the most crucial and easily avoided mistake of the tomy model was placing the screws on the display side when everyone would tolerate them much easier if they were on the classically "unfinished" side of the model. seems obvious
🖖😎👍Saucer separation has been done on screen on Startrek Continues on episode#10 which is part 1 of a two parter with episode#11 of "TO BOLDLY GO" and an animated one "The Quintain"on Utube just thought I'd let everyone know that!,👌.
Thanks for your excellent video! I'm a backer of the TOMY Enterprise. I was debating with myself for several days about whether to get a refund or not. I really want to like this but doubt I can get past the flaws. What pushed me over the edge was in their latest email where they asked us to confirm our shipping address. In that email, they show images of, get this, the prototype model and stand. The ones that look good but we're not getting. In small print, it says "Prototype shown." They're not even showing the production model at this point when asking about shipping addresses. If that doesn't scream "Red Alert!," I don't know what does!
@@Galvatron65 Having ordered one myself and actually getting it. While I agree with the criticisms here they should have been smarter with their choices. This is a fantastic model none the less. The "flaws" with the support base and screws caps was totally avoidable that is true, the screw caps you are hard pressed to see them. The model as a whole is well done in and people forget this was a metal. The price for this was low is comparison to a plastic model and the micro switches integration with the ship design is perfect.
Regardless of certain people complaining about the hole covers, this model is absolutely incredible! Diecast metal has never been without seams as that's the nature of the material itself. Unless you've got spotlights on the model and are standing 6 inches away, you'll never see the hole covers. The lights are beautiful, the bridge and hanger bay is awesome, the motorized bussard collectors look fantastic and are quiet and are adjustable speed and the thing weighs a ton and is just an absolute beast. You don't even need the front stand unless you're going to display it with the saucer detached and I guarantee 99% of people will not display it that way. The fact that we got this for as low as $600 is unbelievable. Seeing it in person, the hole covers don't look as bad as some have blown them out of proportion to be. Considering these are now selling for 2-3 times the original price on the secondary market, I'd say this was an excellent purchase. I'm glad I wasn't swayed by the naysayers and kept mine. And thanks to the ones that canceled their's, I was able to purchase a second one before they were gone.
One issue I potentially see with the screw plugs, if they are very precisely flush mounted is how the heck does an average collector get them off to access potentially access malfunctioning pressure switches without buggering up the paint? And if the plugs are a softer material, the problem could be worse if the paint cracks off. Perhaps their molded color will be a perfect match to the paint, but there could be some issues. One screw holding the saucer on worries me. I wish they had gone with two screws to distribute the weight more evenly. The stand has me suspecting that saucer weight might distort the neck over time and be careful when removing that single screw that you don't strip any threads due to cross threading. While diecast is potentially nice, it has its limitations. R2 engineering the plastic the way they did I personally believe was the best approach for a model this size.
Wow. I would not expect this from a Japanese model miniature company. They usually have much higher standards. I would think they would spend a little time to fill the seams before paint because it’s clearly hand done. Also they could have figured out a way to have it support itself. Also meter design could have yielded a method of disassembly for service without visible screws in places people would care about. I was not and probably would not be a customer for it anyways but had I been this would have been a deal breaker.
This model at $600 is still an insanely good deal, anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t know much about Trek collectibles. 1/350 scale, 90% die cast metal, with lights for only $600? A prebuilt, painted, unlit, plastic model from Polar Lights isn’t much cheaper. Master Replicas old TOS Enterprise was double the price when it was made years ago, and was plastic. The only real negative for Tomy’s model is that it’s battery powered, and not USB.
One thing that I would like to see TOMY offer, even if the customers would have to purchase it, would be a base that had the saucer support on the other side.
What kills me is I know there was a lot of passion and effort put into this project. They even went so far as to get paint chips from the OG filming model to get the paint colors and details as accurate as possible. The seams I can live with, but the screw holes and caps are killing me. I get making things more accessible in the event the parts fail inside, but not at the expense of the overall look of the model. Parts may fail, but the look of the model is more important than anything IMO. I'm still going to keep it and display it from the left side instead, but I'm still bummed considering the cost.
@@benwillis124 Thankfully not true. Mine came in today and the left side is free of screw holes, excluding the saucer's underside which you can't see unless you're looking from underneath. Unfortunately my model has a couple other quality issues. The lights on the top side of the saucer aren't flush, and there's a blemish in the cone of one of the nacelles.
@@FygeeGood to know, sorry to hear about your other issues. Hope it works out for you. FWIW, if you decide to get rid of yours, these are listed for around $1500, you could seriously undercut them if you are unhappy. Good luck.
For those that don’t believe that the TOS Enterprise had a saucer separation feature, the third revision of the 1967 writers guide stated that the saucer section could separate for system exploration. A few months later, the episode The Apple had Kirk mentioning the possibility to Scotty in order to break orbit. I love that this model has that display feature.
I'm honestly more upset about the display stand changes than the screw holes or seam lines. The original display prototype/mockup they showed is so clean and refined looking and then the display stand they ended up producing looks so cheap and distracting. It makes the entire model look cheap.
Agreed on the stand. I'm hoping someone might come up with an aftermarket alternative. Not sure how viable that would be though with the limited production run, but I'd be interested.
I'm still keeping mine. I couldn't afford the MR Enterprise coming out of school and buying one now at 6 grand and up is out of question. Plus many of the MR enterprises are developing problems like oil splotching in the Nacelle domes, sagging nacelles and saucer section coupled with electrical problems like the brussards not spinning anymore. I'm disappointed that TOMY couldn't keep it's promises but for 600 bucks it was a lot to ask. I was surprised at the price when it was announced. The Master Replicas cost 1200 + back when the were released! But I've seen some pics from Australia where they got theirs already and the electronics make it look awesome! I can't expect perfection in replicas anymore for my budget ...none of my replicas in my collection are anywhere near perfect but they make me happy. If you want perfection you gotta go custom and those cost thousands of dollars...just look at what Factory Entertainment is doing with their artisan Star Trek ships...beautiful but they cost 10 grand and up!
@@StuartFoleyCaptainFoley To make a Round 2 exactly the way I want is beyond my skill. I'm a decent modeler but if build a Round 2 kit I would want it to be perfect and I don't have the skills for that. Plus I need a decent work area if I were to tackle such a project and I currently don't have one. We'll see what the future holds.
The paint job looks a bit weird to me. All those little "white dots" inside each grid area. Plus the weathering on the top of the primary hull seems to even to me.
If Tomy drops the pricing because of all these issues, if the price is cut, in half, I may consider purchasing one of these. If not, its a hard pass. I expect these issues from much cheaper priced, plastic toy collectibles, but NOT from a high end $600+ tax all diecast collectible. Eaglemoss’ versions of their TOS Enterprise diecast models was even more terrible. It had that very ugly looking seam along the lower part of the lower,secondary hull, AND that was a much cheaper diecast model to collect and that design decision/flaw, alone, was a deal breaker for me. I thought the MPC/Round 2, 350 scale, pre-painted semi-pre-built model had waaaay too much weathering on it! Waaaay too much weathering! That kept me from purchasing that model. Your build of this model has waaay too much weathering, too, and almost looks like how Ed Miarecki did his own paint and weathering scheme on the 11-foot Smithsonian model before all of THAT was removed/erased and corrected and the original paint scheme and details brought back to how the model,,actually, looked in the mid-1960’s, during the filmimg of the TV show.
Looking at the full videos here on youtube. I dont think it's the trainwreck that so many are making it out to be. Yeah i was pissed and said some pretty pissed off things about it. But once i thought about it, saw the detailed videos on it and the fact its diecast and the low cost we paid for it. Im excited to receive it once again.
