Star Trek - The Official Starships Collection Issue 2 Review

I've just received the latest two issues of Star Trek - The Official Starships Collection.  Issue 2 is the USS Enterprise refit (NCC-1701) from Star Trek - The Motion Picture.

Compared to the Enterprise D model, this one lacks the detail that made the D look so good.  The actual model itself is not bad, and does look very much like the original movie Enterprise, but seems that extra fragile - don't let the kids play with this one, otherwise you might find yourself having to superglue the nacelles, or the primary hull back on!  Windows, docking ports and small details are present, but what is lacking is the 'aztec' style texturing on the hull (which apparently is present in the future Reliant, Excelsior and Enterprise A models).  I like the transparent plastic which they have used in the nacelles.  When held up to a light source, they glow as if the ship is in warp.

As with the previous issue, the magazine is nice - nothing special.  Some nice photos of the actual movie prop used in the original movies, and some information about the ship, where it had its refit, and when it was destroyed - pretty much everything a hardcore Star Trek fan will already know!

 

The model is 135mm long, with a width of 62mm

 

Conclusion : - Although nowhere near as detailed as the Enterprise D (which is a shame since this is my favourite version of the Enterprise), it is still a very good model and will look great alongside the other ships in the collection.  I'm hoping that Eaglemoss will correct the issues with the model when they release the Enterprise NCC-1701-A further in to the collection.

Stuart's Panoramic World 11 - Malvern Hills

It's been awhile, but here is another 360° panorama. This one was taken on the Malvern Hills, in Worcestershire.  Bit of an oldie (taken back in 2011 using my old Fujifilm 6500fd camera).  Expect a few more of these shortly as I took quite a few of them during my trips up the hills.

 

Use your mouse (or cursor keys) to look.  Your mouse wheel allows you to zoom in and out.

Location : Malvern Hills Date : 16th March 2011 Camera : Fujifilm 6500fs Download/Enlarge : Click here to enlarge

 

Star Trek - The Official Starships Collection Issue 1 Review

I'm not one for subscribing to magazines - after all, most of the stuff I want to read can be found on the internet for free.  In fact, the last magazine I did subscribe to was the Commodore 64 mag "Zzap 64" in the late 80's!  However, after watching an advert on TV last Tuesday about a new series of Star Trek magazines that come complete with a detailed model ship with each issue, I just had to subscribe...

Today I got my first issue of "Star Trek The Official Starships Collection", and with it came a fantastic model of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D from Star Trek : The Next Generation.  The magazine itself is nothing special - a glossy mag with a few original drawings by Andrew Probert, some other photos which can be found online or in other books, and a bit of information about the ship.  To be honest, the magazine is just a bonus extra as I'm sure most people will be buying this series solely for the models, although with the binder that will be available to subscribers I'm sure the magazines will become a nice library once complete.

The model itself is not very big and measures about 140mm in length, but what is impressive is the amount of detail on the ship.  You can see windows, escape pods, and texturing on the hull is fantastic.  Also, the model has been made using die-cast metal and ABS plastic, so it doesn't look cheap.  This is no toy, but it does seem strong (and heavy) enough to take a bit of punishment from young hands.  Fortunately it comes with a nice display stand which is individually numbered.

Issue 1 cost a silly £1.99, so for that price, you can't really complain.  Issue 2 comes with the USS Enterprise Refit from Star Trek The Motion Picture and will be priced at £5.99.  All subsequent issues will then be £9.99 each which does seem a lot, but if the quality of the models remain the same as this, then I think it's a price worth paying.  The publisher Eaglemoss Collections hope to release 70 issues at least (once a fortnight), not including specials, and have issued a tentative list of all issues and ships (which you can see below).  Personally, I can't wait for issues 8 and 11 (USS Excelsior and USS Reliant)!

Provisional list of issues

◾01 USS Enterprise-D
◾02 USS Enterprise (refit)
◾03 Klingon Bird-of-Prey
◾04 Enterprise NX-01
◾05 Romulan Warbird
◾06 USS Voyager
◾07 K't'inga-class
◾08 USS Excelsior
◾09 USS Defiant
◾10 Borg sphere
◾11 USS Reliant
◾12 Ferengi Marauder
◾13 Akira-class
◾14 Vor'cha-class
◾15 Prometheus-class
◾16 Valdore-type
◾17 USS Equinox
◾18 Bajoran Solar Sailer
◾19 USS Enterprise-E
◾20 Xindi-Insectoid starship
◾21 Raptor-class
◾22 Jem'Hadar fighter
◾23 Nebula-class
◾24 Suurok-class
◾25 Delta Flyer
◾26 Breen warship
◾27 Krenim weapon ship
◾28 USS Enterprise-C
◾29 Galor-class
◾30 USS Stargazer
◾31 Borg Queen's vessel
◾32 Jem'Hadar battle cruiser
◾33 Maquis fighter
◾34 Romulan Bird-of-Prey (23rd century)
◾35 Hirogen warship
◾36 T'Plana-Hath (starship)
◾37 Prototype Klingon Bird-of-Prey
◾38 USS Enterprise-J
◾39 Son'a Command ship
◾40 Runabout
◾41 D-5-class
◾42 Romulan drone-ship
◾43 USS Enterprise-B
◾44 Jem'Hadar battleship
◾45 Malon export vessel
◾46 Federation mission scoutship
◾47 Scimitar
◾48 USS Relativity
◾49 Tholian starship (22nd century)
◾50 Goroth's starship
◾51 USS Kelvin
◾52 Son'a collector
◾53 Xindi-Reptilian starship
◾54 Oberth-class
◾55 Suliban cell ship
◾56 Phoenix
◾57 Fesarius
◾58 Steamrunner-class
◾59 Xindi-Aquatic cruiser
◾60 Vulcan Long range shuttle
◾61 Saber-class
◾62 Hideki-class
◾63 USS Enterprise-A
◾64 Romulan Bird-of-Prey (22nd century)
◾65 USS Dauntless
◾66 Federation holoship
◾67 Scorpion-class
◾68 Norway-class
◾69 USS Enterprise
◾70 Species 8472 bioship

