The Great Experiment - The USS Excelsior NX2000

"She's suppose to have Transwarp Drive" Sulu commented. "Aye, and if me Grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon" Mr. Scott retorted. Remember that scene? Its from Star Trek III : The Search for Spock, when the USS Enterprise docked at Spaceport. We got to see the USS Excelsior for the first time off the Enterprise starboard, a humongous Starfleet Vessel that's suppose to be the epitome of new technologies and the future of the United Federation of Planets.

Her overall size and armaments remained a mystery as not much was shown about that ship, besides her being sabotaged by Mr. Scott. We do know from feedbacks that her length is somewhere around 400 plus metres (corrected - how da heck did I miss this?).

It is interesting to note that several designs were given to Leonard Nimoy (who was the Director and actor for Spock) before the final design were approved. Here are some of the submitted designs for the USS Excelsior for STIII

By the advent of Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country, Captain Sulu is the master of this vessel, and we got to see her more internally and externally. We also got to see the Excelsior in action, including a special 30th Anniversary episode where the entire original crew for the NCC 2000 returned for TV.

 

NX2000 Bridge under Capt Styles



NCC 2000 under Capt Sulu







USS Excelsior in the 30th Anniversary Star Trek Voyager Episode against Kang's Klingon Battle Cruiser



Excelsior Class seen in Star Trek Deep Space 9

 
We will focus today's post toward the NX2000. Remember, when we first saw her, she was a mystery. Beautiful to some, intimidating to others. And if you're Mr.Scott, she's still a wagon. The design for this ship was somewhat radical as she was suppose to be huge, sleek with a "pregnant guppy's belly". Her nacelles incorporated a new design for the Transwarp Drive, assumed a failed project later on as no mention was ever made after STIII.

ERTL/AMT came out with the Styrene kit for the NCC2000 (and later the NCC1701B, a refurbished excelsior class) but it was not up to scale with the 1:537 scale USS Enterprise. Hence what we got was a smaller version of this mighty ship.

There were some discrepancy with part's accuracy and fitting issues, and the decals then were too simple. Aftermarket parts and decals were required to make this kit reasonably acceptable. There's not much images made available of the original studio model for reference and those that were taken were done before the digital age.

I'll try to provide as many studio model reference shots here as possible, but I would advise everyone to search the net thoroughly. You may just get lucky. There were 2 models kits made, one is a miniature version of a bout 2 foot in lenght, and the other was a 6-7 foot scale model. I'm not sure which one got refurbished to become the 1701B, but images for the Excelsior are rare. You can see the 1701B version under my highlights for the USS Lakota

Coming up next .. Fantastic Builds by Professional Scale Modellers of the ERTL/AMT 1:1000 scale USS Excelsior. But first ..... my dinner is getting cold and my wife's calling. Be back ... promise!

Maschinen Krieger (Ma.K) ... and its Women

Here's a genre that was introduced not too long ago, Maschinen Krieger or more popularly known as Ma.K. The Ma.K universe was created by Kow Yokoyama, who successfully gave Sci Fi fans another avenue incorporating World War II and future warfare together.

A brief description from Wiki about Ma.K for those who are not familiar.
"Maschinen Krieger (Ma.K ZBV3000) originally began as the science fiction series SF3D which ran as monthly installments in the Japanese hobby magazine Hobby Japan.

 To develop the SF3D storyline, Kow Yokoyama collaborated with Hiroshi Ichimura (story editor) and Kunitaka Imai (graphic designer). The three creators drew visual inspiration from their combined interest in WWI and WWII armor and aircraft, the NASA Space Program and films such as Star Wars and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. Inspired by the Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) model builders who worked on the Star Wars vehicles and spacecraft, Kow Yokoyama built the original models from numerous kits including armor, aircraft, automobiles and several others. The designs were predominantly of Powered Armor Suits, but Yokoyama also created two legged walking tanks, anti-gravity flying aircraft, and automated robot walkers. Hiroshi Ichimura and Kunitaka Imai added the graphic style and created the background story for the new models.

 Together they created a unique series with a very different visual style from the typical "Giant Robot" series in Japan at the time. A small but dedicated fan following soon developed. There was great interest amongst the readers of Hobby Japan to have kits of the designs they saw in the magazine. A small Japanese model company, Nitto, aware of the growing interest, picked up the license and quickly released 21 injection lded kits from the series."

Nitto and Kow has since split ways, and kits are now being produced by WAVE and Hasegawa. Some of the female figures are being produced by Brickworks

Kits are still available at Hobby Search and Hobby Link Japan


The Lunadiver Stingray 

 

The Anti Gravity Fighter Pkf.85 Falke 



Ma.K Fighting Suits

Besides the Falke and Lunadiver, the other thing I am impressed with Ma.K are its women. Created by Brickworks and casted in resin, the figurines are beautifully done and usually given some level of modifications (to make them look even more sexy.

Some Japanese models were also given the honour to become an official character from Ma.K, usually posing in an outfit that will later become their signature piece. Below is Ms. Takako Lopez whose figurine was only recenly made available

BTW, I just got her too into my collection. Just haven't had the chance to work on her yet ... YEEEHAH!!!

What if the new USS Enterprise looked like ...............

When JJ Abrams announced the new Star Trek movie was going to be about a young Kirk and crew, everyone was naturally curious how the Starship Enterprise was going to look like. We already knew then the actors and actresses that was going to play the original crew that made Star Trek what it is today, but the ship's design was a much kept guarded secret. And everyone knew a new design was coming.

I remembered googling daily just to catch a hint of what the ship was going to look, and the teaser add of those workmen building the Enterprise on Earth only added fuel to the fire. Then came some breakthrough when people started putting up their version of a "Reimagined USS Enterprise". Of course a lot of these were mere speculations and some of the designs were .... well, lets just say I'm glad those didn't make it to the movie.


The JJ Abrams USS Enterprise - a detailed rendition by Master artist Tobias Richter


Of course we know what the Enterprise looks like today. What that is truly baffling is the fact that the specs given .... well, the new 2009 Enterprise NCC 1701 dwarfs the Enterprise D and is longer than the Enterprise E. That's huge. I know a lot of people don't like the new designs (those that loved the original), and then there are those that simply adore her (the new found Trekkers). And many still cannot grasp the fact that she's a big ship. Well, that's Hollywood.





Capt Picard protesting against the new Enterprise design .. ;)

 Here's another design I found that is more true to the original TV series in the 1960s. Its created by Gabe Koerner whose work is well known, and shown in the “Ships of the Line” Calendar, Gabe Koerner’s (of Battlestar Galactica – The New Series fame). His re-imagined Enterprise 1701 was thought to be for the movie STAR TREK being released in May 2009, and for a while, I really believed that design was it. I have to admit when I saw the other design in the cinema, I was a little dissappointed. For one, the phasers on the 2009 ship was lame, kind of reminds me of Flash Gordon, and the engine room looked ... like a factory (It was a beer factory actually). But I love the new bridge and the shuttle bay.

What's interesting here is the fact that this new design gives the NCC 1701 more credibility. And many older fans can still identify her with the old series. Though she didn't make the cut, it was nice of Koerner to at least gives us this alternate design - a food for thought if you will for those who wants a more feasible USS Enterprise during Kirk's era.

Now, I wonder if a scale model kit for this design will ever materialise? Who knows .... it may just happen one day - abett a resin kit. I don't mind.