I'm stunned that they didn't have the screw plugs on the same side as the (awful) stand, on the opposite side to where they are now, which would obscure them enough that it would be a non-issue. Why oh why oh why have they left them on the display side?? I also couldn't believe it a few months ago when they casually showed that the stand now had a separate piece to support the saucer, surely one of the very first things you're thinking about when engineering an Enterprise replica is finding a good internal way to avoid nacelle and saucer sag? And the nacelle strut seams on the outside again is another incredibly amateurish decision, although less bad than the screw holes on the wrong side. Very tempted to cancel, especially as mine is going to a freight forwarding company to send on to Europe at staggering expense.
I bet if we went back and looked at all their communications we would see a pattern where they started providing fewer updates and not focusing on the quality.
A year has gone by and many are reporting that their Tomy TOS is broken. No help from Tomy, lights failing, motors failing. After a year Tomy offers no service, no parts, no schematics, no tech support. NOTHING!
True but those weren't perfect either and many are developing problems now. Oil blotching is now appearing in the nacelle domes and some sagging has started to occur in the nacelles and saucer section. Some have also gotten shorts in the electrical as well which is a real bummer. Nowhere near as bad as the Unobtainium 1707 which was a disaster! But the MR enterprise while not perfect was definitely worth the 1200 + price tag....but unfortunately they just don't last.
That thought had crossed my mind too. 🤔 Afterall, when the Playmobil ones didn't sell like they expected at $500, they dropped to $350 or a little less within a few months after release, and are still at that price, which I think is more than fair. Not so much at $500. LLAP
I'm so disappointed but at the same time, 50/50 on cancelling. Had they been upfront about the issues I would be much less so, but TOMY is becoming a bait and switch company. Similar issue with the BTTF DeLorean. Prototype looks one way and then after they start taking orders, there are noticeable "changes". I also have a REAL issue with the straight up lie that they were pushing up until last month about the fill and sand and then when this update came out the say, "we tried" which they absolutely did not. There is no "try" here at all. This production model looks almost exactly like the preproduction model they've been showing for months. That's the infuriating part. Plus half the seamlines were completely unnecessary. For supposedly having people consulting on this that were part of the Smithsonian restoration, this seems like a really poor effort. Not that the product itself isn't "something", but damn...
Yeah, I'm with you--50/50 about canceling, but I'm mad about the lying. I have a theory about what happened. Note that they barely squeaked over their funding goal. I suspect that when that happened, the company became less willing to spend top money to do this right. I don't want to reward them for lying to us.
You can't really compare the MegaBlocks and the Playmobil versions....they have other "unique attributes" that don't make them detailed, realistic replicas. Having someone build the Round2 1:350 styrene model kit would be expensive as a commission unless you build it yourself. Way too many features NOT what Tomy promised....I'm canceling.
It's die-cast. It's strong. Why couldn't they engineer it's with a few screws inside the model, but have a series of interlocks where the parts slide into each other and hold. For example, primary hull screwed Into the neck with a bolt, top half fits on top and turn left half an inch and locks on. No screws. Inside bolt is hidden. Inner bolt into the neck and metal structure strong enough to support without plastic stand to the sensor array. It's die-cast... lots of bolts can support a 8lb part. In fact much more. Turn right to disassemble again and access inside bolt. I think this was possible with zero outside bolts
This all around seems like a poorly engineered product with many problems that could be solved with a few more weeks of thinking it through. Half of these problems wouldn't exist if they designed it right. The engineer behind this should be disappointed and needs to use this as a learning point
In all honestly, die cast METAL is hard to work with and fasten together. If it were PLASTIC, which is crappy, you could probably hide all the fastening hardware. I would rather have a metal model than plastic any day. 🤔
Stuart , your much more forgiving than myself... I cancelled mine once I saw the finished product... I was so jazzed for what I saw w/ the early versions I had order asap. There is no excuse for the screw holes/ and panel gapes being visable on the display side... It's just poor planing and exicution... Pass my best to the Mrs.
German construction block company Blue Brixx currently has a Star Trek license, the 1701 in a size similar to Mega Bloks was one of their first Star Trek sets. Over the last few years the company has released several ships at different scales. They have a TH-cam channel if you want to see their brick Enterprise or other Star Trek sets
Just got confirmation that both of my orders have been cancelled. Very disappointing AND shady. Like someone else said, "They should have sold it as a diecast toy from the get go, not a prop miniature".
I think the model looks fine and as faded, easily passes the 1 to 2 ft display rule for most reasonable people. The stand is another issue altogether and it really isn't that difficult to design a better one if you just take a few things into account early on, weight distribution is important and rather than having external supports all over the place incorporate them inside of the model, much the same way a car is built, you just redistribute that weight and pressure on connection points to the mounting point for the stand. And also when designing the model keep in mind the weight in the saucer section and the nacelled, which needs to be minimised as much as possible, with all motors, batteries, wiring harnesses, and anything else of heavier weight in the lowest part of the the model for a low centre-of-gravity and it would be fine. it would have even made sense to make the saucer of a lighter material like aluminum or many other options to minimise the wait to allow a single mounting point on the bottom of the secondary Hull and also to prevent the inevitable nacelle sag. Just an internal skeleton type support to redistribute the weight solves this problem and wouldn't add any more cost if incorporated during the design phase.
One feature I was pleasantly surprised about is viewing the detailed bridge from the dome, perhaps this additional detail created problems with the saucer structure support, I don’t believe it was in the prototype models
Damn, nothing like what was promised, I backed this and have been waiting a year for what is essentially an illuminated, mass produced, low quality, Chinese knock off appearing toy I paid 600.00 for. This is very disappointing. I may try to get my money back on this piece of crap. Or I may try to repair the shortcomings of the model. For those saying we all should have known better, I used to have faith in "you get what you pay for" but I can see now that this is also a factor of the past. I especially love the comments like "I told you so" when of course they had not. Or "you should have known better" when obviously, we did not. Well, I guess the lawyers will get more wealthy on the class action suit this will result in. While those that paid just get screwed.
I thought I owned a pretty extensive Star Trek collection, but your collection appears to be quite a bit more impressive. Obviously , you have a much larger disposable income than I. I still do not own a larger scale Enterprise model. Every one always seemed to have some design inaccuracies or flaws. I own only the Art/Asylum/Diamond Select TOS E with third party custom acrylic stand, as well as, the AA/DST STTMP refit E and the refit E ( “No bloody A, B, C D, E, F or G” ) from TWoK that I feel is the better of the two versions of the refit E as the paint job on the TWoK refit E has more of that reflective, aztec-like metallic look. Owned these for a very long time. These have a third party custom clear acrylic display stand, as well! I own a lot of ST prop replicas, though. Still tryng to add just one very good replica of a “The Cage/The Menagerie” style communicator, though. I always wanted one of these and thought these communicators were very cool looking, with the clear, “ see through body/casing and all of the exposed electronics bits, inside, that, even in those days, had that sort of “future retro-ism” look to them. Everytime one comes up for sale on eBay, I never have the immediate cash to just part with and plunk down on one of these. If Tomy comes waaay down on the pricing on these large scale, die-csst TOS E models, I might “pull the trigger” and part with my hard earned cash on one of these. The paint scheme on this looks very close to the current paint scheme on the 11-foot Smithsonian TOS E filming model.
Drama for drama's sake. Greatly overblown. The ship is fantastic and I have no regrets displaying her and showing her off! Everyone thinks it's damn awesome!
Captain, your rants are fair and balanced. Thanks for this. Also, the batteries are 4 AA for the engineering hull and go into the model by unscrewing the deflector dish. For the Saucer, it's 4 AAA batteries, and they go in by flipping the saucer upside down and unscrewing the sensor dome.
