Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Declaration Class Upgrade

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

[Editor's Note (May 2016): This article along with her sister article were merged together into one combined work.  No further edits were done to this article.  I would highly recommend that you go read the new article instead by clicking on THIS LINK.  Consider that new article the REFIT version of this one.]

While writing the review for the Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Declaration Class kit, I had shared that I liked the kit so much that I actually bought two more of that kit just so I could build some variants of the ship.

This is the story of the second ship.


A friend of mine introduced me to this series of books called the Federation Spaceflight Chronology, which had TONS of in depth information about the Star Trek universe up through the TMP and ending around the ST3:TSFS era.  One of the neat things about volume one was that it covered some very old style ships that were never seen on screen.  It had a very nice section on the Declaration class and the history surrounding those ships.

Declaration Class Refit

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

[Editor's Note (May 2016): This article along with her sister article were merged together into one combined work.  No further edits were done to this article.  I would highly recommend that you go read the new article instead by clicking on THIS LINK.  Consider that new article the REFIT version of this one.]

While writing the review for the Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Declaration Class kit, I had shared that I liked the kit so much that I actually bought two more of that kit just so I could build some variants of the ship.


A friend of mine introduced me to this series of books called the Federation Spaceflight Chronology, which had TONS of in depth information about the Star Trek universe up through the TMP and ending around the ST3:TSFS era.  One of the neat things about volume one was that it covered some very old style ships that were never seen on screen.  It had a very nice section on the Declaration class and the history surrounding those ships.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Declaration Class

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

This next kit that I'm reviewing excited me when I learned that Cozmo Heavy Industries was starting production up again on it.  The 1:2500 scale Declaration class is a very unique ship that any die hard Trekkie should recognize.

C.H.I.'s eBay Advertisement

The Declaration class was first seen in the form of a painting on the wall of the recreation deck of the refit Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  It has since appeared a couple of other times in the forms of paintings and models in the other Star Trek shows and movies.  Officially, there is not much known about this ship.  It has been described as a starliner which has been incorrectly assumed to be a passenger ship.  The reality is, starliner is a generic term for starships.  There was a series of small books called the "Federation Spaceflight Chronology" and in the first volume, the class of ship described in much more detail.  

Friday, March 27, 2015

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Hornet Class

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

[Editor's Note (May 2016): This will mark my second re-write of this article.  Now that I've written a bunch of articles, I feel like I've developed a certain style and flow to them and I wanted to make all of them have that same feel across the series.  Consider this the REFIT version of the original article.]

My next resin kit review is going to focus on a fun little build that I did.  this build also marked a first for me.  Cozmo Heavy Industries Hornet Class shuttle carrier in 1:2500 scale is a very unique looking ship.

C.H.I.'s eBay Advertisement

It took me three different attempts to win one of these on eBay.  They are a rather popular model kit from C.H.I.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Resin Kit Review: Resin Modeler 1:1400 Borg Probe ("Coffin" Ship)

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

Rewrites: May 2016 & August 2018

For my next review, I'd like to focus on Resin Modeller's 1:1400 scale Borg Probe ship which has also been called the "Coffin Ship" because of it's shape.

Resin Modeller's Recommended Paint Scheme

This ship appears in the Star Trek Voyager episode called "Dark Frontier".  It also supposedly is in the The Next Generation Episode called "I, Borg", however, it is totaled on the planet so we don't see much of it.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Resin Kit Review: Resin Modeler 1::2500 Challenger Class (Non-Cannon)

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

In this review, I want to take a good close look at Resin Modeller's 1:2500 scale Contender Class.

 
Resin Modeller's Recommended Paint Scheme

This is one of those more unique starships that are harder to find information on.  From the reading I have done, it is called a Challenger Class (Non-Cannon) ship although Adam at Resin Modeller has it listed as a Contender.  Since it's a non-canon ship, there is no real answer, however, since they list it on Memory Beta as a Challenger Class (Non-Cannon), I will stay with that classification to help alleviate my confusion.  The ship is a predecessor to the Constellation and serves as a deep space explorer.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Constellation Class

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

I'd like to jump back into looking at the resin kits that I have built.  The next one I want to review is a brand spanking new one from Cozmo Heavy Industries.  I say it is brand new because he just recently got done retooling a a new master.  he was forced to do this when his friendly dog decided to eat the last master.


I am speaking of his 1:2500 scale Constellation kit.

C.H.I.'s eBay Advertisement

Normally I would not have bought this kit.  I typically only build models to fill gaps in my collection with ships that I can't buy already built and painted, like Eaglemoss, Hallmark and Hot Wheels.  I follow Jay, who owns and operates C.H.I. over at his FaceBook page and was entertained by his buildup of this ship.  So, I figured I'd give it a go.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

EMvTW Bonus 04 / Extra 00 - Future Enterprise D (Galaxy X Class)

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

Rewrites: May 2016 & June 2018

Now that I've shown off the first Eaglemoss gift, the dedication plaque in THIS ARTICLE, I can move on to my last "Ealgemoss vs. The World" article for the month., I had apparently reached the point of receiving my next free gift, the Future Enterprise D.  We are introduced to this starship in the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation during the episode called  "All Good Things...".

