TOS Bridge Crew

Star Trek Adventures Star Trek Adventures Miniatures
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So I purchased, have assembled, and have been in the process of painting the TOS bridge crew minis that are available. But I noticed something odd… I think Sulu and Kirk have their phaser arms swapped on the sprue’s.

I know the way the models are sprue’d, it would be impossible to glue one mini together unless you cut all the parts off and mixed them together, but I did not do that, I’ve been putting minis together for 20 years now. And I was taking it slow to enjoy the process this time. So I only cut the parts off for each mini as I assembled them so I know I didn’t mix any of them up.

I was noticing that both Kirk and Sulu’s right arms seem a little awkward. And then I noticed that the decorations on their sleeves that indicate rank are mixed up. On Kirks left sleeve there are two ropes, and on the sleeve of his phaser arm there is only one rope. On Sulu’s left sleeve there is only one rope, and on his phaser arm there are two ropes. So I’m thinking maybe if the person doing the 3d model for each figure didn’t make a mistake, somehow a mistake might have been made cutting up the miniatures to create the layout for the sprues.

EDIT: based on some of the pictures I’ve seen of other peoples minis it makes me wonder if some production change was made, hmmm.

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I got a sheet of paper in my Borg cube that explained that the phaser arms for Kirk and Sulu were accidentally swapped in production, as well as the communicator arms for Kirk and Scott. I had assumed that paper was included in the minis boxes, but I guess not. Sorry to hear about the mixup!

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Hmm, nope I didn’t see a sheet explaining that, now that I look closer, Kirk’s communicator arm is a little awkward too.

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That’s infuriating! No wonder I had so much difficulty getting them together…

I still haven’t gotten around to painting them, so maybe I can fix?

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Well I accidentally dropped kirk and the offending arm fell off, so I will swap the arms to their proper place between kirk and sulu. I think the scotty/kirm arm swap isnt a big deal because they do have the same wrist ropes.

The only difference is that I’m going to have to repaint what I have done on the kirk/sulu arms to match colors. I’m doing kirk’s uniform in the sometimes-seen captain’s green color instead of the command gold.

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These miniatures are simply ■■■■. Why did they choose to not have the arms attached? Purely to save costs? I can not think of a game miniature set that actually requires assembly, but I assumed it would be attaching them to the base or something…not attaching tiny little arms to their tiny little bodies. I bought them to actually use in game play, not be completely frustrated trying to get the arms to stick…knowing full well that when I finally do, they will be so easily broken later. A complete FAIL my Morphious at this one aspect of STA. Love the game, but won’t be purchasing any more of these miniatures

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The original Space Marines set when 40K first came out was a box of plastic sprues, with separate heads, arms, legs, and torsos, so it’s something that has been going on for years. That said, that was partly so that you could customise figures. If each arm is only supposed to go with a specific figure, I can definitely understand the frustration!

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Whilst I haven’t purchased them, I’ve seen them, and no, they aren’t. They’re fairly typical minis, save for being in a different scale, a larger scale, so they look wrong next to other companies games…

All your rant proves is ignorance of the minis gaming hobby. Let’s cure that ignorance.
Many minis ship in pieces, especially boxed sets.

For example, Warhammer: Age of Sigmar… at about 4:34, you can see the massive pile of minis-on-sprues.

The oversized (ogre?) is clearly in need of having the arm affixed, as well as being cut free from the sprue, then flash trimmed, and painted.

The albedo miniatures game, new this year, ships minis unassembled, as well… for example, read the text on this pack’s sales page:
https://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/epages/950003459.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950003459/Products/ACP21

The Harry Potter Miniatures Adventure Game… see 1:28…

I could go on, but I’ll point out the exceptions:
Wizards official minis for D&D are single-piece prepainted.
Most things from WizKids are single-piece or preassembled, prepainted
the Minis-using games from Days of Wonder are preassembled, but unpainted, tho a prepainted add-on for Shadows over Camelot is available, separately
About 2/3 of FFG’s lines are preassembled and about 1/2 are prepainted.
Reaper - most are single-cast.

Castle Panic, whilst not a miniatures game, has components that require assembly before play… the wall segments. As does Star Trek Catan. And Ogre.

Now, it is becoming more common to have all the minis either single-cast or preassembled, but it’s still hit or miss.

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Relatively new game to the market, yet popular, Star Wars Legion minis require assembly, and the upcoming Clone Wars sets put the droids on sprues requiring them to be cut off and assembled. Separate pieces allow higher detail, in my experience.

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There’s also the small matter that the arms on these minis are posed at realistic angles. It’s not possible to do this without multiple parts. Plus they are cast in a form of resin, not metal or plastic, both of which have enough give to spring free of molds.

My only issue was that I got a set without the leaflet about the missed placed armd, which means I’m going to have to cut a couple of mine apart and reassemble them…

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Most of the games which come prepainted and pre assembled also have very bad paint jobs even by my bad painting standards

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Still better than I tend to do, @TheOldBadger.

I just can’t afford the price.

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With respect, Neelix - I wondered why they did not make parts interchangeable - especially with the TNG “crew” box, so you could have more variety. But I am a historical miniatures gamer and used to a different standard.

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I’m personally used to warhammer/40k miniatures which do require assembly, and offer a level of customization. But I think most of the actual RPG miniatures I’ve seen don’t have much in the ways of customization, even if they do require assembly instead of being a single piece.

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I like the idea of interchanging parts. Pack each set with a couple more arm/ equipment sets and a lot more heads than it needs. That way people have an easier time making the characters and crews that they imagine. And there is a wider “population” to interact with.

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Although you could wind up with plots like this:
image

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One of the best arcs in TNG. :smiley:

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If we don’t get a HeroForge-like customization, this is the next best thing.

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Useful to know about the arms. Any other mismatches like that?

Of perhaps more immediate interest to me, what paints do people use for TOS shirts? I find the shades on the Landing Party set box not to my liking – the Command gold and Science/Medical blue are too pale, and the Engineering/Security red too orange. Anyone have preferences? And what about a green for Kirk’s alternative shirt?