I was just thinking of a way to support the saucer when it is separated, a stand like an Eaglemoss stand. It would "attach" to the back like it does on the EM ships when separated, but you can use it on the side not being displayed when the saucer is attached to the secondary hull.
Damn. The prototype looked beautiful but some of the design choices in the final model are just baffling. The Round 2 kit is absolutely the way to go if you want an Enterprise in that scale and have a little modelling experience. Good job with yours by the way Stuart.
I had planned to keep my order until I saw this video with the seams, garbage stand and plugs. I thought they were just the starboard plugs but when I saw the saucer plugs and the other issues I instantly canceled it. Great review
I still have my polar lights 1/350 model I put together and painted myself. It doesn’t have lights or gimmicks, but looks great with some lighting AND doesn’t weigh a ton needing an ugly base.
When I started assembling mine I was frustrated to find out that the black part on the neck where the screw goes into to secure the saucer to the dorsal had no threads. In fact, the bolt would literally not contact any part and there were no threads visible. After two weeks of waiting to hear back from customer service I was told I needed to send the secondary hull back for replacement. Pretty crappy quality control imo...especially for $600 worth of product.
Great review and I'm looking forward to seeing the unboxing. The seams are certainly illogical. You would think that with all the wonderful detailing they took the trouble to create, they would have made sure to dot all their I's and cross all their t's. I just purchased and assembled the Discovery Enterprise (1/1000) with the lighting kit and the aztec decals. It is a very accurate kit and engineered nicely. I'd love to shoot you some pics of it. They are supposed to re-release the SNW version with the extra windows soon. Thanks for the look at these! Your 1/350 PL looks great.
I received my Tomy Enterprise last week. Foley’s assessment is, unfortunately, spot on. Positives: Accurate paintjob detailing, accurate modeling details, great Bussard collector lighting effects (has colored sparkles in addition to spinning), touch activation of effects is fantastic, saucer separation is something I like, quiet motors, hanger bay detail, bridge detail, blinky ion pod light, 3 little shuttlecraft, removable shuttle bay door. Negatives: Placement of the screw hole covers on the starboard side and warp pylon & nacelle seam placement is unforgivable…period, the display stand in relation to the primary hull covers too much lower hull detail, very awkward display stand overall. Frankly, any of the screw hole covers stinks. Meh: The seam between the top and bottom of the primary hull is wider then I like but not a deal killer. The seam between the primary hull and interconnecting dorsal is also thicker than I like but also not a deal killer. Was it worth $600? For a die-cast metal replica with all of the positive I mentioned against the negatives, yes. Paying for “fixes”? There are a lot of outstanding modelers out there who would likely be able to seal the seams and screw hole covers and repaint the insignia, numbers, and surface weathering in those areas to perfection. But it will cost. I also suspect some Enterprise-ing modeler with a 3D printer will design a better support structure and make it available.
Poetic irony! After very late in the game I tried to reserve one on the final day of the pre-sale, just before midnight. At 11:55pm I clicked 'yes' to place my pre-purchase order but the site went into never ending cycle mode. I didn't dare go back a page for fear of blowing my order... even though I did complete my pre-order purchase with minutes to spare, the order didn't go thru. The site just kept cycling till after midnight. I tried again but it was too late, it wouldn't take my order. I quickly shot Tomy an email explaining what had just happened. Their response the next morning was brief and rather cold. Basically saying I was SOL! Told them to notify me if something could be done to rectify the issue but to no avail. After thankfully bumping into your TH-cam review last night of #Tomy's problematic product I can now stop kicking myself for missing out on it. For me #Tomy's street cred has dropped considerably! I'm tempted to write them just to see if they (magically) have any available for purchase now! 😅
Caveat emptor dude. You get what you pay for. I've never been impressed by these so-called "collectable" toys. Frankly, your 1/350 Polar Lights model is far superior. You don't do seams well??? Dude! It's just a good solid glue joint, a little putty, a little sandpaper and lots of patience. It's not hard. Not to say I haven't been there and done that too. I got burned by the overpriced and undersized Tri-Dimensional Chess set from Franklin Mint years ago. With some basic woodworking skills, I made my own full sized version that is far superior to the mass produced piece of garbage. If you don't have the modeling skills, use this as an impetus to learn those skills and build something you can truly be proud of. That's what I did. My ToS 1/350 was MUCH cheaper than you claim too. The kit was under $100 when I got it. I did the lighting myself and skipped the overpriced "lighting kits." I got the circuit boards for the bussards (non-motorized) and a simple control board for the blinkies. All together the total materials cost me right around $300.00 (that included getting a new airbrush that I can obviously use on other projects). Nowhere near the price of this over-hyped die-cast toy. If it were me, I'd take the refund and run! You can make your own better.
So the consensus on TH-cam is that for $600 the flaws are not worth it? How many of you will have "buyers remorse?" How much would collectors ask for this imperfect version? That Round 2 model looks pretty appealing by comparison if you know someone who could assemble,paint and detail it cheaply! Realistically there isn't any reason for me to have such a large scale costly model in my apartment at this time! I'm no longer that insecure adolescent attempting to keep up with the Joneses! Who the Hell am I trying to impress? Thank you very much for posting this video. I will be leaning toward cancelling.
Round 2 is a nice model. But you are forgetting it's not diecast. Seams and Plug holes still don't make me want to cancel. The fact that this thing is 20lbs of Diecast still makes it a very unique collectible. It's still highly detailed. Well lit and looks great otherwise. No one's ever gonna do it in diecast again (at least not for $600) So yeah....gonna keep mine.
Very good rant! I appreciated your review. I bought 3 of these, and have no regrets. It is obvious to me that the entire development team at TOMY had their priorities. Unfortunately, they did not match those of their customer/fans.
Changing tack slightly, given your dislike of the need for a support for the saucer, I'm curious to how you feel about the Aoshima Enterprise D model that requires such a support, particularly given that it's a separable saucer employing a magnet?
Frankly I'm shocked Mega Bloks & BlueBrixx (which I had never heard of before) have Star Trek models, & OG Lego doesn't. Does anyone know why Lego hasn't bothered to get a license to do Star Trek models? I'll bet they'd be the best of the 3.
They said numerous times whilst promoting the model that all seams and screw holes would be filled and sanded. They also said the central stand would support the weight of the ship alone and that the secondary stand was only there if you wished to display the saucer seperated - something that was never on my wish list as it had never been done in the original series. I am sorely disappointed by this last minute bait and switch.
What pisses me off the most is the lying, which they are still doing. Last week they sent out an email saying "a specific design detail we thought we could achieve could not be realized in final production. Specifically, the screw hole covers and seams are still somewhat visible on the final production units." But they did NOT include a photo of this. Then, clearly hearing a lot of complaints, the next day they sent another email: "Thank you for your continued support! We've had so many requests for photos..." Yeah, you just said your product is flawed, but you didn't show any photos--people are asking not because they are excited, but because they are worried. And then they included a photo that minimized the problem, and no photo of the screw hole covers on the bottom of the saucer. So they're still blowing smoke, trying to minimize their error. TOMY was trying to copy Hasbro's success with their crowd-funded Star Wars campaigns (most recently Rebel's Ghost). But they barely made it past their goal. I remember them slipping the deadline a few times to make it. I bet that at that point, they began cost-cutting and senior leadership at TOMY said "We're not spending any extra money on this thing." In fact, they may have been willing to lose money up-front so that they could do more in the future, generating lots of buzz like Hasbro. But with lower sales, they were probably disappointed and no longer willing to do their best. A friend tried to talk me into buying two of them, saying that the resale value would be very high. Not with a lot of people canceling their orders. TOMY is going to take a big tax write-off and get out of the corporate crowd-funding. And they'll watch Hasbro with envy.
