Any RPFers ever attempt TNG Wolf 359 ships?

[JMChladek]

I figure studio scale might be the most appropriate place to put this thread so I don't risk hijacking one of the Stargazer threads.

Anyway, I am curious if any of the RPF members might have succeeded in doing any of the "studio" models seen in the Wolf 359 graveyard scenes from the TNG episode "Best of Both Worlds" Part 2? I know in this case it is a relative term as only maybe four of the debris ships total were purpose built studio models done in large size. Two of them were re-uses of parts from the destroyed Enterprise from Trek III. Two more were purpose built by Greg Jein. The rest were a combination of study models from past Trek productions and some model part kitbashes. It is the model kitbashes I am considering doing.

The Ex Astris Scientia - Wolf 359 - Overview site provides the best references for the ships from what I have found, but I am hoping perhaps somebody might have tried these in the past. For my first one, I am considering starting easy and doing the Challenger class (perhaps the Buran from Wolf 359, perhaps a different ship) which appears to be a pair of 1/2500 saucer sections, a 1/1400 Galaxy bridge, a scratchbuilt rear hull, two 1/1400 engines and a Revell Typhoon sub sail for the upper engine pylon. Depending on my success with that, I might have a go at a New Orleans class next (built from a 1/1400 Enterprise kit).

If I do these as clean ships, I'll stick them in general modeling. If I go for the trashed Borg battle look, I'll stick them here since they would be replicas of studio models. But naturally if others have attempted them, it would be nice to perhaps see these results to get some ideas on how to approach some of the sub-assemblies best (or go with a different approach if those efforts didn't succeed).

 

[Lee S]

This may sound like a sucky reply, but it might be worth waiting for the BluRay release.
They are so much clearer than we have ever seen and plenty of new detail will certainly be visible.

 

[JMChladek]

I thought about that, but I figure it will probably be at least a year or two yet before we see the Blu Ray of Best of Both Worlds Pt 2, given it is a fourth season episode and except for the handfull of episodes on this first compilation set, all of season one hasn't been given the remastered treatment yet. It will take a fair amount of time to get all that stuff done, especially on effects heavy episodes, such as the Borg ones.

Even with BluRay though, so many of these models were filmed so far in the background and with some rather stark lighting that I don't entirely know if we will be able to see all that much more with them anyway compared to some of the behind the scenes reference shots that have been posted over the past few years. Considering how chunky some of the models were, the effects guys did their best to hide some of the model "sins".

That being said, I am likely going to wait on a couple of the designs (such as the Chekov). But the Kyushu is well documented and I thought I would start with the Challenger class given that it has a few gray areas on it, meaning I am open to interpreting some parts rather than slavishly replicating details. My Doomsday Constellation build helped to teach me that not everything has to be set in stone 100%. There is enough fudge factor that while I got probably 80 to 90% accurate on interpreting the details, the remaining 10% was still my interpretation.

And if the Blu Ray does give me exactly what I want a few years down the road, I can always build another model or two.

 

[ProfKSergeev]

except for the handfull of episodes on this first compilation set, all of season one hasn't been given the remastered treatment yet. It will take a fair amount of time to get all that stuff done, especially on effects heavy episodes, such as the Borg ones.

Actually, season one has been out for some time, and season two is being released Dec. 4. CBS Digital plans to finish two seasons a year, meaning the the conclusion to Best of Both Worlds should be available in 2013.

 

[JMChladek]

That still means a year wait. If nobody has done them, I'll press on. In other news, I might also try a Daedalus class scatchbuild office prop (like the Stargazer, but for Sisko's office on DS9 instead). Reason being is I had a eureka moment with the engine nacelles last night as I figured out they were made from 1/144 shuttle SRBs (and yes, I just located the Steve Neill thread as well). Now I just have to figure out which kit donated them (they might not be from Revell, although that does seem to be the likely candidate), see which sizes of Plastruct dome and tubing are close for the other assemblies (except for the ET secondary hull anyway) and place an order for them.

 

[Deacon]

Revell SPACE SHUTTLE in 1/144 scale, the side rockets are perfect for nacelles with the rings going down them. Even the external fuel tank makes a great secondary hull.

 

[jedimaster]

I have absolutely no idea what you guys are talking about as I wouldn't know an enterprise e if I was pissing on one but I have the airfix shuttle if you need pix of the parts.

 

[TheRealMcFly]

So Sisko has a model of his old ship in his office? Nice touch! I never knew.

You just love your blown up ships don't ya? Hands down my favorite episodes from TNG and easily better than any of their films. Cool project.

 

[JMChladek]

Believe me when I say, I have the shuttle kit side covered. I've got over 30 shuttle kits in all various scales stashed, so I have the research material at my disposal. I even briefly considered perhaps doing a double sized Daedalus using a 1/72 shuttle stack for the SRBs and ET, but that might be pushing things a bit.

Sisko never served on a Daedalus, but there was a model in his office (based on the Greg Jein model built for the Encyclopedia). Sisko's office also apparently inherited the clean Nebula kitbash as well (two Nebula kitbashes were built and one got carved up like a roast for the Wolf 359 debris cloud). Knowing now how much that model used as far as shuttle bits, I may do that one before I tackle my Picard's Ready Room Stargazer replica (mainly because I currently don't have the budget to acquire many of the parts ships just yet while shuttle pieces are plentiful).

As for "destroyed" ships, I admit they do have a certain appeal. But I was considering doing more clean configuration ships actually. Some of those designs were pretty cool and I wish they would have been fleshed out a bit more. Plus, of the models built, many of the background ships remained clean while a few in the foreground (Nebula, Niagra, Firebrand, New Orleans) got the trashed treatment. The Challenger class was a nice design with its over and under single engine configuration, the New Orleans is one I wish would have made it onto the screen in a clean state and a few of those other designs only glimpsed at in the debris field would have looked so much better than the countless Excelsiors, Mirandas and Galaxy class ships we saw during the Dominion Wars in Deep Space 9 (and even the kitbashes from BoBW looked WAY better than the Frankenstein fleet from DS9).

Only ship that made the jump from debris field to a decent studio model was the Nebula class. Everything else either only appeared in that episode or got reused in the Qualor II boneyard scene in "Unification" parts 1 and 2 (or were briefly seen as debris ships in "Emmisary").