TOMY Prestige Select Die-cast 1/350 Scale Enterprise Replica

[Phoenixblazes]

Do you need to have watched all of Rebels to understand Ahsoka? I only caught a few eps during the og run. Of course now I could probably binge the whole thing but that might necessitate going back to rewatch Clone Wars too and the idea makes me so tired

I never watched Clone Wars, and I thoroughly enjoyed Rebels as it stands on its own.

I wouldn’t say you totally need to watch Rebels to enjoy Ahsoka, but you don’t automatically incorporate the emotional reasons behind many of Sabine’s actions etc.

 

[Skyroes]

Given what $450 gives us nowadays, I’m not sure how realistic that is.

I would’ve paid double, maybe even triple to get the promised result.

I already thought it was bargain bin level pricing. And now I know why.

Considering what Eaglemoss/Fanhome is charging for the “build it yourself” Enterprise D ($2000-ish) with questionable quality, $600 for a fully assembled, electronic die-cast model isn’t bad at all even with the visible plug holes. Not ideal, but a better product compared to alternatives.

 

[Phoenixblazes]

Considering what Eaglemoss/Fanhome is charging for the “build it yourself” Enterprise D ($2000+) with questionable quality, $600 for a fully assembled, electronic die-cast model is a deal even with the visible plug holes.

I agree.

It‘s just that people are understandably upset that Tomy didn’t keep their repeatedly mentioned promises.

I‘m not surprised with the outcome, but I wish they could’ve at least tried to get rid of the seams. Rather than not do anything at all.

But then again, at least it has plugs to cover the screws. That’s what I always hated on my Transformer pieces when I was a kid.

 

[darthviper107]

Do you need to have watched all of Rebels to understand Ahsoka? I only caught a few eps during the og run. Of course now I could probably binge the whole thing but that might necessitate going back to rewatch Clone Wars too and the idea makes me so tired

Honestly, all you need to know is that Ahsoka was Anakin's apprentice during the Clone Wars and she left the order before Order 66 because of how ****** up the Jedi leadership was. It seems at some point she tried to train Sabine as a Jedi (Sabine's a Mandalorian who possessed the Darksaber at one point) but had stopped because she was worried that as someone trained by Anakin (who became Darth Vader) she wasn't the best equipped to train someone else. All the other allies she had were friends from Rebels or Clone wars and you just need to know she wanted to be close but was cautious.

 

[Raven]

Ok I'm good there at least. How is Ahsoka shaping up? Is it a worthy missing chapter that answers questions and brings about some new ideas? Is it well made? And perhaps most importantly is it a return to pre-trilogy form Lucas era (obviously without Lucas but modeled after his storytelling) and no Skywalker Saga ideas stinking it up? I heard Obi-Wan was disappointing in that way.

 

[dijinn]

plugs aside, I’d pick one up…. If anyone is letting go of theirs…

I will be letting mine go (soon as I have it in-hand). I can’t get over the plugs and am pretty disappointed in Tomy’s effort with this piece.

 

[dijinn]

I agree.

It‘s just that people are understandably upset that Tomy didn’t keep their repeatedly mentioned promises.

I‘m not surprised with the outcome, but I wish they could’ve at least tried to get rid of the seams. Rather than not do anything at all.

But then again, at least it has plugs to cover the screws. That’s what I always hated on my Transformer pieces when I was a kid.

What really kills me about the plugs is they put them on the wrong side!!! The display base is designed to show the side of the ship with the plugs! If the plugs were on the other “non-display” side of the ship, I might have gotten over it. But someone F-ed up designing the base (or the ship)… they must have let the intern be in charge that day.

 

[Tuvix Was Framed]

I will be letting mine go (soon as I have it in-hand). I can’t get over the plugs and am pretty disappointed in Tomy’s effort with this piece.

Seriously keep me posted. I’m interested and in CONUS. Happy to help you recoup the cost.

 

[das]

I will be letting mine go (soon as I have it in-hand). I can’t get over the plugs and am pretty disappointed in Tomy’s effort with this piece.

I'm keeping mine. I have seen this before with premium products like this that are not entirely perfect only to gain value just a couple years later. There are several not perfect Enterprise toys that go for 10 times their original price now and they made a ton. This one I will hold onto. I got two of them. One for me and one for my brother. He doesn't want it now for a couple different reasons. So I will sell his eventually but will sit on it for a year or so....

 

[das]

Considering what Eaglemoss/Fanhome is charging for the “build it yourself” Enterprise D ($2000-ish) with questionable quality, $600 for a fully assembled, electronic die-cast model isn’t bad at all even with the visible plug holes. Not ideal, but a better product compared to alternatives.

That Fanhome build it yourself metal D is a bargain compared to Factory Entertainments ridiculous $17,000 price...lol....

 

[moose]

Waiting on mine from tomy but dam with the lights on its still a beauty

 

[Phoenixblazes]

That Fanhome build it yourself metal D is a bargain compared to Factory Entertainments ridiculous $17,000 price...lol....

And keep in mind that for that price, the length for that piece is 29" versus the 34" for this Tomy original Enterprise!


Though of course the Galaxy class is still 6" wider.

