Declaration Class Refit and Upgrade

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

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.

The three ships displayed above are a Declaration Class, A Declaration Class Refit and an Declaration Class Upgrade.

Eaglemoss Replacement Decals

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

Rewrites: February 2019

I have written over 70 Eaglemoss vs. The World articles now, and over that time, I have occasionally reviewed a model where the decals were either lacking or just plain incorrect.

Ambassador Class - No Neck Details

In most cases, Eaglemoss has never chosen to correct the error with any of their future runs.  I get it though, these are cheap $25 toys and it isn't worth the expense to try to retool the equipment to fix it.  That, and coupled with the fact that most collectors feel entitled to a free copy of the corrected model, so as a manufacturer, why would anyone want to bother with those headaches.

And so, we collectors were forced to have these "incomplete" models.

Back in May 2016, I discovered a post by one enterprising individual who had taken upon himself to offer a method to us collectors a way to fix our models.

He went by the name of Bobmat343 and when I first wrote this article, I simply pointed out the initial run of models that he had created decals for.

RG Class Reflex Gun Ship

I will admit, that as a kitbasher, you will sometimes see a picture and think, "I just gotta build that!".  This class of ship was just that sort of thing.

I must have acquired the first picture a long time ago because I usually tag the original creator with credit. And I scoured my normal FaceBook hangouts and could not for the life of me, find the picture again.  If anyone recognizes this ship, please let me know who did it so I can give them the proper recognition that they deserve.  I am thinking that it might be an earlier drawing by Zenseava.

EMvTW Special 06: SS Enterprise NX-01 (NX class refit)

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

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.

In the case of this model, Eaglemoss is the only company to have produced it in a pre-built and pre-painted model so this will technically be a short article.

The NX Class starship continues to be a favorite of mine.  She represents our first foray into real deep space exploration.  She is crude but yet serves her purpose well.  She was under-powered and outgunned from the point she left spacedock but allowed us to learn a lot about the galaxy around us as well as ourselves.  The NX Class Refit represented the next evolution for not only the ship, but human exploration.  She represented what we had learned over the previous 4 years.

And here is my current fleet of this mighty ship.

Top: Polar Lights - Bottom (Left to Right) Resin Modeller, Eaglemoss, Resin Modeller

EMvTW 61: USS Budapest NCC-64923 (Norway class)

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

Rewrites: April 2019

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.

The bittersweet news is that looking ahead, it appears that we will actually see very few comparative articles coming from me in the future.  I'm sad, as it means that my sole purpose for writing these sorts of articles is coming to an end.  But, I'm also happy in that Eaglemoss has far surpassed my wants in a manufacturer who would make models of ships that no one else has produced.   And unlike Hallmark, they are not wasting production time by producing the same model in an updated format every several years.

This also means that writing these reviews has become a rather quick affair.  Here is my Eaglemoss vs. The World article about the Norway class.  We are introduced to this type of starship in the movie "Star Trek: First Contact (1996)"

My collection of this ship consists of only one pre-built and pre-painted model as well as a 1:2500 scale Odyssey Slipways model that I built and painted.

EMvTW 60: SS Botany Bay (DY-100 class)

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

Rewrites: March 2019

I took some time off with the Eaglemoss vs. The World review series due to some financial needs, however, I recently managed to make my next set of purchases, so it looks like we are back in business again.

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.

The bittersweet news is that looking ahead, it appears that we will actually see very few comparative articles coming from me in the future.  I'm sad, as it means that my sole purpose for writing these sorts of articles is coming to an end.  But, I'm also happy in that Eaglemoss has far surpassed my wants in a manufacturer who would make models of ships that no one else has produced.   And unlike Hallmark, they are not wasting production time by producing the same model in an updated format every several years.

This means that writing these reviews is a rather quick affair.  With all that said, let us take a look at the DY-100 class sleeper ship, of which the most famous one is Khan's SS Botany Bay.

We are introduced to this starship in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode called "Space Seed".

As you can see, I only own two versions of this ship that were pre-built and pre-painted so this will most likely be a very short article.

U571 Class Communications Station

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

I love to kitbash.  Scratchbuilding can be almost as fun.  My mind is always going and I'm always thinking about making something new that no one else has seen before.  Let's face it, nothing spices up a collection than having something unique or one of a kind in it.  There are very few space station models available to the model builder.  I think you have a huge choice of either Deepspace Nine or Station K-7.  Very few modelers also make thier own stations.  It's sometimes hard to come up with the right materials to build one.  Which is why, when the idea struck me to try to use some ordinarily trash items for parts, I figured I would give it a go.

I present to you , Marathon Station, a federation communications relay station.

Watchtower Class

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

I have to admit, this was not high on my favorites to build. I'm not sure if it was the timing of life events going on at the same time, or just that it took me way out of my comfort zone as far as using new skill sets to build and paint her. The fact that it took me 9 months to eventually finish her is testament to the fact that I was not in "the mood" to build it.

In the end though, I was happy with the outcome and now I have a very unique looking ship in my collection, so I guess I'll take it as a win.

I present to you, what has become known as the Watchtower Class.

Constitution Class Phase II Refit

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

As I was going through my oldest articles and doing some REFIT work on them, I came across my review of the Cozmo Heavy Industries Constitution Class Phase II Prototype kit.  You can read that review at THIS LINK.  I realized that in all this time of writing my articles and sharing some of my kitbashes, I have never shared my attempt at building the Constitution Class Phase II Refit.  This model has a special place in my heart as it was my very first kitbash.

So sit back and enjoy my tale of building my first and second attempts to build this unique vessel.