You are blowing this a bit out of proportion. We all had the August update that showed the plug holes. If the secondary hull and nacelles had it of course the saucer will have it. It's still a great looking model in diecast. Tomy has said they are going to sell the cancelled orders in their outlet store. Want to make a bet on how many people who cancelled theirs are gonna try to get a deal??😂 Tomy will sell them and I doubt they will drop the price or not by that much. Going by what people are still willing to pay for them on eBay they just won't. Once they have them for resale at their outlet store. I'm buying a third just because....😂
Where they blew it was in the future. Had they just bit the damn bullet and built what was promised, then the next one, which was rumored to be the Refit, they would have cleaned house because they could have added $150.00 on to each one of those and made back what they lost on this had they made what was promised. But now, nope. No one will trust them on a Refit or a D.
I have the 1/350 Round 2 Pre Built, the Mega Bloks 1/350 and the Playmobil Enterprise. I am getting the TOMY this Saturday. I also have the "granddaddy" of all the 1/350, the Master Replica Signature Edition. I too am disappointed in the screw holes of the TOMY and the seams but looking forward to it. I also agree with you on the support for the saucer. What I do know and can guarantee is that someone will come out with a better aftermarket stand for it. I also have a 3D printer and will toy around with a support for the saucer that will allow me to display the model from the other side. All in al a good rant.
I'm considering hanging mine for display. Avoids that unsightly stand. We'll see. Very disappointing. The Polar Lights model is great and is probably the best, most accurate 1/350 Enterprise available at this time. BTW, nice work on yours! She looks amazing!
I emailed for a refund and the quickly responded and said I should have it in 5 to 7 days. Mostly on these crowdfunded deals you don’t have the ability to choose to get a refund for them to make the statements they have and to refund I clearly know they are offering an inferior product
18:12 - If I remember the old video correctly, you managed to acquire the Mega Bloks/Mega Construx 'Connie' somewhat discounted, like for 200 Bucks. Certainly not a bad deal! 🙂
Awesome collection by the way. I just started, built 2 polar lights 1000 scale (tos and refit), about to embark on the 350 scale refit. Will take me 2 years i think. You have an amazing collection 😍
@@StuartFoleyCaptainFoley Well Capt,, I've watched your rant a few times and was about to cancel, then recalled the last time I owned a TOS Enterprise 1701 model, and it was when I was a kid, a gift from my father, who recently passed. I don't own models of much of anything and haven't for much of my adult life. So, this will be it. The one and only replica. Flaws and all. Although, I would've preferred something closer to perfection in this particular case, especially coming from a Japanese company with a 1.5-billion-dollar market cap. Oh well, it is what it is. Looks like you've achieved quite a nice collection! Cheers!
It's a shame that after waiting 14 months to receive our Enterprise, this is the level of quality that TOMY is going to send us. I realize that there are always going to be minor flaws in something like this but the fact that they wouldn't point out the flaws in the pictures they sent out is a red flag to me. I would have been willing to wait several more months to get what we were promised. The final product vs the prototype isn't even close. I did cancel mine but I would've been willing to wait a lot longer to get what we were promised. But apparently TOMY was unwilling to put in the effort to make sure they followed through all the hype. The extra saucer support is awful, I was expecting acrylic instead of the ugly plastic, that, the hole covers ant the fact that they wouldn't point out the flaws made the decision for me. It's very disappointing but at least for those of us who wanted to could cancel.
I can truly get past the seam lines and the screw covers but that secondary stand for the saucer is awful. I probably will let mine ship but I'm re-thinking where I will display this. I'm now thinking a lower shelf to show-off the amazing looking upper portion of the saucer and to hide that f-ing stand. 😠
Just goes to prove that going with too much die cast is a stupid idea these days. 1 - there are better materials out there and 2 - from working in manufacturing I know that allot of the artistry that goes into making great diecast that has been lost because of new and better materials and manufacturing processes. This company should have gone the route of many Japanese companies and used diecast where it makes sense and they can do based on the companies skill level and manufacturing capability. Those screw plugs could have been done way better and IMO if the model requires a stand to hold up the saucer section because its too heavy....USE LESS DIECAST! Theres allot of great quality models you can make these days using high quality plastic and paying attention to your painting process can lead to results where its hard to tell the difference between a painted plastic and diecast part. but that's just my two cents.
I was a backer of this model as well. When I saw the final production pictures and I received that email, I promptly cancelled my order because the quality that was promised is not there. After watching your video, I know I made the right choice.
Looks like Tomy's renders were writing checks its ability couldn't cash... And this is why corporate crowdfunding is always a bad idea.
the most crucial and easily avoided mistake of the tomy model was placing the screws on the display side when everyone would tolerate them much easier if they were on the classically "unfinished" side of the model. seems obvious
Yeah exactly. Like what kind of decision was that. 🤦♂️
🖖😎👍Saucer separation has been done on screen on Startrek Continues on episode#10 which is part 1 of a two parter with episode#11 of "TO BOLDLY GO" and an animated one "The Quintain"on Utube just thought I'd let everyone know that!,👌.
My thoughts EXACTLY!!!
@StuartFoleyCaptainFoley that's what happens when you have something made in China!
They could have even sanded them down and filled them in - it is a high end item.
Thanks for your excellent video! I'm a backer of the TOMY Enterprise. I was debating with myself for several days about whether to get a refund or not. I really want to like this but doubt I can get past the flaws. What pushed me over the edge was in their latest email where they asked us to confirm our shipping address. In that email, they show images of, get this, the prototype model and stand. The ones that look good but we're not getting. In small print, it says "Prototype shown." They're not even showing the production model at this point when asking about shipping addresses. If that doesn't scream "Red Alert!," I don't know what does!
@@Galvatron65 Having ordered one myself and actually getting it. While I agree with the criticisms here they should have been smarter with their choices. This is a fantastic model none the less. The "flaws" with the support base and screws caps was totally avoidable that is true, the screw caps you are hard pressed to see them. The model as a whole is well done in and people forget this was a metal. The price for this was low is comparison to a plastic model and the micro switches integration with the ship design is perfect.
Regardless of certain people complaining about the hole covers, this model is absolutely incredible! Diecast metal has never been without seams as that's the nature of the material itself. Unless you've got spotlights on the model and are standing 6 inches away, you'll never see the hole covers. The lights are beautiful, the bridge and hanger bay is awesome, the motorized bussard collectors look fantastic and are quiet and are adjustable speed and the thing weighs a ton and is just an absolute beast. You don't even need the front stand unless you're going to display it with the saucer detached and I guarantee 99% of people will not display it that way. The fact that we got this for as low as $600 is unbelievable. Seeing it in person, the hole covers don't look as bad as some have blown them out of proportion to be. Considering these are now selling for 2-3 times the original price on the secondary market, I'd say this was an excellent purchase. I'm glad I wasn't swayed by the naysayers and kept mine. And thanks to the ones that canceled their's, I was able to purchase a second one before they were gone.
One issue I potentially see with the screw plugs, if they are very precisely flush mounted is how the heck does an average collector get them off to access potentially access malfunctioning pressure switches without buggering up the paint? And if the plugs are a softer material, the problem could be worse if the paint cracks off. Perhaps their molded color will be a perfect match to the paint, but there could be some issues.
One screw holding the saucer on worries me. I wish they had gone with two screws to distribute the weight more evenly. The stand has me suspecting that saucer weight might distort the neck over time and be careful when removing that single screw that you don't strip any threads due to cross threading.
While diecast is potentially nice, it has its limitations. R2 engineering the plastic the way they did I personally believe was the best approach for a model this size.
