Jay's Box of Sci-Fi CardToys | ...stuff hard to find anywhere else

"Fascinating, Captain. Sensors indicate a ship...made of cardboard!"

Even if it's lost a lot of luster because of crass commercialism and a failure to grow beyond techno-babble and plot recycling, Star Trek was is still the most influential sci-fi TV series ever. There is something that's just so appealing about starships...

Go to the "Dealer's Choice" page to download the cardtoys!

USS Sagittarius, NCC-1894

The Archer-class scoutship during the TOS era, designed by Masao Okazaki for the Star Trek: Vanguard book series.

USS Prometheus, NX-59650

Starfleet's most advanced starship, with Multi-Vector Assault Mode. I haven't figured out a mechanism for the small warp nacelles for the Alpha hull, though, and at the size of this cardtoy it would be much too small in any case. You will need small magnets to attach inside the hulls in order to make them dock. Small fridge magnets for posting notes, or vinyl magnets used for ads may be useful, or small toy magnet sets you can get from a toyshop.

Delta-type Warp Vessel

An early 22nd century warp vessel, used during the time of Captain Archer.

USS Enterprise 1701-D

The Enterprise as it appeared in the series finale, "All Good Things..." as Admiral William Riker's personal flagship. The textures were modified from detailed color schematics posted on Ex-Astris Scientia. I think the colors are based on the color key provided by Andrew Probert. I like the detail, but many detail lines are a bit too thick so someday I'll refine them.

You can also build Captain Jean Luc Picard's own ship as it always was in the series...

...or, with what happened to it in the series premiere "Encounter at Farpoint" and the movie "Generations."

BUILD NOTES: You can turn window lights "on" by using Liquid Paper, preferably the pen type, before cutting the patterns.

Klingon Raptor

A sleek design from "Star Trek: Enterprise"....the published orthos from the actual 3D model make really cool textures!

Starfleet Command Shuttle, SC-4

The future Admiral Janeway's personal command shuttle, outfitted with stealth technology, an ablative armor generator, and various other future technologies.

Computer, deploy the armor!

USS Rhode Island, NCC-72701

A Nova-class variant commanded by the future Capt. Harry Kim. Thankfully easy to model and to texture!

USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-J

My version of the Enterprise-J, of which only 2 reference photographs seem to exist, both views of the top side. At this point, I am not convinced that the ship depicted in the cover of the Ships of the Line book is the Enterprise-J. I drew more on the NX-01 and NCC-1701E design lines rather than the NCC-1701, and indicate that the ship has a Quantum Slipstream drive. Textures aren't very good, I’ll revise this in the future when I get better views and a digital pen.

USS Federation, NCC-2100

Here commemorating the upcoming release of the Star Trek animated series on DVD (waited a long time for that one!) with its simple textures is Franz Josephs’ Dreadnought-class starship, probably the first really popular non-canon ship in Star Trek fandom. You need to build the nacelle superstructure first, before assembling the primary and secondary hulls. I recommend a mix of heavy cardstock for the superstructure and secondary hull, and lighter cardstock for the saucer and nacelles.

BUILD NOTES: Possibly the most difficult to build due to the curves and internal structure. you will need to cut out the holes for the neck and pylons. For the neck, a slit on the centerline, from the hole to the forward edge of the secondary hull will be needed This will allow you to slip the secondary hull around the neck.

Shuttlepod 1, USS Enterprise NX-01

The first one I finished designing, and to date the only one I've actually built! With 250 GSM cardstock, the structure turned out pretty stiff even without internal bracing.

USS Excelsior, NX-2000

My first attempt to use textures from CG orthographic drawings made from a 3D model. I decided not to have an indent for the deflector dish to simplify the shape. While there was less mirroring here, the other problem that popped up was inconsistency in the brightness/saturation levels between different parts of the image.

USS Titan, NCC 80120

This was a quick design using 5-views that were apparently handrawn using graphic software. The measurements were not always consistent; even though they were visually okay. The resolution is not ideal, and I overlooked some places where the texture maps didn't align properly. And the saucer turned out to be egg-shaped rather than circular or elliptical, which gave me some problems with the hexagon I used for the primary hull. This needs a lot more work!