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

Some non-cannon sources also called this sty;e of ship a Columbia Class, however, I much prefer the term NX Class Refit.  Per Memory Alpha and Beta, The NX Class Refit "was born out of the existing, and proven, NX-class design, and included retrofitted ships such as Enterprise and USS Endeavour. In 2156, Enterprise was the first vessel to be receive the upgraded spaceframe."

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

NX Class Refit Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

Here is a quick size comparison of Eaglemoss with my other NX Refit models.

Eaglemoss vs. Polar Lights vs. Resin Modeller 

Eaglemoss vs. Polar Lights vs. Resin Modeller 

As you can see, the Eaglemoss model is larger than 1:1400 scale but not as large as a 1:1000 scale model.  Since this series of articles focuses on comparing Eaglemoss with only pre-built and pre-painted models, that will be the last I actually say about the other models.

When I learned about Eaglemoss producing this ship, I had mixed emotions.

On one side of the coin, I was excited that they were going to make a ship that I idolized ever since I saw Doug Drexler's picture of her in the 2011 Ships Of The Line Calendar.  I would finally own this ship in a format where I did not have to paint her and she would be as the original designer envisioned her.  And believe me, he had his hands in every aspect of the production of Eaglemoss' version of this ship, right down to approval of the final test models.  It was very cool to follow his commentary on FaceBook as he would share pictures of drawings and test models that Eaglemoss would send him over the last couple of months.

On the other side of the coin, Eaglemoss was finally going to cave in and produce it's first non-cannon ship in the collection.  And this opens up the collection to all sorts of other Fanboy ideas like the Titan and others I have seen the fans petition for.  I feel like Eaglemoss has enough materials and ships to choose from than to give in to fan demands and sidetrack themselves on other models.  HOWEVER, I guess for me, I am forgiving them on this model because it WAS designed by the guy who gave us the original NX class.  He had a hand in the refit design and this is what he wanted her to look like had we been granted a season 5 of Star Trek: Enterprise.   And since the original designer has confirmed that this is where she was headed, I feel that I can consider this model to be as close to a canon ship as you are going to get.

Now that I got my concern out of the way, I'll talk about my only complaint.  And I'll be honest, this complaint has nothing to do about the model in itself.

The stand for mine was just downright AWFUL.  I could not even get it into the base without first taking an exacto to the peg and shaving off the excess sprue.  Then I had to shim the peg into the hole with paper to get it to even stay still.  Had I not done this, the model would not stay on the stand and just kept falling right off.  Eaglemoss has been hit or miss with stands in the past.  I am very forgiving of the stands on the smaller models, but when I'm paying twice as much for one, I fully expect some better quality.

FOLLOW-UP NOTE: Even with all that work, the model still sits precariously and falls during the slightest vibration.  I would recommend that you don't keep the model near the edge of your bookshelf where it will take a nose-dive to the floor.  She won't survive.  In my attempts to fix the stand, I ended up shattering the plastic and had to shore it up.

OK, that's it for the negative stuff, I promise.  😊  Let us now talk about this most excellent model.

 

 

 

 

As a special edition release, you should expect the model to be better than the normal monthly releases.  And your expectations will be well met.  As I stated, a lot of attention to every detail of this ship was supervised by Doug Drexler and the outcome is perhaps one of the best Eaglemoss models to date.

The molded details in both the plastic and metal parts are amazing.  They have sculpted in all sorts of little details all over the model.

I particularly liked the little pins sticking out from the bussard collectors.  The one part that is hard to find is the shuttle bays which is bad considering they made a point to talk about them in the magazine.

The paint job on this model is an equal to the sculpting.  Eaglemoss gave the ship a nice light aztecing and quite frankly, highlighted all the key parts of the ship with appropriate paint.  Although they chose to paint in some windows on the engineering hull, the saucer section is devoid of any "lit" windows on the top and bottom which gives the ship a slightly darker appearance.

As far as the overall build goes, based off a cursory glance, the join seems are very well hidden.  She is put together very well.

As with most of thier Starfleet vessels, Eaglemoss has used clear plastic parts for the bussard collectors and nacelle grills.  These additional colorful parts definitely add something special to the model.

If you have followed my other Eaglemoss vs. The World article, you will know that anytime 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 thier models.  Let's face it, this is a very important part of the ship and should be accurately represented.

Thanks to the larger size of the model, the original dish looks better than the dish on thier original NX Class model, however, they still didn't make it a separate piece.  Check out my article on the NX Class model at THIS LINK.  They were able to give the original dish a bit more definition.  And the new deflector dish on the engineering hull looks beautiful.  Normally when you have a separated dish, you run the risk of some sort of malformed plastics, but Eaglemoss has pulled it off on thier model.

Conclusion

And that is all I really have to share at this point on this class of ship.  As for pricing, 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 (January 2018).

Eaglemoss = $52

NOTE: Prices were researched last on January 23rd, 2018.  You can also currently order the Eaglemoss model right from the company themselves for around $45 (shipping unknown).

Typically, this is 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.  In all honesty, when I write these, I am trying to give my opinion of which model is the best for the least cost.  And since there is only one manufacturer, I think you can guess what my answer will be.  😀

Even though there is only one to choose from, you can not go wrong for the price.  You end up with an extremely well detailed model of this ship, that looks exactly the way her designer envisioned her.  This is probably my most favorite of all of the special edition Eaglemoss models, and may even rank up there as my all time favorite of the entire collection so far.

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 used the Resin Modellers and Polar Lights models for comparison purposes, I figured I would share a few more pictures of them here.

USS Enterprise (NX-01)
NX Class Refit 

1:1400 Resin Modeller Kit

 

USS Couatl (NX-99)
NX Class Refit 

1:1400 Resin Modeller kit

 

Up util Eaglemoss produced thier model, you had very limited choices if you wanted this ship in your collection.  And one of them was not very suitable for the small scale collector with limited showcase space.  I eventually found someone who made a resin kit of the NX Class Refit in 1:1400 scale and followed his design progress for quite some time.  I have written a whole separate article about these resin models and you can read that article at THIS LINK.

USS Ark (NX-69)
NX Class Refit 
1:1000 Polar Lights Kit

 

 

 

 

I was really excited when this model was first announced.  I actually pre-bought it before it was released.   It shows the natural evolution of the NX class, if the boneheads had not canceled Enterprise, and actually given the show it's fifth season. I modified mine slightly as I really liked the exposed nacelle siding.

So, like I said, you could buy Eaglemoss' pre-built and pre-painted model, or you can go out and build and paint one yourself.

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     Polar Lights 
Resin Modeler Enterprise     Resin Modeler Couatl
Resin Modeler WIP Pictures
Resin Modeler Comparative Pictures
Comparative Pictures

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