Wow. I would not expect this from a Japanese model miniature company. They usually have much higher standards. I would think they would spend a little time to fill the seams before paint because it’s clearly hand done. Also they could have figured out a way to have it support itself. Also meter design could have yielded a method of disassembly for service without visible screws in places people would care about. I was not and probably would not be a customer for it anyways but had I been this would have been a deal breaker.
This model at $600 is still an insanely good deal, anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t know much about Trek collectibles. 1/350 scale, 90% die cast metal, with lights for only $600? A prebuilt, painted, unlit, plastic model from Polar Lights isn’t much cheaper. Master Replicas old TOS Enterprise was double the price when it was made years ago, and was plastic.
The only real negative for Tomy’s model is that it’s battery powered, and not USB.
One thing that I would like to see TOMY offer, even if the customers would have to purchase it, would be a base that had the saucer support on the other side.
Given that the base is lightweight plastic, it could be very easy for them to make available.
What kills me is I know there was a lot of passion and effort put into this project. They even went so far as to get paint chips from the OG filming model to get the paint colors and details as accurate as possible.
The seams I can live with, but the screw holes and caps are killing me. I get making things more accessible in the event the parts fail inside, but not at the expense of the overall look of the model. Parts may fail, but the look of the model is more important than anything IMO.
I'm still going to keep it and display it from the left side instead, but I'm still bummed considering the cost.
I would keep an eye out for someone to make an aftermarket stand for it.
Sadly, from seeing other reviews on this, the screw holes are also on the left side. I don't think there's any way to avoid seeing them.
@@benwillis124 Thankfully not true. Mine came in today and the left side is free of screw holes, excluding the saucer's underside which you can't see unless you're looking from underneath.
Unfortunately my model has a couple other quality issues. The lights on the top side of the saucer aren't flush, and there's a blemish in the cone of one of the nacelles.
@@FygeeGood to know, sorry to hear about your other issues. Hope it works out for you. FWIW, if you decide to get rid of yours, these are listed for around $1500, you could seriously undercut them if you are unhappy. Good luck.
That saucer support looks absolutely horrible.
NO WAY that is $600 quality workmanship.
For those that don’t believe that the TOS Enterprise had a saucer separation feature, the third revision of the 1967 writers guide stated that the saucer section could separate for system exploration. A few months later, the episode The Apple had Kirk mentioning the possibility to Scotty in order to break orbit. I love that this model has that display feature.
I don't know what the complaints are about, the die cast model from Tomy is miles ahead in detail and quality compared to the othe plastic model kits.
I'm honestly more upset about the display stand changes than the screw holes or seam lines. The original display prototype/mockup they showed is so clean and refined looking and then the display stand they ended up producing looks so cheap and distracting. It makes the entire model look cheap.
Agreed!
My thoughts exactly.
Agreed on the stand. I'm hoping someone might come up with an aftermarket alternative. Not sure how viable that would be though with the limited production run, but I'd be interested.
I'm still keeping mine. I couldn't afford the MR Enterprise coming out of school and buying one now at 6 grand and up is out of question. Plus many of the MR enterprises are developing problems like oil splotching in the Nacelle domes, sagging nacelles and saucer section coupled with electrical problems like the brussards not spinning anymore.
I'm disappointed that TOMY couldn't keep it's promises but for 600 bucks it was a lot to ask. I was surprised at the price when it was announced. The Master Replicas cost 1200 + back when the were released!
But I've seen some pics from Australia where they got theirs already and the electronics make it look awesome!
I can't expect perfection in replicas anymore for my budget ...none of my replicas in my collection are anywhere near perfect but they make me happy. If you want perfection you gotta go custom and those cost thousands of dollars...just look at what Factory Entertainment is doing with their artisan Star Trek ships...beautiful but they cost 10 grand and up!
Yeah way expensive for those. But making your own Round 2 kit is always an option.
@@StuartFoleyCaptainFoley To make a Round 2 exactly the way I want is beyond my skill. I'm a decent modeler but if build a Round 2 kit I would want it to be perfect and I don't have the skills for that. Plus I need a decent work area if I were to tackle such a project and I currently don't have one. We'll see what the future holds.
The paint job looks a bit weird to me. All those little "white dots" inside each grid area. Plus the weathering on the top of the primary hull seems to even to me.
If Tomy drops the pricing because of all these issues, if the price is cut, in half, I may consider purchasing one of these.
If not, its a hard pass.
I expect these issues from much cheaper priced, plastic toy collectibles, but NOT from a high end $600+ tax all diecast collectible.
Eaglemoss’ versions of their TOS Enterprise diecast models was even more terrible.
It had that very ugly looking seam along the lower part of the lower,secondary hull, AND that was a much cheaper diecast model to collect and that design decision/flaw, alone, was a deal breaker for me.
I thought the MPC/Round 2, 350 scale, pre-painted semi-pre-built model had waaaay too much weathering on it!
Waaaay too much weathering!
That kept me from purchasing that model.
Your build of this model has waaay too much weathering, too, and almost looks like how Ed Miarecki did his own paint and weathering scheme on the 11-foot Smithsonian model before all of THAT was removed/erased and corrected and the original paint scheme and details brought back to how the model,,actually, looked in the mid-1960’s, during the filmimg of the TV show.
I hope an aftermarket solution arises.
The refit won the poll! But yes you right TOMY might have an issue.
Looking at the full videos here on youtube. I dont think it's the trainwreck that so many are making it out to be. Yeah i was pissed and said some pretty pissed off things about it. But once i thought about it, saw the detailed videos on it and the fact its diecast and the low cost we paid for it. Im excited to receive it once again.
12:58 I believe "close the doors" is by adding an extra piece of door. Placed on top of the 2 ridges on the open doors.
Seeing the flaws of the final delivered product online just broke my heart. Fans really do deserve better, especially for the $. Excellent Rant Alert!
💯
Even with it's flaws, it's still a magnificent piece for the money.
600$ for this? Its flaws would annoy me every time I look at it
Doug DREXLER told me directly that Matt Jefferies told him that the bridge faced forward
I'm stunned that they didn't have the screw plugs on the same side as the (awful) stand, on the opposite side to where they are now, which would obscure them enough that it would be a non-issue. Why oh why oh why have they left them on the display side??
I also couldn't believe it a few months ago when they casually showed that the stand now had a separate piece to support the saucer, surely one of the very first things you're thinking about when engineering an Enterprise replica is finding a good internal way to avoid nacelle and saucer sag? And the nacelle strut seams on the outside again is another incredibly amateurish decision, although less bad than the screw holes on the wrong side.
Very tempted to cancel, especially as mine is going to a freight forwarding company to send on to Europe at staggering expense.
I bet if we went back and looked at all their communications we would see a pattern where they started providing fewer updates and not focusing on the quality.
A year has gone by and many are reporting that their Tomy TOS is broken. No help from Tomy, lights failing, motors failing. After a year Tomy offers no service, no parts, no schematics, no tech support. NOTHING!
Captain Foley- the Master Replicas is also 1/350 scale. Made from plexiglass and fully lighted. No stand necessary for the saucer section.
True but those weren't perfect either and many are developing problems now. Oil blotching is now appearing in the nacelle domes and some sagging has started to occur in the nacelles and saucer section. Some have also gotten shorts in the electrical as well which is a real bummer. Nowhere near as bad as the Unobtainium 1707 which was a disaster! But the MR enterprise while not perfect was definitely worth the 1200 + price tag....but unfortunately they just don't last.
Yessss! Rant Alert is back! I wonder what they’ll do with the inventory that gets cancelled from backers.
