"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."
OK, wrong genre, but I couldn't resist. 😀
My next Eaglemoss vs. The World article is going to focus on Special Edition Ship #11, the USS Enterprise (XCV-330). Depending on what sources you read, this ship is classified as either a Starliner Class or a Declaration Class vessel.
We are first introduced to this ship via a wall mural on board the newly refitted USS Enterprise during the movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I am a super fan of ring ships. There is something graceful and truly science fiction like about them and the XCV-330 is the grand daddy of all Star Trek ring ships that appear in all the series going forward. As you can see, I also bought, built and painted three Cozmo Heavy Industries resin models of this ship. This article won't focus on those three models too much, as right now, I'm using them more for size reference. I do promise you some links later on to some really interesting ring ship models though.
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "A Starliner was a manned interstellar probe developed by the United Earth Space Probe Agency of Earth during the 21st century." These ships later served as passenger liners.
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Declaration Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
and secondary Memory Beta LINK
USS Enterprise (XCV-330) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
The Neutral Zone Starship Database also did a fairly nice write-up about this ship and you can read that article at THIS LINK. And if you are not tired of reading about this type of ship, be sure to check out TrekPlace's well written article called "Spaceship Of The Rings" over at THIS LINK.
If you are able to find it online, I highly recommend you checking out the write-up for this class of ship in the Federation Spaceflight Chronology series of eBooks. Although this material is not considered canon, it does go a long way to fill in LOTS of details about the history behind this ship and others of its kind. Unfortunately, due to copyright, I don't feel comfortable proving links to those books, but a Google search will most certainly point you to them.
These books go on to tell us that the model Eaglemoss gave us is actually considered an upgrade to the original design. They also discuss how the final versions of this ship actually have three struts instead of one because of hull stress that is caused to the ship during initial warp trials. These extra struts also provided hard points for additional weapons which were seriously needed later on in these ships' history.
Some of the model links I share later on will cover a lot more historical data from the non-canon universe so be sure to check out the links for those C.H.I. models later on.
I could go on and on about this class of ship, but alas, you are here to look at the Eaglemoss model.
Eaglemoss chose to give us this model in the Special Edition size. As such, thier model is HUGE. Here is a picture of it next to the Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 scale model and a quarter.
And with the size comparison out of the way, let us take a good look at the Eaglemoss model.
Other than the Altamid Swarm Ship and Vulcan Jellyfish, Eaglemoss has brought us some very nice ships in their more recent line up of Special Edition models. When I learned that they chose this ship to hold a venerable place in the Special Edition Series, I was super stoked and could hardly wait for it to eventually be released. And I was not disappointed.
This over sized model brings out all the little details in a magnified way. Having only ever worked with 1:2500 scale versions of the model, I didn't realize what all I was missing out on.
The sculpted and molded details are nicely done, however, I think they could have been a little more crisp looking on the command module. Eaglemoss paid a lot of attention to the command module with little windows and panels and the fact that they suffer from EMMS detracts from the overall beauty of the model.
EMMS is an acronym for something I call the Eaglemoss Melted Marshmallow Syndrome. This is best described as a softening of details where they appear more rounded, less edgy and a bit out of focus. Sort of what happens to a marshmallow as you heat it up to it's melting point on a camp fire.
The warp rings also sport some fine molded lines lines which are further accented by some really nice paint work.
The other side of the command module is a bit more colorful with that ring, however, I can't help feeling that the windows could have also used a little paint to make them stand out more. An application of paint to the windows may have helped with the EMMS as well.
The ship's registry is painted on in super huge lettering on the inside of the rings.
The engineering module of the ship is a little more detailed than the command module.
The most impressive part of the engineering section is the ion drive on the very rear of the ship. Having built this part in resin at 1:2500 scale, and then seeing it at this size, is truly a wonder to behold.
The joins and seams are handled really well and have been blended into the model everywhere except for one place. It looks like the weight of the rings is causing an issue with the support strut, however, I believe this is just bad construction on Eaglemoss' part..
The fact that my model suffers from this is actually kind of funny as I had shared earlier that the ship did suffer some hull stress during initial warp trials. This necessitated the Terran engineers eventually adding an additional two struts from main engineering to connect the rings.
Declaration Class Upgrade [Cozmo Heavy Industries Kitbash]
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 deflector dish on this model is a bit disappointing. If Eaglemoss had just added a little more color to it, it would have made a world of difference.
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 (February 2018).
Eaglemoss = $58
NOTE: Prices were researched last on February 24th, 2018. As of the writing of this article, you can also currently order the Eaglemoss model right from the company themselves for around $50 (shipping unknown).
