EMvTW 79: Stella (Harry Mudd's ship) (Class J)

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

Next up for my reviews is a ship called Stella.  That sounds a little like a movie title, LOL.

This is a ship that we are introduced to in The Original Series where it was piloted by none other than Harry Mudd.




Eaglemoss must be going with a theme of ship's that we never really saw on TV, because this vessel was only ever visible as a light spec on the screen when the show originally introduced us to her.  It wasn't until Star Trek did some visual enhancements and remastering with computer animation that we finally got to see what this ship looked like.

 

According to Memory Alpha and Memory Beta (click on the links to read thier articles), this ship is considered a Class J starship used primarily for cargo transport.

It is not to be confused with the class of cargo freighter from the 23rd century, called the J Class as seen on Memory Alpha and Memory Beta (once again, click on the links to read those articles).

And enough of all of that, let's take a closer look at Stella...

 

 

 

 

Let's see, what words came to mind when I gazed upon this vessel... simple, retro, elegant.  This model is reminiscent of those old time sci-fi space shows like Flash Gordon.

Yet, she still has that distinct look with those nacelles to make her recognizable as a Trekkie model.  In the end, you have no doubts that you are looking at an older style Star Trek space ship.

The sculpting and molding is simple, yet gets the job done showing off the important areas of the ship, including what looking like a cargo hatch near the bottom rear.

I personally liked the paint job on this.  A lot of reviewers say that she is very plain looking.  My feelings are, well, she's old and wasn't meant to be flashy.  I love the mottled pattern that covers most of the ship.  The roughly painted on blue trim lines helps add to the ageing effect of the vessel.

The impulse engine's paint job is a bit sloppy in places, but you really need to be looking for the mistakes to catch them.

The joins and seams are really well done on this model and you have to look really hard to find them.

If you are a follower of my reviews, then you know that whenever 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.

I'm not sure why it the ship needed two deflector dishes, but I like the symmetry created by having them both.  Eaglemoss usually does a good job when confronted with these older style dishes and these are no exception to this fact.  The molding and painting are very well done.

 

The bussard collectors, nacelle exhaust and the top mounted sensor dome are all made of Eaglemoss' signature clear translucent plastic.  These help bring a nice finishing touch to the model.

 

As I said earlier, some of my fellow reviewers were not too keen about this model, but, I quite like her.  The build and paint were well executed, it's a model that no one else has produced, and I'm happy to have her in my fleet.

At the time of the writing of this article, you can get this model on eBay for around $27 (shipping included) which makes her an affordable option as well.

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