It is time for the third installment of my Eaglemoss vs. The World series, and this time, we will take a look at the Klingon Bird Of Prey. I found it a little hard to write this article as this is not one of my most favorite ships. I don't know what it is, I just find them a bit ugly as starships go, but I will look past that as I compare and review this design.
I know that there are other manufacturers versions of this ship out there, so I'll once again remind my readers that my collecting tastes tend to try for the 6" length range as well as affordability at the time that I bought these.
The picture above shows the collection that I own of this ship. Currently, I own the Eaglemoss, Furuta, Hallmark, Hot Wheels and two of the Micro Machines variants.
Although the ship tended to keep the same looks through out the movies and various series, there were actually several classes of this vessel (D12 Class, B'rel Class, and K'Vort Class), and they also varied in size. The generic classification is Bird Of Prey and Memory Alpha and Beta has this to say about them, "The Klingon Bird-of-Prey was a type of warship utilized by the Klingon Empire serving the Klingon Defense Forces from the late 23rd century into the late 24th century. This type of craft, initially descended from its counterpart from a century earlier, was one of the most versatile warships employed by the Empire, serving a variety of mission roles, including that of a scout, raider, patrol ship, and cruiser."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Bird Of Prey Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
Before we start looking at the larger models, let us take a quick gander at one of the MicroMachine vessels.
The MicroMachine versions of this ship are OK models. they are colorful and MicroMachine managed to squeeze some Klingon writing on the wings.
The one major nag I have though is that those same wings seem to suffer from rubber droop, meaning that the wings are never quite straight, and sometimes are just downright warped.
And that is all the attention I will give MicroMachine as this series of articles focuses more on the slightly larger scale models.
Eaglemoss vs. Furuta vs. Hallmark vs. Hot Wheels
And now, I present to you, what I like to call the "gravy shot" pictures. As I stated in my first article, I wish someone had done this sort of comparison review for me when I got into collecting as I may have spent a lot less time and money on the collection. But that is water under the bridge now. And I get to do something no-one else has done. My goal here is to give you some comparative data showing the various small scale pre-built and pre-painted ships available to the collector. And in so doing, I hope to help someone else make a wiser choice on what they might like to buy.
Eaglemoss vs. Furuta vs. Hallmark vs. Hot Wheels
Eaglemoss vs. Furuta vs. Hallmark vs. Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels clearly makes the largest of the ships with Furuta making the smallest. They all have thier charms and quirks.
Eaglemoss
WARNING #1: The wing tip cannons are extremely fragile. I broke mine twice before losing one permanently. I had to buy another model to give me that pristine look again.
WARNING #2: Normally, I don't talk about the stands. Let's face it, you rally want to hear about those models so who really cares about what supports them. HOWEVER, given the fragile nature of certain parts of this model, I felt it necessary to break from tradition. Although it seems like the model fits snugly into it's stand, this is only an illusion. I have found my model sitting on the shelf numerous times, most likely because of some vibration or thud occurring in my home. Where this can become a HUGE issue is if that poor model is at the edge of a bookshelf. They don't gently glide to the ground and you will be left searching for those broken wing cannons that have now decided to go spiraling off into space.
Other than those warnings, Eaglemoss knocked it out of the park on this one. The wings are stationary and in the cruising position which makes her a little wider than the other Eaglemoss ships. I get that Eaglemoss can't make the wings movable, however, one can dream of re-positioning them from time to time.
Unlike the previous two Eaglemoss models, this ship is almost entirely die cast, except for the wing tip disrupters. It has a hefty feel while holding it in your hand.
The sculpted and molded details are just downright cool to look at.
There are tons of little details embedded into the model.
One slight complaint is that while the magazine shows paneling where the landing gear reside on the underside of the ship, this model is missing those panel lines.
The paint is really well done on this model.
Check out the feather on the bottom of the wings! That paint just pops and catches your eye. And there is a nice weathering done to the entire ship to give her that heavily used, working class look to her.
