EMvTW 18 - Bajoran Lightship (AKA Solar Sailor)

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

Article number eighteen of my Eaglemoss vs. The World series is yet again, another super short one. However, because of certain events surrounding this model, I can at least share some really good information with you.

I can promise that the next three articles will actually have some more meat to them and bring back the comparisons.

This time around, we bring you the Bajoran Solar Sail Ship otherwise known as the Lightship.  We are introduced to this type of vessel in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode called "Explorers".  According to some sources, it is also called a Shabren Class.

My collection consists of an Eaglemoss and a MicroMachine ship.

Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "A Bajoran lightship was a type of early Bajoran space-going vessel, partially constructed of lumber, which utilized solar sail-powered space flight.  Lightships were used by the Bajorans as early as the 16th century.  Bajorans first traveled from Bajor to Cardassia, and established ancient contact between the two worlds. For many years the Cardassians disputed this claim, referring to it as a "Bajoran fairy tale," because they refused to admit that the Bajorans had achieved interstellar flight before they had. However, Captain Benjamin Sisko and his son, Jake, inadvertently proved that the voyage was possible when they arrived in Cardassian space in a similar lightship."

If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:

Bajoran Lightship Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

When the time came for me to edit this article for the REFIT, I realized that ALL of my pictures had the ship facing the wrong way.    The thing that throws you off when looking at the ship is that the bay windows are actually on the stern or aft part of the ship, much like the ancient sailing ships of earth.

 

However, the billowing sails are they key to knowing which way to orient your model on your shelf.

This of course meant that I needed to retake all of my "beauty" shots of the Eaglemoss and MicroMachine models as well as the picture of my collection.  I don't feel that dumb though as Memory Alpha and several of my fellow reviewers seem to be displaying thier ships rear end first as well.

In an effort to try to fluff out this article just a tiny bit more, here is a quick look at the MicroMachine model.

 

Normally, I would just show you the MicroMachine version and then move on without talking too much about it.  This however, is one of the more rare MicroMachines as you'll see in the pricing later on in this article.  

Also, given the actual size of the ship, it's actually an impressive little model.

Eaglemoss vs. NOBODY

As I started getting into collecting and wanting to expand my collection, I found a serious lack of comparative data out there showing the various small scale pre-built and pre-painted ships available to the collector.  And so I set out to provide this information myself and hopefully help someone make a wiser decision in which model to buy.

At this point in my articles, we would then jump into right into the comparisons.  Oh, wait, that's right, there are no comparisons.

Eaglemoss

 

 

 

 

Right off the bat, I would have to say, that this is probably be the most impressive ship of the entire collection so far...  if it were not for the design flaw issues.  

You see, the model is almost as fragile as the real ship from the Deep Space Nine episode it was featured in.  

Those big billowing sails are super impressive, as long as they are not snapped off.  And I'm not talking about accidental damage by the owner of the model.  These ships tend to come to you already broken.  I have seen LOTS of people complain that they needed to contact customer service to have a new ship sent because theirs was broken right out of the box.  I even heard of one individual who had gotten several replacements in a row that were all broken.  Alas, mine was not an exception to this phenomenon, however, given that I'm a model builder, I opted to repair mine.

Here she is, in "drydock" undergoing her super glue weld job.  

Eaglemoss must have lost a bundle in replacing all those broken models.  I'm surprised that they even still carry the model in thier online store.

The model is so fragile in fact, that when I dusted it off for my April 30th, 2018 re-write, the air duster blew the old broken sail right off and forced me to do another emergency repair.

Now that I'm done with that whole tirade, let's talk about the model itself.

This is probably the largest of the standard Eaglemoss models.  Those huge sails make it taller and wider than any of the other ships we have seen so far.  And the intricate rigging mechanism makes this a very impressive model to look at indeed.

 

The sculpt and mold work are rather simplistic on the main hull of the ship.

The paint job is pretty decent, although I think they could have done some sort of better weathering or contrast on the sails to make them look less plastic like.  And the bottom of the hull is pretty plain in the paint department.  Eaglemoss could have also added a little paint to the forward port windows as well.

In the end though, I feel like Eaglemoss was forced to cut corners in order to keep this beast of a model under budget.

My one actual real complaint about the Eaglemoss model is that the ship does not sit in it's stand very well.  It falls off if you breath on it wrong.  Which coupled with it's fragile nature, leads to a higher accidental damage probability.  The stand also clamps onto the main hull of the ship which pretty much obscures your view from the rear, or the front depending if your have been displaying it wrong.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of how the ship is laid out, there really wasn't much choice for Eaglemoss on where to clamp onto with the stand.  I just wish it clamped on tighter.

Don't get me wrong.  Don't let the shipping issues and the stand issues corrupt your thoughts about this model.  This is an awesome ship from Eaglemoss.  For all the broken ships issues, I give them kudos for making the attempt to make the ship.  I've seen a lot of reviews that put the model down,  and although I personally see the issue with the lack of painted details that those reviewers had, given the engineering work that had to go into making this ship happen, I'm willing to over look those issues.

Conclusion

And that's it.  As I said, it was going to be a short article this time around.  Which brings us to the pricing portion of my article.  As usual, I will continue with the tradition of rounding up the most inexpensive Buy-It-Now prices from eBay at the time of this article's (re)writing (May 2018).

Eaglemoss = $30

MicroMachine = $65 to $101

NOTE: Prices were researched last on May 3rd, 2018.  As of the writing of this article, you can also currently order the Eaglemoss model right from the company themselves for around $23 (shipping unknown).

At the time that I originally wrote this article back in January of 2015, I was able to find one of these in MicroMachine format for around $106.  There were a serious lack of these Galoob models available though (three) at the time of the re-write hence the price range that I have now posted.

This brings us to the part where I would normally tell you which model I think is the best one to get.  Like it was with my last article, given that there is only one manufacturer to choose from, it's kind of pointless to say anything else here.  As long as the model comes in one piece, it is definitely worth the money to have this awesome looking model in your fleet.

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     MicroMachine
Eaglemoss Repair Pictures
Comparative Shots

Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection