# AMT Klingon Battlecruiser.



## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

I'm about to begin building the reissued AMT Klingon cruiser and once again the question arises, what is the correct color? Having spent the last hour pouring over web sites and photos, as usual there are thousands of opinions regarding the correct color. I did the smaller Polar lights version a while ago and used Testors SAC bomber green but it still does'nt look right. I want to get it as close as possible to the filming model. With the wealth of information on these boards, I am confident someone out there can help. Thanks


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Not sure if this is much help............................
-Jim


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

As I understand it, the filming model was just plain gray.
Of course, I could be wrong!


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## Guy Schlicter (May 3, 2004)

JGG1701 said:


> Not sure if this is much help............................
> -Jim


still a great looking ship from the Original Star Trek. Its too bad that not one episode had the Enterprise and Klingon Ship had a good all out battle. As you remember the Enterprise had the lower hand in Ellan of Troyius and came back full force at the end but the Enterprise and Klingon Ship never had an evenly matched battle. Believe me that would have been awesome!


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

Thanks for the pictures jgg1701. What has me confused is th purplish hue. The workshop section on the Round 2 website also makes mention of this. Is it just lighting effects or part of the hull's color?


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## lunadude (Oct 21, 2006)

There is a thread over at Atomic City, covering the painting of the D-7.

http://atomiccity.yuku.com/topic/535/Paint-Formulas

And some here at Hobby Talk.

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=257471


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

After reading the Atomic City thread, it looks like the best bet is overall Krylon Jade Satin, with the top of the aft hull being a gray that MAY have a VERY slight purplish hue when viewed against the jade.


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## mach7 (Mar 25, 2002)

Those threads are a great source of info.

Here is the 2nd filming model built by AMT back in the day. It was never filmed, but was painted the same as the one that was filmed. Sorry about the poor quality, but this photo was taken years ago at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. The model was inside a large glass sphere.










If I remember correctly Matt Jefferies painted them both in this purple-grey/light green.

Here is my small PL D-7.










I think the green is very close. It is Krylon celery green. The grey is, well too grey. it needs a bit of purple in it.

I hope this helps

Mark


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

Thanks for all the help guys. I think I'll just paint it candy apple red with chrome nacells! Only kidding. I think I will go with the Jade satin with the grey/green areas.


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## kangg7 (Jun 21, 2000)

Here is another thread here on hobbytalk I found couple of months ago. Hope this helps.
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=270424&highlight=klingon+battle+cruiser&page=2

Model on :wave:

Dave


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## kenlee (Feb 11, 2010)

dreadnaught726 said:


> I'm about to begin building the reissued AMT Klingon cruiser and once again the question arises, what is the correct color? Having spent the last hour pouring over web sites and photos, as usual there are thousands of opinions regarding the correct color. I did the smaller Polar lights version a while ago and used Testors SAC bomber green but it still does'nt look right. I want to get it as close as possible to the filming model. With the wealth of information on these boards, I am confident someone out there can help. Thanks


There is a good article on the Klingon Battle cruiser colors on the Round 2 website under the articles banner.


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## Chertok tv (Jun 10, 2011)

*Klingon color..*

If this helps..Matt Jefferies was a friend..he told me that he based the color on a sharks body.
He felt the ship was to be a predator..hence the shark grey..hope that helps.

I should add he and his brother John were thrilled that the fans loved their work so much.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

Thanks Chertok. That really makes a lot of sense, That would suggest a blue/green/gray topside with a lighter underside and neck. Since this was suggested by Matt Jefferies himself, you can't get more authentic than that.


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## woof359 (Apr 27, 2003)

I just never could get my self to paint any of mine lavendar or what ever hue of purple it might be. I always went with a dark green with a tint of grey. dark and sinister, thats the way I saw the ship. When the first Star trek movie came out I loved the close up of the bridge.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

I always went with gray primer, but that may change with the next build...


