EMvTW 27 - Romulan Bird Of Prey (22nd Century)

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

Rewrites: March 2016 & July 2018

Here is the second entry in this month's Eaglemoss vs. The World series, the 22nd Century Romulan Bird Of Prey as we saw it in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode called "Minefield".

Like the Tholian starship, this vessel is a one of a kind when it comes to Pre-Built and Pre-Painted versions of this ship.  That of course means that this will also be a relatively short article as well.


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Romulan Bird-of-Prey was a type of starship used by the Romulan Star Empire in the 22nd century. Green in color, these craft were so named because they each looked distinctively avian. They were equipped with disruptor banks, as well as advanced cloaking technology."

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 (22nd Century) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

Since there is no other ships to compare this to, let us take a look at what Eaglemoss is offering.

Eaglemoss

 

 

 

 

I have to admit that when I first got this model, I had mixed feelings about this ship.  

On one side of the fence, I'm excited to have something new in the collection to fill in my Romulan fleet.  

But on the other side of the fence, from a distance, the ship looks like it might be very plain look to at.  This isn't Eaglemoss' fault.  The on screen ship was very drab in coloring and painted details.   This was most likely because it was meant to be a stealth ship.  

However, once you hold it in your hand and get up close and personal with it, you will soon learn that like those Transformers of the 80's, this ship is more than meets the eye.

Eaglemoss' sculpted and molded details in the metal and plastic are very nice.  The ship sports all sorts of panels, and windows.  

Even the bridge module and impulse engines are sculpted in.

Although from a distance, the paint looks dull, when you get up close you will find tiny little color variations on some of the panels.  Even some of the windows have a touch of paint in them too.  

This model is actually speckled with LOTS of little window details that have been painted on.  Take a closer look along the front of the ship, and under the bridge module.  All of these little windows,  including the ones in the alcove in the bottom of the ship go a long way in providing you with a sense of size of the ship in the Star Trek universe..  

I'm not saying that the pint work is perfect though.  There were two areas of the model that I had wished that Eaglemoss had given some sort of coloration change to.

The impulse engines could have used a slight dab of paint to keep them from just blending in. 

And adding a slight bit of color variation to the weapons systems on the nose of the ship would have gone a long way.

I really liked the used of the clear green plastics on the nacelles.  I felt that this helped add just a little more contrast of colors to the model. 

However, it appears that after some time, the glue that holds the rear of the nacelle together has given up and the model is coming apart there.

Speaking of joins and seams, when you take a look at the front of the primary hull of my model, the join seam is a bit rough..  

All in all though, Eaglemoss did a very nice job of trying to add as much detail as they could to an otherwise drab looking ship.

Conclusion

We of course now come 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 (July 2018).

Eaglemoss = $25

NOTE: Prices were researched last on July 2nd, 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 is the part of my article where I normally tell you which ship gives you the "best bang for the buck", which is my rough way of telling you which one is the best buy. Even though there is only one clear choice, I will admit that it is a pretty good model to own and add to your fleet.  With Eaglemoss eventually producing the 23rd century variant of this ship, they will look cool together on your shelf.

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

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