NO NUMBERS
◾Borg probe
◾Cousteau (Captain's Yacht)
◾Borg cube
◾Galileo

SPECIALS (available to Subscribers only)
◾Deep Space 9
◾USS Enterprise (alternate reality - ST2009 and STID)
◾Future USS Enterprise-D ("All Good Things...")
◾Space Stations

The mag. Highly recommended.

Techy Post - Have you forgotten the local administrator password?

Ever had an occasion when you've removed a computer from a domain, and can't remember the administrator password to log on locally?  I've been guilty of this on several occasions (I had it last week when I removed a domain controller from the network, and was left with a file server that I could not log in to!)

I know there are various utilities that enable you to reset the password, but this is a useful way of doing it without any hacks, or third party tools.  This works with Windows 7 and Server 2008.  Although I haven't tested it on other versions of Windows, I don't see why it won't work on those.

• Boot your PC from your Windows 7/Server 2008 installation Disk.
• When you are prompted, choose your language.
• Select partition and installation version and click next.
• Select Repair your Computer
• Select Command Prompt (Open a command prompt window)
• Type the following :-
• cd c:\windows\system32
• move utilman.exe utilman.exe.bak
• copy cmd.exe utilman.exe
• Restart your computer

At the logon prompt, hold down the Windows Key and press U at the same time.  This will now bring up the command prompt instead of the Utility Manager.

From the command line, type :-
net user administrator P455word

Try logging on with the new password - Voila!

Don't forget to copy back the original utilman.exe file.

Mastertronic - What if? : The Last of Us

Mastertronic brings you "The Last of Us" for £1.99, only for the Playstation 3, Commodore, Amstrad, Spectrum and Atari  - Available from all good newsagents, chemists and game shops!

If only..... :o)

Because I have WAY too much time on my hands, I thought I'd mess around with putting together some fake Mastertronic covers for modern computer games.

In case you are not aware (or can not remember), Mastertronic were big in the mid to late 1980s and were a major budget software label in the United Kingdom and produced a large number of cheapo games and re-releases for the Commodore/Spectrum/Amstrad/Atari 8-bit computers (and some 16-bit too) - most at a pocket-money-friendly £1.99!

Just a bit of fun really, but what would modern games look like if Mastertronic still released games like the good ol' days? Well, here you can find out!

 

Click to enlarge

 

Click to enlarge - I bet this would be one hell of a mult-load game!

 

You can view more of my fake Mastertronic covers by clicking here

Busy, busy, busy....

Bit of a change to the usual posts here at the Captain's Blog.  These past few weeks have been quite busy at work, what with it being that magical time of the year when we all get our budgets for the year, and can start spending cash on some fancy new items for school. 

This year, we've kitted out two rooms with some fancy new computers and I thought I'd share some pictures with you of the finished rooms.  If only we had this kind of technology when I was at school.

The kids of today are extremely lucky!

Big thanks to the team for helping to get everything done during the May half-term holiday in time for when the staff and students returned the following week.

HU4 - Before

This room had some awfully slow Celeron desktops in it.

 

HU4 - After

They're not new, but we've placed some slightly better spec PCs in the room.  Looking good!

 

LU5 - Before
This room had the computers which are now in HU4.

 

LU5 - After
Now with some nice, and very quick i3 all-in-ones desktop PCs

 

LG1 - Before
This room wasn't too bad - It had a number of Core 2 Duo computers, but desk space was a problem.  They've been moved to another room, and....

 

LG1 - After
Now kitted out with some Acer Veriton Z2610 i3 all-in-one desktop PCs, like LU5

 

AND, just today we've had a delivery of a nice, shiny new server - an HP Proliant ML350 G8 with 2 quad core processors and 32Gb of RAM...  Perfect for my virtualisation plan.....  More on that in the near future.

 

Father Christmas (aka the UPS Courier) has arrived early this year!

 

Inside the beast!

 

So all in all... it hasn't been a bad couple of weeks.  Hard to believe that another school year has nearly reached its end.  Even harder to believe is that next year will be my 10th year at Evesham High School - gosh, where has the time gone?