We appreciate all your support on the 1:350 Klingon D7 die-cast model from Star Trek™. This is not possible without the passion from you! Since the last update, we have completed the CAD, prototype, and tooling model stages. Currently we have passed the first shot stage and are moving into the engineering pilot model.
The estimated shipping date is currently early 2027. Please see the updated date on the campaign page to March 2027.
What is the first shot stage? This is the first pass on creating the model in diecast. It will usually be painted bare metal (non-final color) and may or may not include electronics. Since this is the first pass in diecast metal it normal for there to be loose joints, light leaks and rough surfaces that will continue to be adjusted and finalized through the next rounds of engineering models.
This month, we have some imagery of the first shot model and another essay from Glen E. Swanson discussing what happened to the original Klingon D7 tooling model. If you would like to read the first essay in the series, please check the updates tab on the Backerkit campaign page. The October update will be posted within the first week and will include another essay from Glen E. Swanson.
(NOTE: This is the second in a series of four essays on the history of the two original Klingon ship models built by AMT. One was built for filming and the second was built as the tooling master to produce the AMT model kits. For a more in-depth account, please refer to my new book “Inspired Enterprise: How NASA, the Smithsonian and the Aerospace Community Helped Launch Star Trek” published by Schiffer).
In my first essay, I discussed the origins of the two original Klingon ship models that were made by AMT for Star Trek. In 1968 two master models were funded by the Michigan-based model company in exchange for the rights to make model kits of the ship. One model was built to be filmed for the television series, while the second model was constructed as a tooling master that would be used to produce the AMT model kits. These two Klingon ship models were constructed at AMT’s Speed and Custom Shop in Phoenix, Arizona which was headed by legendary hot rod builder Gene Winfield. This essay will examine what happened to the AMT tooling model. Essay 3 will chronicle what happened to the AMT-built filming model.
Stephen Whitfield played a crucial role in creating the original Klingon ship. Both Whitfield and Roddenberry were pilots, and Whitfield worked first for the advertising agency that handled the AMT contract and then was later employed by AMT. As a result, they grew close. Gene gave permission to Stephen to write “The Making of Star Trek” with the great bird of the galaxy granting the first-time book author half the royalties. This turned out to be financial windfall for Whitfield as the book went on to become a best seller.
Because of their friendship, after Star Trek ended, Roddenberry gave Whitfield the AMT tooling model. During an interview that I conducted in 2020 with one of Whitfield’s daughters, she recalled seeing the model while growing up, proudly placed on the mantelpiece of their home.
In 1998, while preparing for a minor surgical procedure, doctors discovered that Whitfield had leukemia. As a result, Whitfield sold his model that year to a private collector to help pay for his medical expenses. The model then made its way to public auction where fans of the show first became aware of its existence. On June 18, 1998, Christie’s Film and Television Auction 8115 sold the model as Lot 71 for $11,500. It was in this auction catalog that the overall length of the AMT tooling model is first reported to be 26 inches as opposed to the measured 29 inches of the filming model. Subsequent auction catalogs list the tooling model as being 26 inches in length, but this may simply be an error repeated by the auction houses (it has been known to happen).
Six months later, the model went up for auction again, this time at the Hollywood: A Collectors Ransom 5 auction held on December 12 where it reportedly sold for $35,000. This auction was run by Joseph Maddalena under “Pacific Design Center,” the name of his auction house before he formally changed it to Profiles in History. During this auction, a noticeable crack appears on the leading edge of the starboard side of the primary hull. It is hard to spot the flaw in photos, but it is there. It is not certain what caused the crack or when exactly it occurred. It may simply have been a natural crack caused by old age.
The AMT tooling master appears at auction a third time on March 31, 2004, at Profiles in History Auction No. 18 as Lot 211. It sold at this auction for $64,900 including buyer’s premium. The model then went up for auction a fourth and final time during the March 31, 2006, Profiles in History Auction No. 24 as Lot 311, where it sold for $65,000 to Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen. According to Memory Alpha, the deal was closed before the auction started which was why the model was not featured in the auction itself though it does appear in their catalog.