😂
Hopefully drop the price and issue a partial refund
That thought had crossed my mind too. 🤔 Afterall, when the Playmobil ones didn't sell like they expected at $500, they dropped to $350 or a little less within a few months after release, and are still at that price, which I think is more than fair. Not so much at $500. LLAP
They could always melt them down.😂
I'm so disappointed but at the same time, 50/50 on cancelling. Had they been upfront about the issues I would be much less so, but TOMY is becoming a bait and switch company. Similar issue with the BTTF DeLorean. Prototype looks one way and then after they start taking orders, there are noticeable "changes". I also have a REAL issue with the straight up lie that they were pushing up until last month about the fill and sand and then when this update came out the say, "we tried" which they absolutely did not. There is no "try" here at all. This production model looks almost exactly like the preproduction model they've been showing for months. That's the infuriating part. Plus half the seamlines were completely unnecessary. For supposedly having people consulting on this that were part of the Smithsonian restoration, this seems like a really poor effort. Not that the product itself isn't "something", but damn...
Yeah, I'm with you--50/50 about canceling, but I'm mad about the lying. I have a theory about what happened. Note that they barely squeaked over their funding goal. I suspect that when that happened, the company became less willing to spend top money to do this right. I don't want to reward them for lying to us.
You can't really compare the MegaBlocks and the Playmobil versions....they have other "unique attributes" that don't make them detailed, realistic replicas. Having someone build the Round2 1:350 styrene model kit would be expensive as a commission unless you build it yourself. Way too many features NOT what Tomy promised....I'm canceling.
The bottom of the saucer also has screw plugs where the NCC-1701 markings are.
It's die-cast. It's strong. Why couldn't they engineer it's with a few screws inside the model, but have a series of interlocks where the parts slide into each other and hold.
For example, primary hull screwed Into the neck with a bolt, top half fits on top and turn left half an inch and locks on. No screws. Inside bolt is hidden. Inner bolt into the neck and metal structure strong enough to support without plastic stand to the sensor array.
It's die-cast... lots of bolts can support a 8lb part. In fact much more.
Turn right to disassemble again and access inside bolt.
I think this was possible with zero outside bolts
Well I am glad you have got the chance to rant, us over here in the UK did not even get the chance to buy it!!
If only they could get it to look right that would be an excellent Enterprise to own it would have been well worth whatever asking price they wanted
This all around seems like a poorly engineered product with many problems that could be solved with a few more weeks of thinking it through. Half of these problems wouldn't exist if they designed it right. The engineer behind this should be disappointed and needs to use this as a learning point
In all honestly, die cast METAL is hard to work with and fasten together. If it were PLASTIC, which is crappy, you could probably hide all the fastening hardware. I would rather have a metal model than plastic any day. 🤔
Stuart , your much more forgiving than myself... I cancelled mine once I saw the finished product... I was so jazzed for what I saw w/ the early versions I had order asap. There is no excuse for the screw holes/ and panel gapes being visable on the display side... It's just poor planing and exicution... Pass my best to the Mrs.
Will do sir. Hope you are well.
German construction block company Blue Brixx currently has a Star Trek license, the 1701 in a size similar to Mega Bloks was one of their first Star Trek sets. Over the last few years the company has released several ships at different scales. They have a TH-cam channel if you want to see their brick Enterprise or other Star Trek sets
Very sad after such a long wait. They didn't even try.
Just got confirmation that both of my orders have been cancelled. Very disappointing AND shady. Like someone else said, "They should have sold it as a diecast toy from the get go, not a prop miniature".
I think the model looks fine and as faded, easily passes the 1 to 2 ft display rule for most reasonable people.
The stand is another issue altogether and it really isn't that difficult to design a better one if you just take a few things into account early on, weight distribution is important and rather than having external supports all over the place incorporate them inside of the model, much the same way a car is built, you just redistribute that weight and pressure on connection points to the mounting point for the stand.
And also when designing the model keep in mind the weight in the saucer section and the nacelled, which needs to be minimised as much as possible, with all motors, batteries, wiring harnesses, and anything else of heavier weight in the lowest part of the the model for a low centre-of-gravity and it would be fine.
it would have even made sense to make the saucer of a lighter material like aluminum or many other options to minimise the wait to allow a single mounting point on the bottom of the secondary Hull and also to prevent the inevitable nacelle sag.
Just an internal skeleton type support to redistribute the weight solves this problem and wouldn't add any more cost if incorporated during the design phase.
Paramount should pull approval.
One feature I was pleasantly surprised about is viewing the detailed bridge from the dome, perhaps this additional detail created problems with the saucer structure support, I don’t believe it was in the prototype models
It was actually.
@@StuartFoleyCaptainFoley
Well it was at the least a welcome surprise for me
I pretty much agree with everything that you said. I too, am keeping mine.
Damn, nothing like what was promised, I backed this and have been waiting a year for what is essentially an illuminated, mass produced, low quality, Chinese knock off appearing toy I paid 600.00 for.
This is very disappointing. I may try to get my money back on this piece of crap. Or I may try to repair the shortcomings of the model. For those saying we all should have known better, I used to have faith in "you get what you pay for" but I can see now that this is also a factor of the past. I especially love the comments like "I told you so" when of course they had not. Or "you should have known better" when obviously, we did not.
Well, I guess the lawyers will get more wealthy on the class action suit this will result in. While those that paid just get screwed.
They are processing refunds now - so yeah, you have that option...
I thought I owned a pretty extensive Star Trek collection, but your collection appears to be quite a bit more impressive.
Obviously , you have a much larger disposable income than I.
I still do not own a larger scale Enterprise model.
Every one always seemed to have some design inaccuracies or flaws.
I own only the Art/Asylum/Diamond Select TOS E with third party custom acrylic stand, as well as, the AA/DST STTMP refit E and the refit E ( “No bloody A, B, C D, E, F or G” ) from TWoK that I feel is the better of the two versions of the refit E as the paint job on the TWoK refit E has more of that reflective, aztec-like metallic look.
Owned these for a very long time.
These have a third party custom clear acrylic display stand, as well!
I own a lot of ST prop replicas, though.
Still tryng to add just one very good replica of a “The Cage/The Menagerie” style communicator, though.
I always wanted one of these and thought these communicators were very cool looking, with the clear, “ see through body/casing and all of the exposed electronics bits, inside, that, even in those days, had that sort of “future retro-ism” look to them.
Everytime one comes up for sale on eBay, I never have the immediate cash to just part with and plunk down on one of these.
If Tomy comes waaay down on the pricing on these large scale, die-csst TOS E models, I might “pull the trigger” and part with my hard earned cash on one of these. The paint scheme on this looks very close to the current paint scheme on the 11-foot Smithsonian TOS E filming model.
Well I’ll accept all flaws , you convince me to buy it . I’m quite happy with flaws and everything, still excited
Drama for drama's sake. Greatly overblown. The ship is fantastic and I have no regrets displaying her and showing her off! Everyone thinks it's damn awesome!
Constructive rant Captain!
The finale battle in the fan made ST “Of gods and men” has a TOS saucer separation. 15:48
Captain, your rants are fair and balanced. Thanks for this. Also, the batteries are 4 AA for the engineering hull and go into the model by unscrewing the deflector dish. For the Saucer, it's 4 AAA batteries, and they go in by flipping the saucer upside down and unscrewing the sensor dome.
Awesome. Thanks for letting me know. I wasn’t sure.
I was just thinking of a way to support the saucer when it is separated, a stand like an Eaglemoss stand. It would "attach" to the back like it does on the EM ships when separated, but you can use it on the side not being displayed when the saucer is attached to the secondary hull.
Damn. The prototype looked beautiful but some of the design choices in the final model are just baffling. The Round 2 kit is absolutely the way to go if you want an Enterprise in that scale and have a little modelling experience. Good job with yours by the way Stuart.
