EMvTW 57: Romulan Bird of Prey (23rd Century) (Vas Hatham Class, V-8 Class, T'liss Class)

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

Rewrites: March 2019

Welcome to article number 57 of my Eaglemoss vs. The World series.  In this issue, I'm going to focus on an oldy, but goody, the 23rd Century Romulan Bird Of Prey.  We first get to see this type of starship in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode called "Balance of Terror".

As you can see from my picture, my collection consists of an Eaglemoss, a Hallmark and two MicroMachine models.


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Romulan Bird-of-Prey was a type of space vessel that was in service with the military of the Romulan Star Empire during the latter half of the 23rd century.  Gaining its name from the bold pattern of an alien bird's feathers painted on the ship's ventral hull, the Romulan Bird-of-Prey was the successor of a 22nd century counterpart of similar design."

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

Vas Hatham Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

Per Memory Beta and other non-canon sources, "The Vas Hatham-class (translated from Romulan languages as Bird-of-Prey-class, also referred to as the V8-class or T'liss-class) was a type of Romulan bird-of-prey starship in the 23rd century."

The TOS era Bird Of Prey is a very plain looking ship that one might think would not translate very well into small scale.  HOWEVER, two of the pre-built and pre-painted model manufacturers have done a decent job of making this ship.

MicroMachine did produce their own version of this ship.

 

1st Model

 

2nd Model

They did a very nice job for such a small version of this ship.  The only slight difference is the lacking of "feathers" on the upper part of the nacelle struts.  The ship does suffer slightly from the rubber bending in spots though, but this was common in Galoob's MicroMachine toy line for Star Trek.

Eaglemoss vs. Hallmark

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 small scale pre-built and pre-painted 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.

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. Hallmark

As you can see, the two models are very close in size.  Hallmark is a bit disproportionate in certain areas though and we'll talk more about that later.

Eaglemoss

 

 

 

 

As I said, the original filming model was rather plain and from what I understand went missing so there wasn't a lot of material to go on when trying to reproduce a screen accurate model.

That didn't deter Eaglemoss from doing an excellent job with their model though.

The sculpting and molding on Eaglemoss' model is very well done.  For such a simple ship design, they managed to put in some subtle details that make it a less boring model.  The ship has definitive portholes and windows all over it.

And a very cool feature that Eaglemoss added to their model can be found on the bottom.  They choose to add in molded details of landing gear hatches.  I found this to be a nice touch on Eaglemoss' part.

The join and seam is slightly noticeable on the top side of the model, but is not really that glaring.

Let's talk about the paint job.  Once again, the overall paint is rather bland and plain, just like the studio model.  From the top side, you see some signs of "feathers" on the wings and rear of the ship.  And then you turn the model over and BAM!

Well done Eaglemoss, well done.  That Bird Of Prey paint job is simply amazing!  I also like the fact that they also did some "feathering" on the actual nacelles too.

Speaking of those nacelles, Eaglemoss chose to use clear blue plastic to represent the ramscoops on this part of the ship.  From what I've seen of on screen appearances, and any pictures of the studio model from the Internet, the ramscoops appear to be white.

Photo Credit: Forgotten Trek

Photo Credit: Tribupedia

I quite frankly am not overly concerned about the ramscoop color.  Is Eaglemoss' ship screen accurate?  With the above pictures as evidence, the answer is no.  HOWEVER, I think the blue adds a little bit of color to an otherwise dull looking ship when viewed from the top.  So given my preference, I prefer Eaglemoss' approach in this regard.

My only complaint about the paint job is when you look at the rear of the ship.  Eaglemoss chose to mold some impulse engines on the rear, as well as paint them to make them stand out.  I think this was a great idea, however, the paint didn't quite line up with the molded details.

Putting this fact aside, I feel that Eaglemoss did a nice job on their version of the Romulan BOP.

Hallmark

 

 

 

 

In 2011, Hallmark released their rendition of the Romulan Bird Of Prey.

I found Hallmark's model to be slightly disproportionate in several areas of the ship, especially when measured up against Eaglemoos' model.  The two areas where this is noticeable, is the height of the primary hull, and the actual nacelles.  Hallmark most likely had to do this in order to house the lighting mechanisms for the model and quite frankly, I never noticed it, or thought anything was out of the ordinary until I had something else to compare this model to.