After being acquired by Paul Allen, the crack in the model was repaired, and the model repainted, prior to being put on display, along with numerous other original Star Trek props and models that the billionaire acquired, at his Seattle based museum. That museum originally went by the challenging name of Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (or EMP/SFM) before it became the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) that we know today.
The museum was founded by Paul Allen and his sister Jody Patton. It opened its doors on June 18, 2004 and incorporated the Science Fiction Museum and Fantasy Hall of Fame where galleries displayed original Star Trek props and models including the AMT tooling model as well as Kirk’s original command chair from the bridge.
In 2018, MoPOP launched a new exhibit called Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds. The exhibit, which included the AMT tooling model, proved to be so popular that MoPOP created a traveling version using the same name that toured the country starting the following year. The last stop of the exhibit was at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in 2022.
Stephen Whitfield died in 2000, and Paul Allen passed away in in 2018. Today, the fate of Allen’s collection including his Star Trek items remains in question. As of this writing, the AMT tooling model still remains in MoPOP’s possession.
AMT’s contributions to the creation of Star Trek’s original Klingon ship are undeniable. Matt Jefferies’ original iconic designs of both the starship Enterprise and the Klingon ship are an indelible part of the franchise. As one young fan wrote, “The most valuable things in our house are the TV which I can watch Star Trek on and my four Star Trek books, along with some models. About a month or two ago I had a real bad accident. I accidentally stepped on my Enterprise, and there went the best model in the world.”
Thank you for your continual support on the 1:350Klingon D7 die-cast model fromStar Trek™.We sincerely appreciate your support in making this possible! Currently we are in the tooling stage. This month, we have included an essay from Glen E. Swanson discussing the original Klingon D7 filming model. Please see the information below regarding the shipping survey.
You will receive an email today with your last chance to fill out the shipping survey and to pay the $50 USD shipping fee, if you have not already done so. If you do not fill out the survey and pay the shipping fee by May 25th, 2026, your order will be cancelled. Your address and shipping fee payment information must be input for your order to be finalized. This is for all regions including the US, CA, and UK.
If you are not receiving reminders about this shipping survey through Backerkit please contact our consumer services team at [email protected] or 1 (800) 704 8697 for help!
If you have any other questions, please also reach out to the information above.
Thank you!
– TOMY+ Team
Glen Swanson: Essay 1 AMT and the KLINGON Ship Model
If it weren’t for the Aluminum Model Toys Corporation (AMT), Star Trek would never have had the shuttlecraft, a functional hangar bay or the Klingon ship.
When AMT signed a contract with Desilu Studios in the fall of 1966, they did so because they got a pretty good deal for a yet unproven new show called Star Trek. In exchange for funding the building of a 22-inch filming model of the shuttlecraft and its hangar bay along with a full-sized studio set of the landing craft, the model company secured the rights to manufacture 18-inch plastic model kits of the starship Enterprise.
The deal was a gamble for the world’s largest kit manufacturer of model cars and trucks. When AMT printed early dealer advertising for the new model in October 1966, they only showed a studio press photo of the starship with the description “No. 921 Space Ship.” No mention of the show was given, a slight most likely due to the fact that prior to Star Trek, AMT had established itself as the premiere producer of “Star Cars” – model kits that featured popular movie and television vehicles and their celebrities. They had never before made models of rockets or spacecraft.
AMT soon struck gold when their Enterprise kit sold over a million copies during its first year of production in 1967. As a result of this success, the company sought to produce another model kit from the show.
In a deal like the one that helped them secure rights to produce the Enterprise kit, AMT once again traded something that the cash-starved television series could use. This time in exchange for the rights to produce model kits of the “Klingon Alien Battle Cruiser,” AMT provided the studio with two high fidelity models of the Klingon ship. One would be used for filming by the studio for the show while the other would be used as the master to make the tooling for the model kit.
