EMvTW 56: USS Yeager NCC-61947 (Saber class)

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

Rewrites: March 2019

Issue number 56 of my Eaglemoss vs. The World series brings us the USS Yeager, a Sabre Class vessel.  We first get to see this vessel in action in the movie "Star Trek: First Contact (1996)".

Like I did for the Steamrunner Class,  I am going to break a few of my regular procedures from how I normally present the one model reviews.  This will hopefully give you a slightly longer article for your reading pleasure.  If you wish to read the review of the Steamrunner Class, you can find that article at THIS LINK.


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Saber-class was a type of Federation starship operated by Starfleet in the late 24th century. The class featured an angular primary hull with an integrated navigational deflector and secondary hull. The warp nacelles were attached directly to the saucer."  They go on to say this about the USS Yeager, "In 2373, the Yeager fought against the Borg in the Battle of Sector 001.".

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

Saber Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Yeager (NCC-61947) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

The Sabre Class marks the third of the four new ships that we see in the infamous Battle Of Sector 001 against the Borg.

I have also heard of this group of ships called the "Borg Buster Fleet".

Although... if you really wish to get technical... THIS would be the entire line of ships designed to be Borg Busters.

Anyway, enough of that, let us move on with the review.

There is a company that makes a resin model of the Sabre Class that you can build and paint yourself.  I wouldn't have bought the resin model, but I didn't know at the time that the Eaglemoss collection was going to get so popular and actually produce their own version of this ship.  In hindsight though, I'm glad I did because it gives me something to compare the Eaglemoss model to.  While I would normally not do this sort of comparison, I felt that it was a great way to help judge the size of the model for my readers.

 Odyssey Slipways vs. Eaglemoss

The Odyssey Slipways kit is supposedly 1:2500 in scale which looks about right when compared to the Round 2 Defiant of the same scale.  I never realized until I read up on this ship this it was actually a very small vessel, with a crew of only around 40 people.

Eaglemoss

 

 

 

 

I have said it before, but I will say it again.  The Eaglemos collection is an awesome way to get into buying pre-built and pre-painted small scale Star Trek ships.  They have far surpassed all the other manufacturers in the shear number of vessels that they have produced, and the price range continues to be super reasonable for what you get.

Before you take it out of the box, you can tell that this ship is super detailed.  Once I got mine, I can understand why this particular ship was more expensive via my normal eBay channels.

The ship is probably more plastic than other Eaglemoss models as it is VERY lightweight.

The sculpting and molding is just downright superb.  They have highlighted so many areas of the ship showing off all the obvious details like phaser strips, windows and escape pod hatches.

The paint job is really where the WOW factor comes in.  The overall hue of the ship is a darker grey than other standard Starfleet vessels, which helps make this ship stand out more as a military vessel over that of exploration.  They have done Aztecing all over the vessel and did a great job highlighting most of the important parts of the ship.  I would dare say that she comes in just shy of being as busy looking with her paint job as the Eaglemoss Enterprise D.

If you look closely, the joins and seams are there, but all of the details on the ship draw your attention away from them.  It is a rather neat trick on the eyes.

I have confessed in past articles that I do read other people's reviews of Eaglemoss models just so I can get a feel for whether I missed something or to see if my model has something out of the ordinary.  I read that there were issues of window paint not lining up with the molded windows of the model.  I didn't see this issue on mine, at least I could not find any similar issues so I'm not agreeing with them on this note.

There are a myriad of details painted onto this model and you really need to examine the model several times to pick them all out.  Even the impulse engines have been painted a nice bright red.

I have one little complaint though in regards to the paint job.  The shuttle bay doors on the front of the ship are not highlighted very well and just sort of blend in with the rest of the hull.  With the magazine making a point to highlight them on the ship's schematic, Eaglemoss should have at least added a little pint to them to make them stand out better.

Eaglemoss continues to do well with their use of clear red and blue plastics when it comes to the nacelles on their starships.  The grills and ram scoops on this model are particularly nice and do nothing but accentuate the awesome mold and paint work on this part of the ship.

When 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 their models.  Let's face it, this is a very important part of the ship and should be accurately represented.

After being disappointed with Eaglemoss' rendition of the Steamrunner class's deflector dish, I wondered how they would do in this area given that they could have potentially blown their budget on paint.  I was super surprised.  Eaglemoss did a fantastic job with their deflector dish on this model.  I like that they used a molded piece of clear blue plastic and nice application of blue paint around the dish assembly.  

All around, this is a fantastic little model version of the Saber class.

Conclusion

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 typically will just round 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 (March 2019).

Eaglemoss = $29

NOTE: Prices were researched last on March 1st, 2019.  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).

At this point in my article, I would typically then tell you which ship I think gives you the best deal for the cost, but since there is only one pre-built and pre-painted model, that idea seems kind of silly.  This ship is yet another favorite among fans and collectors.  I am used to paying around $25 to $30 for Standard Edition models on eBay, so the pricing is right in line with this.  This is a VERY nice little model to have in your collection if you don't have the time or energy to build and paint one yourself.  Given the size of it though, I probably would not feel comfortable paying more that $30 for it.

BONUS ROUND!!!

Every once in a while, I'll have a little extra stuff to share with you that sort of fits in with my comparison articles.

Since I already used the Odyssey Slipways kit for a comparison, I figured I would show it off all proper like.

USS Karabela (NCC-64621)
Sabre Class
1/2500 Odyssey Slipways kit

 

 

 

 

This was one of my tax return presents to myself. She's a relatively small model, but was very clean as far as excess resin cleanup went. They provided some very detailed painting instructions, but I opted to go my own way with this ship. 

Box Art

The Parts

The only complaint I had in regards to this model was that there were two little pieces (brown strips on underside of nacelles) that the directions were not very clear on. I had to do some Internet searching to figure out placement of those two pieces.

It was really hard to get a close-up of this part of the ship because the white paint did not react well with the flash on the camera.  In case you can't tell, there is not any sort of molded details showing off the shuttle bays on this model.  This could have been due to the small size.  I also did not know about the shuttle bays at the time that I built her, so I did not paint any either.

Odyssey Slipways did an interesting job with their deflector dish.  Although it is not screen accurate, it still looks nice.

The model DOES NOT come with a stand.  I had to buy my stand from another resin kit maker.

If you are looking to buy one, you might find it still available HERE.  If the link doesn't work, they are probably sold out.

And that wraps it up for the Steamrunner class.  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     Comparative Pictures
Odyssey Slipways ( Model     WIP )

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