Thanks so much. It does has its problems. Most people can’t see them though. 🤣
Round 2 had an unlit painted and weathered 350 that looks great.
I got the Mega Bloks Enterprise right after your review for it and it was 109.99 on Amazon at the time. It is now 479.99 American
Wowzers. You got a great deal.
I had planned to keep my order until I saw this video with the seams, garbage stand and plugs. I thought they were just the starboard plugs but when I saw the saucer plugs and the other issues I instantly canceled it. Great review
Same
I was going to keep mine despite TOMY's recent disclaimers, now I'm considering canceling!😮
Great to see Rant Alert back, sorry to hear it's because they made some bad design decisions.
A little off topic but:
Where can I get that nice looking TOS Screensaver? Thank you!
Came here to ask the same thing.
It's still a good-looking model. I would be proud to own it.
I think your sauce seam lines looks better than the Tomy ones
🤣 Thanks. I do as well. More like a “sensor band” or something technical.
I still have my polar lights 1/350 model I put together and painted myself. It doesn’t have lights or gimmicks, but looks great with some lighting AND doesn’t weigh a ton needing an ugly base.
When I started assembling mine I was frustrated to find out that the black part on the neck where the screw goes into to secure the saucer to the dorsal had no threads. In fact, the bolt would literally not contact any part and there were no threads visible. After two weeks of waiting to hear back from customer service I was told I needed to send the secondary hull back for replacement. Pretty crappy quality control imo...especially for $600 worth of product.
The pics you showed of the TOMY model are from my mate in Australia.
Oh that’s cool. Boyd?
@@StuartFoleyCaptainFoley nope, Boyd took it from a forum my mate posted to.
I'm a notorious internet troll, and God help me I want to make of fun of you with this stuff, but dammit, this stuff is really cool.
Great review and I'm looking forward to seeing the unboxing. The seams are certainly illogical. You would think that with all the wonderful detailing they took the trouble to create, they would have made sure to dot all their I's and cross all their t's.
I just purchased and assembled the Discovery Enterprise (1/1000) with the lighting kit and the aztec decals. It is a very accurate kit and engineered nicely. I'd love to shoot you some pics of it. They are supposed to re-release the SNW version with the extra windows soon.
Thanks for the look at these! Your 1/350 PL looks great.
Thank you
I received my Tomy Enterprise last week. Foley’s assessment is, unfortunately, spot on.
Positives: Accurate paintjob detailing, accurate modeling details, great Bussard collector lighting effects (has colored sparkles in addition to spinning), touch activation of effects is fantastic, saucer separation is something I like, quiet motors, hanger bay detail, bridge detail, blinky ion pod light, 3 little shuttlecraft, removable shuttle bay door.
Negatives: Placement of the screw hole covers on the starboard side and warp pylon & nacelle seam placement is unforgivable…period, the display stand in relation to the primary hull covers too much lower hull detail, very awkward display stand overall. Frankly, any of the screw hole covers stinks.
Meh: The seam between the top and bottom of the primary hull is wider then I like but not a deal killer. The seam between the primary hull and interconnecting dorsal is also thicker than I like but also not a deal killer.
Was it worth $600? For a die-cast metal replica with all of the positive I mentioned against the negatives, yes.
Paying for “fixes”? There are a lot of outstanding modelers out there who would likely be able to seal the seams and screw hole covers and repaint the insignia, numbers, and surface weathering in those areas to perfection. But it will cost.
I also suspect some Enterprise-ing modeler with a 3D printer will design a better support structure and make it available.
Poetic irony! After very late in the game I tried to reserve one on the final day of the pre-sale, just before midnight. At 11:55pm I clicked 'yes' to place my pre-purchase order but the site went into never ending cycle mode. I didn't dare go back a page for fear of blowing my order... even though I did complete my pre-order purchase with minutes to spare, the order didn't go thru. The site just kept cycling till after midnight. I tried again but it was too late, it wouldn't take my order. I quickly shot Tomy an email explaining what had just happened. Their response the next morning was brief and rather cold. Basically saying I was SOL! Told them to notify me if something could be done to rectify the issue but to no avail.
After thankfully bumping into your TH-cam review last night of #Tomy's problematic product I can now stop kicking myself for missing out on it. For me #Tomy's street cred has dropped considerably! I'm tempted to write them just to see if they (magically) have any available for purchase now! 😅
Caveat emptor dude. You get what you pay for. I've never been impressed by these so-called "collectable" toys. Frankly, your 1/350 Polar Lights model is far superior. You don't do seams well??? Dude! It's just a good solid glue joint, a little putty, a little sandpaper and lots of patience. It's not hard. Not to say I haven't been there and done that too. I got burned by the overpriced and undersized Tri-Dimensional Chess set from Franklin Mint years ago. With some basic woodworking skills, I made my own full sized version that is far superior to the mass produced piece of garbage. If you don't have the modeling skills, use this as an impetus to learn those skills and build something you can truly be proud of. That's what I did. My ToS 1/350 was MUCH cheaper than you claim too. The kit was under $100 when I got it. I did the lighting myself and skipped the overpriced "lighting kits." I got the circuit boards for the bussards (non-motorized) and a simple control board for the blinkies. All together the total materials cost me right around $300.00 (that included getting a new airbrush that I can obviously use on other projects). Nowhere near the price of this over-hyped die-cast toy. If it were me, I'd take the refund and run! You can make your own better.
I have the prebuilt so other than the lack of lights I love
So the consensus on TH-cam is that for $600 the flaws are not worth it? How many of you will have "buyers remorse?"
How much would collectors ask for this imperfect version? That Round 2 model looks pretty appealing by comparison if you know someone who could assemble,paint and detail it cheaply!
Realistically there isn't any reason for me to have such a large scale costly model in my apartment at this time! I'm no longer that insecure adolescent attempting to keep up with the Joneses! Who the Hell am I trying to impress? Thank you very much for posting this video. I will be leaning toward cancelling.
Round 2 is a nice model. But you are forgetting it's not diecast. Seams and Plug holes still don't make me want to cancel. The fact that this thing is 20lbs of Diecast still makes it a very unique collectible. It's still highly detailed. Well lit and looks great otherwise. No one's ever gonna do it in diecast again (at least not for $600) So yeah....gonna keep mine.
Very good rant! I appreciated your review. I bought 3 of these, and have no regrets. It is obvious to me that the entire development team at TOMY had their priorities. Unfortunately, they did not match those of their customer/fans.
Why do you need three of them?
@@geraldwyatt5484 I don't even need 1.
Changing tack slightly, given your dislike of the need for a support for the saucer, I'm curious to how you feel about the Aoshima Enterprise D model that requires such a support, particularly given that it's a separable saucer employing a magnet?
Yeah. Not really a fan. But they can be done to be less obnoxious for sure.
Frankly I'm shocked Mega Bloks & BlueBrixx (which I had never heard of before) have Star Trek models, & OG Lego doesn't. Does anyone know why Lego hasn't bothered to get a license to do Star Trek models? I'll bet they'd be the best of the 3.
They said numerous times whilst promoting the model that all seams and screw holes would be filled and sanded. They also said the central stand would support the weight of the ship alone and that the secondary stand was only there if you wished to display the saucer seperated - something that was never on my wish list as it had never been done in the original series. I am sorely disappointed by this last minute bait and switch.
They probably could have avoided these problems if they would have contacted SCOTTY to help with the development of the ship.