Matt Jefferies, the designer of the original Enterprise, was tasked with creating the Klingon ship. “We had no need for a Klingon ship, nor did we have a budget to do one, or the time to design or build it,” explained Jefferies during a 2002 interview for Star Trek: The Magazine. “But AMT wanted a follow-up to the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 kit because it had sold over a million in the first year. So, although the Klingon ship was something new that would fit the show, it was primarily done for AMT.”
While Jefferies busied himself designing the Klingon ship. Stephen Whitfield (a.k.a Stephen Poe), author of the popular 1968 book “The Making of Star Trek,” worked behind the scenes to help with production and sales.
Whitfield was employed by the Ptak & Richter Advertising Agency in Phoenix, Arizona. It was while working for Ptak that Whitfield became associated with Star Trek as the firm held the advertising account for AMT which Whitfield oversaw. Whitfield’s involvement with AMT at Ptak soon led to a full-time position with the model company as their national advertising and promotion director.
In a January 2, 1968, letter from Whitfield to John Reynolds, vice president of Paramount Pictures Television, Whitfield encouraged the studio to let Matt Jefferies come to AMT’s plant in Troy, Michigan to work on the master model “to guide our production staff in this last vital stage.” Whitfield added that “we are quite convinced that a properly detailed model of the second ship will result in sales records paralleling those of the Enterprise kit.” Whitfield closed by warning that “we are also convinced that, poorly done, sales will be disappointing at best.”
Model kits of the Klingon ship began arriving in stores by early September 1968. AMT packaged them in long boxes that were labeled “As Seen on Star Trek.” The only problem was that at that time, nobody had yet seen the ship on the show.
At the end of September 1968, “The Enterprise Incident” beamed into living rooms, finally showing the Klingon ship, but a Klingon ship entirely occupied by Romulans. In the episode, Mr. Spock explains that the Klingons shared their technology with the Romulans, which was why the Enterprise crew encountered a Klingon ship in Romulan space. The real reason for the ship switch however was more down to Earth. The original filming model of the Romulan “Bird of Prey” ship could not be found after the earlier first-season shooting of the episode “Balance of Terror,” in which the new spaceship was featured. Roddenberry was forced to improvise by substituting a Klingon ship rather than build a new Romulan one. Meanwhile, by December of that same year, “Elaan of Troyius” finally aired, showing Klingons aboard a Klingon ship.
The resulting confusion became a topic of discussion among fans. In a letter that was published in issue 9 (March 1969) of Lincoln Enterprises “Inside Star Trek” fanzine, C. John Fitzsimmons asked, “Why did the Romulans stop using the boomerang-shaped ships and start using the Klingon models?” D. C. Fontana replied, “The Romulans and Klingons formed a limited alliance to meet the threat of the Federation. Their treaty included help from the Klingons for the Romulans to change over to the faster, more powerful type of ship used by the Klingons. Also, the production staff of Star Trek felt that the Klingon model was visually more interesting and should be stressed to help sales of the model, besides.”
Despite the confusion, the new AMT Klingon ship model was a big seller. Even though the AMT kit has some differences from the actual filming model, it is surprisingly faithful to the original.
Next time you pick up a copy of AMT’s plastic model kit of the Klingon ship which is now reproduced by Polar Lights in a vintage long-box reissue, remember that this little 14.5-inch piece of styrene was responsible for some of the more memorable episodes that we have all grown to love from the original Star Trek television series.
Thank you to everyone who has already filled out the shipping survey for the 1:350 Klingon D7 die-cast model from Star Trek™.Without your support we would not be able “To boldly go where no man has gone before” - Captain James T. Kirk.
We are continuing to extend the shipping survey so if you have not completed it, please do so ASAP. You must provide your address and payment information in the shipping survey for your order to be finalized. This is for all regions including the US, CA, and UK. If you do not fill out this shipping survey, your order may be cancelled.
If you are not receiving reminders about this shipping survey through Backerkit please contact our consumer services team at [email protected] or 1 (800) 704 8697 for help!
