at least more appealing.
I’ve said before that The Reliant is probably my favorite Star Trek ship but of the enemy vessels, one has always really appealed to me. That is the Klingon Bird of Prey. I like it for the polar opposite reasons why I like its Romulan ancestor. The Klingon ship show conveys the aggression that is synonymous with its people. We’ve added some new and significant parts to this little birdie. First, we have adjusted the baffle angles to match the stance in Star trek III: The Search For Spock. In cruising mode, the wings raise above horizontal and as much as I like the aggressive attack stance, the original kit took it a touch to far. On top of that, we’ve decided to include a brand new “pose” for the kit- a “landed” pose. For the first time, the kit will include all of the parts to show the ship in its landed stance as seen in ST3 complete with ramp and a third set of wing baffles. We’ll add a little bit of real estate onto the decal sheet to finish it off. We will have a buildup of the adjusted wing angles and mockup parts of the landing gear to show off.
Tomorrow… Batmobile.