 

[Stephen Gentile]

Because of it’s diecast materials, it’s got quite a bit of heft. And even though they’ve got a base each for both the saucer and secondary hull, I don’t really trust the saucer’s base holding up the saucer on its own over the long term. So I’ll definitely be having the saucer bolted to the secondary hull. The base is pretty much made out of various plastics, with not much weight at all. I’m thinking they should’ve used a sturdier material.

Good Lord, that base is horrendous. I have one of these on order, but in don't remember seeing a prototype of that base shown in any of the progress emails or videos sent this past year. Did I miss it?

Phoenixblazes, is it possible to bolt the saucer to the secondary hull and the bottom support will be enough to hold the whole ship?

 

[Phoenixblazes]

Good Lord, that base is horrendous. I have one of these on order, but in don't remember seeing a prototype of that base shown in any of the progress emails or videos sent this past year. Did I miss it?

Phoenixblazes, is it possible to bolt the saucer to the secondary hull and the bottom support will be enough to hold the whole ship?

I don't know anything about weight tolerances, but I honestly wouldn't trust that the two plastic pegs on the translucent strut that insert into secondary hull will hold the significant weight of the ship.

Though there is a single screw/bolt that connects the two, but it's my guess it'll be too front heavy and lean down over time without at least a support pole under the saucer section. But unfortunately, the current pole connects to that obnoxious looking saucer strut, which cups the saucer in place.

 

[Kebron]

Just got the email update. They start Shipping October 6th. And they apologized for the plug holes and seams. They also offer anyone not happy with the product to call or email them for a refund before Oct 6.

 

[Phoenixblazes]

I now wonder if it weren't for the photos provided by a couple of Australian collectors, would Tomy ever have put out that statement.

Did it force them to put out a statement or was it already planned, but we preempted them?

In either case, I doubt they're happy that units delivered outside of the US got delivered first. As I've got a feeling that without them there would've been a lot less cancellations/returns.

As by the time US collectors received it in hand, there may have been some who may not have otherwise gone through with their orders but decided to keep it rather than go through the effort to box it back up and ship it back.

 

[Skyroes]

If they’re contemplating refunds, they should delay shipments and rework the models to correct those issues.

Who is going to trust them next time around, weren’t they talking about doing the refit?

Fix your issues.

 

[Kebron]

If they’re contemplating refunds, they should delay shipments and rework the models to correct those issues.

Who is going to trust them next time around, weren’t they talking about doing the refit?

Fix your issues.

I don't think the Refit or any other ships like this are in the works. This one didn't even reach the finish line. They had to move the goal posts to get it done. And now they couldn't deliver on what they said. I really think this is it.

Plus, last year they talked about doing a line of smaller Trek ships in Die Cast, I remember them showing them on one of the streams, and we haven't seen a hint of those anymore either.

 

[Phoenixblazes]

If they’re contemplating refunds, they should delay shipments and rework the models to correct those issues.

Who is going to trust them next time around, weren’t they talking about doing the refit?

Fix your issues.

It‘s being talked about by a couple of members in the RPF, that getting rid of the seams were a no go from day one. That it was near impossible because of it being made out of diecast materials to fill in the gaps.

And anything that is usually used by modellers would over time deteriorate and break down for various reasons connected to the diecast.

Essentially the only way to improve on it, are to completely redesign it, which would entail scraping everything already produced, and there is no guarantee that would be possible.

Heck the only things I can think of is either flipping the saucer strut to the other side, which would at least enable us to see the clean side without that obnoxious saucer strut in the way.

Or the far more expensive option and reproduce it so the plug holes are on the other side, as supposedly there is a filming and non-filming side for the original model, and that’s annoying many to no end.

And they could probably easily improve on the weathering on the front end of the saucer section, as at the moment it’s to uniform in nature.


But at the end of the day it comes to why throw good money after bad.

 

[Blackout]

Nice of them to formally give buyers options considering they did not meet their promises or communicate their challenges effectively. A lot of this could have been avoided if they planned their seams logically and communicated it with buyers early rather than keeping it to themselves as long as possible.

Still keeping my order as I'm not going to get any better for 600 bucks but good of them to finally acknowledge it.

It‘s being talked about by a couple of members in the RPF, that getting rid of the seams were a no go from day one. That it was near impossible because of it being made out of diecast materials to fill in the gaps.

And anything that is usually used by modellers would over time deteriorate and break down for various reasons connected to the diecast.

Essentially the only way to improve on it, are to completely redesign it, which would entail scraping everything already produced, and there is no guarantee that would be possible.

Heck the only things I can think of is either flipping the saucer strut to the other side, which would at least enable us to see the clean side without that obnoxious saucer strut in the way.

Or the far more expensive option and reproduce it so the plug holes are on the other side, as supposedly there is a filming and non-filming side for the original model, and that’s annoying many to no end.

And they could probably easily improve on the weathering on the front end of the saucer section, as at the moment it’s to uniform in nature.


But at the end of the day it comes to why throw good money after bad.

I said the same thing about the seams and so suggested early on that they should have been placed on the opposite side of the ship from the start, regardless of them being filled or not. And I aint even an engineer so I dont know what their excuse is, it's just common sense, different materials experience temperature flexing at different rates. I thought everybody learned that at a young age just from putting water bottles in the freezer and stuff like that!

screw holes on the "display" side was always a mistake, even while they still planned to fill them