We are currently in the tooling stage of the production process. To share this month, we have a sneak peek of the poster that is currently still a work-in-progress by Matt Cushman, please see below.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please reach out to TOMY+. For US & CA please email [email protected], or call 800-704-8697 Monday-Friday from 8:00AM to 4:00PM US-Central Time. For the UK, please email [email protected].
Thank you to everyone who has already filled out the shipping survey for the 1:350 Klingon D7 die-cast model from Star Trek™.This would not be possible without the support of all of you!
We are extending the deadline to complete the shipping survey to January 31st. Please have your information and payment method completed by that date. Please note that if you only input your address but not your payment information, your order is not finalized. This is for all regions including the US, CA, and UK. If you do not fill out this shipping survey, your order may be cancelled.
If you are not receiving reminders about this shipping survey through Backerkit please contact our consumer services team at [email protected] or 1 (800) 704 8697 for help!
Currently we are in the tooling stage and below are images of the Klingon D7 tooling model.
If you have any questions, please reach out to TOMY+ at [email protected] or 1 (800) 704 8697.
We very much appreciate all of your support on our 1:350 Klingon D7 die-cast model from Star Trek™. Thank you to everyone who has already filled out the shipping survey!
As a reminder, you have until December 31st to complete the survey and pay for the $50 USD shipping fee. Please note that if you only input your address but not your payment information, your order is not finalized. This is for all regions including the US, CA, and UK.
Reminders are being sent continuously through Backerkit but if you are not receiving the survey please contact our consumer services team at [email protected] or 1 (800) 704 8697 for help!
In this update, we have also included a diagram that highlights locations on the Klingon D7 model.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please reach out to TOMY+ at [email protected] or 1 (800) 704 8697.
November Update (Information regarding Shipping Survey)
Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much for supporting our 1:350 Klingon D7 die-cast model from Star Trek™. We could not do any of this without your support!
We are currently within the tooling stage, and as we get closer to the next stage of production, we will have more to share.
On December 4th we will be sending out the Backerkit Survey for your shipping information. When you fill out this survey, you will be charged for the $50 USD shipping fee. You have until December 15th to complete the survey and until December 31st for the shipping payment.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please reach out to TOMY+ at [email protected] or 1 (800) 704 8697.
We appreciate all your support on the 1:350 Klingon D7 die-cast model from Star Trek™. This is not possible without the passion from you! Since the last update, we have completed the CAD, prototype, and tooling model stages. Currently we have passed the first shot stage and are moving into the engineering pilot model.
The estimated shipping date is currently early 2027. Please see the updated date on the campaign page to March 2027.
What is the first shot stage? This is the first pass on creating the model in diecast. It will usually be painted bare metal (non-final color) and may or may not include electronics. Since this is the first pass in diecast metal it normal for there to be loose joints, light leaks and rough surfaces that will continue to be adjusted and finalized through the next rounds of engineering models.
This month, we have some imagery of the first shot model and another essay from Glen E. Swanson discussing what happened to the original Klingon D7 tooling model. If you would like to read the first essay in the series, please check the updates tab on the Backerkit campaign page. The October update will be posted within the first week and will include another essay from Glen E. Swanson.
(NOTE: This is the second in a series of four essays on the history of the two original Klingon ship models built by AMT. One was built for filming and the second was built as the tooling master to produce the AMT model kits. For a more in-depth account, please refer to my new book “Inspired Enterprise: How NASA, the Smithsonian and the Aerospace Community Helped Launch Star Trek” published by Schiffer).
In my first essay, I discussed the origins of the two original Klingon ship models that were made by AMT for Star Trek. In 1968 two master models were funded by the Michigan-based model company in exchange for the rights to make model kits of the ship. One model was built to be filmed for the television series, while the second model was constructed as a tooling master that would be used to produce the AMT model kits. These two Klingon ship models were constructed at AMT’s Speed and Custom Shop in Phoenix, Arizona which was headed by legendary hot rod builder Gene Winfield. This essay will examine what happened to the AMT tooling model. Essay 3 will chronicle what happened to the AMT-built filming model.
