Welcome to the 17th installment of my "Eaglemoss vs. The World" series. For those of you new to my series, I use these articles to compare Eaglemoss ships with other similar sized (pre-build and pre-painted) models by other manufacturers. This information was something that I wish I had access to back when I first started collecting small scale starships, so I figured, I would finally provide this service myself.
This article is going to focus on the USS Dauntless (NX-01-A).
Unfortunately, this is going to be a REALLY short article as there is only one manufacturer who has made this ship in a pre-built and pre-painted model.
We are first introduced to this ship in the Star Trek: Voyager episode titled, "Hope and Fear".
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The "Dauntless class" was a type of starship used by Species 116 during the 2370s. Its name comes from the alleged Dauntless-class prototype, the "USS Dauntless", a ship of the line that was altered to appear Federation in design. By Starfleet standards, the Dauntless was relatively minimalist, possessing only one transporter and no replicators, holodecks, or shuttlecraft. The Dauntless was equipped with a quantum slipstream drive, which allowed it to go faster than the standard Starfleet warp scale at the time. It could travel 60,000 light years in three months and was capable of traveling over fifteen light years in only a short time, which otherwise took the USS Voyager two days to cover at high warp."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Dauntless Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Dauntless (NX-01-A) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
That being said, we're just gonna jump right into looking at the ship.
Eaglemoss
Eaglemoss certainly did not disappoint with this release. I remember anxiously awaiting mine to come in the mail, and my excitement of unboxing the model and going over all it's details.
I could not find any glaring flaws with this model. The only slightly noticeable issue that I could come up with was in regard to joins and seams on the underside of the primary hull and around the rear of the secondary hull. While it looks like Eaglemoss tried to follow the natural lines of the primary hull, the join is not completely flush. And only when I am looking for the joins and seams, do I really take notice of the one around the sides of the secondary hull..
The sculpting and molding work are up to Eaglemoss's usual excellence and show off all the finer details of the ship. A lot of the details have a softer and rounder look to them and while I'll sometime discuss EMMS (Definition of this at the end of the article.), I think that these details are supposed to look this way because of the alien nature of the ship. It almost has an organic look to it.
Windows and escape hatches have been well detailed and also seem to line up well with thier molded counterparts. I like the attention given to the impulse engines and those starfleet banners on the sides of the ship
The clear plastic parts add a ton of finesse that just make this a great ship to have in your collection. They really did a lot with blue plastic this time around but it definitely adds that final cool touch to the nacelles and the quantum slipstream drive dish assembly.
Anytime I review a Starfleet ship, I like to hyper-focus on the deflector dish as it usually gives me a good idea of the level of attention to details that a manufacturer puts into thier models. Let's face it, this is a very important part of the ship and should be accurately represented.
And this is where I am wrong and will point out the flaw in that last statement.
First, it really isn't a Starfleet ship. Although, per Memory Alpha, "...in an alternate timeline, the Federation appeared to have adopted this design by the 26th century, with at least one Dauntless-class starship participating in the pivotal Battle of Procyon V.",
The second flaw in my concept here is that this part really isn't a deflector dish. It actually is part of the quantum slipstream drive and helps generate the actual slipstream.
All that being said, it still is an integral part of the ship and worth a close-up view. And like I said, Eaglemoss did very well using the molded clear blue plastics for this part of the ship.
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!!!"
Definitions
EMMS = Eaglemoss Melted Marshmallow Syndrome. This is best described as a softening of details where they appear more rounded, less edgy and a bit out of focus. Sort of what happens to a marshmallow as you heat it up to it's melting point on a camp fire.
Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:
I do not favor these sorts of reviews, where I only have one ship to actually look at. It makes it tough on me to write a long enough article to make it worth your while to come and read. However, this ship yet again demonstrates why the Eaglemoss collection is well worth your money. The collection at this point, has started giving us some really truly unique models of ships that no one else has ever produced at this scale. Sure, you can get yourself a resin version of this ship, but that option is really expensive and you have to paint it yourself.
Eaglemoss certainly did not disappoint with this release. I remember anxiously awaiting mine to come in the mail, and my excitement of unboxing the model and going over all it's details.
I could not find any glaring flaws with this model. The only slightly noticeable issue that I could come up with was in regard to joins and seams on the underside of the primary hull and around the rear of the secondary hull. While it looks like Eaglemoss tried to follow the natural lines of the primary hull, the join is not completely flush. And only when I am looking for the joins and seams, do I really take notice of the one around the sides of the secondary hull..
The sculpting and molding work are up to Eaglemoss's usual excellence and show off all the finer details of the ship. A lot of the details have a softer and rounder look to them and while I'll sometime discuss EMMS (Definition of this at the end of the article.), I think that these details are supposed to look this way because of the alien nature of the ship. It almost has an organic look to it.
The painting of the details are also superb, highlighting all the important parts of the ship. They even worked in a light aztecing pattern to the entire hull. The azticing gives the ship an almost mottled appearance, further adding to that organic look and feel that I mentioned earlier.
Windows and escape hatches have been well detailed and also seem to line up well with thier molded counterparts. I like the attention given to the impulse engines and those starfleet banners on the sides of the ship
The clear plastic parts add a ton of finesse that just make this a great ship to have in your collection. They really did a lot with blue plastic this time around but it definitely adds that final cool touch to the nacelles and the quantum slipstream drive dish assembly.
And this is where I am wrong and will point out the flaw in that last statement.
First, it really isn't a Starfleet ship. Although, per Memory Alpha, "...in an alternate timeline, the Federation appeared to have adopted this design by the 26th century, with at least one Dauntless-class starship participating in the pivotal Battle of Procyon V.",
The second flaw in my concept here is that this part really isn't a deflector dish. It actually is part of the quantum slipstream drive and helps generate the actual slipstream.
All that being said, it still is an integral part of the ship and worth a close-up view. And like I said, Eaglemoss did very well using the molded clear blue plastics for this part of the ship.
Conclusion
And that's it. As I said, it was going to be a short one 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 (April 2018).
Eaglemoss = $24
NOTE: Prices were researched last on April 23rd, 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).
This brings us to the part where I would normally tell you which model I think is the best one to get. And so, in conclusion, if you ask me what the "Best Bang For The Buck" is, I'm going to just shake my head, sigh heavily and walk away while mumbling to myself.
In all honesty, this is a very unique looking ship. Eaglemoss did a great job replicating it. No other manufacturer has made one and the price is very reasonable. You would be well served adding this model to 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!!!"
Definitions
EMMS = Eaglemoss Melted Marshmallow Syndrome. This is best described as a softening of details where they appear more rounded, less edgy and a bit out of focus. Sort of what happens to a marshmallow as you heat it up to it's melting point on a camp fire.
Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:
Eaglemoss
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
This was the first eaglemoss model I bought, and I like the detailing you mention, especially around the impulse engines. That said, the thing splits in half at the drop of a hat, for as you said the dorsal and ventral components are not flush, and the omission of phaser arrays except for inside the shell around the deflector is disappointing. I give it a 3/5. Worth buying because, as you say, where else are you going to get a model of this ship?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your assessment and checking out my review!
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