So what do I think of the Eaglemoss model? Is it worth the money? It is after all, twice as expensive as a standard edition model. Having already built three variation of this ship, I found it incredibly cool to be able to obtain a pre-built and pre-painted model that has been designed to be screen accurate. Although, screen accurate at this point means, screen accurate to a picture and then later a model that appeared on screen. Even though it is much larger than what I typically like to collect, this larger size provides for a much closer look at the ship's finer details. The model is not perfect with having a few issues of not enough paint, but other than that, this model is still very well done. And it will look cool in your admiral's office on your desk.
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.
As I stated at the beginning of this article, I'm a big fan of ring ships. Besides collecting the Vulcan and Orion models from Eaglemoss, I have also built several of my own. All of the following models have thier own articles so I will not waste a lot of your time here, as I just wanted to bring your attention to thier existance. If you like something that you see, please feel free to check out the model's companion article.
[EMvTW Review LINK]
As I stated at the beginning of this article, I'm a big fan of ring ships. Besides collecting the Vulcan and Orion models from Eaglemoss, I have also built several of my own. All of the following models have thier own articles so I will not waste a lot of your time here, as I just wanted to bring your attention to thier existance. If you like something that you see, please feel free to check out the model's companion article.
Klingon - lomqa' QuQ Class [AMT Kitbash]
Orion - Scout Ship [Eaglemoss]
Romulan - U-10 Cestus Class [AMT Kitbash]
Terran - Bonefish Class [AMT/Bandai Kitbash]
Terran - Declaration Class [Cozmo Heavy Industries]
Terran - Declaration Class Refit [Cozmo Heavy Industries Kitbash]
AND
Terran - Declaration Class Upgrade [Cozmo Heavy Industries Kitbash]
Terran - Harold White Class [AMT Kitbash]
Terran - Javelin Class [Cozmo Heavy Industries Kitbash]
Terran - NX-TypeR Class [Johnny Lightning Kitbash]
Vulcan - D'Kyr Type [Eaglemoss]
Vulcan - Surak Class [Eaglemoss]
[EMvTW Review LINK]
Eaglemoss Replacement Decals
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).
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 Enterprise, and gave the command module a major face-lift.
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.
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 Comparative Shots
Declaration Class (v1.1) [Cozmo Heavy Industries]
Declaration Class (v2) Refit [Cozmo Heavy Industries Kitbash]
Declaration Class (v3) Upgrade [Cozmo Heavy Industries Kitbash]
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
One of my favorites in one of my favorite Trek books of all time, Spaceflight Chronology (circa 1980 - not the modern book series referenced in your article).
ReplyDeleteThe EM model was a must have for me. The sensor dish thickness was surprising, but looking at the model as I type this from about 6 feet away, it looks good. Perhaps EM made it thick like that so the model would look pleasing from a distance (like Greek columns).
I guess the same logic would apply to the color: sitting here now, if the saucer were a darker color, I wouldn’t be able to see it at all.
I wish the rectangular pieces that connect the rings had color like the EM magazine’s CGI render.
I did purchase some decals from a seller in England (eBay) that will add a large window to the front of the command pod - the window is modeled, but not detailed on the model. The decals also add colored windows.
I was thrilled to learn that Eaglemoss was going to make this model. I had never purchased an Eaglemoss model before, so this would be my first... until I saw it.
ReplyDeleteThe XCV-330 is definitely my favorite Star Trek ship, and I am a bit of an amateur 3D modeler. Some years ago, I made a SketchUp model of the ship and uploaded it to the SketchUp 3D Warehouse. EM definitely used my model in the design of this one, mixing Mark Rademaker's work with mine. It was a little frustrating because Mark's model is amazing. He designed the ship as it appears in "The Ships of the Line Calendar." They were only supposed to use his work as reference, and I wanted that model on my desk.
The paint job on the rings (which doesn't line up with Mark's work in any way) came from my model; as did the decal on the stubby wings, the lines on the neck, the divots in the sphere on the enviropod (which in my model are dishes), and a smattering of other details.
Ben Robinson (the man in charge of the team making this series of models) refused to acknowledge that the models bore any resemblance. But, he did send me one. Probably to get me to be quiet. The original mock-up had even more of my work in it, but Mark contacted Ben and pointed that out. They toned it down for the final production.
In all, I agree with your assessment on the details of the model. Mine is somewhat more well-assembled than yours, but it seems that quality control is lacking in the assembly process at EM. Mine has different panel gaps that happen to be in less obvious places. After having owned it for a few months, I've found that the metal boom is too heavy to be supported by the plastic ring, so the ring is slowly deforming. Making the entire thing out of resin would have been an improvement.
Thanks for that little history lesson. The problem with resin models is that they are extremely prone to temperature changes. I've built several models that are resin and you need to watch for structure stress. Here is what happens to resin over time...
Deletehttps://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1454310201363200.1073741830.1454305681363652&type=1&l=3a0251a19e