The one thing that is missing that all the other manufacturers were able to do was to put some sort of Klingon writing on the wings.
The only place I would have liked to see a dab of paint would have been in in the torpedo launcher on the nose of the ship
I have to say that after the last Eaglemoss issue, this release really got me excited for the rest of the collection.
Furuta
Excluding the MicroMachine model, this one is the smallest of my Bird Of Prey ships. I'll be honest, for the price that I had to pay to acquire her, I was severely disappointed with this one. The details are OK, but not that great.
I would not say that they are awful either. There are lots of molded in details, however, given the size and the low production costs, the details appear to be sloppy.
This ship's wings are also stationary, but this one's are in the downward attack position.
Speaking of wings and positioning, I'm not sure if it was just my copy of this ship or if this was a defect across the board, but my wings were warped, giving her more of a seagull look than that of a dangerous predator.
The paint work is a saving grace for the Furuta model. She does enjoy some colorful details all over, including the underside of her wings. Futura also managed to get some Klingon like writing on both the top and bottom of the wings.
Paint is lacking on the engine housing, thus making you wonder how she'll ever get off the ground.
The paint work is a saving grace for the Furuta model. She does enjoy some colorful details all over, including the underside of her wings. Futura also managed to get some Klingon like writing on both the top and bottom of the wings.
Paint is lacking on the engine housing, thus making you wonder how she'll ever get off the ground.
Although they did add some paint around the torpedo launcher, Furuta, like Eaglemoss did not add any inside the tube.
This model is one of those more rare ones that you could add to your collection. Given that Star Trek fans seem to go gaga over the Klingon Bird Of Prey, that also means that this model is a little more on the rare side. Honestly though, she isn't worth more than $10 to $15 so I'd avoid it if it's more than that.
Hallmark
NOTE: My model was attacked by a giant space cat and as a result, lost one of her disruptor cannons. The normal model is intact so just pretend that mine has all of it's part. One day, I'll get around to replacing this model.
In 1994 Hallmark released thier version of the Bird Of Prey. Hallmark did a very nice job on thier version of this ship. All the major details are covered and although she's not as colorful as her Eaglemoss counterpart, she does a good job of representing the class. Like Furuta's model, her wings are also stationary in the attack position.
The sculpted and molded details are crisp and show off all sorts of stuff.
I particularly like the weathering paint that they applied to the molded details, which give her a bit of a dirty and used appearance. The "feathers"under the wing also received some paint.
As I have stated in one of my earlier blog posts, I cut the wires off of all of my Hallmark ornaments so that they hang and display better in my display cases. It is actually rather hard to find pictures of what this ship looks like lit up but here are two I could find. From what I gather, the photon torpedo tube lights/flashes, there is a light on the bottom of the bridge module that lights, and the impulse engines light up.
Photo Credit: Hallmark
Here's a fun little fact about the Hallmark ship. In the Deep Space Nine episode titled "The Way Of the Warrior", the script called for a large fleet of these ships. So as to not damage the original filming model, the special effects people brought in a bunch of Hallmark ornaments to be used as "stunt doubles" and be blown up for the battle scene.
Hot Wheels
WARNING: I used to think it was just an issue with one of my other ships, but as time has gone by, it appears to be a manufacturer issue with all of thier different types of ships. The stand fits very snugly into the underside of the ship. I started noticing on that ship that she was gradually tipping forward as the saucer was much heavier on the model. I would periodically readjust it. After the third time of removing it for pictures, the stand snapped off, leaving the ball joint stuck in the ship. And as you can see from the above picture, the same has happened for this model as well. Obviously, these are not meant to be "played" with and are for display purposes only. Given the shape of most ships, once they break off the display stand, they will not look so graceful in your display case.
Hot Wheels actually released three variants of this ship design. One was a traditional Bird Of Prey, one was a "battle damaged" and the other was a HMS Bounty variant from the movie, "Star Trek: Search For Spock" and "Star Trek: The Voyage Home". The damaged ship and HMS Bounty were reprints of the original ship with heat tattoos applied.
