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.


At that time, he had created water slide replacement decals that would allow you to correct errors on the following models:

#09 - USS Defiant (NX-74205) [Defiant Class]
#12 - USS Thunderchild (NCC-63549) [Akira Class]
#15 - USS Equinox (NCC-72381) [Nova Class]
#59 - USS Relativity [Wells Class]
#63 - SS Antares

One of my only two gripes at that point in time was that he was an over-seas dealer, and me being a U.S. collector, made the decals a bit of an expensive want, once you factored in currency conversion and shipping.

The second gripe of mine was that these were water slide decals, and my skill set at the time was that I avoided water slides like the plague because, quite frankly, I sucked at applying them.  As a model builder, I can attest that water slide decals take a certain finesse to make them come out looking good.  And I didn't have that finesse

I was still impressed by what he was doing and wrote this article initially to point out his work.

I also started following his work via his FaceBook Page (at THIS LINK), and his eBay Page (at THIS LINK).

Well, since that initial article writing, Bobmat343 has REALLY gotten into this replacement decal service and has added lots more corrections, as well as alternate registries.  And more importantly, he had also started to produce the decals in self adhesive vinyl stickers.  All I needed to do was cut and apply without all that tedious messing about with bowls of water.  But I still held off actually buying anything from him, thus keeping me from producing an actual review.

Extra 06: USS Enterprise-C (Andrew Probert Concept)

And then Eaglemoss produced the USS Enterprise-C (Andrew Probert Concept) model and I had the "pleasure" of reviewing it.  You can read that review at THIS LINK.  When I reviewed that model, I lamented on the half-assed detail work that Eaglemoss had done on such a special model and ship.  And this was quite literally a hald-assed job as half the details were missing on the entire model!

To say I was slightly annoyed was an understatement.  However, Bobmat343 advertised at that same time that he had released a vinyl set of stickers that would allow a collector to fix these gross errors.  And so I put my gripes aside, bit the bullet, and purchased my first set of replacement decals.  And I was not disappointed.  In fact, I was sold on the quality of his work after that.

In fact, I highly recommended at the end of my review that collectors of this model should buy those extra decals so that they ended up with a much better model for their displays.

Please note though that this particular set involves a LOT of cutting out tiny little windows and some tedious applications.  I found that using my jewelers headset and a pair of tweezers made applying the tiny windows a much easier task.

And that was my experience with Bobmat343 decals for a while.  

Extra 13 - USS Bonaventure NCC-1000 (Bonaventure class)

Which brings us to present day and Eaglemoss' release of the USS Bonaventure.  You can read my review of that model at THIS LINK.  During that review, I pointed out that Eaglemoss failed to paint on a very important part of the ship, a part that was clearly marked in the magazine.  Yup, Eaglemoss forgot to paint on the impulse engines.

And that was when Bobmat343 announced that he was releasing the fix for us collectors.  Since I couldn't bring myself to just buying impulse engine stickers, I decided to splurge and pick up some stickers for two other models in my collection.

Here is the fixed USS Bonaventure.  Like I said, it was just impulse engine stickers, nothing fancy, but they do make all the difference.

The application of the new impulse engine decals was simple.  Although the small size did require me to break out the afore mentioned eye-wear and tweezers again.

Extra 04 - USS Aventine NCC-82602 (Vesta class)

I was REALLY impressed with the USS Aventine model that Eaglemoss produced.  As you can read at THIS LINK.  I felt that the model was highly detailed everywhere except for one place, the deflector dish.

While there was some molded details, the lack of any other paint work just made this part of the ship darned ugly.

And so, I bought a set of deflector stickers from Bobmat343, and now, the dish looks WAY better.

The purchase comes with a set of two identical decals.  The application is very straight forward...   cut it out, peel the backing, line it up with the molded details and stick it on.

Special 11: USS Enterprise XCV-330 (Starliner Class or Declaration Class)

The last set of decals I recently purchased were for one of my more favorite starships.  I have it bad for this type of ship and have built several models of her.  And then Eaglemoss produced the Special Edition of her and I of course bought one and reviewed it.  You can check that review at THIS LINK.

When I reviewed the Eaglemoss model, I did find that the command module was a bit bland.  The molded and painted details were not great and detracted for the looks of the model.

 

Since I was already buying decals from Bobmat343, I decided to give one of my more favorite ships a tiny face-lift.  And the results were very nice.

 

It all looks great, however, the ring decal at the nose of the ship needs to be cut a lot more thin for it to sit better.

The command module stickers are easy to cut out, but you need good lighting and in my case, those magnifying headset to make sure I lined up the windows.

Conclusion

Are the extra decals necessary?  No.  But if you are a stickler for being more accurate with you Eaglemoss collection, then these decals are a great way to pull it off.  I am thrilled that he now produces the self-stick vinyl decals which has made my life a lot easier.  And, I have overcome my issue of him being an over-seas seller by simply purchasing several sets at a time to justify the shipping costs.

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!!!"