Federation Commander

I own quite a few of the 2400 line minis. I am impressed with most of them but lately I have become a bit annoyed by the odd shape of the D7 bridge. It is much wider than the D7 or the K'tinga.

I've done quite a bit of research and it looks like this odd front shape was introduced with the 2400 line. The old Citadel FASA line and the Gamescience minis don't seem to have it.

Does anyone have any recommendations for the best D7 mini in this scale? Is it the one piece Gamescience? Something from Shapeways?

The old Citadel ships are hard to find and look kind of unfinished but I did notice they had some K'tinga type detail in pics

Thanks!

If you can find them (and second-hand is the only way), the old lead four-piece Gamescience D-7 (also marketed as the Task Force Games Starline 2200 D-7) is the best, in my opinion. It is the closest to the McMaster blueprints and the filming model in both shape and proportions.

The current Starline 2400 D-6/7 can be adjusted to look more like the blueprints by taking a file to the command boom's "hat brim". File the outboard edge on each side back a fair amount and you can get its profile pretty close. Nothing can be done about the bulb and bridge at the end of the boom being proportionally too small, but the mini itself is somewhat undersized overall.

What about the one piece Gamescience? Not worth trying to dredge up?

I don't think I could put together the four piece to my satisfaction anyway.

The Gamescience minis are better but the command section is a bit too wide. This is especially true in the underneath view.

Is the one piece Citadel mini any better? It has the cool K'tinga styling.

Someone should revive these older molds.

It looks like the reply I made never posted.

I've never actually seen a one-piece Gamescience D-7. I have six or seven 1980s-vintage D-7's with Gamescience's copyright on their belly, but they are all 4-piece.

I have a couple of the one-piece D7s... I much prefer the 4 piece version.

Here's a photo of a Citadel FASA D-7 next to a SL2200 F-5 frigate mini



It's what I used for D-7/KR's as I couldn't get my four piece D-7 to stay together years ago.

Mark

That looks better than the Gamescience k type to me.

The one piece Gamescience is the k type that Zocchi still sells. It looks better overall than the 2400 D7 but has too wide of a command section and too thin of a rear (where you would paint impulse engines).

After looking on eBay, I just have to ask. Why are all the Rawcliffes so warped?

As the second most popular TOS ship, I'm surprised good D7 molds are so rare.