Stephen Whitfield played a crucial role in creating the original Klingon ship. Both Whitfield and Roddenberry were pilots, and Whitfield worked first for the advertising agency that handled the AMT contract and then was later employed by AMT. As a result, they grew close. Gene gave permission to Stephen to write “The Making of Star Trek” with the great bird of the galaxy granting the first-time book author half the royalties. This turned out to be financial windfall for Whitfield as the book went on to become a best seller.
Because of their friendship, after Star Trek ended, Roddenberry gave Whitfield the AMT tooling model. During an interview that I conducted in 2020 with one of Whitfield’s daughters, she recalled seeing the model while growing up, proudly placed on the mantelpiece of their home.
In 1998, while preparing for a minor surgical procedure, doctors discovered that Whitfield had leukemia. As a result, Whitfield sold his model that year to a private collector to help pay for his medical expenses. The model then made its way to public auction where fans of the show first became aware of its existence. On June 18, 1998, Christie’s Film and Television Auction 8115 sold the model as Lot 71 for $11,500. It was in this auction catalog that the overall length of the AMT tooling model is first reported to be 26 inches as opposed to the measured 29 inches of the filming model. Subsequent auction catalogs list the tooling model as being 26 inches in length, but this may simply be an error repeated by the auction houses (it has been known to happen).
Six months later, the model went up for auction again, this time at the Hollywood: A Collectors Ransom 5 auction held on December 12 where it reportedly sold for $35,000. This auction was run by Joseph Maddalena under “Pacific Design Center,” the name of his auction house before he formally changed it to Profiles in History. During this auction, a noticeable crack appears on the leading edge of the starboard side of the primary hull. It is hard to spot the flaw in photos, but it is there. It is not certain what caused the crack or when exactly it occurred. It may simply have been a natural crack caused by old age.
The AMT tooling master appears at auction a third time on March 31, 2004, at Profiles in History Auction No. 18 as Lot 211. It sold at this auction for $64,900 including buyer’s premium. The model then went up for auction a fourth and final time during the March 31, 2006, Profiles in History Auction No. 24 as Lot 311, where it sold for $65,000 to Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen. According to Memory Alpha, the deal was closed before the auction started which was why the model was not featured in the auction itself though it does appear in their catalog.
After being acquired by Paul Allen, the crack in the model was repaired, and the model repainted, prior to being put on display, along with numerous other original Star Trek props and models that the billionaire acquired, at his Seattle based museum. That museum originally went by the challenging name of Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (or EMP/SFM) before it became the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) that we know today.
The museum was founded by Paul Allen and his sister Jody Patton. It opened its doors on June 18, 2004 and incorporated the Science Fiction Museum and Fantasy Hall of Fame where galleries displayed original Star Trek props and models including the AMT tooling model as well as Kirk’s original command chair from the bridge.
In 2018, MoPOP launched a new exhibit called Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds. The exhibit, which included the AMT tooling model, proved to be so popular that MoPOP created a traveling version using the same name that toured the country starting the following year. The last stop of the exhibit was at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in 2022.
Stephen Whitfield died in 2000, and Paul Allen passed away in in 2018. Today, the fate of Allen’s collection including his Star Trek items remains in question. As of this writing, the AMT tooling model still remains in MoPOP’s possession.
AMT’s contributions to the creation of Star Trek’s original Klingon ship are undeniable. Matt Jefferies’ original iconic designs of both the starship Enterprise and the Klingon ship are an indelible part of the franchise. As one young fan wrote, “The most valuable things in our house are the TV which I can watch Star Trek on and my four Star Trek books, along with some models. About a month or two ago I had a real bad accident. I accidentally stepped on my Enterprise, and there went the best model in the world.”
