Those of you who were on the mailing list also received an e-mail with a coupon that will give you 10% off the pre-order price for this product, sans shipping & handling, before December 1 2011.

[Sorry folks, QMx kindly asked that we do not publish the special code, since it was only for newsletter members only — but if you're a newsletter member you can find the code in your e-mail! Good hunting, nuggets!]

Also, QMx notes that while they anticipate shipping to begin on this product in December, they cannot guarantee a pre-Christmas delivery. Therefore, they have also created a printable Top Gun Stein greeting card to give to that special Viper jock, which you can download the PDF for by clicking here.

From QMX’s website:

Now you can join the elite legion of ace Viper pilots with your own coveted Battlestar Galactica Top Gun Stein. This exact 1:1 scale replica of the screen-used prop re-creates in ceramic and metal the trophy reserved for only the best of the best: Galactica‘s top gun Viper pilot.

The Battlestar Galactica Top Gun Stein stands 9 inches tall and is 4 3/4 inches wide at the base. It lists the pilots who achieved top gun status, including Starbuck and Kat. It even includes the phoenix emblem on the underside of the cast-metal lid.

The stein’s body is kiln-baked and feels substantial in your hand. It’s the perfect vessel to toast fellow hot shots — or to hold your morning coffee.

Our stein has been tested for food safety and can be used for beverages. We recommend hand washing to best maintain its hand-painted finish.

It should be noted that this prop replica features Kat’s callsign on it, but the versions that ended up on screen — or on the auction block — featured “Starbuck” as the last pilot in the scroll list on the side. According to QMx’s reply in the stein thread on their Facebook page, after a few customers noted that the “Kat” name was absent on the aforementioned production-modified (and screen-used) steins, they had a stein from production that had Kat’s name that didn’t make the auction block.

As seen in the screen shot below, QMx’s response to the addition of the “Kat” callsign to the scroll was this: “Actually, not all the [Top Gun] steins were sold at auction (there were serveral). And at least one had Kat’s name on it (for a scene that didn’t make the final cut)”.

QMx Facebook response to the Kat inquiry.

Regardless of the small controversy, QMx has priced the replica at $59.95 USD, not including shipping or handling. The price isn’t too frakkin’ shabby, considering that screen-used versions that were auctioned in 2009 sold as high as a mind-blowing $5,420 USD (including the infamous buyer’s premium).

While pre-orders will not open until Q4 of 2011, QMx has a waiting list that you can sign-up for, and you can do that by clicking here. They will notify you when the item is available for pre-order.

Also, for more QMx goodness, you can either go through ThinkGeek or QMx directly — they have stuff from Firefly, Stargate, Syfy’s Warehouse 13, and the venerable Doctor Who! As if you didn’t already know this!