I am kind of excited for this release because I actually own several manufacturer's renditions of this ship so this article is going to have a bit of meat to it.


My collection is made up of an Eaglemoss, Furuta, Hallmark and MicroMachine.

Monday, March 16, 2015

EMvTW Bonus 03 - Enterprise D Dedication Plaque

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

I have finally reached the point in my Eaglemoss subscription where I received my Future Enterprise D.  As I was planning on writing the "Eaglemoss vs. The World" article for it, I realized that I never showcased the Dedication Plaque with all of my Enterprise D models.  Although it is not a ship, it is part of that collection so I figured I would show a few pictures of it.


Here is my plaque displayed behind my Galaxy class collection.  I think it actually looks really cool on the shelf there.

EMvTW 29 - Jem'hadar Fighter

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

Rewrites: May 2016 & July 2018

Let us jump right into the second ship for this month's Eaglemoss vs. The World series, the Jem'Hadar Fighter.  This article will be a little more exciting as I have another small scale ship to compare with.


My current collection consists of an Eaglemoss, a Furuta and a MicroMachine rendition of this ship.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

EMvTW 28 - Val Jean (Maquis raider) (Ju'Day Class)

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

Rewrites: March 2016 & July 2018

WOW, four weeks flew by real fast.  I just got in my next installment of Eaglemoss ships in the mail so that means I get to write up some more Eaglemoss vs. The World articles.


In this installment, we will take a look at the Maquis Raider.  We first get to see one of these ships in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode called "Preemptive Strike".

In all the years I've been a Trekkie, I never knew that there was an actual classification for this vessel.  Everyone just refers to them as Maquis Raiders.


Thanks to the Eaglemoss magazine, I now know that they are actually called Ju'Day Class ships.  Apparently though, the non-cannon sources, it is also now called a Condor class.

Oberth Class Variants

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

Rewrites: May 2016 & September 2018

Oberth Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

I have never been a big fan of this class of ship.  It seems like it was simply designed to be nothing more than cannon fodder, or if it was lucky, a personnel transport for a brief walk on appearance in an episode.  When you sit down and actually read the specifications on Memory Alpha and Memory Beta, it really isn't well suited to do any sort of deep space exploration unless it was part of a small fleet of more heavily armed vessels.  Although it is unique in it's looks, there are some design issues with the ship that have caused all sorts of fan confusion in regards to the secondary hull and what it is actually used for and whether it is manned or not.

I say all of that because, when you actually look at my collection of this type of ship, I apparently am a big enough fan to collect and built quite a few of it.


In this article, we WILL NOT be discussing the pre-built and pre-painted models from Eaglemoss, Furuta or MicroMachine.  If you want to see a more in depth discussion of those models, check out my review of the at THIS LINK.

I also shared at the end of my Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Oberth Support Vessels Review that I had acquired enough parts to build a third ship.  As a result, I imagined these three ships serving together as a mini fleet.

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Oberth Class

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

Rewrites: May 2016 & September 2018

Moving right along now with my resin kit reviews, I'd like to now focus on a two ship set from Cozmo Heavy Industries called the 1:2500 scale Oberth Support Vessels.

C.H.I.'s eBay Advertisement

This kit gives you enough parts to build two different ships.  One of them is the classic styled Oberth that we all know as the USS Grissom.  The other ship that you can build is a cargo hauler and Jay, the guy who owns and operates C.H.I., includes a hospital ship module.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Condor Class

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

Thanks to the weather, I had a nice four day weekend and took some time from writing the reviews.  But it's time to get back to work, so let us jump back into it with a review of the Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 scale Condor class.  This is another one of C.H.I.'s Romulan cargo haulers and although these types of ships are not my normal thing, this one looked kinda cool to me.

C.H.I.'s eBay Advertisement

This ship has never appeared on screen and is right out of the mind of Jay, who owns and operates C.H.I.  What really sold me on it, besides the sleek look for a cargo hauler was that it looks to be a TNG era ship.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Resin Kit Review: The Delta Quadrant 1/2500 Phobos-class Starship

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

Rewrites: May 2016 & May 2019

I recently finished working on my other The Delta Quadrant model, the 1:2500 Phobos Class and figured I'd do my next write-up on that ship.

The Delta Quadrant's Recommended Paint Scheme

Editor's Note: As of Novemeber 2015, Paramount served The Delta Quadrant a Cease & Desist order meaning that they could no longer sell any Star Trek kits.  You can read more about this at All Scale Trek in THIS THREAD.  This means that this model will gradually become even more harder to find as there will no longer be any restocks of the kit.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Bonaventure Class Refit

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

Rewrites: April 2016 & February 2019

When I wrote the review for the Bonaventure kit from The Delta Quadrant (check out that review at THIS LINK), I had hinted at the fact that I was intending to do a kitbash of that ship, and make it into a TMP era version of her.  Normally, I would not venture into the realm of kitbashing a resin kit.  They are after all, a bit more expensive than the 1:2500 Round 2 kits that I normally work with.  If I shop right, I could get two of those Round 2 kits fore the price I paid for one resin kit and have a six ship to one ratio for parts.  I really liked the Bonaventure ship though.  It has a really sleek design and I could see Starfleet giving some of these old boats some new life by refitting them.  And so, this kitbash was born.


And this is the story...