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## starlord (Mar 30, 2011)

I was given a ST model about 4 years ago, and it was the updated Klingon Battlecruiser from STTNG and I painted it all black with just the few engine covers being red and they came that way.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

I went with metallic steel- had a good hardware look and I figured the Klingons would not waste time or materials to decorate a warship in painted colors.


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## lunadude (Oct 21, 2006)

I always went with the gray, too. I didn't know any better. Gotta wonder what my starship paint schemes might have looked like, if I had that influence at a younger age. Had to wait for the Chris Foss designs to show the way.


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## Warped9 (Sep 12, 2003)

Richard Baker said:


> I went with metallic steel- had a good hardware look and I figured the Klingons would not waste time or materials to decorate a warship in painted colors.


I disagree. The Klingons have been shown to be mired in tradition and ritual. And look how they dress---it's very expressive and overdone. I can easily see them dressing up their ships in almost a warpaint fashion.

Note the colour of their blood in TUC. Maybe then it's not so farfetched that some tone of that colour could end up on the hull of their ships.


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## RSN (Jul 29, 2008)

Warped9 said:


> I disagree. The Klingons have been shown to be mired in tradition and ritual. And look how they dress---it's very expressive and overdone. I can easily see them dressing up their ships in almost a warpaint fashion.
> 
> Note the colour of their blood in TUC. Maybe then it's not so farfetched that some tone of that colour could end up on the hull of their ships.


The purple color of the Klingon blood in "The Undiscovered Country" was due to the ammount seen on screen. Red blood would have gotten them an "R" rating. In the next film, "Generations" the Klingon blood was back to red, when only seen in a split lip.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

I work around that inconsistency by figuring that it turns purple when subjected to phaser fire, while a simple cut produces something more of a dark red.


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## Warped9 (Sep 12, 2003)

^^ Fair enough, but my essential point of Klingons feeling an impulse to dress up their ships still stands. And who is to say what colours would have significance with an alien mindset? Blood red means one thing to us but perhaps something else to another species. Purple or violet and light green are more decorative hues to us but could represent something entirely different to another species.


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## RSN (Jul 29, 2008)

Warped9 said:


> ^^ Fair enough, but my essential point of Klingons feeling an impulse to dress up their ships still stands. And who is to say what colours would have significance with an alien mindset? Blood red means one thing to us but perhaps something else to another species. Purple or violet and light green are more decorative hues to us but could represent something entirely different to another species.


All too true, but you also have to remember that it is we humans that are watching, so the colors are supposed to elicit emotional responses from us, not fictional aliens. The makers of the Animated Series hated the pastel purple used for alien ships, but it was a stock color at Filmation and it would have cost more time and money to create a new color. I for one do not think a ship is imposing if it is painted with a "Miami Vice" palette. :thumbsup:


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## Warped9 (Sep 12, 2003)

Onscreen on colour TV way back when I started watching TOS in the early '70s the Klingon ship often looked rather ghostly white more than anything. For me a plain grey on it just looks drab and unimposing. As such I think the Klingon ship in TOS-R just looks awfully drab and ordinary.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

I pretty much followed the painting guide in the instruction sheet when I built my 1/1000 D-7 using a mix of gunship grey and Napoleonic violet for the upper surfaces and a mix of white and grey for the underside including the command bulb. I went very subtle with the violet though. The thing I like about the lighter tone for the bulb is it really helps it to pop out when viewed at a bow on or near bow on angle with the slighlty darker engineering hull behind it. More three dimensional.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

In TAS' case, the main issue was Hal Sutherland being color blind. He thought that annoying pinkish purple color was just another shade of gray.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

Captain April said:


> I work around that inconsistency by figuring that it turns purple when subjected to phaser fire, while a simple cut produces something more of a dark red.