Hallmark did a very nice job on their model as well in regards to the sculpting and molding in of little details like windows.  

Speaking of not noticing things until I actually compared it to another similar model...  Hallmark also chose to include some detailing on the landing gear areas for the ship too.  While not quite as detailed as Eaglemoss', you still have to give some points for including the circles.

Their paint job is on par with Eaglemoss', although their bird of prey on the bottom of the ship does not quite stretch all the way to the rear of the model.  This is probably do to the battery compartment.  It might have messed with the paint when opening and closing that battery cover over time.

The only place where the Hallmark model does not match up to Eaglemoss' rendition is in the rear of the ship.  Although Hallmark did sculpt and mold details into this section of the ship, they choose to not paint it.

As with other Hallmark ships, this model does light up.  Being a newer model, it is battery powered and does not require a light strand to power it.  Besides the ramscoops lighting up, the plasma torpedo launcher flashes as well.

The Hallmark model looks great and before Eaglemoss came along, was a perfect addition to my alien fleet.  And the lighting effects were just icing on the cake for me.

Conclusion

And that is all the pictures and comparisons I have to share on this ship at this time.  Which brings us 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 (March 2019).

Eaglemoss = $18

Hallmark = $13

Micro Machine = $3

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).

I would now like to wrap this article up by giving you my opinion on which ship gives you the best bang for your buck.  That's my crude way of saying, which one is the best buy.

Typically, when I do these sorts of comparisons and reviews, my decision is nice and easy.  This is not the case this time around, as the pricing on both models is pretty darned close.  This means that I really can't make the decision on price alone.  Although the Hallmark model is a little disproportionate on certain areas of the ship, this is because it lights up so I can't really knock it out of the running for that.  Eaglemoss' model is VERY good as well as far as detailing goes, however, it does not light up. This one is certainly a tough decision.  Hmmmm.

I guess that if I could only choose one model, then I would probably have to go with the Eaglemoss ship as it is a more crisp representation of the Romulan Bird Of Prey.  Although it is slightly more expensive, you get more quality for your money.

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.

NOTE: Back in February of 2016, when I first wrote this article, I shared a link to a second article of mine, titled, "The Romulan Invasion (Romulan Ship Variants)" which featured several models that I had built.  Since then, a lot of those models ended up getting their own articles, so this second article has become a bit out-dated.  If for some reason, you feel compelled to check out that article, you can do so at THIS LINK, otherwise, read on.

U-10 Cestus Class

Unknown Scale AMT Kitbash

 

I'm a HUGE fan of ring ships.  While perusing some materials that I had found online, I came across an article about this pre-TOS style of ship.  I eventually broke down and attempted to build it for my collection.  Rather than re-hash a bunch of stuff I have already written, simply click on THIS LINK to see more views of her, read up all about the ship and model, and see how I went about building it.

Romulan U-34 Cricket Class Prototype

IRW Temrhae (AKA: Beginning)

1:2500 Scale AMT (Round 2) Kitbash

 

One of the ships I came across during my reading, was this little gem.  It wasn't that hard to cut off the pylons and reconnect them.  Once again, rather than repeat a bunch of stuff, feel free to read up all about this type of ship at THIS LINK.

Ravenclaw Class

ChR Gauntlet

1:2500 Scale AMT Kitbash

 

The Ravenclaw class starship was not a design that I created.  It was actually thought up of by a rather young model builder and shared by his father in a FaceBook group that I help admin.  I loved the idea and decided to pay homage to it by building it myself.  This model also got its own article and you can go check this ship out at THIS LINK.

Kestrel Class

1:2500 Scale Cozmo Heavy Industries Kit

 

 

The Kestrel Class is a TOS era Cargo Hauler that was conceived by a NOW retired garage kit maker by the name of Cozmo Heavy Industries.  You can read a full out review of this resin kit at THIS LINK.

Condor Class

1:2500 Scale Cozmo Heavy Industries Kit

 

 

Since we are on the topic of cargo ships, let us jump ahead to a later era, and I present the Condor Class from the same garage kit maker, Cozmo Heavy Industries.  And once again, you can read a full out review of this resin kit at THIS LINK.

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     Hallmark
MicroMachine ( v1     v2 )     Comparative Shots

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