Rewrites: May 2016 & August 2018
This month's first ship is the Danube Class Runabout called the USS Orinoco from Deepspace Nine. We first get to see this type of ship in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's first episode called "Emissary".
Unlike the last couple of Eaglemoss vs. The World posts from me, I actually have some other manufacturers's ships to compare it with.
My current collection consists of an Eaglemoss, a Furuta, a Hallmark and a MicroMachine model.
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Danube-class, also known as a Runabout-class, was a type of Federation runabout in operation during the latter half of the 24th century. All runabouts assigned to Deep Space 9 were named after rivers on Earth. The Danube-class was first commissioned by Starfleet in 2368 for use as a light multipurpose craft in situations that demanded a vessel more capable than a standard shuttlecraft, but lower profile than a full-sized starship. With this flexibility, a runabout could be utilized as a long-range personnel and cargo transport, an agile mobile defense platform, or a high-speed reconnaissance vehicle." They go on to say this about the USS Orinoco, "In 2370, the Orinoco was assigned to Deep Space 9, meant as a replacement for the previously destroyed USS Yangtzee Kiang. It was used to evacuate the station of all non-Bajoran personnel. The Orinoco was destroyed by the Cardassian terrorist group the True Way in 2372."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Danube Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Orinoco (NCC-72905) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
The MicroMachine model is actually pretty well detailed for such a small item.
Since I focus these articles on the larger scale models, that will be all that I share of the MicroMacine variant.
Eaglemoss vs. Furuta vs. Hallmark
I write these article as a way to show comparisons of the different small scale, pre-made and pre-painted models that are on the market. 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 model 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. This is a tool that I had wish I had access to when I first started collecting.
So now I present to you what I like to call "the gravy shot", a series of pictures I wished I had seen long ago, and the main reason I started this blog.
Eaglemoss vs. Furuta vs. Hallmark
As you can see, the Eaglemoss ship comes in at being slightly larger than the Hallmark model. The Furuta ship is rather small, and is about twice as big as the MicroMachine ship.
Eaglemoss
This Eaglemoss model both excited and frustrated me at the same time. I was glad that they made this ship, however, they did not do as good of a job on it as in previous models that they have produced.
The sculpted and molded in details are one of the areas that frustrated me. Although they did show off all the important details around the ship, it seemed like the parts of the model that were made of metal were less crisp in thier details. They had a soft and rounded look to them while the parts that were done in plastic were nice, crisp and precise.
Since I have started rewriting these articles in 2018, I have come to call this phenomenon, the Eaglemoss Melted Marshmallow syndrome, or EMMS for sort. While this isn't a common occurrence in thier models, it has happened enough times for me to have given it a name.
The addition of the sensor pod was a nice touch though, and added something that previous manufacturers have not down with thier versions of this type of ship.
I openly make it known that I do read a couple of other people's reviews and takes on the Eaglemoss' models. This allows me to get a feel for whether I missed something or to see if my model has something out of the ordinary.
They all seem to like to complain about the paint job on this one. I agree that it is missing some things.
Most of them say that the model should have had some aztecing done to it, and that is where I disagree. I sometimes find aztecing to be needless on models. In this case, it would have been, especially if Eaglemoss had given the ship a little better paint job in other areas.
For example, on the spine of the ship. the warp core cover could have used a slight splash of paint. Even the "cheap" Furuta model had theirs painted to allow it to stand out.
I think if they had added one other color, say a light tan and touched up a few panels on the ship, it would have looked better. Even the actual sensor assembly in the pod just seems lack-luster without any extra color variation. And the same pattern, or lack of coloring holds true on the bottom of the ship. When you see the Hallmark ship, you will see what I mean by this.
Other areas of the ship are very well done though when it comes to the pain work. The windows all stand out in a nice crisp black, while other key parts have received thier due diligence with a splash of paint here and there.