VERY DISSAPPOINTED IN YOU TOMY! Well, I totally got screwed on this one. When I purchased two of the Enterprise 1:350 Diecasts, I didn't have to pay any extra payments or shipping charges, and with my Klingon D7 order, after checking the few initial emails that were just manufacturing updates through October, I didn't think I'd have keep track of the emails on the Klingon D7 project. I just got a refund on my order and when I investigated, I found that I had numerous emails starting in December 2025 telling me I had to pay a $50 shipping fee to receive my D7. I had no idea. You would think that if you're going to change the process of your shipping policy on your funding programs that you would have a statement in big bold large font letters saying "PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE PAYING AN ADDITIONAL SHIPPING FEE AT TIME OF SHIPPING OR YOU ORDER WILL BE CANCELLED, SO KEEP TRACK OF THE EMAILS WE SEND YOU!". And the thing that really bothers me is you had my phone number and never sent me a text. So I called TOMY to ask how I can fix this and their response was, "Sorry, we sent you all these emails and you didn't respond so we cancelled your order and refunded your payment and there's nothing we can do about it. YOU LOSE! YOU GET NOTHING! GOOD DAY, SIR!". So I helped fund your project, and this is the treatment I get. Wow. Well, needless to say, I will never participate in a TOMY funding project again. This is no way to business. This is no way to treat loyal investors/customers. Never again.
Thank you for your continual support on the 1:350Klingon D7 die-cast model fromStar Trek™.We sincerely appreciate your support in making this possible! Currently we are in the tooling stage. This month, we have included an essay from Glen E. Swanson discussing the original Klingon D7 filming model. Please see the information below regarding the shipping survey.
You will receive an email today with your last chance to fill out the shipping survey and to pay the $50 USD shipping fee, if you have not already done so. If you do not fill out the survey and pay the shipping fee by May 25th, 2026, your order will be cancelled. Your address and shipping fee payment information must be input for your order to be finalized. This is for all regions including the US, CA, and UK.
If you are not receiving reminders about this shipping survey through Backerkit please contact our consumer services team at [email protected] or 1 (800) 704 8697 for help!
If you have any other questions, please also reach out to the information above.
Thank you!
– TOMY+ Team
Glen Swanson: Essay 1 AMT and the KLINGON Ship Model
If it weren’t for the Aluminum Model Toys Corporation (AMT), Star Trek would never have had the shuttlecraft, a functional hangar bay or the Klingon ship.
When AMT signed a contract with Desilu Studios in the fall of 1966, they did so because they got a pretty good deal for a yet unproven new show called Star Trek. In exchange for funding the building of a 22-inch filming model of the shuttlecraft and its hangar bay along with a full-sized studio set of the landing craft, the model company secured the rights to manufacture 18-inch plastic model kits of the starship Enterprise.
The deal was a gamble for the world’s largest kit manufacturer of model cars and trucks. When AMT printed early dealer advertising for the new model in October 1966, they only showed a studio press photo of the starship with the description “No. 921 Space Ship.” No mention of the show was given, a slight most likely due to the fact that prior to Star Trek, AMT had established itself as the premiere producer of “Star Cars” – model kits that featured popular movie and television vehicles and their celebrities. They had never before made models of rockets or spacecraft.
AMT soon struck gold when their Enterprise kit sold over a million copies during its first year of production in 1967. As a result of this success, the company sought to produce another model kit from the show.
In a deal like the one that helped them secure rights to produce the Enterprise kit, AMT once again traded something that the cash-starved television series could use. This time in exchange for the rights to produce model kits of the “Klingon Alien Battle Cruiser,” AMT provided the studio with two high fidelity models of the Klingon ship. One would be used for filming by the studio for the show while the other would be used as the master to make the tooling for the model kit.
Matt Jefferies, the designer of the original Enterprise, was tasked with creating the Klingon ship. “We had no need for a Klingon ship, nor did we have a budget to do one, or the time to design or build it,” explained Jefferies during a 2002 interview for Star Trek: The Magazine. “But AMT wanted a follow-up to the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 kit because it had sold over a million in the first year. So, although the Klingon ship was something new that would fit the show, it was primarily done for AMT.”
