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.


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Maquis raider was a type of small and maneuverable starship commonly utilized by the Maquis as a raider craft in their fight against the Cardassians.  These ships had a runabout-size bridge which held four stations, with larger crew facilities in the aft sections. Some of these ships operated with impulse engines originally built around 2332."

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

Ju'Day Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
Val Jean Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

MicroMachine made a rendition of this ship, and it wasn't too bad of a facsimile.

 

Eaglemoss is the only other company to produce a pre-made and pre-painted versions of this ship.

Because of that, I think I'm going to save a little time and change my format up a tiny bit and skip a bunch of stuff I normally do in these articles.

Eaglemoss

 

 

 

 

This ship makes a total of five appearances across 3 different series, and I'm surprised that there were not any other renditions of this ship by other manufacturers at this size.  In my opinion, this is where the Eaglemoss collection shines, because we now get to own these more rare ships.

This is one of those models that benefits from Eaglemoss producing a relatively small vessel in a larger scale.  With Eaglemoss having more of a "canvas" to show off thier skills, the details that they can show off are just plain awesome.

The sculpted and molded details are very crisp across the entire ship.  This is probably because most of the ship is metal.  Almost every inch of the ship has some sort of detail etched into her.

 

The work on the wings and guns was a nice additional touch to the mold work.

The painted on details are good too.  They did the entire ship with this weathered pattern that really gives you the feeling that this ship has been in service for a long time.  The only place where the weathering is not present is on the plastic pieces which does affect the overall look a tiny bit.  There re some other areas of the ship that has relieved some painted attention too, like on the rear of the warp nacelles.

 

Eaglemoss even was able to sneak some clear plastic pieces into this model as well.  The impulse engines as well as the warp grill work both benefit from this clear plastic highlights.

 

They also did a fairly good job of hiding the joins and seams along the model.  If you look closely, you can make them out along the engine hosing and along the warp grills.

One big mistake Eaglemoss made with thier model was with the location of the bridge.  It is incorrectly labeled in the magazine and as such, they seemed to have left out any kind of detailing for it.  The grid area you see on the model is not the bridge.  The bridge is above that area and not as wide as the grid area.  I have highlighted the actual bridge area in the picture below.

Eaglemoss Model

Photo Credit: Memory Alpha

Normally I don't talk about the magazine, but given that I only have the one manufacturer to talk about, I figured I would point this out, too.  I have liked the magazines that Eaglemoss releases with the models.  They provide some really good insight into the ships and how they were brought into existence by the shows' creators.  The magazines provide some very nice extra entertainment for the collection.  This issue was pretty much along the same line, however...

This particular issue had a slight problem on page 5 where they discuss the weapons on the ship.  There is no spacing for that section, thus creating one giant run on paragraph that is a little difficult to read.

Since my articles are meant to focus on the models themselves, we shall let Eaglemoss slide on this.

That is really all I have to say about the ship.  All faults aside, I actually really like the ship.  It is a nice vehicle to look at.

Conclusion

I will jump right 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 = $23

MicroMachine = $16

NOTE: Prices were researched last on July 10th, 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).

Normally, if I was comparing different manufacturers I would now tell you which one I thought was the best buy.  Obviously, if you have paid any attention to this article and my past articles, you should already know that I am going to recommend the Eaglemoss ship as being worth the money.  They have brought home a very nicely done ship, that this time round that will look great in your collection.

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
Comparative Pictures

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