I'm not sure why Eaglemoss opted to paint the nacelle grilles on thier model instead of using the typical clear blue plastic. After all, they used the clear red plastic for the ram scoops, just like most of thier other Starfleet vessels.
They even used the clear plastics on front side of the nacelle struts. Using the plastics in those two minor areas just made it feel like Eaglemoss took the cheap uglier route for the rest of the nacelles.
The joins and seams do stand out a bit much on this model as well.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the model, I just think Eaglemoss could have done better with it.
Furuta
Furuta is a Japanese company that produced a series of gashapon toys. Gashapon toys are meant to be nothing more than cheap little $1 to $5 bubble gum machine prizes. I like to remind my readers of this fact so that they can take any critical reviews I may make in the spirit it is given. I am in no way expecting these toys to be on the level of a Hallmark, Eaglemoss or Hot wheels toy. I found a neat video about these types of toys and you can check that out at THIS LINK.
Furuta's entry in this ship class is the smallest of the three that I have. It was part of thier 3rd volume set which is where in my opinion, they tried to save money by making smaller models. HOWEVER, for how small she was, I really wasn't disappointed with her like I have been with some of thier other Volume 3 releases.
In all honesty, for how small this ship was, it packed a lot of punch for a "cheap" little toy.
The molded details give all the important areas the right look and feel.
And they did a great job of painting her too, making sure to highlight the warp core along the spine of the ship.
I think the bottom could have used a slight more paint, but they focused on the areas you would see most.
Their work with the nacelles was done well enough to do a good job of representing this area of the ship.
Overall, I was pretty impressed with Furuta's ship.
Hallmark
It's been about two months since I've been able to throw a Hallmark ornament into the mix for comparisons. This one, which dates back to 1999, is from thier older line of ornaments that required you to plug it into a string of lights to power it up. I explained in a very old post that I went and cut the wires off all of my older ships so that they could hang in my display case all nice an neat. I know, I know, I ruined thier value, but I wanted them on display and those pesky wires were a pain to deal with.
The plastic molded details on this ship are really nice. The top side of the model is loaded with these details.
Unfortunately, when you flip the model over, the details seem to have gone away, especially where the wire went into the model and Hallmark has stamped all thier usual identification stuff.
I have to say that I have always been impressed with the paint job on this ship. There is enough varying colors to really make her stand out. If it wasn't for the Hallmark stuff on the bottom, the model would be a top rate example in my book.
And let's face it, when you do light this baby up, it is so very cool to have the nacelles glowing. Since I was unable to show my model in the lit state due to my wires mysteriously being removed during a a subspace incident. So here is a promotional picture of it.
If you count out the plain bottom of the model, the Hallmark ornament turns out to be a really nice looking model.
Conclusion
And that is it for this type of ship in my collection that I can share with you. At this point in my articles, I like to do a quick check on eBay to get some prices of the ships I've shared with you. I will continue with the tradition of rounding up the most inexpensive Buy-It-Now prices (with shipping included in that price) from eBay at the time of this article's (re)writing (August 2018).
Eaglemoss = $38
Furuta = $35
Hallmark = $9
MicroMachine = $7
NOTE: Prices were researched last on August 1st, 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). Since the last re-write in 2016, the eBay prices for the Eaglemoss and Furtuta models sky-rocketed. I'm surprised about that happening for the Eaglemoss model since you can easily get it cheaper right from Eaglemoss.
We now come to the part of my article where I like to give you my opinion of which ship gives you the "best bang for the buck", which is my rough way of telling you which one is the best one to get, for the best price. To put this in a nutshell, when I write these, I am trying to give my opinion of which model is the best for the least cost.
This time around, I was rather surprised by my choice. I really have to say that in my opinion, you get a better looking ship with the less expensive Hallmark ornament. The extra painted on details and the fact that the nacelles glow as opposed to just being painted on, make it stand out as a better model.
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 Furuta Hallmark
MicroMachine Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
MicroMachine Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
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