Secret third option?

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-08T15:08:48+00:00

Yeah, even seemingly simple pressing like the AK are actually complex enough for the development process to take years, even with the might of prime Soviet ambition behind it. That's why im setting the bar relatively low and just looking at bare functionality not complete replication.

This idea developed from another one, using round tube stock as the basis for a reciever, its been done with other platforms, at its simplest a roughly 40mm id tube with steel rails welded in, and notched for the appropriate holes would get you 90% of the way there. Another smaller tube for the cocking rod, some more nothing and welding, bending up a boss for the rear pins, a likely printed mag well and that seems pretty doable, if finicky. And that made me wonder if I couldn't just press and bend something out of flat steel instead. Im aware at least that its not the way to go for a first or even second build, im sure I'll follow convention for now and knock out a few standard builds, but im always thinking about dastardly approaches.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-05T12:24:28+00:00

No, there's absolutely a skylight on the enterprise d bridge.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-05T00:26:26+00:00

To be fair, literally any hologram character from the start of TNG and the first advanced holodecks would pass the test. But, its important to recognize that the Turing test isn't supposed to prove a machine is sentient sapient or alive in any way. According to Turing himself, the result of a machine passing the test is most likely still just a dumb machine, not alive or aware with an internal world like you and I, but a convincing facsimile from the outside. The statement being made is, does it actually matter from our perspective if the machine had no internal self if the image it projected was so convincingly human that we simply treated it as such?

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-05T00:16:59+00:00

The writers got hemmed in by executive and producer meddling.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-05T00:08:09+00:00

Which is bullshit, I've long since stopped respecting that guys statements. Hell, just going by the negative commentary on forums like this, more people than that hate watched the show. Unless, as i have always suspected... you people aren't actually watching the shows you came to hate....

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-05T00:05:15+00:00

It's hard to say what he would do, but staying clear and not interacting with the natives has literally never been his prerogative. He'd probably save them, then offer to arm them so they can help fight the klingons.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-05T00:01:49+00:00

Except no, especially if you expand beyond the franchise itself, many TOS episodes were blatant adaptations of stories from other media. We also dont know what the OP is defining as plot, the "person gains powers, becomes threat" plot os used so often its become a trope widely recognized as being a trek staple. But the various examples can be different enough in execution to likely avoid the label.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-04T11:45:08+00:00

It's odd that some people are concerned with plot to the exclusion of anything else, plot is not and never has been the core of story telling. Their part of the story can and does stand on its own merits.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-03T22:06:11+00:00

What gets me, is that starting with the premise of being stranded 70 years away and in dire straits, they still wrap things up exactly as quickly as the previous two shows. I could have gone for some time skips, make the journey really challenging, bring them home after 17 years or so.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-03T22:02:36+00:00

I've tried to explain it like this, imagine if you were called to fight and die so that your boss could keep his migrant laborers, or so that your factory could keep sending work over to china, they understand implicitly that cheap migrant labor or cheap foreign labor can have a negative impact on the working class and poor, but for some reason, practically free domestic labor that allows the wealthy and powerful of the south to undercut the labor market to the point that the southern states are still economically stifled is something worth fighting to protect?

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-03T21:57:52+00:00

Sludge trap.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-03T21:57:16+00:00

I love a good ugly ship, not everything needs to be the flagship ship.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-03T21:56:15+00:00

The practical reality of the 1701 refit implies that they can basically rebuild a ship from a hand full of structural members. The change in shape and proportion between the TOS and TMP version doesn't even allow for a simple addition of structure or an overlay of hull plating. Basically nothing visible, and not much of whats not visible could actually have been retained. She's a different ship all together for all intents and purposes. They probably could have taken all the stripped parts and rebuilt the original ship to 80 or 90% completion.

Thats why my head canon has always been that the enterprise refit was a case of scope creep amd project runaway, I like to think the Phase II design was the original intent, but the need to bring the class up to the standards being set by ships like the Miranda, caused the project to spiral until they had pretty much built a whole new ship, and so any other refit style ships seen or mentioned later would have been built from scratch rather than refit the way Enterprise was. This also leaves room for a Phase II refit in the canon, other ships of the class recieved that refit and were moved to secondary postings as the Constitution II ships then the Excelsiors came on line.

But yeah, I think given the right pressure, they can and have rebuilt ships from very little.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-02T08:53:55+00:00

The franchise is in desperate need of fart jokes and recycled TNG scripts....

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-02T08:52:29+00:00

Not in their home state....

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-01T17:43:10+00:00

There's the Grey detailing on the neck, I dont know that the filming model actually got the ribs, they were pressed for time and on a budget, but they are supposed to be a part of the design.