Because if there's one thing energy weapons like Phasers do, it's puncture skin. Doesn't cook, doesn't cauterize, nevermind disintigration anymore. sigh. Sorry, pet peeve.:wave: I hate that scene for the imbecility of it. :freak:


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## JediPuju (Oct 12, 2009)

Model Man said:


> Because if there's one thing energy weapons like Phasers do, it's puncture skin. Doesn't cook, doesn't cauterize, nevermind disintigration anymore. sigh. Sorry, pet peeve.:wave: I hate that scene for the imbecility of it. :freak:


CGI liquid was hot stuff back then though. Its all about the scene where they leave the bodies and blood floating and coalescing in zero gravity. I thought it was very effective! 
I kinda like what the phasers did in TUC - made them seem much more sinister to me the way they could cut off arms and rupture giant holes in people. It was probably done for an emotional effect since its all about the assassination I guess. But still, you are right lol.


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## starlord (Mar 30, 2011)

I have a KLINGON bATTLE CRUISER that was put out by AMT, it's not like the D7 one at all, this one was in STTHRN show, I's hanging in my living room bonly I do now know what (if any) number was given it. anyone who knows the info for it, my email is 
[email protected]


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

"stthrn"?


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

JediPuju said:


> CGI liquid was hot stuff back then though. Its all about the scene where they leave the bodies and blood floating and coalescing in zero gravity. I thought it was very effective!
> I kinda like what the phasers did in TUC - made them seem much more sinister to me the way they could cut off arms and rupture giant holes in people. It was probably done for an emotional effect since its all about the assassination I guess. But still, you are right lol.


I heard that they used "pink" blood so TUC wouldn't get an R rating.
-Jim


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

"Star Trek: The Horny Registered Nurse"?


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Warped9 said:


> ^^ Fair enough, but my essential point of Klingons feeling an impulse to dress up their ships still stands. And who is to say what colours would have significance with an alien mindset? Blood red means one thing to us but perhaps something else to another species. Purple or violet and light green are more decorative hues to us but could represent something entirely different to another species.


That's a very good point :thumbsup: that I've never thought of in relation to TOS ships. It was more than apparent the intention in ST:TMP, ST:TSFP, and STTUC but should, at least retroactively, hold true for TOS despite the apparent "grayness" of the hull back then.


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## RSN (Jul 29, 2008)

PerfesserCoffee said:


> That's a very good point :thumbsup: that I've never thought of in relation to TOS ships. It was more than apparent the intention in ST:TMP, ST:TSFP, and STTUC but should, at least retroactively, hold true for TOS despite the apparent "grayness" of the hull back then.


But remember, the original intent in "The Search for Spock" was for the Bird of Prey to be a Romulan ship. Hence the name and bird paint from TOS. The Romulans were changed to Klingons and the new script stated that the BoP was stolen by Kruge. This was then removed in later re-writes and we were left with one of Trek's greatest anomolies! The Klingon ships in TMP, though painted with some color, still came off as gray, be it darker than in the TOS. :thumbsup:


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## James Tiberius (Oct 23, 2007)

See, I always viewed the K'Tingas as green, every time I saw them.

When I read that the origninal idea for ST:III was for Romulans to be the villians with a BOP I always invisioned a white-ish BOP with orange etc. feathers on the underside and not run into the ground green like the Klingons.


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## Captain April (May 1, 2004)

The Klingon ships in TMP were lit so darkly it was anyone's guess what the color was in most shots, but they do come across as more of an olive drab. And it does look pretty badass that way, so... :devil:


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## bob8748 (May 1, 2004)

I'm glad I found this thread. I was recently given two 10 year old AMT kits from TUC. Klingon Cruiser and Enterprise. This helps a lot. I havent built a model kit in years but looks challenging. I'm more into diecast customizing and dios, so not totally without experience. I would like to light these up but never done that before. May learn something with these kits.


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## starlord (Mar 30, 2011)

I have a Klingon battalship that was used in Star Trek the next gen. and it is not the older D7, and I have it painted flat black.


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