While Jefferies busied himself designing the Klingon ship. Stephen Whitfield (a.k.a Stephen Poe), author of the popular 1968 book “The Making of Star Trek,” worked behind the scenes to help with production and sales.
Whitfield was employed by the Ptak & Richter Advertising Agency in Phoenix, Arizona. It was while working for Ptak that Whitfield became associated with Star Trek as the firm held the advertising account for AMT which Whitfield oversaw. Whitfield’s involvement with AMT at Ptak soon led to a full-time position with the model company as their national advertising and promotion director.
In a January 2, 1968, letter from Whitfield to John Reynolds, vice president of Paramount Pictures Television, Whitfield encouraged the studio to let Matt Jefferies come to AMT’s plant in Troy, Michigan to work on the master model “to guide our production staff in this last vital stage.” Whitfield added that “we are quite convinced that a properly detailed model of the second ship will result in sales records paralleling those of the Enterprise kit.” Whitfield closed by warning that “we are also convinced that, poorly done, sales will be disappointing at best.”
Model kits of the Klingon ship began arriving in stores by early September 1968. AMT packaged them in long boxes that were labeled “As Seen on Star Trek.” The only problem was that at that time, nobody had yet seen the ship on the show.
At the end of September 1968, “The Enterprise Incident” beamed into living rooms, finally showing the Klingon ship, but a Klingon ship entirely occupied by Romulans. In the episode, Mr. Spock explains that the Klingons shared their technology with the Romulans, which was why the Enterprise crew encountered a Klingon ship in Romulan space. The real reason for the ship switch however was more down to Earth. The original filming model of the Romulan “Bird of Prey” ship could not be found after the earlier first-season shooting of the episode “Balance of Terror,” in which the new spaceship was featured. Roddenberry was forced to improvise by substituting a Klingon ship rather than build a new Romulan one. Meanwhile, by December of that same year, “Elaan of Troyius” finally aired, showing Klingons aboard a Klingon ship.
The resulting confusion became a topic of discussion among fans. In a letter that was published in issue 9 (March 1969) of Lincoln Enterprises “Inside Star Trek” fanzine, C. John Fitzsimmons asked, “Why did the Romulans stop using the boomerang-shaped ships and start using the Klingon models?” D. C. Fontana replied, “The Romulans and Klingons formed a limited alliance to meet the threat of the Federation. Their treaty included help from the Klingons for the Romulans to change over to the faster, more powerful type of ship used by the Klingons. Also, the production staff of Star Trek felt that the Klingon model was visually more interesting and should be stressed to help sales of the model, besides.”
Despite the confusion, the new AMT Klingon ship model was a big seller. Even though the AMT kit has some differences from the actual filming model, it is surprisingly faithful to the original.
Next time you pick up a copy of AMT’s plastic model kit of the Klingon ship which is now reproduced by Polar Lights in a vintage long-box reissue, remember that this little 14.5-inch piece of styrene was responsible for some of the more memorable episodes that we have all grown to love from the original Star Trek television series.
Thank you to everyone who has already filled out the shipping survey for the 1:350 Klingon D7 die-cast model from Star Trek™.Without your support we would not be able “To boldly go where no man has gone before” - Captain James T. Kirk.
We are continuing to extend the shipping survey so if you have not completed it, please do so ASAP. You must provide your address and payment information in the shipping survey for your order to be finalized. This is for all regions including the US, CA, and UK. If you do not fill out this shipping survey, your order may be cancelled.
If you are not receiving reminders about this shipping survey through Backerkit please contact our consumer services team at [email protected] or 1 (800) 704 8697 for help!
We are currently in the tooling stage of the production process. To share this month, we have a sneak peek of the poster that is currently still a work-in-progress by Matt Cushman, please see below.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please reach out to TOMY+. For US & CA please email [email protected], or call 800-704-8697 Monday-Friday from 8:00AM to 4:00PM US-Central Time. For the UK, please email [email protected].