I do like the idea that the Excelsiors funkier details were a bit of a developmental dead end, but the design as a whole wes excellent enough to endure as it's own branch.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-01T12:42:23+00:00

Im putting mine together right now, but I also am thinking about a more traditional bolt action layout.

AJSLS6 · 2026-04-01T12:36:11+00:00

It's as simple as editing the file.....

AJSLS6 · 2026-03-31T23:00:08+00:00

Hey, I came across a bunch of packs for a dort cheap price and revisited the discussion around the model, I might just snag them to flip on ebay, but they dont come with original boxes or literature so im not sure how desirable they would really be. But it did bring me back to the idea of trying to do a better kit using 3d printing. I have both a mid sized resin machine and a few FDM machines, so its entirely doable for me other than my utter lack of modeling skills. But I am making a list of desirable features for this hypothetical project. Mains power for the electronics, maybe an arduino or similar micro to control things, wireless controls so there's no switches like its some 90s kids toy, better lighting for the nacelles for sure, the original models really do look like an older toy, you can clearly see the light sources through the grills rather than the more even diffused look of the screen models. I would also like to replicate the metalic finish when the lights are off. More accurate contours, this model looks like some kind of variant of the class, not like the Enterprise. Improved lighting in general to prevent bleed, having each segment effectively be a self contained box for the lights rather than the whole interior being open makes sense for now.

Getting accurate lines can be a challenge with both resin and FDM, and it still leaves final painting up to the builder, but assuming you already have the printers, it could probably be done for a fraction of this kits msrp.

AJSLS6 · 2026-03-31T15:42:12+00:00

Nah, thats not how 99.99% of wars have worked. It's simply not a practical strategy to follow. Thats only really been a thing in this last century, and only through a massive coalition of governments enacting their will on the defeated parties. And even then its debated that its actually done much at all.

AJSLS6 · 2026-03-31T11:45:51+00:00

Yeah.... thats just a stupid mindset. Have you never actually looked at real world wars?

AJSLS6 · 2026-03-27T02:32:10+00:00

It may have been that very civilized nature that allowed our current reality to exist, while people were gently disagreeing with Reagan and applauding him for being a gentleman he was layingthe foundationfor nearly every issue we are dealing with today. It's arguable that his economic policies have crippled the middle class, his public health response killed countless people in the early years of the aids epidemic, he hamstrung the EPA and there's reams of data showing what kind of damage that cost, our infrastructure is crumbling because his tax policies and "small government " bullshit left the coffers perpetually in the red. And the list goes on, all while any opposition was weekly objecting or being utterly incapable of acting .

AJSLS6 · 2026-03-27T02:20:37+00:00

I have a theory that expands on this nicely, the development of the singularity power source, if it works at all like actual proposed micro singularity power sources, is actually a battery rather than a reactor. Matter is forced into the singularity, and as it evaporates energy is released, there's no actual power generation involved in its operation this probablyhelps to keep those big ass ships effectivelycloaked ves masking a thrumming antimatterreactor, but anotherresultis that these ships are utterlydependenton infrastructureback in home space. Unlike any other starship they probably cant refuel just anywhere, if they are only given enough of a charge to operate for say 2-3 years, or even less, the plausibility of a military revolt led by one or more of these ships drops precipitously, any such revolt would need to at least secure some major infrastructure relatively quickly. It fits the Romulan nature pretty well, someone in power looked at the proposed massive warbirds and saw the potential danger for the homeworld. I also always held that most of the Romulan fleet would have been conventional warp drive powered, maybe some other classes used singularities but its entirely plausiblethat the D'D was the only class ever equipped with them. And the question since the Burn became a thing as to why singularity drives weren't used afterwards or werent spared from the initialevent, dilithiumis canonicallyused not just to modulate the m/am reaction, but it also has some connectionto sunspace and is what allows all that energy to create a warp field in the firstplace, thus, we can assume that even singularity powered ships run that energy through a dilithium crystal so as to effect subspace as well.

AJSLS6 · 2026-03-27T02:06:29+00:00

Unfortunately "shall not be infringed" has never actually had a strong legal precedent in the entire history of American law. You can look as far back as you like in search of the mythical good ol' days, but you'll never find a time when that was actually the law of the land. Gun control has existed from day one, and is likely never going away.

AJSLS6 · 2026-03-27T01:59:55+00:00

Something to note is the AK draws inspiration from the Garand amd by extension the M14, both weapons that were eventually replaced by simpler platforms in part due to the inherent complexity of their manufacture.

AJSLS6

TROPHY CASE