EMvTW Extra 06 - USS Aventine NCC-82602 (Vesta class)

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

I originally wasn't going to buy this model on the principal that I felt like Eaglemoss was stepping out of what was expected of them.  This was after all, a non-canon ship, while the the entire series of ships they had done so far were all based on canon designs.  But then I saw pictures of the USS Titan model and since I was able to order it right from Eaglemoss for a decent price, I bit the bullet and decided to review it.  You can read that review at THIS LINK.

I got VERY lucky and was also able to order the USS Aventine right from Eaglemoss as well.  At first I thought I was too late and was going to skip buying this model because the prices were REALLY high on eBay.  All of a sudden, it became available again and I quickly bought my copy right from the source.

The Vesta Class ship, of which the USS Aventine is categorized as, is a multi-mission surveillance explorer.  The Aventine was fitted with an experimental Quantum Slipstream drive as well, and also held several other secrets.  She eventually was given over to the command of Ezri Dax.  As I stated at the beginning of this article, she is a non-canon vessel, only appearing in several books.

You can read more about the Vesta class of ships at THIS Memory Beta link and more information about the USS Aventine at THIS Memory Beta link.


With all that said, let us jump right in to taking a closer look at the Eaglemoss model...

 

 

 

 

Compared with all of all of the standard issue Starfleet Eaglemoss models, this one is ranked as being smaller than the smallest of that part of the collection.  This is because she is just so darned long.  In fact, she is actually smaller than Eaglemoss' rendition of the Sovereign class.  (Click on THIS LINK to read my review of that model.)

As I pointed out earlier, the Aventine is Eaglemoss' second ship in thier line of non-canon vessels.  In my opinion, she is the better of the two and I'll explain why.

Although the Aventine model is smaller than the Titan model, Eaglemoss seems to have put a lot more attention to details into her.

She certainly is a lot more colorful as well.

I think that the reason we have more details is because of the fact that Eaglemoss went with a smaller model.  Due to this, they used less plastics, and more importantly, less metal.  Therefore, they were able to afford some better details across the entire ship.  That's just an educated guess though.

I'm going to warn you now, you are going to see the word excellent a lot.  I can't help it though.  When the word fits a model, it fits the model.

The sculpting and molding of this ship are excellent.  Most of the model is plastic, which means, all of the molded in details are crisp and clear.  You have to turn this model over and over in your hands to take in all of the little details that they sculpted into the ship.

The joins and seam lines are tight!  They are blended so well into the model that it is super hard to see how this ship was put together.  The only noticeable location is where the support struts connect to the nacelles, but this is common in most Eaglemoss Starfleet models.

The paint job is what really sold me on this model.  The paint job is... well... how can I say it?  Excellent!  This ship does not have your standard paint scheme either.  Unlike the USS Titan and the entire Borg Buster fleet, she is not that dark military grey.

She also isn't painted in the standard Starfleet Pearl White that we are so used to seeing in the series and on the big screen.

The best way to describe her paint scheme is that she is done up in a duck egg blue aztecing, with a light blue grey for the majority of the two hulls and engines.  There is also a rather striking black arrow that cuts right down the center of the saucer.   The paint scheme on the belly of the engineering section is just as colorful as the rest of the ship.

All of the major key systems of the ship are painted so that they stand out.  The phaser strips, impulse engines, and RCS thrusters are all shown in glorious and crisp detail.  The paint is perfectly aligned with the molded details, which was surprising because of the amount of details that had to be painted.  Normally, I'll find something on an Eaglemoss model that was mis-aligned in the painting process, but not on this model.

Eaglemoss was even able to squeeze in a tiny bit of clear red plastics in to be used for the bussard collectors.  Cheers to Eaglemoss for getting that sort of signature detail into thier model.

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.

 

The picture on the left is what the Aventine's deflector dish should look like.  The one on the right is what we get with the model.  Upon initial inspection, the dish doesn't even look close, HOWEVER, they did a much better job at painting this than was done on the Titan.  It's hard to make out in my picture, because of the paint color and lighting, but they did mold some detailing into thier dish.  That grey piece that comes up from the bottom and spits the oval on the left picture IS present on the model, but was painted over with the blue so that it doesn't stand out anymore.

Aventine vs. Titan

Honestly, I'm OK with the deflector dish being like this.  I guess that with all of the other details that were crammed into the model, Eaglemoss eventually had to stop somewhere, and in this case, the deflector dish lost out.  BUT, it's still better than the Titan's, AND a lot better than some other Eaglemoss models that I've reviewed.

And we now come to the part of my article where I tell you if I think that it's a good buy.  And just like in my Titan review, my answer is again going to be "it depends."  I like to try to help my readers to save money and get the best for thier money.  As far as I know, this Eaglemoss model is going to be a limited edition thing which means that it's going to be a rare find eventually.  At the time that I'm (re)writing this article (February 4th, 2018), you can actually still get the model directly from Eaglemoss for around $25 (not sure on shipping costs).  I looked on eBay and there were a couple available on there.  The lowest costing one was going for around $50 (shipping included).   So here we go...  my opinion...

I would dare say that this is one of Eaglemoss' best produced models to date.  The level of details and quality of work make it a great addition to your fleet and collection.  The size though is going to affect my decision when cost comes to play.  If you can get the model for close $50 or less, then I would say yes, I would go ahead and buy it and add it to your collection.  It is well worth that amount of money.  If I had to personally pay anything more than that, then I would pass on buying it myself.  I'm not that much of a fan of buying non-canonical ships, so spending a ton of money on one would be out of the question for me and my collecting tastes.  I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but I'm thrilled that I got this model for the price that I did, it seems like a major win on my part.  I hope that helps in your purchasing decision.

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.

A while ago, I was introduced to someone called Bobmat343 who produced replacement decals for the Eaglemoss models.

Besides the replacement decal service, he also produces alternate registries.  And more importantly, at least to me, he also produces the decals in self adhesive vinyl stickers.  This is good, because I really suck at water slide decals.

You can check out his work at his FaceBook Page (at THIS LINK), and his eBay Page (at THIS LINK).

Anyway, I ended up buying his corrective decals for the USS Aventine, which covers over that ungodly deflector dish with something a bit more cool looking.

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

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