What pisses me off the most is the lying, which they are still doing. Last week they sent out an email saying "a specific design detail we thought we could achieve could not be realized in final production. Specifically, the screw hole covers and seams are still somewhat visible on the final production units." But they did NOT include a photo of this. Then, clearly hearing a lot of complaints, the next day they sent another email: "Thank you for your continued support! We've had so many requests for photos..." Yeah, you just said your product is flawed, but you didn't show any photos--people are asking not because they are excited, but because they are worried. And then they included a photo that minimized the problem, and no photo of the screw hole covers on the bottom of the saucer. So they're still blowing smoke, trying to minimize their error.
TOMY was trying to copy Hasbro's success with their crowd-funded Star Wars campaigns (most recently Rebel's Ghost). But they barely made it past their goal. I remember them slipping the deadline a few times to make it. I bet that at that point, they began cost-cutting and senior leadership at TOMY said "We're not spending any extra money on this thing." In fact, they may have been willing to lose money up-front so that they could do more in the future, generating lots of buzz like Hasbro. But with lower sales, they were probably disappointed and no longer willing to do their best.
A friend tried to talk me into buying two of them, saying that the resale value would be very high. Not with a lot of people canceling their orders. TOMY is going to take a big tax write-off and get out of the corporate crowd-funding. And they'll watch Hasbro with envy.
You are blowing this a bit out of proportion. We all had the August update that showed the plug holes. If the secondary hull and nacelles had it of course the saucer will have it. It's still a great looking model in diecast. Tomy has said they are going to sell the cancelled orders in their outlet store. Want to make a bet on how many people who cancelled theirs are gonna try to get a deal??😂
Tomy will sell them and I doubt they will drop the price or not by that much. Going by what people are still willing to pay for them on eBay they just won't. Once they have them for resale at their outlet store. I'm buying a third just because....😂
Where they blew it was in the future. Had they just bit the damn bullet and built what was promised, then the next one, which was rumored to be the Refit, they would have cleaned house because they could have added $150.00 on to each one of those and made back what they lost on this had they made what was promised. But now, nope. No one will trust them on a Refit or a D.
lol guess you're hating yourself now for not listening to your friend. They are going for double and triple the price on ebay right now lol
Awesome intro !! Well done Captain !
I know I'm only repeating myself....but I would really love to see TOMY make Enterprise Refit/A & D & E
I have the 1/350 Round 2 Pre Built, the Mega Bloks 1/350 and the Playmobil Enterprise. I am getting the TOMY this Saturday. I also have the "granddaddy" of all the 1/350, the Master Replica Signature Edition.
I too am disappointed in the screw holes of the TOMY and the seams but looking forward to it. I also agree with you on the support for the saucer. What I do know and can guarantee is that someone will come out with a better aftermarket stand for it. I also have a 3D printer and will toy around with a support for the saucer that will allow me to display the model from the other side. All in al a good rant.
Yours looks better than theirs
Thanks. I was waiting for someone to say that. 🤣
@@StuartFoleyCaptainFoley Hey WTHeck, I said yours looked great! And I agree, better than Tomy's.
So sad to see the flaws in the model. I can’t justify $600 for that so I cancelled. Very disappointed.
Awww man. Sorry to hear that. Hope you’ll still watch my unboxing of it?
I shall. Least I can do for saving me some cash!
I'm considering hanging mine for display. Avoids that unsightly stand. We'll see. Very disappointing. The Polar Lights model is great and is probably the best, most accurate 1/350 Enterprise available at this time. BTW, nice work on yours! She looks amazing!
Well that is disappointing! Not what I was expecting for $600 !!! No the product from early photos! Not sure what to do. Right now I am getting it.
Rant alerts are great I think we could use a few more about Nu trek
I emailed for a refund and the quickly responded and said I should have it in 5 to 7 days. Mostly on these crowdfunded deals you don’t have the ability to choose to get a refund for them to make the statements they have and to refund I clearly know they are offering an inferior product
18:12 - If I remember the old video correctly, you managed to acquire the Mega Bloks/Mega Construx 'Connie' somewhat discounted, like for 200 Bucks. Certainly not a bad deal! 🙂
Yeah sounds about right. But it was usually like $300.
Awesome collection by the way. I just started, built 2 polar lights 1000 scale (tos and refit), about to embark on the 350 scale refit. Will take me 2 years i think.
You have an amazing collection 😍
Thank you very much.
And good luck on your 350 scale.
Hey did you ever get your TOMY Enterprise? I got mine and love it! You going to do a review?
Calmly shows the underside of the saucer and says, "....and, quite noticeably, SCREW PLUGS!" The moment I spit my coffee....
🤣 Glad you liked that.
@@StuartFoleyCaptainFoley Well Capt,, I've watched your rant a few times and was about to cancel, then recalled the last time I owned a TOS Enterprise 1701 model, and it was when I was a kid, a gift from my father, who recently passed. I don't own models of much of anything and haven't for much of my adult life. So, this will be it. The one and only replica. Flaws and all. Although, I would've preferred something closer to perfection in this particular case, especially coming from a Japanese company with a 1.5-billion-dollar market cap. Oh well, it is what it is. Looks like you've achieved quite a nice collection! Cheers!
I'm content with the DST ships being the largest in my collection. I would not want anything larger than those!
I just wish D.S. made an Enterprise C.😉
What grey did you use to paint your model?
It's a shame that after waiting 14 months to receive our Enterprise, this is the level of quality that TOMY is going to send us. I realize that there are always going to be minor flaws in something like this but the fact that they wouldn't point out the flaws in the pictures they sent out is a red flag to me. I would have been willing to wait several more months to get what we were promised. The final product vs the prototype isn't even close. I did cancel mine but I would've been willing to wait a lot longer to get what we were promised. But apparently TOMY was unwilling to put in the effort to make sure they followed through all the hype. The extra saucer support is awful, I was expecting acrylic instead of the ugly plastic, that, the hole covers ant the fact that they wouldn't point out the flaws made the decision for me. It's very disappointing but at least for those of us who wanted to could cancel.
I ordered one as well, and I expected perfection
in my opinion, far too many mistakes for the money being asked.
Awesome that your getting one no matter what I myself am not well funded enough or have the room ( kids and cats ya know)!
Family first. I always say.🙂
Shit, you got me.
I didn't even know TOMY was still in business.
Any way for them to rerelease the Spiral Zone or RAMBO figures?
🤷♂️
I can truly get past the seam lines and the screw covers but that secondary stand for the saucer is awful. I probably will let mine ship but I'm re-thinking where I will display this. I'm now thinking a lower shelf to show-off the amazing looking upper portion of the saucer and to hide that f-ing stand. 😠
Just goes to prove that going with too much die cast is a stupid idea these days. 1 - there are better materials out there and 2 - from working in manufacturing I know that allot of the artistry that goes into making great diecast that has been lost because of new and better materials and manufacturing processes.
This company should have gone the route of many Japanese companies and used diecast where it makes sense and they can do based on the companies skill level and manufacturing capability. Those screw plugs could have been done way better and IMO if the model requires a stand to hold up the saucer section because its too heavy....USE LESS DIECAST! Theres allot of great quality models you can make these days using high quality plastic and paying attention to your painting process can lead to results where its hard to tell the difference between a painted plastic and diecast part. but that's just my two cents.
There is one listed on eBay for $1701.00. 😳😳😳😳 not for that price
Sure that isn’t the Master Replicas Westin from a few years ago?
@StuartFoleyCaptainFoley it says TOMY Enterprise. Also, prototype pics with no screw holes or seams😂
I was a backer of this model as well. When I saw the final production pictures and I received that email, I promptly cancelled my order because the quality that was promised is not there. After watching your video, I know I made the right choice.
I didn't cancel after I saw the videos of the ship ..
I would imagine the die cast is a lot heavier than plastic. So the screws holing it together were necessary
Where can I get this
There's less seamlines in the megabricks version!
🤣