Series 1: Traditional Series 2: Battle Damaged
Series 3: HMS Bounty
For this review, I have one of the Series 1 models.
The detailing on this ship was way up there, almost to the level of Eaglemoss' rendition. What I particularly liked about this version though was that the wings were hinged so that you could move and position them in the three different configurations.
Cruise Mode
Attack Mode
Landing Mode
The paint job is well done as well. Hot Wheels' version has a much cleaner look over the other manufacturers because they didn't go for a weathered look. Instead, you have a ship that looks like it just came out of space dock. That being said though, they did give her enough altering colors to make her look vibrant rather than dull.
Of all the manufacturers, Hot Wheels did the best job with thier front facing torpedo launcher.
And they trumped Eaglemoss this time by using clear plastics for thier engine housing.
All around, this is a very well done, and good looking model.
Conclusion
And now we come to the part of my articles where I do a quick check on eBay to get some prices of the ships I've shared with you. I typically will just round up the most inexpensive Buy-It-Now prices (with shipping included in that price) from eBay that I can find at the time of this article's writing.
Eaglemoss = $19
Furuta = $17
Hallmark = $10
Hot Wheels = $25
Hot Wheels (Battle Damaged) = $43
Hot Wheels (HMS Bounty) = $27
Micro Machine Original = $6
NOTE: Prices were researched last on January 17th, 2018.
We now come to the part of my article where I like to give you my opinion of which ship gives you the "best bang for the buck", which is my rough way of telling you which one is the best one to get, for the best price. To put this in a nutshell, when I write these, I am trying to give my opinion of which model is the best for the least cost.
This is by far a tough call to make. If you are looking to keep your pricing WAY down, the Hallmark one is a good choice. If you are looking for better details, it is a VERY close call between Eaglemoss and Hot Wheels. Personally, if I could only afford one, I would probably go with the Hot Wheels model due to the fact of the movable wings. This is a cool little extra detail that no other manufacturer has reproduced yet with thier ships.
BONUS ROUND!!!
Every once in a while, I'll have a little extra stuff to share with you that sort of fits in with my comparison articles. This time round, I have a special kitbashed ship to share with you.
AMT
IKS Hegh Ha'DIbaH (Death Beast)
X-65 Class Prototype Attack Vessel
1:2500 Scale AMT Kitbash
I have always wondered what a ship like this would look like. When the Star Trek Modelers Group on FaceBook decided to have a Star Trek/Star Wars crossover contest, this seemed to be the perfect time to give it a try since she would be very X-Wing like in appearance. The class name in fact is what the original class name was taken from the T-65 name for the X-Wing.
Like it's D-12 brothers, the X-65 also featured variable geometry wings that had similar positions for flight mode and planetary landing mode.
Cruise Mode
Attack Mode
Landing Mode
I have actually written a very in depth article about this ship so if you wish to read more about it, go to THIS LINK.
Eaglemoss #107
NOTE: The nice thing about re-writing these articles is that I know can give a little fore-shadowing of things to come. Apparently, when Issue 107 hits the shelves, Eaglemoss will give us another one of these ships, except that this one will have the wings in the attack position. You can read my review of that model at THIS LINK.
Eaglemoss Extra #11
NOTE: Speaking of fore-shadowing of things to come... Apparently, when Extra #11 hits the shelves, Eaglemoss will give us another one of these ships, except that this one will have the wings in the landing position, and we will get to see the Bird's feet. You can read my review of that model at THIS LINK.
As always, I hope you found this article useful and informative. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to comment below.
So for now, "Live long and prosper!!!"
Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:
Eaglemoss Furuta Hallmark
Hot Wheels MicroMachine (v1 v2)
Comparative Shots
AMT X-65 Class Prototype (Model WIP)
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
Hot Wheels MicroMachine (v1 v2)
Comparative Shots
AMT X-65 Class Prototype (Model WIP)
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
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